Martin Henry TODAY WE commemorate freedom from slavery. Mr. Patterson's Government should loudly proclaim the restoration of Emancipation Day as one of its 'Solid Achievements.' The proclamation of freedom from slavery is perhaps the single most significant event in the history of this land.
The people need the ritual of commemoration and the memory of the past for sustaining the defence of freedom in the future. The things of the spirit are no less important than the things of the flesh. The NHT contribution of Emancipation Park sets an example of how institutions and civil society should act to commemorate and preserve this important landmark in our history.
Forty years into Independence, Jamaica remains a free and democratic country. Confronted by the hardship originally symbolised by the black in the flag, a hardship as much imposed by the management of our affairs as by any natural circumstance, a slight majority (53 per cent) of the population now think we would have been better off today had we remained a British colony. Evidently, the people have not sufficiently bought the message of the Jamaica 40 Independence Celebrations Committee, headed by Minister of Local Government and Community Development, Arnold Bertram, that "Jamaica has so much to be proud of", which, of course is quite true.
Bertram is a perceptive historian outside of political life. Part of the problem of perception with Independence is that we made no dramatic, fiery entry into sovereign statehood. Independence evolved. The groundwork of our freedom was laid in Emancipation, and in the labour and nationalist movements a generation before 1962. Independence was a fait accompli by 1962. Our political system and institutions of freedom and democracy under the rule of law were all substantially in place before 1962.
In a sense the Stone Poll question about whether or not we are better off in Independence is redundant. From the end of the Second World War which sapped British imperial power, although victor, and transferred superpower status to the United States and the Soviet Union, the shedding of colonies became a work-in-progress. By the 1950s Britain had become not only willing but anxious to ditch colonies. The plan for the British West Indies, which didn't work out, was for a federal independent West Indian state.
What we have made of Independence and what we can further make of it in the future are the real questions.
The UNDP Human Development Report 2002, using internationally recognised Freedom House data, scores Jamaica 2/7 for democracy and civil liberties with one being the highest possible score. The principal areas of weakness are: law and order, the rule of law, governance, and graft and corruption. And it is precisely on these points that the perception rests that the old colonial order was better than what now prevails, a perception not without merit. A sturdy framework was laid in the colonial order for freedom and democracy, law and order, and efficient public administration under the rule of law. We peacefully inherited these things, though not without flaws. There is now great concern, often unarticulated, over their erosion, hence the rising hankering for an old colonial order which the vast majority of Jamaicans do not know from experience and which could not have lasted much longer than it did.
Our fundamental rights and freedoms are anchored in Chapter III of the Independence Constitution. Those provisions have remained untouched in 40 years of Independence. For some time now, both the Government and the Opposition have been proposing versions of a Charter of Rights and Freedoms to replace this Chapter of the Constitution. There is now before the Parliament The Charter of Rights and Freedoms (Constitutional Amendment) Bill.
Every citizen should take an active interest in this Bill. Let us remember that the fundamental purpose of a constitution and of government is to protect the rights and freedoms of citizens, which they naturally have and which are not things given by the state. The constitution and the constituted government, as a servant of the constitution, restrain other citizens and the state itself from infringing these rights.
"This Bill," we are told, "incorporates all the recommendations of the Joint Select Committee which were arrived at after meeting with different interest groups." As per usual, "the Bill is available from the Clerk to the Houses of Parliament." But the Government has made a highly commendable departure from the "come and get it at Parliament if you want it" attitude by publishing in the Sunday newspapers the full text of the Bill. Some 20 per cent of the total Jamaican population, one in five, reads The Sunday Gleaner. When only the adult, post-18, population is considered, the proportion of readers probably exceeds twice 20 per cent.
So citizens can have wide access to this most important Bill through the press. There is a close link between press freedom and civil liberties. Thomas Jefferson declared a preference for a free press over Government as a basis for democratic society. And the very first Article of the 10-Article Bill of Rights attached to the US Constitution as amendments declares: "Congress shall make no law... abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press..."
TheUNDP Human Development Report 2002 rates Jamaica's press freedom at 11 out of 100, with one being the highest on a score sheet considering such things as ownership, access and government regulation. Jamaica outranks Trinidad and Tobago, Barbados, and The Bahamas -- and the United States! Surely, Jamaica 40 Committee, this is something to be proud of! We often overlook just how much is unofficially censored out of the 'free' US mainstream press by the duress of political correctness, not always subtle, and the ownership of Big Media by a handful of companies.
The Charter happily begins by setting forth the central political purpose of constitutional law, as discussed earlier, in a fine preamble.
What one might consider the traditional fundamental rights and freedoms are fully recognised: life, liberty and security of person; freedom of thought, conscience belief and observance of religious and political doctrine; freedom of expression and the right to exchange information through any media; the right to peaceful assembly and association; freedom of movement; the right to equality before the law; and freedom from discrimination.
I, however, have a serious problem with the proliferation of what one might call subsidiary rights and freedoms. Jamaica follows the precedent of international law in multiplying rights and freedoms like rabbits. The UN Declaration of Human Rights has 30 provisions. Our proposed Charter of Rights and Freedoms has 14 - 18 (depending on where one is reading from), not counting sub-sections and sub-sub-sections. It simply is not true that a multiplication by fragmentation of human rights affords any greater protection.
In any case, the key composite, universal rights and freedoms have explicit recognition in our document. The 'fine print' needs careful scrutiny and perhaps abbreviation. A Charter of Rights and Freedoms should be brisk, memorable and memorisable. I suggest that the enumerated rights, however many, be numbered rather than listed by letters of the alphabet for ease of reference.
Martin Henry is a communications consultant.
