Labour Party Conference 2012

I had originally planned to write on a completely different topic today, a recent event has captured my attention which I feel I must share today, yesterday the Jamaica Labour Party celebrated its 69^th anniversary with the hosting of its annual National Conference at the Jamaica Conference Centre. This 69^th anniversary was seen more as being more reflective than celebratory, this is quite understandable given their two recent defeats at the general elections last December and again at the local government polls last March, The JLP wanted a chance to reexamine itself and see what went wrong, how could it have lost two elections in a row?, they needed a chance to be revived and come back fresh and be ready to take on the ruling People’s National Party the next time that elections roll around, it was more or less a delegates conference so therefore I felt rather privileged that I was still invited and was glad I got a chance to attend.

The conference took on a much different format this year than before, this is of course it was mainly hosted for the delegates of the Jamaica Labour Party (although a small number of visitors showed up as well), this reduction in crowds meant several things, first of all less crowds meant a smaller and less impressive venue, conferences for both major parties are normally held at the National Arena which is a grand and electrifying venue filled with Jamaicans from all over coming to hear their leaders address them over a massive sound system, this year that was scaled down, also different this year was reduced level of excitement, everyone in Jamaica knows perfectly well that political rallies (Conference being the largest and most popular rally of all) are filled not only with orange clad comrades or green clad labourites  but with all sorts of tradesmen and vendors on the outskirts plying their wares, different persons  particular those from inner city garrison communities wearing the weirdest and funniest styles, amateur comedians and  drunkards making  fools of themselves giving the crowd a good laugh and of course who could forget the music that is designed to get the masses railed up and work them into a frenzy, none of that was seen at the JLP Conference this year instead it was more of a sombre mood where the delegates were gathered into caucus groups to discuss major issues affecting both the party and the country ranging from agriculture, the economy, youth affairs, local government and internal housekeeping matters to name a few.

If there was one thing that did not change however it was the speeches given by the senior officers of the Party inclusive of the Chairman, the Treasurer, the General Secretary and the Deputy Leaders for the four island area councils. As is traditional in both political parties, the highlight of the conference was the main address by the Party Leader and in this case The Right Honourable Andrew Holness did not disappoint in fact he surpassed even my expectation, he certainly caught my attention with his exhilarating speech and showed that Her Majesty’s Loyal Opposition is alive and well in this country. His speech touched on some of the most important issues affecting Jamaica today, and showed everyone the government’s true colours and how they mismanaged the country and particularly the economy and why his party would have done a better job had they been given the chance, his speech was one that reached out and touched persons of all classes while connecting the working class and the most vulnerable in society, he was careful not to ostracize the middle class or the professional groups, this balancing act was in my view a stroke of genius.

The speech by the Opposition Leader sounded more like a statesman than a politician and I must say I admire his patriotism, appealing to the concept of “Jamaica First” and full independence for Jamaica not like the ridiculous anti-monarchist propaganda put out by the Prime Minister and her cronies but rather something that was more concrete and spoke to the spirit of the Jamaican people and the values we hold so dear in this country. Although he did not say so explicitly he implied his abhorrence for the idea of a Jamaican republic similar to his budget debate speech  last May, this is what really grabbed me however (I paraphrase) “ Republic and CCJ will not make us more independent, the only way Jamaica can truly achieve true political independence and stand with the other nations of the world is when we achieve economic independence” , a brilliant speech from a brilliant man, I think it was his best one yet.

 All in all the conference was had its ups and downs with a few hiccups at the start which caused some of the JLP delegates to become angry (and I mean very angry) probably that was the Gen-Sec’s fault, but it ended on a very high note with exhilarating speeches  from the likes of Desmond Mackenzie, Audley “Man-a-Yard” Shaw and of course Party leader Andrew Holness among others, I’m glad I went and look forward to going back in 2013.