Jamaica's Double Jubilee 2012

Double Jubilee

2012 is indeed a special year marked with many different festivities all around the world.  This year some countries such as Trinidad/Tobago and Uganda are celebrating their Golden Jubilees as independent nations having gained full sovereignty in 1962 while at the same time Commonwealth Realms are celebrating the Diamond Jubilee of Queen Elizabeth II who ascended the throne 60 years ago in 1952. Jamaica however has the unique distinction of being the only country in the world to be celebrating both occasions at the same time, so in other words you could say that this is a year of double jubilee for us. This year has been marked by many different events and festive occasions all throughout the year some of them included, the Jubilee year kick-off on the water front of Kingston Harbour on New Year’s Day,  The visit By His Royal Highness Prince Henry of Wales in March, a host of activities taking place island wide  both during  Central weekend (which is the anniversary of the Queen’s coronation) in June and  “Emancipendence “week (celebrating both Emancipation and Independence)  from August 1 to August 6,  The Jamaica Defence Force Military Tattoo, held roughly around the same time as the Jubilee weekend armed forces parade in London, National Heroes Day ceremonies in mid-October as well as special presentations of Jubilee medals held throughout the year.

                                              

 The Fact that we are celebrating both occasions at the same time only goes to underscore the special relationship that we as Jamaicans have with our monarchy and with our Queen, highlighting the cultural values heritage and achievements of this great nation coupled with a celebration of the Queen’s unbroken 60 years of service to her people is about as patriotic as one can get  as this truly highlights the best of both worlds of all that is truly Jamaican in us. I  find it disheartening that republicans particularly those in government who swore to uphold the constitution are taking issue with the double celebration, their excuse is that 50 years is too long to remain a monarchy and so “time come” for a republic, what kind of logic is that? I did not know that our constitution had a 50 year warranty on it, I would very much like for someone to show me that clause. I cannot for the life of me see why these people so keen to push the issue and their only justification for it is “time come” time for what? I must ask .

50 years of independence means 50 years of constitutional monarchy as was enshrined in our 1962 constitution, 50 years of democratic stability which remains uninterrupted by a major coup or revolution all of which happened during the reign of our present Queen who as reigned well for the last 60 years over the people of Jamaica and other countries within the British Commonwealth of Nations. Why in the world would anyone want to throw that down the toilet now? It’s not broke, so why “fix” it? 

                                    

This year of jubilee should be about celebrating the past and looking to the future, it should be about reconnecting ourselves with our heritage and everything that makes us Jamaican and while I’m on that point let me state categorically that there is nothing authentically Jamaican or patriotic about a republic there is no historical or cultural basis for establishing that system here for ‘We Jamaicans are not natural republicans’ as Sir Howard Cooke rightly puts it. Monarchy on the other hand according to former Tourism minister Anthony Abrahams “has been etched in the Jamaican Psyche”.  And such it is quite fitting the Golden Jubilee of our independence should be celebrated in the same year as Her Majesty’s Diamond Jubilee, Governor-General Sir Patrick Allen calls it the irony of history.

  The connection between the Jubilees is too hard not to notice, this coincidence is not to seen as  one of conflict but to be taken as a sign of how much the monarchy means to us on this our 50^th year of independence and why we should do everything we can to preserve it. God Bless Jamaica Land we Love and God Save the Queen. 

The Honours System: Then and Now

Last Weekend Jamaica celebrated another important patriotic holiday, this time it was National Heroes day which usually celebrated on the third Monday in October, the week leading up to that day is normally called National Heritage week is a time of celebration where we showcase the best of both historical and contemporary Jamaican culture, this period is the second most patriotic holiday period on the Jamaican calendar overshadowed only by the Emancipation-Independence ("Emancipendence") festival in the summer . National Heroes Day is famous for two things in particular the first of course as the name suggest has to do with our National Heroes, the big seven who among the most famous Jamaicans immortalised for all time, the second thing that Heroes Day is known for is the spectacular Kings House Parade followed by the handing out of National Awards by the Governor-General and this is where I want to zoom in on. These Honours and Awards handed out are part of the Jamaican honours system which was created in 1969 via the National Honours and Awards Act which was created to copy and replace the British Honours system, in order to better understand it let’s do a quick overview of the British System before moving on. The British are famous for their award of knighthoods and other titles of nobility, these awards and knighthoods fall into varying degrees. At the very top of this system is the Order of the Garter, founded in 1348 by King Edward III, this Order consist of the Monarch, the Prince of Wales and no more than 24 knights, other members of both the British Royal Family and foreign royal families are included as extra knights not counted among the 26, the Garter has the distinction of the being the oldest existing and most prestigious order of Chivalry in the World. Next comes the Order of the Thistle, the actual date of its founding is rather ambiguous as some sources claimed that it was founded in 1687, other sources trace it’s foundations back as early as 1540, it’s level precedence is also in doubt, Many Scots are of the view that the Thistle is the equivalent of the Garter however many outside Scotland place the Thistle lower in precedence, the Order of the Thistle is normally awarded to Scots or Scottish descended persons. The Order of the Bath falls next on the list, Originally founded as a military order in 1725 by King George I, it now consist of two distinct divisions, civil and military, both branches consist of three grades, Knights Grand Cross (GCB), Knights Commander (KCB) and Companions (CB). .

