Festival 2013 (Special Edition)

This weeks Edition of the Jamaican Tory is a special edition commemorating Jamaica’s fifty first anniversary  of independence under the theme  “Celebrating Jamaica: Triumphant, Proud and Free’. The Annual “Emancipandence” (Emancipation and Independence) Festival  period is often counted as the most patriotic holiday in the Jamaican calender and of course like other years this years festival include all the great Jamaican traditions such as the Mello go-Round, Denbeigh Agricultural show, Miss Jamaica Festival Queen, Miss Jamaica Farm Queen, competitions in various traditional art forms and of course who can forget the British Styled military parades and the biggest event of all the grand gala at the National Stadium.

                          

Of course one cannot help but notice that regardless of the best efforts put on especially by the Jamaica Information Service (JIS) and the Jamaica Cultural Development Commission (JCDC), most persons are not in a celebratory mood which is quite a great contrast when compared to the Jamaica 50 Jubilee celebrations last year where every inch of the Island was covered in drapings of black, green and gold well sure there was lot more to celebrate between the Independence Golden Jubilee, the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee not to mention olympic glory in London where a large contigent of the Jamaican diaspora were celebrating the occassion as well. This year’s celebration seeems much more toned down with many people even going as far as to question what is there to really celebrate, to some political independence is seen as useless since it is not accompanied by economic independence to be frank  they do seem to have a point, Unemeployment problems are still left unsolved, The IMF deal which promised so much has not done much to help the ordinary people, the exchange rate has hit the roof and so has commodity prices and in the midst all this the government seems to be either sleeping or on vacation, people are fast loosing faith in this country  and it’s leaders. It’s not they are unpatriotic or that they don’t love Jamaica but rather it’s more a feeling  the love is unrequited hence many are tempted to look for oppurtunties elsewhere.

                         

Then there is the matter of the cost of the festival, many persons are outraged that the government has set aside 100 million Jamaica dollars on festival 2013 one cannot blame them, while I agree that festival is  an old Jamaican Tradition that must be preserved, the amount is way too much especially given that the events for this year were scaled down compared to Jamaica 50, What is more upsetting is that this is the same government that constanlty complains that  hard economic times have seen them straped for cash and at times find themselves in dipute with various public  sector workers over wages and other benefit related issues yet they can find that amount to spend on festival when at least some of the money can be put to other uses. This certianly demonstrates a level of hypocrisy on the part of the government telling citizens to tighten thier belts yet they continue to spend excessively and waste public resources .

                                 

Regardless of everything that’s going on now,there is still a lot of good things about little Jamrock that deserves to be celebrated in this year’s festival, as symbolised  by our saltire flag , hardships there are but the land is still green and the sum still shines, that’s why one cannot afford to give up on Jamaica, not just yet, this 51^st annual festival serves as a  reminder that there are still aspects of this country and it’s country that are worth celebration, as Governor-General is often known for saying “I beleieve in Jamaica, there is nothing wrong with Jamaica that cannot be fixed by what is right with Jamaica. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rOM8h6eUmF8
Independent Jamaica by Lord Creator commemorates the 1962 celebrations