WE FREQUENTLY remind ourselves that most of the present Jamaican population have only the vaguest knowledge of World War II and the historical personalities who were a part of it; but, given his age, we presume that the Most Honourable P.J. Patterson, our Prime Minister, does not fall into this category.
We are surprised and not a little disappointed that in an attempt to put down the Farquharson Institute of Public Affairs for calling for the removal from office of Finance Minister Dr. Omar Davies, the Prime Minister questioned the membership strength of the Institute and quoted Mussolini as asking how many troops does the Pope have? The Prime Minister seems to be saying that he need pay scant attention to recommendations coming from the Farquharson Institute because it has little or no power, implying that it is power rather than the merits of the recommendations which might move him to make decisions about public policy.
The reference is particularly inept because in the analogy it seeks to make, Mr. Patterson is equating himself to Mussolini and the Farquharson Institute to the church of Rome. We need to remind the Prime Minister that in World War II, Benito Mussolini, the Italian dictator and founding member of the Fascist coterie, was an ally and friend of Adolf Hitler. He died an ignominious death while the Papacy, denominational allegiances aside, remains the moral centre of Christianity.
If Mr. Patterson's analogy was referring to strength of numbers, rather than power per se, we again remind him that the population of Italy is 58 million whereas the worldwide membership of the Roman Catholic Church is over a billion. We do not wish to blow Mr. Patterson's remarks out of proportion but they could well be considered insensitive by Jamaican Catholics and by members of the Rastafarian faith who remember that it was Mussolini who, prior to World War II, invaded Ethiopia in an attempt to overthrow Haile Selassie.
The Farquharson Institute is a venerable organisation which has been outspoken on public affairs for over 80 years, reaching the height of its membership and influence under the direction of the erudite H.P. Jacobs, an English liberal who became an icon in his day and is buried in Jamaica. Although the Institute's strength in terms of numbers and influence may now be weaker than hitherto, its recommendations, we suggest, should be judged on their merits and not on the basis of some spurious historical comparison.
THE OPINIONS ON THIS PAGE, EXCEPT FOR THE ABOVE, DO NOT NECESSARILY REFLECT THE VIEWS OF THE GLEANER.
