Sean Major-Campbell | What kind of republic do we want?

‘God save the king!’ So states the Sunday Gleaner’s headline of May 7. Understandably so, since Charles III is Jamaica’s Head of State. Even the placard bearing protesters on the streets of London cannot in truth change the reality that the newly crowned sovereign is their king!

The prayer, ‘God save the king’ may not find much sympathy in a post-colonial age of national autonomy and self-determination for more countries. Psalm 72, which may be readily identified as an enthronement psalm, interestingly puts the prayer for any sovereign into context. The celebration is not about might, power, and rule. It is instead about service with humility in the interest of the powerless, the oppressed, and indeed the poor.

Just imagine if in 2023, more political leaders, whether in authority, ceremonial or executive, were truly committed to this sense of vocation as affirmed in Psalm 72:1. Endow the king with your justice, O God,

the royal son with your righteousness.

2 May he judge your people in righteousness,

your afflicted ones with justice.

Just imagine what a world of difference it would make if political leaders travelled with lady justice as guide while serving with God’s righteousness. The prayer is a call for justice as inspired by the revealed will of God.

Any self-respecting nation would want a sovereign leader to be kept safe and to live for a long time if he or she lived up to the call: 4 May he defend the afflicted among the people

and save the children of the needy;

may he crush the oppressor.

Who can ever deny the historical truth of the Psalm? 8 May he rule from sea to sea

and from the river to the ends of the earth.

Sadly, the history of the British monarchy and indeed Charles III ancestors, has sealed a reign of such pain and suffering, even for subjects in realms afar, that the psalmist’s prayer would appear to have fallen on deaf ears.

12 For he will deliver the needy who cry out,

the afflicted who have no one to help.

13 He will take pity on the weak and the needy

and save the needy from death.

14 He will rescue them from oppression and violence,

for precious is their blood in his sight.

Psalm 72 also speaks to Israel’s anticipation of the Messiah while also appealing to the Christian theological understanding that Jesus is the fulfilment of the anticipated messiah. It is this psalm that inspires the epiphany story of the wise who bring gifts to the baby Jesus.

As vibrations of the coronation spread to other nations, many shall seek to embrace new dispensations of liberation; for the monarchy serves not true liberty of the survivors of slavery’s evils. And Africa’s children and those of colonised peoples await justice in the aftermath of those evils!

Constitutional reform must lead to the rebirth of a nation, freeing generations unborn from the thorn and scorn. Freeing enslaved minds from the bondage of oppression inseparable from the rape of colonialism and empire.

We are emphatic in leaving the dogmatic, to heed the prophetic, the pragmatic, to be ecstatic in our quest for a republic.

Charles II advanced the exclusive right of the Royal African Company to trade in enslaved Africans. How might we predict what Charles III would do when still there is not a word anew?

Colonialism has bred much in the order of classism, racism and capitalism.

The genocide and holocaust of slavery. Landlessness, disease, and self-contempt. The loss of identities. The loss of languages. The loss of stories. The loss of families. Even the loss of religions. The loss, the loss, the loss….

The king’s new clothes and crown jewels are not new after all. Pomp and pageantry recall the gall and pall of royalty’s crimes against humanity. A family line’s despicability! Shall we remain silent in the face of the contemptible, reprehensible, and disreputable?

I did not join the millions who would have watched the coronation, since this coincided with my already planned schedule re prayer, play time with my dogs, and some much-needed work on a flower bed. Suffice to say, it was also an opportunity to privately register a mark of respect for the ancestors who suffered the onslaught of the evils of colonialism. Mind you, I did do a prayer (collect) also in honour of Charles III Coronation. “Grant O Lord, grace to your servant Charles III that he may heed your word. May we never again see a Charles I who empowered the Guinea Company to transport enslaved people. And may there never be another like Charles II who invested heavily in the trading of enslaved Africans. Forgive enamoured descendants of the enslaved and manumitted, as they gawk or go gung-ho over the grand display of ill-gotten wealth which has plunged much of the world into its ongoing poverty. Grant that those who know better will be active agents of healing and liberation for the poor, the oppressed, the voiceless and the dying. This we ask through the King of kings and Lord of lords – the one we crown with many crowns – the Lamb upon His throne, Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.”

While we pray, we also must ask, “what kind of republic do we want? How is the resurrection message informing a renewed Jamaica?

We should not be satisfied that Jamaica’s 1962 Constitution was a product of a British ‘Order in Council’ signed by a British civil servant on behalf of the Queen. The Church that likes to speak about the sovereignty of God must ask itself whether it supports the concentration of executive sovereignty in a prime minister rather than the people! We the citizens want active participatory involvement in ensuring good governance.

This time of critical social change demands that we be ready to declare whether we want a republic of our own making or to keep allowing a minority of Jamaicans to decide our fate. The integrity of Jamaica’s democracy is now at tremendous risk when one considers that in 2020, voter turnout was only 37 per cent. Would you like 30 per cent of Jamaicans to decide for 100 per cent of Jamaicans in 2023?

- Father Sean Major-Campbell is an Anglican priest and advocate for human dignity and human rights and justice for all. seanmajorcampbell@yahoo.com Send feedback to columns@gleanerjm.com