Martin Henry THE STATE has an obligation to promote universal respect for, and observance of, human rights and freedoms", begins the Preamble of the proposed Bill of Rights and Freedoms. This is the fundamental duty of the state which should be made a central election and governance issue.
"To secure- rights, Govern-ments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed", proclaims the US Declaration of Independence.
All persons are entitled to these rights and freedoms, our Charter says, "by virtue of their inherent dignity as persons and citizens of a free and democratic society." Rights and freedoms are "inherent," not given and taken by the state. The business of the state is to protect the enjoyment of these rights and freedoms equally for all persons for all men are created equal and are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights.
Jamaicans are largely treated by our leaders and aspiring leaders as voters, consumers, taxpayers, workers, or some other uni-dimensional category. We are first and foremost 'citizens,' that is, persons with the equal right to all others to participate in the life of the polity, to enjoy equal rights and freedoms and equal protection under the law, and with obligations "to respect the rights of others and to strive for the promotion and observance" the rights of others, as the Charter Preamble says.
Jamaica has always had serious rights and freedoms problems. The society was formed in slavery when the majority of the population did not even enjoy the most basic right of self-ownership on which all other rights depend. Emancipation was intended to take care of that. The injustices and divisions of post-Emancipation society denied the majority of the population basic rights and freedoms such as freedom from discrimination, and for a long time restrictions upon the freedom of association such as trade unions. Then when unions were legally possible, the enforcement of membership. I raise this particular example because Jamaica's political formation was linked to the close-shop anti-freedom stance of old trade unionism.
Independence offered a New Beginning for rights and freedoms. Chapter III of the Independence Constitution set out "Fundamental Rights and Freedoms" and have remained un-amended up till now. The new Government was keenly conscious of the urgent need to transform the wrongs of history into the rights of Independence and laid out elaborate plans to do so in the Five Year Independence Plan, 1963-1967.
The man behind that Plan is now speaking in old age of his frustration in politics from unfulfilled hopes and dreams, while time is running out. Citizens too are frustrated and disappointed. When we are not confused by the rhetoric of economic growth and development and of the delivery of scarce benefits to our interest group, our deepest frustrations and disappointments are over the threats to life, liberty and the security of the person. We are frustrated and disappointed by the constrictions of our freedom of movement by crime and violence and the injustices of the law enforcement and justice system.
We are frustrated and disappointed by the infringement of our rights and freedoms to participate productively in the economic life of our own society in peace and safety, to seek our own wealth and happiness. The principal manifestation of our frustration and disappointment is the perennial cry for jobs (which from years of brainwashing too many now believe that the Government should provide).
FEAR OF CRIME
The debasement of our currency and Government-caused inflation by printing money for scarce benefits is seldom seen for what it in fact is: a fundamental breaching of our rights and freedoms by the state itself pledged to protect these rights and freedoms as its primary duty. The creation and protection of sound money is a fundamental issue for this election campaign and the future.
Crime, and more so the fear of crime, has ravaged our economic rights and freedoms constricting our opportunities and entrepreneurship which are as basic elements of a "free and democratic society" as is political participation. Political and economic rights and freedoms are inseparably entwined. Government has no more basic duty than maintaining law and order for the enjoyment of personal rights and freedoms.
UWI criminologist Anthony Harriott, in his current Gleaner series on crime is reporting Professor Al Francis of the Department of Economics, UWI, estimating the economic cost of violent crime at six per cent of GDP. Professor Francis has no means of measuring the real costs of forgone economic opportunities and crippled entrepreneurship. His instruments can only estimate the dollar value of the crime burden on the existing crime-enfeebled economy.
The erosion of property rights is a cause of frustration and disappointment. To begin with, Government-induced, avoidable inflation savages wealth. And everybody who owns anything at all with a currency value suffers.
"Hold down tek way" taxation, at one of the highest levels in CARICOM, cramps wealth formation and capital formation for investment through savings. Government is often a robber, appropriating more than is fair and giving less than is due. Taxation and revenue expenditure are rights and freedom issues and political issues for the first election of the 21st century.
Parliamentary democracy has been forged in the furnace of tax riots: Magna Carta and Westminster, The Boston Tea Party and the American Declaration of Independence, Jamaican 1999 Gas Tax Riots; and Parliament has emerged as the place for the peaceful democratic settlement of these rights and freedoms issues rather than rioting in the streets. The parties and persons aspiring to Parliament should be forced to declare on fundamental rights and freedoms issues.
The failure of the state to protect against infringements of property rights by others is the other side of the coin in the erosion of property rights. From the breakdown of zoning regulations to noise pollution; from the failure to curb praedial larceny, extortion rackets and squatting to the blockading of stores by street vendors, citizens are left at the mercy of their fellow citizens by a delinquent state. These rights and freedoms issues must be placed on the agenda of this election campaign. The next Government should be shaped by these fundamental issues in a 'free and democratic state' and should face an aroused new citizenry conscious of its inherent rights and freedoms.
Martin Henry is a communications consultant.
