Stephen VasciannieOF COURSE, in polite society, one ought not to speak about money. You should arrange your affairs in such a way that money constantly flows into your coffers, but you shouldn't really have to tell people when, and if, you need financial assistance. Those who break this rule are usually perceived as lacking social graces, local parvenus who just don't know how to behave.
And yet, sometimes, we should look behind the veil of secrecy concerning money if we wish to understand aspects of society. Take, for instance, the vexed question of student government at the University of the West Indies. For obvious reasons, I have not written extensively on this matter, but, today, I wish to raise one question: how is it that there is such a strong link between the presidency of the Guild of Students, on the one hand, and the People's National Party, on the other?
In six recent years, four Guild Presidents have moved directly from leadership of student government into the arms of the PNP. Is this an accident? Is this evidence that the PNP is the natural party of intellectuals, and the Guild Presidents, all yearning for intellectual status automatically gravitate to post-Drumblair political activity? Perhaps this notion that the PNP is more intellectual than the JLP helps to explain the matter to some extent, but I suggest that money is also a significant factor.
More specifically, when one looks at the expenses that some students now incur in the bid to become senior members of the guild, it is clear that some candidates have financial backing from beyond the campus gates and if, one year later, they are obviously within the PNP fold, that should point us in the right direction.
Secondly, I am inclined to the view that UWI students are no longer instinctively supportive of the PNP. There was certainly a time when the average UWI student could tell you that the JLP Government of the 1960s banned Rude's Revolutionary Europe, that Edwin Allen almost had fits over To Sir With Love, that Walter Rodney was declared persona non grata on spurious grounds, and that the passports of certain UWI lecturers were seized.
This line of history, which was gospel when I was a student at Mona in the 1970s, helps to support the idea that the JLP is anti-intellectual in its orientation. That, together with the fact that the Department of Government at Mona has provided the last three General Secretaries of the PNP, and other links, might help to explain why some student leaders see the rising sun as their natural symbol.
But, as social perceptions change, so do student views. The anti-intellectualism of the JLP in the 1960s does not pervade the thinking of today's students, many of whom are distressed about the difficulties of survival, given the current economic realities. For these students, it is not the past that counts, it is the present. So, to keep at least the student leaders happy, the PNP has to expend considerable effort and I am suggesting, a fair sum of money.
But, we see the money question looming largely in other areas as well. Notwithstanding pronouncements concerning Solid Achievements, and the state of the Net International Reserves, the current government has done little to lift the welfare of most middle and working-class Jamaicans over the past 12 years.
The level of criticism of the government has not, however, fully reflected the disenchantment felt in society because some opinion leaders have hoped for special benefits. Banks and insurance companies have been collapsing like nine-pins, and yet, for a long time, we were said to be on the right track? Some schools are turning out veritable illiterates after 10 years of education, and yet, the educational sector, as a group, is relatively silent on the point. What explains this, I wonder.
At another level, too, we see the role of money in preserving "law and order" in certain communities. An area leader dies, and there is a funeral at the National Arena at a cost (conservatively estimated) at $600,000.
If the family of the area leader can afford this expenditure, then, I see no reason why they should not be allowed to use the Arena: after all, it is not as if the Arena has been officially set aside for activities for persons from a particular class.
Nor have the authorities indicated any particular criteria for events at the Arena. You pay your money ($120,000), you have the Arena provided, I assume, that you want it for legal activities. So, for instance, a conference for Jamaica/Colombian drug traffickers ought not to be held there; but if the PNP, JLP, or NDM, wish to have annual conferences there, collect the money, and fly the gate.
But, it is one thing to make a public building available for an area leader's funeral; quite another for political leaders and the Vicar-General of the Roman Catholic Church to appear on the scene. As to the PNP leaders who turned up, this is really just a symptom of deep problems at our political core (but, I have to mention that both Omar Davies, former UWI lecturer, and Peter Phillips, former UWI lecturer, have fallen in my estimation).
The Vicar-General of the Roman Catholic Church should have been elsewhere: William Moore should have final rites as desired, but a junior priest should have obliged. Can you imagine how it would look if the Archbishop of Kingston had turned up to light the ceremonial candles, and deliver the homily?
This is not a class question: Mr. Moore's life, from almost all accounts, was seriously incompatible with the main principles of the Church. The presence of the Vicar-General sends mixed signals as to what the Church regards as an honourable and decent life, worthy of high acknowledgement.
Finally, back to money. If you have it, you may get good medical treatment in Jamaica (outside the government-provided scheme); you may get good protection at night (outside the government-provided scheme), and you may get regular electricity (outside the government-sanctioned scheme).
And, if you have it, you may also purchase the entire front-page of The Gleaner, to proclaim the good news of this or that telephone company. Unlike some who wrote on this matter, I fully supported The Gleaner's decision: sensible business practice could justify the paper offering its front page for sale for what I assume to be a good price, not least because this infusion of funds will keep the paper strong and independent.
But, if we accept that premise, we must also accept that William Moore's heirs and successors may purchase the use of the National Arena for a funeral. The principle is the same: the activity is legitimate, and the facility is for sale. It reminds us, though, that money still talks in this neck of the woods.
Stephen Vasciannie, an attorney-at-law, teaches at the University of the West Indies.
