Removing the shackles of mental slavery

THE EDITOR, Sir:

THE BRITISH Royal Navy warship HMS Coventry recently docked in Kingston, one port of call in the ship's five-month Caribbean sweep to help in the fight against drugs, render assistance if any natural disasters occur, and according to Lieutenant Commander Stephen Rae, the vessel's public relations and supply officer, "a third reason we are here is for diplomacy. In other words, we are here to boost British interests abroad by representing Her Majesty's Government abroad." (The Gleaner August 22, 2001 pg. 3).

British 'diplomacy' and 'interests' in Jamaica and the Caribbean region in general, hardly need 'boosting' and Her Majesty's Government continues to be physically, ceremonially and systemically represented here.

Even though the apparent overriding consideration of or motive for British imperialism may have been economic, the psychological underpinnings were rooted and craftily gerrymandered, even if brutally implemented into a Euro-centric model of domination and longevity.

"It is not the land of our peoples in the Gold Coast we want, but their hearts." The quotation is attributed to Queen Victoria in an article captioned "The Labour Problem, British Research into Human Relations", which appeared in the 1954 autumn issue of The Time British Colonies Review. The article was written by the then Secretary of the Overseas Employers' Federation, Meredith Hyde-Clarke.

Secretary Hyde-Clarke's analysis of the human relations environment in the colonial empire was presented through the usually paternalistically tinted spectacles of the imperial victory and not the mirror of the colonised vanquished.

Hyde-Clarke posited that "we in the United Kingdom consider and rightly so, that we have been pioneers in most and participated in many of the great developments in the freedom of mankind".

Presumably, prior to British invasions and abrogation of people's birthright, sense of sovereignty and dignity directly through the exploits of slavery, mankind's freedom was non-existent not yet having been defined by Her Majesty's royal plunderers, thugs like Morgan, backed by a monarchy-led political system which was grafted to capture not only 'land', but colonial 'hearts'. Sultry irony that you should enslave men in order to develop the freedoms of mankind.

Resistance to constitutional change, the doubt expressed in some quarters about our ability to efficiently and equitably dispense justice through a Caribbean Court of Appeal, the various sustained institutionalised symbolic reinforcements of 'backra-massa' ranging from a primary and tertiary level curriculum that has always told 'his-story' and not 'my-story'.

They have all immortalised the vestiges of colonialism, indicative of the depth of the spear that was thrust into the systemic heart of Caribbean political leadership and management expertise.

The violently divisive political culture which has engulfed us in Jamaica for a couple of decades, and which has evolved under the system of the Westminster Parliamentary democracy model, may find explanation in a central point made by the British technocrat, Hyde-Clarke almost half a century ago. "The know-how and technique have been mainly European," she observed, "while the actual tasks, be it mining metal, excavating a dam or... has fallen to indigenous peoples," a scenario which, Hyde-Clarke proffered, evolved through an "accident of history", an exonerative plea if I ever heard one.

She spoke then specifically to labour and human relations in the British colonies, but the principle remains true in our political and institutional life today. The people are largely removed from the 'heart' of the operation, and Nettleford's excellent coinage, 30 years old, "the melody of Europe, the rhythm of Africa", accurately captures the dynamic political, economic and psycho-social matrix within which we continue to function.

The turnaround that Jamaica and other Caribbean nations need will begin when we truly unite and through the emancipation of our mental slavery, recapture our phalanx of hearts, empower ourselves with a new vision informed by strength drawn from our ancestors' adversities, guided by a desire for a genuinely harmonious and peaceful society.

Our Jamaican motto is "Out of many, one people", but form and function are different and for most it is true to say, " Out of one have been made many people."

I am, etc.,

PETER WRAY

64 Saturn Avenue

Kingston 17

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