The barriers to progress

Delroy Chuck

ON MONDAY, August 6, Jamaica celebrated its 39th anniversary as an independent nation, but really, there was precious little to celebrate. There were no solid achievements to inspire our people spontaneously to cheer, to feel genuinely pleased, to measure real progress and to give thanks for work well done.

In truth, as we reflect on our journey as an independent nation, our thoughts are filled with disappointment, thinking of the shattered dreams and lost opportunities, ruminating on what Jamaica could have been, mentally struggling to find new hope and searching for new ideas for a brighter tomorrow. The dreams of those who brought forth this new nation have yet to be realised. No one, in 1962, could have anticipated the depth of agony, injustice and destitution to which this nation has sunk, nearly four decades later. Many desire to hide this reality, but the sooner we confront our desperate situation the more likely we can extricate ourselves and move forward.

Jamaica struggles to survive, with a tarnished image across the globe, barely filling the increasing needs of its people, depriving communities and segments of the population of equal rights and justice, promoting brutality and savagery as tools of law enforcement, fighting and killing one another like primitive savages and, as a nation, drifting aimlessly without any vision of where we want to go.

No progress

Jamaica has not made progress because our political, church, business and intellectual leaders have built and created barriers to progress. They worship and cling to old, failed ideas and, regrettably, pursue lost causes. It is really sad that 163 years after Emancipation, we are unable to take control of our destiny and still blame slavery for our misery and backwardness. To be sure, slavery was an act of inhumanity, a brutal denigration and depreciation of the black race, but it was no worse than the enslavement of other races, of the Chinese, the Jews, and the annihilation of whole generations of primitive tribes. We waste valuable time, energy, discussion and intellectual effort in the pursuit of reparation, redress and remedy for slavery and the wrongs committed to our forefathers and, I daresay, the pursuit is a lost cause.

Even if reparation was justified, and it was, would it still be recoverable, and from whom? My grandmother, a proud black woman, fish and market vendor, hardworking farmer, barely literate but with tonnes of common sense, would view the call for reparation and redress as an exercise in futility. She taught me to avoid freeness, begging and the something-for-nothing mentality. Like her, we must learn from the past but steadfastly take advantage of new ideas, new developments and increase the levels of beneficial services to our fellow men.

If our annual celebration of Emancipation is to have any useful benefit it cannot be to harbour self-pity, assign blame, and avoid responsibility for our failings but to use the knowledge of our forefathers' suffering to make Jamaica into a great nation which black people and other races can hold as a model of human growth and harmony. It seems, however, that reparation is just another angle of the common theme for the distribution of the world's wealth. The rich nations have become rich and powerful, it is argued, because of slavery, colonialism and imperialism; and by some mysterious equitable notion, reparation perhaps, they owe us something.

It is all trash. Backward and poor nations like ours have failed to generate and market ideas to create and accumulate wealth and feel the rich nations have conspired to keep us poor. The rich nations have done nothing more than to use good and workable ideas to create a better life for their people. I will not deny that often they have used their strong bargaining positions to get better and advantageous deals, but at the end of the day their exploitation of the resources of the third world have been mutually beneficial.

Spilt milk

In any event, why cry over spilt milk, let us move forward and find the means, strength and courage to share in the global trade, investment and wealth. Yet, for us to move forward, we need to change our mindset, our way of thinking and of doing things. Stop thinking that the rich countries owe us anything or we need to depend on them for survival and progress - which means stop the borrowing and the begging. We need to start thinking big, imagining ourselves as equal partners on the world economic stage, generating ideas, services and products that demand attention and can compete with the best the rest of the world has to offer.

The world waits patiently for innovative products and services to improve communities, societies and nations and, naturally, to satisfy the individual's lifestyles, well-being and needs. The wealth of the world increases relentlessly and is likely to double within the next ten years, largely from the flow and management of information and ideas that astute people and businesses have put to work to make money. Will Jamaica benefit from the anticipated progress and increase in the world's wealth? Or, will we each year simply lament the lost opportunities, ponder the missed deals and count the business failures?

If this nation is ever to take a giant leap forward then we have to remove those mindsets that work simply as barriers to progress. Still, the greatest barrier to progress is the intrusion of Government in every sphere of our lives. Government has sought to provide everything and, ultimately, ends up providing nothing, at least efficiently. The attempt by Government since Independence to provide housing, health care, free education, sports and community development, social water, community electricity, funeral grants and a host of other social services have not contributed to progress but to regression, to political tribalism and to the violent fight for scarce benefits and spoils. It is time we draw the limits to what Government, MPs and government agencies can provide and, as best as possible, reduce the patronage and paternalism that so best characterise our system of governance.

Human progress and development have been impeded, stifled and suffocated since independence. Successive governments have not unleashed and facilitated the advancement of the human potential. The few jewels in education, music, sports and businesses have emerged in spite of government. Our brightest and best have had to nurture, enhance and parade their talents abroad, as locally there is very little room for exposure and triumph. It is time that we make Jamaica a place in which the best and brightest can find room to roam and triumph. Perhaps, when we come to accept that our destiny lies in our own hands and that new and good ideas, workable and worthwhile ideas, brilliant and original ideas, and their effective applications, are the way to progress then suddenly there will be a new birth of hope and prosperity in our nation.

Delroy Chuck is an attorney-at-law and Opposition Member of Parliament. He can be contacted by e-mail at delchuck@hotmail.com.

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