Cedric Wilson, Guest ColumnistMarcus Garvey's abiding relevance some 119 years after his birth is both a source of amazement and a reservoir of inspiration.
Long before Bob Marley militantly shook his locks and chanted Redemption Song, Garvey spoke about the black man's emancipation from mental slavery. Long before Michael Manley raised a defiant fist in the air and called for a new international economic order, Garvey dreamt of a strong, dynamic black national economy.
Garvey's paramount concern in his day was to lift up the fallen African, scattered throughout the world, to a place of pride, power and prestige. But while he sought to achieve this objective through several vehicles, he recognised that the transformation of the black mindset and taking charge of forces economic were critical in this pursuit.
Today the question must be asked: Why after 44 years of Independence, Jamaica, a land full of potential, still languishes as a lower middle-income economy? Why with all the brilliance of Jamaican people is there still a vast difference in income between the mass people at the base of the society and those at the top? Why with all the resources available the country still struggles to achieve even moderate levels of growth?
Faith in the market
A big part of this goes back to the issues of the mindset and economics. Economics, to a large extent, is a massive superstructure constructed on the substructure of human psychology. No bank, regardless of how impressive its balance sheet, can survive, without external support, a collapse in the confidence of its savers.
No market-driven currency, not even the mighty U.S. dollar, can escape a catastrophic depreciation in its value if people have lost faith in it. The market which, in essence, is an interaction between demand and supply is only as good as the consumer's belief in the commodity. If a rational consumer, for whatever reason, loses faith in a product - demand vanishes, then inevitably supply will crumble and before you know it, the market simply evaporates. The link between the mindset and economics is inseparable. This did not go unnoticed in Garvey's powerful eclectic philosophy.
Garvey's writings point to three important dimensions of a strong, independent economy. First, he considered ownership of business enterprises to be critical. Indeed, a number of Caribbean economists have expressed this view. Trinidadian William Demas, who was once one of the region's foremost theoretical integrationists, argued that one of the main causes of economic dependence in the Caribbean is foreign ownership of key sectors of the economy.
Second, Garvey saw the need for productive engagement of the labour force. While addressing the members of his Universal Negro Improvement Association (UNIA) movement in the U.S. in 1919, Garvey declared, "We must put up factories in all the great manufacturing centres of this country, to give employment to thousands of men and women."
Third, he was aware of the fact that there were tremendous benefits to be gained from trade. Garvey envisioned an enterprise of global proportions involving trade with "not only our people in America, the West Indies and Africa, but the people of China ... India ... South and Central America and even the white man."
Black-owned businesses
It is interesting that Garvey was not merely a man of ideas, but he was also a man of action. He, therefore, sought to implement his concept of a vibrant economy of black-owned businesses. It is evident that Garvey rejected the notion that there was a shortage of capital within the black community that would limit the development of black business in a country, at the time, deeply steeped in racial prejudice.
There is an African proverb which says something to the effect that "the villagers might be poor, but collectively the village is not poor."
By the early 1920s, Garvey's UNIA had established an impressive array of black businesses which included laundries, restaurants, trucking services and, most important, the shipping firm, the Black Star Line (BSL). In fact, he stunned his critics when in a mere three months he raised enough money, from bonds sold for five dollars each, to buy the BSL's first ship, the SS Yarmouth.
By the mid-1920s, the UNIA business venture had chalked up massive losses. Many critics have been quick to blame the failure on Garvey's autocratic style, his elevation of politics over practical business decisions and his propensity to esteem loyalty above competence.
Psyche and economics
However, it may be argued that even without those weaknesses, the odds were stacked too high against Garvey for this enterprise to succeed. Garvey's radical race ideas were viewed by the authorities as extreme and dangerous. He was seen as a security threat and, as such, the Federal Bureau of Investigation infiltrated the movement with the objective of discrediting the leader.
In addition, at the second tier of leadership with the movement, there is evidence of corruption. Joshua Cockburn, the black captain of the Yarmouth, is said to have made the UNIA purchase the ship for six times more than its actual value in order to get a kickback from the transaction.
Yet, when all is said and done, the power of Garvey's idea which brings to the forefront the inextricable connection between the psyche and economics must not be overlooked. Certainly, the audacity and the symbolism of the Black Star Line must be celebrated beyond a verbal recognition that it was no ordinary undertaking.
There is enough wealth within Jamaica for private ownership to take over the key sectors of the economy and generate attractive surpluses. With the correct mindset, sufficient business can be profitably developed to reduce the levels of unemployment significantly. There is adequate global demand for the goods the country produces to substantially raise the income level of a population of 2.7 million people.
Cedric Wilson is an economics consultant who specialises in market regulations. Send your comments to: conoswil@hotmail.com.