The Order of Merit was created in 1902 by King Edward VII was designed to award extraordinary achievements in science, the arts or even the military, this Order though it comes with no title is still highly coveted and consist of a limit of 24 members from all over the Commonwealth. The Order of St Michael and St George is one many Jamaicans should be familiar with since every Governor-General since independence has been a member , this Order was founded in 1818 and is used to honour persons who have served with distinction in the British Foreign service or in service to the Commonwealth. The next order on the list is the Royal Victorian Order, this award was founded by Queen Victoria and is the Queen’s personal gift to reward those who have served the Queen in a personal capacity, three of Jamaica’s six governors-general are members of this Order. And finally we have the Order of the British Empire, this order created in 1917 by King George V should be familiar to older generations of Jamaicans as many distinguished Jamaicans were inducted into it prior to the Honours and Awards Act, it consist of 5 classes, Knights Grand Cross (GBE), Knights Commander (KBE), Commander (CBE), Officer (OBE) and Member (MBE), this Order consist of hundreds of members and is given to folks from all walks of life.

The Jamaican Honours System was created in 1969 as was said above in order to replace the “Colonial system”, the National Honours and Awards act originally created 4 Orders. The Order of National Hero is the Oldest and Highest honour, created for those who have served the people of Jamaica in a most distinguished fashion, many persons do not know that the concept of National Hero actually predates the creation of the Order, the first person so named was civil rights activist Marcus Garvey in 1964, later Morant Bay rebellion leaders Paul Bogle and George William Gordon were also given this designation, after the Order of National Heroes was formalised in 1969 four other persons, Sir Alexander Bustamante, Norman Manley, Samuel Sharpe and the legendary Maroon leader Nanny were added to the list. There have been proposals from time to time that more persons should be added to the list including cultural icons such as Bob Marley and Louise Bennett, the topic is still a controversial one to this very day. The Order of Merit was the second order created; this is more or less a "Jamaicanised" version of the British Order of Merit, it consists of no more than 15 living members and all members are styled as Right Honourable. The Order of Jamaica is possibly the most well-known Order in the honours system, it was created to be an equivalent to the Knighthood classes of the Orders of the Bath, St Michael and St George and the British Empire, although unlike those orders, members of the Order of Jamaica are awarded the style of Honourable (Hon) rather than Sir or Dame, this is mainly the fault of pro-republican elements in Jamaica’s political elite who claim that the use of such titles is too “colonial” even if the initials OJ fall behind it, this is stark contrast to other Caribbean countries such as Barbados, St Lucia and Antigua who have incorporated titles of knighthoods as part of their indigenous honours system with little fuss. The Final Order as was created in the Original Act is the Order of Distinction, this order of chivalry is divided into two classes, Commander (CD) and Officer (OD), this Order was created to equate with the lower non-knighthoods ranks of the Orders of the Bath, St Michael and St George and the British Empire. The National Honours and Awards act officially banned Jamaicans except the Governor-General from taking knighthoods from the British Government even though in truth it was the Jamaican Government and not the British who had recommended Jamaicans to receive such honours prior to that time, This ban does not apply to the Royal Victorian Order since it is the Queen’s personal gift with no political interference involved.

After 1969 two new awards were added, these are the Order of the Nation and the Order of Excellence. The Order of the Nation was created in 1973 when Florizel Glasspole was made Jamaica’s third Governor-General; the Prime Minister at the time Michael Manley was very pro-republican in his orientation and decided to create this new Order so as to compensate the Governor-General for not being knighted, he hoped that that a head of State who was not knighted by the Queen would make the transition to a republic easier, fortunately this never came to pass and after losing the 1980 elections the new Prime Minister Edward Seaga immediately recommended a knighthood for Glasspole. Regardless it was still a recognized part of the Jamaican honours system but limited only to Governors-General, that changed in 2002 when then Prime Minister P.J. Patterson decided to award himself the honour along with the style “Most Honourable” he also did the same for all former Prime Ministers and Governors-General, his excuse for doing so was that the title “Right Honourable” sounded too British and he wanted different title that sounded more Jamaican and so he created that style, this was of course a blatant lie, in truth the title “Most Honourable” is just as British in origin as “Right Honourable” , however it is used only by Marquises in British peerage and as such is very rare but not none existent. The order of Excellence was created in 2003 and is equivalent to the Order of the Nation but is awarded only to foreign heads of State and government; it currently has only three members Thabo Mbeki, former South African President, Jayaka Kikwete,President of Tanzania and His Majesty King Juan Carlos of Spain

