By Lloyd Noel
The late Jamaican Prime Minister Michael Manley ? when his country was going through some serious upheavals, and he and his socialist colleagues were the centre of political attention in the region and worldwide, because of the mode of change that was taking place across the civilized world at the time ? wrote at that time ? ?we are a society in crisis, because we are failing to recognize the primacy of the human element in what we do?.
He continued ??No society can be great where those who rule it, see men as objects of cynical manipulation, and see our country as a canvass on which to paint a picture of personal power.?As the NDC party-political situation, continues to unfold its disturbing modes of operation in our un-settled Tri-Island State for some months now, and the actors on the main stage seem to be going about their business as though the interest of the people they are supposed to be representing mean little or nothing to them ? and it is only their personal welfare and the positions of power they control that matter to them in any way at all ? I grieve for our people.
And as the news headlines hit the street corners, and I listen to the comments and responses coming from the very people who placed the confidence in them to put them where they are today, I could not resist looking back at Prime Minister Manley?s words of wisdom of yesteryear.
And even though a whole lot of people are talking and moaning, and many are on their knees praying for deliverance, and hoping against hope that the change they voted for would somehow come to pass, to make some little difference to their dreary and job-empty lives, their cries and prayers seem to be falling on stone-deaf ears.
And rather than becoming easier to tolerate, or showing signs of some relief anytime down the road, the crazy situation seems to becoming much worse, whether from factual happenings or wishful thinking.
Like for instance the widespread news bulletin that hit the streets last week that MP and Foreign Affairs Minister Karl Hood had gone to the Governor General with his written resignation letter to give up his ministerial position, and the Governor General did not accept it but sent him back to the prime minister who had appointed him.
The breaking news was later denied as not having taken place at all but more than likely the imagination of onlookers, who quite naturally see such happenings as the turn of events expected to take place down the road.
Yet strange enough, at the same time the denials were making the rounds, confirmed news was published that the prime minister and his Cabinet were meeting last Friday, to discuss the way ahead pertaining to the motion debate that is fixed for parliament on Tuesday, 15 May. And the news revealed that the minister absent from the said meeting was none other than MP Karl Hood.
As crazy and politically backward as some of the NDC parliamentarians have been behaving and performing recently, I cannot see any of them going to that debate and voting for, or abstaining from voting, because in either case the result could leave them all going back to the polls in the next 90 days or so.
And if that should happen ? from all that have been taking place recently, as well as the mood and dejected attitude of the people generally ? very, very few of them could ever get back on the parliamentary payroll in any such national polls. So we wait to see.
But expecting the vote to go a-begging, and the NDC party as such to proceed to its general council annual meeting in early July ? to choose its executive for the year up-coming, as well as endorse the candidates for general elections in the next year or so, as will be put forward by the respective Constituencies Island-wide ? that encounter could produce all manner of fireworks, and backstabbing, and further chaos and political confusion.
And if the two competing factions end up going their separate ways ? and I really cannot see them staying together in any form or fashion, because to do so would be handing over control of government to NNP on a plate ? it would be very interesting to see who follows the Tillman Thomas faction, and who would take their chances behind Peter David?s faction.
But whatever the outcome of that all-important general council meeting, the whole build-up, and the sentiments being expressed by all and sundry, including those by comrade Selwyn Strachan, of all the comrades still functioning in the present era all bring back some low-lying memories, of those hectic and dramatic days preceding the demise of the People?s Revolution in October 1983.
The only difference, it seems to me, is that in those days guns and bullets were the tools in operation; but in the up-coming scenario ? votes and the coming together of some very strange bedfellows, hopelessly trying to somehow resurrect that over-thirty-years-ago pipedream of so-called people?s power, will be the order of the day.
There can be no doubting, that we are living in a society embedded in crisis after crisis ? as though we just cannot function unless there is some level of drama in everything we try to do.
And as the politics and the political players go from bad to worse, and the situation among the people island-wide become even more loaded with tension and frustration, we are also facing a very disturbing breakdown in the behaviour of too many older and, more recently, much younger people.
The young man in St David?s and the two young girls in St George ? the last one only thirteen years old ? ending their lives by suicide and two of them from hanging, these must be giving us serious cause for concern.
And when we read a week or so ago, that a man attacked the principal of a city secondary school and locked her in the boot of her car -- luckily she escaped and he proceeded to rob stuff from her home ? we have to slow down and re-assess where we are and where we want to go.
The unemployment situation is no doubt a major cause of most of our problems, and rather than helping the grave and troubling problems ? the political chaos is just making bad matters even worse, and the immediate future is looking very bleak and desperate indeed.
It is against the foregoing background ? and the pressure too many people have to struggle against to make ends meet ? that the crisis is escalating and the society is in disarray.
Unless good sense and some urgent changes in people?s attitude take place soonest - especially those with the responsibility to service and protect the nation?s interest and the people?s business, I can see things going from bad to much worse.
If things continue to deteriorate at the pace we are moving nowadays, it would not matter who wins or loses the next general elections ? the damages that would be left for clearing and repairing so as to return to normalcy would be such that the crisis in society would be in our midst for many years down the road.
So may the Good Lord in His Mercy come to our assistance very much sooner than later.
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thanks Lloyd Noel for sharing this.
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