Leadership Challenge? Bad Idea

One could not have been in Jamaica and not have heard this story, after all it has been in the news for an entire week, and is one of the hottest topic of discussion right now particularly on local talk shows. There are quite a bit of rumblings going on in the opposition Jamaica Labour Party as it is indicated that Audley  “Man-a-Yard  Shaw”  might have is eyes on the top job in the party and is carrying on consultations to see whether or not he should challenge the incumbent  Andrew Holness for the leadership when the Party host it’s annual conference in November , Shaw is currently one of the 4 deputy leaders of the JLP, Chairman of Area Council Three, Member of Parliament for North East Manchester, a former finance minister and the current shadow minister of the same portfolio. Holness on the other hand is Member of Parliament for West Central St Andrew, a former Prime Minister and Minister of Education, he is also the  current Leader of Her Majesty’s Loyal Opposition.

Given what has been said so far it seems as though the tide is swaying in favour of the incumbent rather than the challenger, something Shaw probably did not anticipate given the recent defeat the party had faced at both local and national levels. However it seems as though many labourites are still loyal to the incumbent leader , several senior JLP MPs have already publicly declaring their support for Holness continuing as leader, Everald Warmington one of the most outspoken MPs and Chairman of Area Council Two had no qualms about publicly declaring where his loyalties lie and urged the delegates in his constituency in do likewise, while former culture minster Olivia “Babsy” Grange even went as far as to assert that any member of the JLP that wishes to mount a challenge at this time has an alternate agenda that means no good to the party or the country.

                    

Looking over the history of the Labour Party ever since it’s foundation 70 years ago, a certain trend has been noticed, since 1943, the JLP has had four leaders and none of them were elected by popular vote of the delegates of the party. The JLP was founded by Sir Alexander Bustamante to challenge the People’s National Party and others in Jamaica’s first general election that was held the following year. Although he retired for parliament in 1967, Sir Alexander remained as Party Leader while the senior deputy leader (Sir Donald Sangster and later Hugh Shearer) served as Prime Minister. In 1974 when Bustamante finally retired from the party, labourites began searching for a new leader. Shearer was not seen as the most suitable candidate given his election loss to Michael Manley and the PNP in 1972, so they turned to Edward “Papa Eddie” Seaga and he took the party in hand and lead it from 1974 to 2005, serving as Prime Minister from 1980-1989. When Seaga retired the senior hierarchy of the JLP unwilling to have the party divided by a leadership contest decided to work with who they thought was the most winnable candidate and settled on Bruce Golding who led them to victory two years later after 18 years out of government.  After only one term as JLP leader and Prime Minister, Golding also decided that it was time to go and again a succession crisis arose and the party leadership was settled in the same way as it was in 2005, this time with Holness emerging as victor, the delegates of the Jamaica Labour Party were for the most part left out.

              

Of course in all fairness one cannot blame the party leadership for all of this, the delegates too must share the blame, after all according to the constitution of the JLP, the delegates in theory have a opportunity to elect a new leader every November when conference comes around, it’s just that they have never exercised this right, that will certainly change this year and one can only wait and see what the results will be (personally I’m betting on Holness). Some have accused Man-a-Yard of trying to unseat the leader by surreptitious and underhanded means and they also claim that he has no right to mount a challenge but is being driven solely by personal ambition; of course Shaw denies these charges. These are baseless accusations, in truth Shaw has every right to challenge for the leadership and so far he has not gone contrary to the party’s constitution. That does not however mean that the decision to challenge is a wise one as the opposition surely has better things to do than internal squabbling.

                        

Overall the situation is like this, Labourites are more interested in a change of government than they are in a change of party leadership, many resent Shaw for what they see as his attempts to divide the party for personal gain (some have even accused him of being a PNP comrade for doing so), personally I think that it’s not too late for him to back down after all he has not officially announced a challenge, but in either case the Jamaica Labour Party will have everything to loose and nothing to gain if it remains divided along sectarian lines and distracted by personality issues. 

The Russian Way of Doing Things

The Russians have often been known for having a system of cultural norms and values that are entirely different from countries of the West and as such it comes as no surprise that they would clash on several   issues of importance from the civil war going on in Syria to relations with states deemed unsavoury   by the west such as Iran and North Korea, The Russians have always have their own way of doing things, it’s part of what makes them who they are. This time around another issue has served to divide Russia from it’s western neighbours, the issue of LGBT rights whereas Great Britain and New Zealand have both recently  legalized gay marriage, whereas several US states seem to be on the verge of doing the same, The Russians are doing the opposite, instead of granting more rights to the LGBT  they are instead getting stricter on them, gay pride parades are now banned , gay couples are not allowed to marry or adopt children (in fact they are not recognized at all) there is now a ban in place on cross-dressing and other transgender activity  referred to as “homosexual propaganda” and the LGBT community seems to have very little voice in public affairs, if this continue in this trend, Russia will soon rival our own beloved Jamaica as the most homophobic country in the world.

                  

The anti-LGBT movement in Russia is led by none other than the President himself Vladimir Putin, a man who I was at first very apprehensive of given his past connections with the KGB and also the way that the western media seems intent on casting him as a villain, but overtime I have grown to appreciate Putin and what he is doing, he certainly seems to be traditionalist and conservatives than many so called conservative leaders in North America and Western Europe, his support of strong family values, emphasizing the rekindling ties between the Russian State and the Russian Orthodox Church, his strong support for his allies no matter how badly western government and western media try to portray them as villains but most of all his no-nonsense attitude when dealing with particularly with the USA, at least the man has guts to tell them exactly what he thinks which is more than I can say for some countries  which  basically hero worships America even when the US government constantly insults them. 

