Party of the lumpen

Don Robotham, Contributor

The party of Norman Manley is no more. The People's National Party (PNP) is now officially the party of the lumpen. They did not even have the guts to come out and vote against a state of emergency to which they were clearly opposed. Instead they 'abstained.'

How did the party which imposed the 1976 state of emergency and the Gun Court legislation without the slightest qualms come to experience their human-rights Damascus? The answer is obvious: Tivoli delenda est. Tivoli must be destroyed! The PNP tried with Rema in 1977 and failed. They tried again in 2001 - and failed again. At last, in 2010, this has been finally achieved, by a Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) government, no less. And the PNP garrisons remain gloriously intact, ready to rumble. The state of emergency has served its purpose. It has outlived its usefulness. God is great! Mission accomplished!

In the dirty gutter politics of Jamaica, the PNP now has the decisive advantage over the JLP where it counts: on the streets where the guns bark. In any coming election, which the PNP thinks it will win, the PNP lumpen are getting ready to teach the JLP a lesson it will never forget.

The JLP command and control centre is in disarray, although not destroyed. Golding is deeply unpopular among the JLP lumpen and among members of the old guard in his own Cabinet. At the same time, persons conducting research among recently incarcerated gunmen report that the word on the street among JLP criminals is the following: "Mi a bawn labourite, but a PNP mi seh."

The strategy of the PNP is an ambitious one: all the lumpen, including the JLP ones, are to be united behind the PNP banner, in much the way that Matthews Lane and other PNP garrisons came to the aid of their Tivoli brethren in 2001 and again in 2010. The JLP are to be driven out of west Kingston, Backbush, Black Ants Lane, Grants Pen, Tawes Pen, May Pen, Montego Bay and on, and on, and on. To accomplish this feat, the PNP has to fly the anti-state of emergency flag to rally the lumpen. The trumpet is sounding!

Nothing reveals the lumpen mentality of the PNP more than its proposal that detainees be released on Emancipation Day. In this warped lumpen mindset, murder and extortion suspects are the new national heroes, to be celebrated alongside Sam Sharpe, Bogle, Gordon and Garvey!

The lumpen strategy is what bore fruit in the collapse of the state of emergency last week Tuesday. PNP motives were clear. On the other hand, sections of the JLP also had their hidden agenda. The degrading of Tivoli meant clear gains for the PNP among the JLP lumpen preserve and left the party's leadership deeply worried. Hence the half-hearted and unconvincing JLP approach to the renewal of the state of emergency in Parliament. There are quite a few JLP members who are secretly thanking the PNP for bringing the emergency to an end. Once again, the lumpen on both sides have united at the expense of us all.

Who are the lumpen?

Who are these lumpen and what has given them this strength?

• The lumpen are so influential because the other stable social classes have by and large withdrawn from politics. Second, the lumpen, male and female, although substantial, are very much a minority - about 300,000, certainly no more than 15 per cent of the population.
• The lumpen are not simply the unemployed, even the long-term unemployed. The lumpen are that section of the unemployed who have never, ever, worked - not even in the informal sector. How then do they live? Go figure!
• The lumpen are an old social force in Jamaica. You can find records of them in the 19th century, especially in the social studies done by the Baptists before 1865.

One of the results of our long years of economic stagnation has been the creation not only of downtown lumpen, but of uptown lumpen as well. These are millionaires living in the hills without any visible source of income. The economy did not grow, yet their wealth has mushroomed. Many of these are in politics, especially on the JLP side, and have close links with criminal elements at home and abroad.

The lumpen are not to be confused with "the poor", for there are many lumpen among our idle rich. It's not a colour thing. This is Jamaica, so we have black lumpen and 'browning' lumpen, too! Small farmers are the poorest group in Jamaica and are the opposite of lumpen. They are hard-working people with a distinguished history of chopping up lumpen who stray into their provision grounds. Factory and agricultural workers hate the lumpen. Teachers, civil servants, nurses, policemen, soldiers are certainly not lumpen, although quite a few lumpen have taken refuge in the police force. Very few professionals are lumpen, although one may be forgiven for harbouring doubts about some among our learned defence counsel!

The achievements of the State of Emergency

Because of the state of emergency, the lumpen have been on the run, frantically hiding their guns and trying to regroup in the countryside. The battle has only just begun and will be long and arduous, but important victories have already been won. Eighty-seven fewer persons were killed in June 2010, as compared to May, a whopping 49 per cent reduction, as a result of the state of emergency. As a result of the state of emergency, 78 fewer persons were shot in June 2010, as compared to the 170 in May 2010, a reduction of 46 per cent. As a result of the state of emergency, reported rapes decreased by eight, from 48 in May 2010 to 39 in June 2010, a decrease of 23 per cent.

If we continued this trend for the additional 30 days requested by the security forces, we would have saved a total of 132 lives in just two months. One hundred and twenty fewer persons would have been shot and 18 fewer persons raped. If we kept this up for the rest of 2010, we would be down to only two murders per month in December, saving more than a thousand lives!

SHAMEFUL NONSENSE

When you hear the PNP and the human-rights brigade talking shameful nonsense about the state of emergency being a waste because only 20 persons have been charged, ask them about these lives saved which may be saved no more.

When you hear them shedding crocodile tears over the 4,000 persons detained, ask them about the more than 400,000 who have been 'detained' in garrisons and behind burglar bars all over Jamaica because of the stranglehold of the criminal lumpen.

When they say that there is no crisis justifying a state of emergency in Jamaica, point out to them that in Afghanistan where a major war is under way, the casualties are about 1,000 per year. In Jamaica, we have been at over 1,700 murders per year for years.

The political naivety in local human-rights circles and among opportunist middle-class elements in the PNP is boundless. Soon, emboldened by their victory, they will attempt to reopen the debate on the anti-crime bills, mounting constitutional challenges right up to the Privy Council level. Then, they will launch the fight against anti-racketeering legislation. Attacks on the curfews, which only yesterday they were championing as the better substitute for the state of emergency, have already begun.

The lumpen have united behind the PNP and are manipulating the daylights out of the human-rights crew and the middle-class fig leaves in the party. Civil society must also unite and act firmly in defence of the anti-crime bills and the proposed anti-racketeering legislation. Not one cent of support for human-rights groups until they come to their senses.

Dismiss the shameful posturing of the PNP! No jestering!

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