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The power of the youth vote
Rev Raulston Nembhard
Thursday, July 05, 2007
One of the ugliest aspects of our tribal political culture is the animosity and resentment generated at election time. This has been a defining feature of our politics for as long as we can remember. It is in this context that so many young people have become disillusioned with the political process and politicians, and seem more than reluctant to even vote in the coming polls.
This is regrettable, because it does not speak well for a vibrant democracy to have a large portion of the youth population alienated from the democratic process. This process assumes active and vibrant participation by the citizenry for it to have any relevance. One of the reasons for youth alienation is the absence of effective role models or mentors in the political parties. They have been deeply offended by the hypocrisy that they see being practised by those who seek to lead them. Being more aware than many of their elders, they have become disillusioned with the rape of the national patrimony evidenced in the sweltering corruption that has become a part of the Jamaican experience.
All 30-year-olds were only 12 when the PNP gained power in 1989. At age 10 they would not have had the intelligence and presence of mind to judge the waning years of the JLP in power. What they knew then they heard from their parents and guardians, but they were not in a position to assess psychologically the import of what they heard and certainly did not possess the educational awareness for intelligent critique.
It can safely be said therefore that their present disillusionment is as a result of PNP governance over these 18 years. Their consciousness has been bombarded with all the scandals that have bed-evilled this administration, beginning with the zinc and furniture scandals. They have seen an administration lurching from crisis to crisis. The most distressing thing is that once they came to working age the country has not been able to provide them with the benefit of employment. Deception, trickery, racketeering, corruption and "bandooloism" are the order of the day.
These are the values that are held up to them as the way to prosperity in a decadent culture as we have come to see it played out in Jamaica.
Many, having gone through the trauma of a tertiary education in Jamaica, and seeing no prospects for employment, have simply voted with their feet and left the country. Those who have remained have discovered that without the right political connections jobs are not available for them. We must make no mistake that the "Pickersgillian" psychology of the 1970s is alive and well today. The only difference is that the chairman of the committee changed. But the paradigm has remained the same: rewarding those who are supporters of the party and savaging and sidelining those who dare to criticise.
Those who have been brave enough to seriously analyse the country's financial woes seriously have become disheartened. Any notion of prosperity that they might have entertained has been cauterised by a burgeoning national debt which they, their children and grandchildren will be saddled to repay over a lifetime.
And they have come to believe that the government just does not care. The findings of the auditor-general of the financial mismanagement that takes place in government agencies ought to fill them with dread. Mr Strachan has a strong stomach for the job he has been doing, having to bear the stench of corruption in government departments and to see his efforts at pointing them out relegated to the dustbin over these many years.
Our youngsters, like the rest of the Jamaican people, are faced with the dangers of tired governance. They are witnessing a government that has become bankrupt of any meaningful vision to take the country to the greatness that it has the potential to be. I understand their frustration.
However, the correct thing to do is not to withdraw from the political process but to get involved in effecting change. There is no doubt that the youth vote will be pivotal in determining the government that emerges after the election. They must not therefore underestimate their critical importance in the polls. They must ask themselves the serious question whether they are happy with life as they have experienced it over these 18 years and whether the time has now come for them to shake up the status quo as they have come to know it.
Withdrawal is not an option. They must hold both political parties under scrutiny and hold their feet to the fire. It is their future that is at stake. It is not for me to tell them for whom to vote. I will not belittle their intelligence to choose for them. But my hope is that they will allow their experience to speak for them and that out of the dint of that experience they will do what they believe to be in the best interests of Jamaica at this time.
stead6655@aol.com
Rev Raulston Nembhard
Thursday, July 05, 2007
One of the ugliest aspects of our tribal political culture is the animosity and resentment generated at election time. This has been a defining feature of our politics for as long as we can remember. It is in this context that so many young people have become disillusioned with the political process and politicians, and seem more than reluctant to even vote in the coming polls.
This is regrettable, because it does not speak well for a vibrant democracy to have a large portion of the youth population alienated from the democratic process. This process assumes active and vibrant participation by the citizenry for it to have any relevance. One of the reasons for youth alienation is the absence of effective role models or mentors in the political parties. They have been deeply offended by the hypocrisy that they see being practised by those who seek to lead them. Being more aware than many of their elders, they have become disillusioned with the rape of the national patrimony evidenced in the sweltering corruption that has become a part of the Jamaican experience.
All 30-year-olds were only 12 when the PNP gained power in 1989. At age 10 they would not have had the intelligence and presence of mind to judge the waning years of the JLP in power. What they knew then they heard from their parents and guardians, but they were not in a position to assess psychologically the import of what they heard and certainly did not possess the educational awareness for intelligent critique.
It can safely be said therefore that their present disillusionment is as a result of PNP governance over these 18 years. Their consciousness has been bombarded with all the scandals that have bed-evilled this administration, beginning with the zinc and furniture scandals. They have seen an administration lurching from crisis to crisis. The most distressing thing is that once they came to working age the country has not been able to provide them with the benefit of employment. Deception, trickery, racketeering, corruption and "bandooloism" are the order of the day.
These are the values that are held up to them as the way to prosperity in a decadent culture as we have come to see it played out in Jamaica.
Many, having gone through the trauma of a tertiary education in Jamaica, and seeing no prospects for employment, have simply voted with their feet and left the country. Those who have remained have discovered that without the right political connections jobs are not available for them. We must make no mistake that the "Pickersgillian" psychology of the 1970s is alive and well today. The only difference is that the chairman of the committee changed. But the paradigm has remained the same: rewarding those who are supporters of the party and savaging and sidelining those who dare to criticise.
Those who have been brave enough to seriously analyse the country's financial woes seriously have become disheartened. Any notion of prosperity that they might have entertained has been cauterised by a burgeoning national debt which they, their children and grandchildren will be saddled to repay over a lifetime.
And they have come to believe that the government just does not care. The findings of the auditor-general of the financial mismanagement that takes place in government agencies ought to fill them with dread. Mr Strachan has a strong stomach for the job he has been doing, having to bear the stench of corruption in government departments and to see his efforts at pointing them out relegated to the dustbin over these many years.
Our youngsters, like the rest of the Jamaican people, are faced with the dangers of tired governance. They are witnessing a government that has become bankrupt of any meaningful vision to take the country to the greatness that it has the potential to be. I understand their frustration.
However, the correct thing to do is not to withdraw from the political process but to get involved in effecting change. There is no doubt that the youth vote will be pivotal in determining the government that emerges after the election. They must not therefore underestimate their critical importance in the polls. They must ask themselves the serious question whether they are happy with life as they have experienced it over these 18 years and whether the time has now come for them to shake up the status quo as they have come to know it.
Withdrawal is not an option. They must hold both political parties under scrutiny and hold their feet to the fire. It is their future that is at stake. It is not for me to tell them for whom to vote. I will not belittle their intelligence to choose for them. But my hope is that they will allow their experience to speak for them and that out of the dint of that experience they will do what they believe to be in the best interests of Jamaica at this time.
stead6655@aol.com