                     

Quite frankly I think that Putin is on the right track here, it’s full time some sensible world leaders stand up and tell these LGBT lobbyist that their country is not for sale, Putin has lead the way for other nations that wish to preserve their traditions and not  have these deviants destroy their societies, other countries especially in the third world have long been apprehensive of the gay communities in their countries but have felt pressured by western powers to give in even when they really don’t want to, Russia’s example showed them that there is another way, they don’t have to accept alternative lifestyle in their country if that’s not what the majority of the people support , neither should they ever be forced to accept foreign imposed value systems into their societies.

                     

The Russian Government and particular Vladimir Putin has received criticisms for their stance from many quarters , US president Barack Obama even went as far as to cancel a summit that was scheduled to be held between the two leaders because of this (and the Snowden issue), claiming that he has no patience for countries  that do not recognize gay rights, I’ll deal with that in a subsequent post. Celebrity figures and gay rights lobbyist  have also spoken out on the matter calling for him to repeal the laws. However I cannot help but notice that all the criticisms are coming from people outside Russia  whereas the mood inside Russia is quite different , Russian Athlete Yelena Isinbayeva, was overheard defending the stance of her government, in fact one survey done found that up to 74% of Russia agreed that homosexuality should not be permitted in their society, those on the outside can vilify Putin all they want but it’s quite clear that he has the support of his own people and at the end of the day that’s what’s really counts after all they are the ones who elected him to power. All the protest noise being made up are coming from outside not from within. Which begs the question, who gave these people the right to dictate to Russia what laws it can and cannot enact? Since when does celebrities and lobbyist who are not even citizens have more say in a country’s governance than it’s elected leaders, clearly they have never heard of sovereignty and Russia as a nation state has every right to exercise its sovereignty for the good of the people, outsiders have no business trying to take that away from them. 

                           

As said before Russia has its own system of norms and values and has every right to exercise them within its own borders as an independent nation, they might not be the same as the west but that does not make them any less valid after all it’s not as if they’re trying to impose on the west so it stands to reason that the west has no business imposing it’s values which are totally alien to the Russian people and their own unique way of doing things.

Shady Newfound Alliance

I was quite a rude shock sometime ago when I heard that the Kingdom of Spain was joining forces with the Argentine Republic against the United Kingdom in order to gain territories which were never theirs in the first place, Gibraltar and the Falklands Islands.

 

To be honest I always knew that the Spaniards were desperate to gain control of Gibraltar but quite frankly I never expected that they would go as far as to support the Argentine claim especially since they like the rest of the European Union had earlier unequivocally supported the British claim to sovereignty, that was at least until earlier this year when a few European MPs stated that the position has changed and that the EU no longer accepted British sovereignty as automatic but rather they supported the Argentine position of arbitration and mediation. This statement is nothing if not a betrayal of the worst kind, what in the world could have lead the EU to support the claim of a outside entity against that of it’s own members, clearly the EU has it’s own agenda and in no way considers the position of the British Government and people as valid, no wonder the Brits want out, I don’t blame them. 

  

 So like the European Union, the Spanish Government is also changing its position and now supports the ridiculous claims made by Argentina as to why it deserves the Islands, as I explained in an earlier post the Argentine case had little validity (see  http://jamaicatory.blogspot.com/2013/03/the-madness-of-president-kirchener.html) . 

 

Argentina seems delighted with this newfound alliance, ever since Christine Kirchener took office the Argentines have been claiming that their position is supported by the majority of the world’s nations, the actions taken by the European Union and later Spain have only served to strengthen this claim. But even so,  this claim still does not stand up to the scrutiny of  international law as the UN Charter, The International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the International Covenant of  Economic Social and Cultural rights all uphold the principle of self determination, a  fact that neither Spain nor Argentina has acknowledged.

With this new found alliance I cannot help but wonder what does His Majesty King Juan Carlos has to say about all this, of course I already know that he’s a constitutional monarch not an executive one, I also know that the King is not as popular as he used to be  given all the scandals that have been rocking the royal family lately, personally I like King Juan Carlos but as a Jamaican my loyalty is not to him but to the reigning monarch of my own country Queen Elizabeth II, Who is also Queen of Great Britain. While there seems to be no sign that the King and Queen are at odds with each other personally this move by the Spanish government could put them at odds with each other, especially since Her Majesty is known to fully support the position put forward by her own government, it would be a real tragedy  if that were to happen especially since Latin American leaders are known from time to time to spout hateful statement about Spain and it’s royal family especially as it relates to colonialism.

    

To be frank Spain is doing itself little favours by joining forces with Argentina, this is a low blow on the part of their government and they will loose, to be frank I find their actions somewhat revolting, of course I am not naïve and am well aware that all states must act in their own interest even if they must make unsavoury alliance in order to do so, diplomacy is not all about  altruism and each side has their own agenda, Spain has no interest in the Falklands, Argentina has no interest in Gibraltar but they are still united in this effort anyway all because of their hatred of Britain which can only by justified by bad sentiment but never in the eyes of International Law, this action is nothing if not petty and childish, I for one find it hard to believe that all of a sudden these two countries are now ready to “hold hands and sing Kumbayah”  over this nonsense after all they came  at Britain head on time and time again and have lost, the very fact that they have resorted to this shady move raises eyebrows and it’s very telling here that both these countries are acting out of desperation and nothing more.

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