THE EDITOR, Sir:
WHILE IT is important to count our blessings, to recount our solid achievements and to gain from these a measure of drive and motivation to move forward we must make sure that we are using the correct terms of reference in our evaluation.To arrive at a correct assessment of our progress we must determine the extent to which the examples of so-called development and progress are directly or indirectly related to the fact of our political emancipation and independence. In other words, what aspects of our present development would not have been realised if our colonial masters were still present.
A case in point would be the Cayman Islands. How do we compare with the Cayman Islands, for example, which have remained a British colony for the last 40 years since our independence? Could you imagine a colonialist in this 21st century trying to run a colony in the western hemisphere efficiently and profitably without the use of technologies such as cellular phones and computers? It seems clear to me that the shrewd colonialist would employ the use of modern technology including cellular phones and computers if he were to run an efficient operation.
He would therefore, create an elite class of slaves, a glorified house slave, if you will, to be able to utilise the these features of modern technology. You would therefore have had more slaves participating in some level of the technological progress of the colonial masters. The "slave mentality" would, however, have been pervasive across all classes of slaves as would be evidenced by their dependence on the colonialists to set the social and economic agendas including those things from which they derived their sense of worth and value.
Any assessment of real progress must, therefore, be with reference to the extent to which we are able to construct and pursue a social and economic paradigm which guarantees the human rights and freedoms of the proletariat within our society in order that they may achieve their fullest potential as human beings. Therefore, it is more instructive to talk about progress in relation to where we ought to be going (that is, our long-term objective and plan) rather than in relation to where we have been in the past. Without this frame of reference talk about progress may not amount to much more than pleasant sounding rhetoric.
I submit that the best evidences of our progress since independence are to be seen in our popular music and the Rastafarian sub-culture without its religious overtones. For, herein we find expressions of our perceptions and experience of our environment and the wider world which are uniquely ours.
It is hardly likely that these would have been tolerated by our colonial masters, let alone allowed to flourish as they have since our independence. We have not been afraid to promote these as uniquely ours and to confidently and relentlessly offer them to the rest of the world. The world has now begun to take note of these and indeed, has recognised their economic and social value to the extent that we are in danger of losing out big time on these intellectual properties or commodities if we do not move swiftly to protect our interests.
I am, etc.,
D.E. RICHARDS
cardir@cwjamaica.com
11 Earls Court
Kingston 8
Via Go-Jamaica