Why I Support the Jamaican Monarchy

I note with interest the Comments made by British Lord Chancellor Kenneth Clarke concerning the proposed constitutional reforms the government is determined to have pushed through without the consent of a public referendum concerning the Final Court of Appeal and what type of state we should have. Regarding the CCJ Lord Clarke was adamantly clear that the United Kingdom will not try to influence the government to act in one way or another, that the choice was totally up to the Jamaican people and that the UK will abide whatever the decision we choose to make while concerning the monarchy he uttered similar sentiments of non-interference by the British while at the same time alluding to the fact that if the Government chooses to become a republic then it will not alter our relations with the Cameron-led government in the United Kingdom. Personally I share the sentiments of the Lord Chancellor for it demonstrates that the choice is completely in our hands and that we are truly independent which is precisely what I have been saying all along, contrary to the erroneous propaganda being put out by activist in favour of a republic

My rationale for supporting the Retention of the Queen is not so much about retaining colonial links but rather more about the fact that it has been proven over and over again that constitutional monarchy is a better form of government compared to republican styled system, even the Prime Minister herself was quoted as saying that within the monarchical system of government there are many areas for emulation as Jamaica pursues the path towards sustainable development. It is quite clear from this sentiment that Mrs. Simpson Miller knows perfectly well that the state being a monarchy is in no way a barrier to our independence and development that begs the question, why then is the government pursuing this agenda of ripping apart our sacred independence constitution bequeathed to us by our founding fathers?, why divert time and resources into this crusade when it will have no real impact on the life of the average Jamaican in their daily lives?.

Constitutional Monarchy has absolutely nothing to do with colonialism, it is about the authority of state being vested in hereditary ruler and exercised by elected officials and state agencies for the good of the people it was designed to serve. Monarchy has been known to be a source of political stability in many countries around the world in fact according to the Economist Intelligence Unit Democracy Index Top Ten Most Democratic countries 7 out of 10 were Parliamentary Monarchies so obviously that says something, even the Head of the World’s Most popular presidential system seems to agree when he made this famous quote last year “ We could lose our AAA credit rating because we don’t have a AAA political system to match” this implies that President Obama seems to think that the Presidential System which he heads and by extension Presidential Republics in general are far from being AAA class.


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My position is that becoming a republic simply for the sake of it is pointless. Many of my critics will no doubt point out to me that majority of the countries in the world are republics, but anyone who has bothered to research the histories of even half of them will find that these countries became republics either by popular revolts against an unjust absolute monarch or by an illegal coup d’état against their constitutional sovereign or in some cases they were established as a republic from the very beginning and were never a realm in the first place, Jamaica falls into none of the above categories and as such a republic totally unnecessary at this time. Other advocates of republicanism claim that their system provides for greater democracy of course the statistics quoted above from the Democracy Index already disproved that argument but still I really must contest that line of reasoning as it is a known fact that many republics such especially in Europe and Latin America have laws designed to protect the republic and make it a treasonable offence to advocate for the establishment or restoration of monarchy generally republicans have no problem but should the shoe be on the other foot, then all the republicans and liberals will come complaining about how despotic and tyrannical Kings and Queens are why they should be gotten rid of, clearly the playing field is not level here.

Again to reiterate I am not promoting the return to colonialism nor am I advocating for the establishment of absolute monarchism which could only bring arbitrary government, I only wish to see our Constitutional Monarchy and Westminster Style Democracy preserved in a Sovereign, Independent Jamaica and I am simply calling for all my fellow patriots to help to Protect, Preserve and Defend the Constitution of Jamaica written by the people, of the people and for the people.

PM's Empty Conference Speech

I really must comment on the speech given by the Prime Minister at the recent conference of the Peoples National Party and I must truly say that I was sorely disappointed that it did not have the substance that would normally be required of a speech of this nature to put it bluntly the speech was totally devoid of any real substance and sounded more like a campaign speech. Has Comrade Simpson Miller forgotten that she is now Prime Minister? Why is she behaving as though she is still in opposition? The nation looks to its leaders to take the helm and steer it to safety especially in times of difficulty, but the prime minister was more interested in blaming the JLP than accept responsibility for the failures and shortcomings of her own administration. It has been nine months now since they have taken office how long will they continue to blame the other side instead of doing what the people of Jamaica elected them to do.

What makes matters even more disturbing is the fact that after having been silent for so long the people of Jamaica were anxiously waiting to hear the Prime Minister unravel her plans to tackle the sliding dollar, unemployment, rising crime and other social ills but instead of giving the people hope and inspiring the people by telling them what she has in pipelines for relieving their suffering Mrs. Simpson Miller dedicated to speech to vilifying the opposition and lauding herself and her party even though many of the promises they made have not been fulfilled and no bills have been passed parliament over the last nine months, quite frankly I see very little to  be jubilant about  and self-praise is no recommendation.

Ever since this administration has taken office, The Dollar has dropped in value, our Net International Reserves (NIR) have decreased significantly, unemployment have increased, while both taxes and commodity prices have taken a turn for the worse, yet instead of saying what she plans to do all she was doing was blaming others, no wonder she was given a failing grade by many of the islands’ leading political analyst and quite frankly I agree with them wholeheartedly, Her speech was filled with clichés and lacking any real substance leaving me no choice but to concur with them that the speech was little more than empty political rhetoric