By H.K. Billy Burke, Contributor
A colourful fountain to mark the opening of the new Independence Park in New Kingston recently. - File
IT IS impossible to foretell the future with any certainty. Ultimately it is unforeseen contingencies which affect the course of events and determine the outcome. The most we can do is extrapolate from the past, plan for the future and hope the plans will materialise as expected. This is the only reasonable course to follow.
I have been following with interest the debate about the state of Jamaica today and what it might have been if the British had remained. Many good points have been put forward on both sides and the exercise has been a healthy reconsideration of the decision made over 40 years ago. The debate is bound, however, in the nature of things, to be inconclusive.
As a person who has spent roughly half his life under colonialism and the other half under Independence, I feel that I am in a better position to form an opinion than the under-40 generation (now the majority) which knows only the latter period at firsthand.
MISGIVINGS
It was with great misgivings that I entered on the period of Independence in 1962 and I am not surprised that the majority of persons polled now feel that a mistake was made. I expected this would happen sooner or later but doubted it would be admitted. Things must be felt to be really bad now.
Much has been said with truth but I do not think it necessary to repeat any of this. Some may discount what I say as coming from someone with certain advantages which were sustained by the colonial regime. There are, however, certain aspects which have hardly been touched on which need to be mentioned.
My misgivings were based on certain cultural aspects of the Jamaican society which I considered important. In those days the British people were (and perhaps still are) basically an honest, fair-minded and honourable society with a highly developed code of behaviour and an efficient world-renowned Civil Service which was meticulous in its public dealings, leaving little room for impropriety. I regarded too many Jamaicans, on the other hand, as fundamentally dishonest with Anancy as their true National Hero.
As time has gone by the dishonesty has increased and the scandals have multiplied. This has reached the stage now where the whole social fabric is coming apart. It might have been forgiven in the days of petty thieving by persons with little or no education or home training, but today it obtains at all levels of society. Anyone could have expected this as the inevitable consequence. We will never know if the British could or would have done anything about it. It seems to me they might have kept things in check with their resources and capable governance.
The greed involved has been further exacerbated by the use of modern technology which has resulted in the acceptance of the grossly materialistic influence coming from North America. Restraint is no longer exercised in face of the temptations to own consumer goods beyond ones means, and rising expectations.
FACTORS
The second major factor which has led to the unspeakable deterioration of Jamaican society is a worldwide one among developing nations. I refer to the population explosion. Unrestricted licentious sexual behaviour and the exponential growth in population make it impossible for any government or private sector to keep up with the demands made upon them. Proper education, health services, infrastructure, full employment, water supplies and all the necessities must forever remain ramshackle and inadequate until either a world government takes such matters in hand or an acceptable way is found to limit population voluntarily or by state action.
I know that this will sound to many like a plan to kill off black people or white people or Chinese people or Indians, but the truth of the matter is simple logic. The earth and its resources are limited and cannot carry more than a limited number. So also for Jamaica. This has been a burning issue in my mind from colonial times. I feel that I have made my contribution. My father married twice and had eleven children, my wife is one of a family of thirteen. We decided to have just two. I wish others could do the same, but with a national icon who may yet become a National Hero who wanted to scatter his seed like a common-mango tree, such a hope is vain.
I hate to have to say this because so much pain and suffering would be involved, but AIDS is the only thing on the horizon which might alleviate the population situation. What might the British have done about this? Improved social conditions often lead to a fall in the birth rate and this might have been achieved.
If I am allowed I should like to close with my personal reactions to certain matters of social taste concerning which I have strong feelings. There are two items which are mentioned by most of the participants in the debate -- the positive impact Jamaica has made on the rest of the world by its sports and music.
I regard both these spheres as comparatively trivial. It means nothing in my life if one athlete beats another by a fraction of a second at a sporting event. I have never understood why people should get excited about it unless they are in the race themselves and what on earth does it matter which country they come from? If a record is broken the result is a victory for humanity not for a nation. The whole thing leaves me cold and I pity the poor country if this is all they can put forward as their claim to fame.
JAMAICAN MUSIC
Even worse, where I am concerned, is the matter of popular Jamaican music. I wonder at the rest of the world and their interest in it. It must be because it is the most barbaric thing they have ever heard. Most have never heard or seen the gigantic banks of speakers that blast the sleep of more conservative people through the night. Reggae is monotonous and uninspired enough but the Dance Hall/DJ culture, apart from its foul language, is in my opinion, the most disgusting thing called music I have heard. What an image for our beleaguered country to flaunt!
