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article. Bruce need fi read it instead of asking stupid questions. Jamaica had Manley and PJ, luckily for the rest of Caricom they were kept at arm's length.
But by 1974 when Manley declared the People's National Party (PNP) Democratic Socialist, the love affair was over. "Many of us felt deceived." Butch says Bell was in shock but continued to toe the party line, although he would later resign at the behest of his wife and take a job with the International Monetary Fund in Washington.
The group of buddies went into revolt, convinced that socialism was not relevant to Jamaica. As they wrestled with the development, one night they invited Arnold 'Scree' Bertram, a sort of PNP ideologue, to explain the merits of Democratic Socialism. "He was a nice person and we liked him but nobody was convinced, despite his persuasiveness," Butch remembers.
After that, many members of the New Light Committee migrated.
"The '70s proved to be a terrible period. Jamaica was getting poorer by the minute.
The flight of capital, from the man who owned a rum bar to big business, was devastating, and the divisions in the society along political lines was rapidly destroying our beloved Jamaica," he recalls. "The crime and violence had escalated. Almost overnight the places where friends used to gather and drink were becoming out of bounds."
Ditching Manley, embracing Seaga
The upshot was that he turned against Manley and the PNP and embraced Edward Seaga and the Opposition Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) "in the hope of reversing the trend and saving Jamaica".
"Many from the New Light Committee, but also many people who had nothing to do with politics, got active in the 1980 elections.
We knew that what we were doing was right when we saw the long lines at polling stations on October 30. Everyone wanted to vote, including invalids who had to be carried to dip their finger in the ink."
The JLP won the elections by a landslide, the country settled down and the process of reconstruction began under the new prime minister, Edward Seaga, Butch says
But by 1974 when Manley declared the People's National Party (PNP) Democratic Socialist, the love affair was over. "Many of us felt deceived." Butch says Bell was in shock but continued to toe the party line, although he would later resign at the behest of his wife and take a job with the International Monetary Fund in Washington.
The group of buddies went into revolt, convinced that socialism was not relevant to Jamaica. As they wrestled with the development, one night they invited Arnold 'Scree' Bertram, a sort of PNP ideologue, to explain the merits of Democratic Socialism. "He was a nice person and we liked him but nobody was convinced, despite his persuasiveness," Butch remembers.
After that, many members of the New Light Committee migrated.
"The '70s proved to be a terrible period. Jamaica was getting poorer by the minute.
The flight of capital, from the man who owned a rum bar to big business, was devastating, and the divisions in the society along political lines was rapidly destroying our beloved Jamaica," he recalls. "The crime and violence had escalated. Almost overnight the places where friends used to gather and drink were becoming out of bounds."
Ditching Manley, embracing Seaga
The upshot was that he turned against Manley and the PNP and embraced Edward Seaga and the Opposition Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) "in the hope of reversing the trend and saving Jamaica".
"Many from the New Light Committee, but also many people who had nothing to do with politics, got active in the 1980 elections.
We knew that what we were doing was right when we saw the long lines at polling stations on October 30. Everyone wanted to vote, including invalids who had to be carried to dip their finger in the ink."
The JLP won the elections by a landslide, the country settled down and the process of reconstruction began under the new prime minister, Edward Seaga, Butch says