Out of Many One People?

I can think of few mottoes that express a more noble sentiment. From the melange of peoples cast upon her shores, by means foul and fair, Jamaica commits herself to forging a united nation. It will surprise very few people to learn that a considerable lacuna exists between the aspiration and the comtemporary reality. Sadly, we have a very limited view of the degree to which the notion of Jamaicanness ought to be extended to the majority of our supposed fellow citizens. We have evolved a political structure that extracts the votes of the poor through the provision of goodies at election time and then abandons them to face unconscionable violence and privations of every sort immediately thereafter. The sort of sustained improvements in access to education and jobs which might ameliorate the lot of the Jamaican majority have simply not been forthcoming from the governments formed by either political party. What is more, the security organs of the state, supposedly the servants of the Jamaican people, often function as a sort of colonial gendarmerie, subjecting the masses to the cruellest and most peremptory treatment. In short, the experience of most Jamaicans for the 45 years of the country's independent life, has confirmed the old paradigm of the plantation: only a small number of the whole really counts. This subset is now larger than it was in the past, and the importance placed on gradations in colouration, whilst not entirely disappeared, is thankfully much diminished. The Jamaican leader that performed the vital task of healing this divide would earn the justified approbation of posterity, for they would have given real meaning to the aspiration inherent in our motto. It was due to her apparent suitability for this role that I, and many other Jamaicans, entertained such high hopes for Prime Minister Portia Simpson-Miller.
Not only was she the island's first female Prime Minister, an important reflection of the enormous importance of women in the national life, Mrs. Simpson-Miller arose from the long-neglected majority, bringing them, literally, to the centre of Jamaican affairs. Given the latter fact, much of the opposition to her ascent to the posts of President of the People's National Party and Prime Minister rested on middle-class prejudice. This category is wonderfully elastic in Jamaica, including the very rich alongside the traditional sort of white-collar professionals, etc. In general the dividing line can be discerned by certain linguistic markers: middle-class Jamaicans are comfortable in English, they speak it freely, without a need to concentrate to get it right. They also do not have a capricious relationship with the letter 'h', for example, dropping it in some instances and adding it in others where it does not belong. Much hilarity ensues for members of the middle-class when these and other malapropisms are committed by members of the lower orders. Arising from this ridiculous vestige of the colonial past, many fretted about the supposed embarrassment that would result from having the lady represent us in international forums. Her more hopeful supporters hoped that, with the requisite effort on her part, Mrs. Simpson-Miller could finally overturn the paradigm of the plantation by making her goverment one that truly served the majority.
Her inaugural address on becoming Prime Minister was extremely encouraging. She dedicated herself to ensuring that the rights of the majority would be respected, and that prejudice against persons based on their colour, or their degree of education, would be ended. The roughly eighteen months of her tenure were instead marked by a sort of torpor in which there was a real perception that no one was at the helm. Very little was achieved, and what one saw was a government that was exhausted, out of ideas after nearly two decades in power. As far as her personal performance was concerned, the Prime Minister seemed not to have worked sufficiently hard to be adequately informed to function effectively at her job. This failure, wedded to her acknowledged weakness as a debater, made her a poor leader of her party in the House of Representatives.
In the election campaign that had been meant to lead up to an original poll date of the 27th of August, since delayed to the 3rd of September by Hurricane Dean, the Prime Minister and her party have often seemed to be on the wrong foot. Shifting messages, poor debate performances and an overriding desire for change on the part of the electorate have put the PNP in jeopardy of defeat. Their lone salvation is an abiding personal fondness for Mrs. Simpson-Miller on the part of the majority and some doubts about the Leader of the Opposition, Bruce Golding, arising from the fact that he had left the Jamaica Labour Party to establish the New Democratic Movement due, in considerable part to the frustration of his leadership aspirations and his desire for reform of the national constitution. Jamaicans, who often bequeath political allegiances to their offspring, find the notion of leaving one's party, and returning to it, anathema. No Winston Churchill for them! Up until the arrival of Hurricane Dean polls were suggesting a wave of support for the JLP, placing them either within the margin for error, or perhaps moving clearly ahead of the PNP. It remains to be seen whether the pause induced by the hurricane will have caused this wave to crest, or whether the shambolic performance of the government, including a botched state of emergency (more about which later) will cement their fate and no amount of appeals that "Mamma P" is on the way, nor claims that her premiership is divinely ordained will save the PNP.
The job of uniting the Jamaican people lies undone. Our first female Prime Minister has made the task harder by raising and dashing the expectations of some and by apparently justifying the prejudices of others,