Hoping for progress

by Peter Espeut

This is my last column before Christmas, and before the election. We are still in the joyful season of Advent - a season of hope and expectancy, where we look forward to the full maturing of the Kingdom of God, a situation where justice and peace will reign, where there is no political corruption, where poverty and unemployment will disappear, and where the right relationship between humanity and the natural environment will be restored.

It is an appropriate season for election campaigning, where we listen to the (feeble) efforts of the contenders to point Jamaica in the direction of sustainable development. I wonder if the workforce survey were done this week, whether we wouldn't find that unemployment was at the lowest level in years!

It seems that so many - especially young people - are fully employed during this election campaign, earning good money; and the fringe benefits aren't so bad either: clothes and food, and excursions all over the countryside, with music and dancing. Election campaigns seem to be a good way to redistribute wealth.

But the way we conduct election campaigns in Jamaica is a disgrace to democracy. It used to be that candidates held political meetings to advise voters of their plans, and the general public - of all political stripes - would turn out to hear and judge for themselves. Nowadays, political meetings are only for rented crowds, bedecked in shirts, caps and bandannas of the appropriate colour. Political meetings are shams of shows of strength, valued for their size and their visual impact, rather than for their inclusiveness and the quality of the discourse.

As the leaders 'tour' the countryside, they are greeted on the roadside by adoring orange/green crowds, waving flags and shouting adulation. It's somewhat like a royal visit, where crowds of waving schoolchildren line the streets as the motorcade passes.

Where is the dialogue? Where are the town meetings? When do the candidates and the party leaders face ordinary voters with tough questions? We don't have that kind of democracy in Jamaica. Politicians prefer mental slaves to thinking voters.

The campaign ads on radio and television are mostly trying to tear down the other side, and statements on how we can build Jamaica are few and far between. It's as if they are saying, "Don't vote for us: vote against the other side." It's all so negative, and so adversarial, and so tribal.

And it's all so expensive!

Campaign financing

Which brings me to the subject of campaign financing. I am happy to see Prime Minister Holness supporting full disclosure of campaign contributions and political donations, rather than confidential declarations to a secret committee, I hope he is not alone in this view. Full disclosure is the only way that the link between contributions and contracts can be broken and that political corruption in Jamaica can be brought under control.

Once the donor knows that the corruption will be discovered, he or she will probably not make the donation, and political donations will decline. Which is why Prime Minister Holness links full disclosure with public financing of political campaigns. Well, I don't make that link. I don't want taxpayers' money to go into political tourism and public shows of adulation for politicians. I believe we need to change the way we do political financing in this country, and we need to change the way we do political campaigning too - and maybe the genuine, non-corrupt political contributions can finance that.

Often in this column, I point out that our obligation is not only to pray for the coming of the Kingdom (Thy Kingdom come!), but also to work hard to build it wherever we happen to be (in our case, right here in this land and sea called Jamaica). But we know that the Kingdom cannot be built solely by human hands, no matter how holy they are.

Looking at the manifestos of the two major political parties which will face the electorate next week, we can safely say that whichever is elected, we will be some distance away from a nation where "justice and peace will reign, where there is no political corruption, where poverty and unemployment will disappear, and where the right relationship between humanity and the natural environment will be restored".

You have to first want justice and peace, badly, and an end to political corruption, and I don't think we are there yet.

Merry Christmas to all! And we hope for a better 2012!

Peter Espeut is a sociologist and Roman Catholic deacon. Email feedback to columns@gleanerjm.com.