The
Pinta
The Nina
The Santa
Maria
The
father son and holy ghost
Coming
across the water-
The
billowing ships
Full of
adventurers and seasoned sailors
All
scrambling around the decks
Like
mutinous spiders….
Startling
the flying-fish
And the
long sleep of history.
(Grace
Nichols, Jamaican poet)
In 1962 Jamaica became an
independent state. Jamaica has had a troubled history from the arrival of Columbus
at Discovery Bay in 1494 up to the present. The Spanish settled Jamaica until
1655 when they were chased out by the British, legend has it, from the
aptly-named Runaway Bay. Jamaica was the reward for Cromwell’s soldiers after
their conquest in Ireland. They took with them 5,000 young boys and girls from
Ireland to settle Jamaica. They were the first slaves. Seeing that Jamaica was
an ideal place to produce sugar and spice for the European market the British
initiated the African slave trade to meet such needs. Much of European
aristocracy owes its wealth to Jamaican and Caribbean slavery. The indigenous
population of Jamaica, Arawak Indians, are extinct.
Thus began a brutal period of
Jamaica’s history that is conveniently bleached out of European history. People
were worked to the bone in cruel conditions leaving Jamaica with a culture of
brutality that was not purged at abolition in 1838. Abolition was earned by the
sacrifices of many members of the Baptist church who gave their lives for
freedom, decency and equality.
The slave owners were indemnified,
like the modern bankers, while the freed slaves were left to fend for
themselves. The local plantation economy then tried to import poor Europeans,
Irish, English, Welsh, Scots, and Germans to occupy the highlands forcing the
recently freed slaves to live in the plains adjacent to the sugar plantations.
That venture failed so they then brought indentured workers from China and
India. European prisoners of war were deposited in Jamaica during the Second World
War. Over time many other people arrived and settled from a wide variety of
cultures giving Jamaica a reason to describe itself at Independence in 1962 as
“OUT OF MANY ONE PEOPLE.” Grace Nichols weaves the human multicultural quilt
that is Jamaica.
But there were other ships
Rocked by dreams
And fears of and promise
Rolling
with new arrivals
across the Atlantic
from the fields of Bengal
and Uttar Pradesh,
from Kowloon
and Canton.
from Madeira
and Ireland.
As in many other newly independent
states, little time or thought was given to confront the past and its
inequities. There was a rush to change signs and symbols. The education
structures needed to change attitudes of subversion developed to cope with life
during slavery and colonisation, the low self esteem of subjugation, the social
violence that was normalised, were inadequate to steer Jamaica towards a
different future. The legacy of violence, unresolved anguish and societal
fragmentation in Jamaica is still apparent in many ways particularly in the
annual murder rate of over 1,000 in a population of just over two million.
Violence is de-creative.
However, given the ills that country
suffers from, Jamaica is a beautiful country with great people. One can only
admire the spirit of a people that suffered so much but came out of it in the
end with great dignity, creativity, energy and enterprise. But, like many other
small populated island economies, Jamaica has not been able to offer its people
the choice of remaining at home. A large Jamaican diaspora annually remits
about two billion dollars. Tourism is the industry that offers most Jamaicans
employment and foreign exchange. But there is a lot of seepage due to food
imports for the tourist industry. This is due to poor organisation of Jamaican
agriculture. Yet, Jamaica exports many commodities such as sugar, rum, a wide
variety of spices, bauxite and of course music. Ask any high school class if
they know any famous Jamaican and they will answer Bob Marley. Right now Bob’s
popularity may be threatened, at least for this weekend, by Usain Bolt and the
other excellent Jamaican athletes taking part in the London Olympics.
Jamaica’s cuisine is as multifaceted
as its population is multicultural. Traditional Jamaican breakfast is salt fish
from Newfoundland, akee and breadfruit brought by Captain Bligh from the South
Pacific and kalalou.
Ireland has many connections with
Jamaica. The first slaves were Irish. Salt beef and other products were
exported from the port of Galway. Jamaicans are quick to inform that many of
the plantation managers in slavery were Irish. At independence in 1962 a number
of the ministers in the new government, Drs. Herbert Eldemire and Marco Brown,
were graduates of the Royal College of Surgeons, Dublin. Dr. Eldemire was the
first minister of health in the new government and Dr. Brown was the minister
for tourism. There were many other Jamaican graduates from Irish universities
who contributed to Jamaican life.
Jamaica will celebrate its
independence in the usual carnival spirit with reggae, jerk chicken, rum and
gold medals from the London Olympics. The three hundred and fifty different
Christian denominations in Jamaica will add their own biblical spice to the
festivities. But these alone are not sufficient to deal with Jamaica’s debt,
greater than Greece, a 1% growth rate and high unemployment since independence.
At independence Jamaica had a 6% annual growth rate. Yet, Jamaica has been
hospitable over time to those refugees seeking shelter from upheavals Haiti,
Cuba and elsewhere.
All Jamaican institutions will be
challenged to renew, reform and plan a way forward that unites rather than
divides and overcome the tendency of most post-colonial societies to pull apart
rather than pull together in the national interest. Loyalty to political
tribalism that fights over scare benefits and spoils is a disservice to a
people who came through hell to be free.
Hopefully, the spirit of Bob
Marley’s One Love/People Get Ready will inspire the leaders of Jamaican
society to cast off the traits of the past and unite for a better future.
One love, one heart
Let’s get together and feel all
right
Sayin’, “Give thanks and praise to
the Lord and I will feel all right.”
Sayin’, “Let’s get together and feel
all right.”
Bob Marley.
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