Give us true respect

The following is an excerpt of a speech by businessman and former trade minister, Claude Clarke, delivered on October 29, at the 15th anniversary dinner of the National Democratic Movement.

One of the assumptions I had made, perhaps naively, when, as a schoolboy, I watched the Union Jack go down and the bold Jamaican standard of black, green and gold rise proudly in the night sky, was that we were at last free. I thought that now that we were free our rights would be assured, our dignity preserved and we would, at last, have the opportunity to develop to our fullest potential as Jamaicans.

It has now been almost 50 years since that first Independence Day; and as we watch events unfold in our country, the question grows stronger every day. Where did our freedom go? Now, in retrospect, we can see that our people have always had an uncomfortable relationship with freedom.

The freedom won with Emancipation only sent us back to labour on the plantations as wage slaves. The freedom won under Universal Adult Suffrage only served to divide us into political tribes to be controlled by political czars. And with the freedom to govern ourselves, won under Independence, we somehow lost much of our rights. Instead of the unalienable rights enjoyed by British citizens under the common law, and by Americans under their constitution, we were left a porous document titled 'Fundamental Rights and Freedoms'. A document so riddled with exceptions and contradictions, it has left us naked and unprotected from the neglect and abuse of the Jamaican state.

How can we claim to have fundamental rights and freedoms, if our government has not sought to determine why 73 of our citizens had to be killed in Tivoli, in a futile effort to execute the arrest of one man? Where were the rights and freedoms of my brother, whose life was savagely snuffed out in the sanctuary of his bedroom in the dead of night by members of the military, while his terrified wife and teenage daughter were forced to watch? Why has the investigation taken five long months and is not yet completed and charges laid?

It seems our Independence, instead of making us free, has spawned government with no higher interest than its own self perpetuation; government that feels no need to respect the fundamental rights of its citizens.

Callous disregard

But most frightening of all is the fact that many among us seem prepared to accept Government's callous disregard for the rights of others, who we believe are not like us. The idea of equal rights and respect for every individual is a frightening thought for many Jamaicans. "Rights fi who? de ole criminal dem?" The simple logic that accepting injustice for one opens the door to the denial of justice to everyone, has not occurred to us.

We are prepared to condemn some to brutality, believing that in so doing we are preserving respect and security for ourselves.

So deep is this societal prejudice in some of us that we are prepared to believe that some of our citizens are irredeemable, of no consequence, and fit only to be eradicated.

Well, I disagree.

I was in representational politics once. And I was exposed to the reality that violent criminals and dons are, at the very least, constantly on the fringes of politics in Jamaica. I absolutely rejected and condemned it, but I knew it was there.

As I moved around my consti-tuency I would be approached by many such persons. And I got accustomed to their usual line: "Let off something nuh boss." "Set mi up with something." "We need protection sah."

But every now and then, one of them would catch me 'one away', as they say. And in the privacy of that one, brief, moment alone with me, would reveal a quite different aspiration. "Boss, mi woulda like you help me get a real job with a real company, you know. So mi can go work a morning time like a decent somebody".

The first time I heard this, it was from a young man in a place called Blake's Bridge, a place not unfamiliar with gun violence, I was moved by the urgent, almost desperate sincerity in his voice. And then it occurred to me. What that young man wanted was dignity: the dignity of honest work.

I did help him to get a job: with a very reputable Jamaican company. And I cannot tell you the feeling of pride and fulfilment I felt when, a year or two later, I saw him and he told me that he had been promoted twice and was now a supervisor in the company.

Those experiences reinforced my view that every one of our people is valuable. All our people are deser-ving of respect and all are entitled to the best efforts of our government to so organise our country that they can have the opportunity for economic fulfilment and dignity in their lives.

Right to opportunity

So, when we talk of human rights, we must not fail to recognise that among the greatest human rights, is the right to an environment of opportunity; opportunity to lawfully earn a decent living and the dignity and respect that goes along with it.

It is true that many, including the NDM have preached the message of human rights and justice. But you have never properly connected that message to the economic realities of people's lives. People have never fully understood that human rights, respect and human dignity do not stand discreetly aside as static esoteric concepts having no relationship with economic well-being. And that it is by securing those rights that economic opportunity and prosperity will be attained.

Were this fully understood, governments in Jamaica would have recognised that respect for its people must, ultimately, result in it creating an environment of economic opportunity for them. But our political parties have never had to do this to be successful. They have only needed to go to the tried-and-proven vote getter: exploiting the poverty of the poor.

They've never seen the need to lift the people's hopes and ambitions for the dignified life that that young man in Blake's Bridge yearned for in spite of the hell hole of violence and criminality he had fallen into.

Our governments have ignored and abandoned policies that could lead to increased production and the creation of meaningful economic opportunity in Jamaica. And have instead opted for short-term, feel-good measures that have only served to undermine our economic strength, impoverish our people and blight their future.

All over the world where people are respected by their governments and their rights are protected, governments work to build an environment of opportunity for them. They put development at the centre of their plans. As a result, the people of these countries enjoy prosperity and peace.

No suffering

If we had that kind of government in Jamaica, we would not have had to suffer the pain and the shame of watching our jobs and economic opportunities migrate to other countries in the region, and our economy decline to the bottom of the Caribbean ladder, save for Haiti and Guyana.

But, remarkably, in spite of their past and current failures, our politicians are so disrespectful of us that they keep coming back to us with grand promises, with no accounting for how they will be able to honour them, and no analysis of the implications that may follow.

So deep is the disrespect of our leaders for our people that we have an Opposition party which, having ruined the productive foundations of our economy and the prospects for economic opportunity for so many of our people, seems willing to return with the same policies and the same architects of those policies, without regret or reform.

So deep is the disrespect of our political leaders that we now have a prime minister who has long past broken the delicate bond of trust between a head of government and the people, the very foundation on which orderly democratic government rests; twisting and turning, bobbing and weaving, and leaving in his wake, dozens of dead bodies and our country's badly bruised international image: all for the selfish vanity of clinging to power for himself; not his party.

But the political parties have been able to get away with this kind of disrespect, again and again because there is no one who will call them to account so that the searchlight of truth can be shone on them.

Fundamental reform

This is an opportunity for a movement like the NDM. A movement that built its name on fundamental reform of our political system and human rights, a movement that was once able to attract the support of five per cent of the electorate in a general election. You could be that independent voice carrying the searchlight of truth.

As long as you are not contesting for power, the voters will listen to you, and be prepared to believe and be influenced by you. But as can be seen from your own history, once you join the fight for power your motive becomes indistinguishable from the other seekers of power, and your credibility wanes.

I believe that once you resume your original position, as a movement dedicated to nothing but the reform of government and the rights of our citizens, your support and influence will return and you will once again have the opportunity to change the politics and leadership in this country like has never been done before.

If the NDM is true to its message of change, you will first fight for our Government to honour the words of our national anthem: "Teach us true respect for all".

I believe our country is now at a moment of decision. We have two roads before us. One is the road that disrespected our rights and failed to provide economic opportunity for our people; and that brought us to this point of economic depression and social disorder. The other road begins with respect and takes us to a country of promise, peace and prosperity.