THE EDITOR, Madam:
HAVING LISTENED and read those who want a referendum to decide on the issue of the Privy Council (British), which is neither a Jamaican nor a Caribbean Court but serves the interest of the Commonwealth (we hope), it is becoming very obvious that I was correct when I wrote in the Sunday Gleaner (on July 30) that the clouds surrounding the Caribbean Court of Justice will be politically motivated. The JLP has issued a warning that there might be street demonstrations.
This would be unfortunate because it would take the CCJ debate to a low level, which would not enhance the democratic culture. The advice that I would give to my JLP friends is to use the avenue of 'Education for Liberation' and make the critique in that forum. The Government should take a higher moral ground and examine the CCJ in terms of the decolonisation process and explain the benefits of the CCJ in terms of globalisation. Once you link the CCJ with hanging, then we are back into partisan politics.
The CCJ is also connected to race, class and identity, because the 'roast breadfruit' syndrome has not left us. I met a black female senior citizen who saw the Privy Council as the last bastion of British status and she did not want to end that relationship. During my morning walk, I met a Rastafarian who felt that we must remove everything that is European from our midst, and for him the Privy Council is part of 'Babylon'. There are few black Jamaicans who are still living in psychological slavery, and we have to decolonise their minds.
There is a third category who do not want the CCJ, because they came from the merger of the black slave house mother and the white male busha. They look at the Privy Council as the symbol that preserves the rights of English men, to which they have strong connections. This is the same class of people who left for Miami in the 1970s because of the laws that favoured illegitimate children and free education. They are also hurt that their colour is not represented strongly in Governmental circles, with special reference to Jamaica House. The truth is that sections of the black and brown middle classes suffer from self-hate and self-negation, so the CCJ is perceived as an institution that will not maintain their psychological fixation.
For me the Caribbean Court of Justice symbolises one of the key institutions for the decolonisation of Caribbean jurisprudence. It is needed to fight against the forces of neo-colonisation or globalisation. Aluta Continua!
I am, etc.,
Rev. ERNLE P. GORDON OD
Rector
St. Mary's Rectory
5 Cowper Drive, Kingston 20
e-mail: gordfm@yahoo.com
