By Don Robotham, ContributorIN THE despair around the intractability of our economic and social problems, we encounter two equally useless responses. The first is a deeply conservative nostalgia, often to be found in the light-skinned upper levels of the society and politically associated with the JLP.
The second is a defensive and self-deluding cultural insularity-primarily associated with the black middle class and their political instrument - the PNP.
It is mental laziness of the worst sort to bask in a false nostalgia for some fantastic "good old colonial days" in which economic and social problems vanish and manna falls from some imaginary British heaven. Many of those saying that life in Jamaica was better in the colonial days were not even alive in that period!
Likewise for the insular ones. This group, too, wants to dwell only on the past - but this time on our achievements. Why all this constant harping on the negative? 'We should emphasise the positive' is their self-interested refrain. Remember the good old days of the great and venerable Miss Lou when: Not a stone was fling/not a samfie sting/Not a soul gwan bad an lowrated/Not a fight bruk out, not a bad-wud shout/As Independence was celebrated. [From Independence by Louise Bennett]
Of course, we should more than honour Miss Lou. But all this hankering for the past, from right and left, is unhealthy. The question is: Will nostalgia or insularity help us to address our very real problems of the present, much less the future in which the shouting of bad words is the least of our problems.
OUR ACHIEVEMENTS
Before we discuss what Jamaican can be and how to get there, let us reflect on some of our past achievements, many of which are now at risk. Before 1957 (when we became responsible for most of our internal affairs), there was practically no black professional class, much less black bourgeoisie. The studies of the late Derek Gordon showed conclusively that the present Jamaican black and brown middle class arose out of the educational and health and welfare reforms and the expansion of the state apparatus by the Norman Manley regime.
The improvement in the health status of the general population after 1957 and since 1962 has also been immense.
But our achievements are also economic, current problems notwithstanding. For example, the tourist industry was frowned upon by the British (too American and 'Syrian'!) and was artificially restricted to a minuscule size. Yes, sugar and banana exports were considerably larger than today but was that a sign of economic progress or backwardness?
One of the greatest achievements of Jamaica since political independence has been in the area of race relations. Any foreigner coming to Jamaica is struck immediately by this fact.
In Jamaica, black culture rules. Not exclusively, but predominantly. And it is a most irrepressible and potent version of black culture too possibly the most potent in the entire African and African diasporic world. In Jamaica, although we still have a long way to go (hair straighteners, skin-lightening creams and chicken pills have experienced resurgence), by and large black people do not defer. Rather, black Jamaican self-assertiveness is legendary. This Jamaican personality is a remarkable thing. Something to marvel at and treasure without doubt. Of course, it famously has its coarse, ginnal and criminal side as well. The other economically dominant ethnic groups have had to deal with this reality of black Jamaican assertiveness, or to migrate. Actually, even the British used to remark on it in the colonial days. It has been a painful process for many and, to the credit of most, the ethnic minorities in Jamaica are more and more joining this mainstream of black Jamaican culture, making their own unique contributions to our evolving national culture.
GLOBALISATION
All these achievements are in the past and are now at grave risk of collapsing. One would have to be blind indeed not to see that today we are facing very grave economic, social and moral problems. What is the root of these problems and how can they be overcome? Our basic problem is this: like many other countries, we have an economy, society, morality, political culture and mindset adapted to the world as it was in 1962 (or even 1972 and 1982) but not for 2003. Not to mention 2023. Neither nostalgia nor insularity can help us here.
The global economy, as it exists today, dominates every single national economy to a greater or lesser degree, great as well as small. Whether it be Britain, Germany, France, Ireland, the United States, Brazil, South Africa or Jamaica, all sink or swim to the extent that they are competitive in this global marketplace. For example, the United States has developed an enormous trade deficit with China. One result of this is that China is now a major owner of United States Government securities. There is a great outcry beginning in the developed world over the export of high-paying, high-skilled jobs to India, Malaysia, Taiwan and China. And China has just begun to enter the world market. India too is just entering the global market and Africa is yet to come. The competition is in-evitably going to get more, not less global. It's the global, not the local, stupid, as former President Clinton might have said!
CHALLENGE TO NATIONALISM
AND NOSTALGIA
This reality poses a great psychological, ideological and policy challenge to nationalism of every kind, including Jamaican nationalism. Nationalism is, after all, a kind of nostalgia. Neo-colonial nostalgia is equally if not more moribund. For example, it is obvious that in the intensity of global competitiveness free market dogma will be suicidal. Assistance for the private sector from a technically strong, efficient and knowledgeable state which understands how to play this global market, will be decisive. Likewise, in today's context, self-reliance is exactly what we do not need in Jamaica! Away with 'tun yu han mek fashion!' We have to focus, focus, focus on the global, if we are even to hold on to our local market, even if we are not exporters.
This is a bitter pill for many to swallow. It is sacrilege. To some it seems to be a denial of the most basic principles of national and personal self-worth. Others see the global simply as a cornucopia - an opportunity for unheard of hedonism and consumption-mania. By and large the latter has been the dominant tendency in Jamaica - to go for the bling bling.
Globalisation does not deny the national; in fact, it facilitates the expansion and development of it. What globalisation denies is a narrow, inward-looking and static version of the national - the folk museum version. There is no doubt: that version of the national is doomed everywhere. The point is to have a dynamic notion of our culture as a really living and constantly developing force. We are a part of a worldwide global human culture not in our own private orbit in outer space. We must, as we are in fact inclined to do in our popular culture, constantly innovate, not simply regurgitate tired formulae from the past. We must assert our creativity globally not just locally.
Change, including radical change, is an inherent part of any culture which is not confined to the museum. Likewise for borrowing from other cultures, near and far, as we should know more than other peoples. The point is to understand that our national experience is a branch of a broader human experience which is universal. The point is to present what derives from our national experience and talents in such a manner that others in the world will appreciate and be attracted to it. We must be more forward- and outward-looking open to 'alien' influences which can enrich us immensely, just as our culture enriches others. Giving as we get.
This requires authenticity and deep creativity, not twanging and kowtowing like clowns. The point is to appreciate one's own as part of a larger whole to be able to appreciate one's own culture in the context of what other cultures and peoples have achieved and will continue to achieve. And to make our distinctive creative contributions to this evolving world whole. In other words, mutual authenticity and mutual development on a world scale. We must not be afraid to get on board this ship it's called humanity! We must not make this global marketplace into some kind of monster. On the contrary, it is an invaluable signal system and mode of human integration. We must go forth boldly and intelligently and make out global mark.
Our economic, social and moral potential is enormous, if we think and act globally. This requires radical changes in our education system and our media and information systems more generally our entire mentality and sense of self.
Don Robotham is an anthropologist who specialises in development issues in the Caribbean and West Africa.
