Since December the Jamaican dollar has slid from about 48 to over 60 to one against its US counterpart. Where it will settle is anyone’s guess, but perhaps the past can give some guide as to what is to come.

Upper class verandah talkers love to compare Singapore to Jamaica. “How much better off we would be with a Lee Kwan Yew!” they lament. Now you have to admire Singapore’s accomplishments. Starting from virtually the same level as Jamaica in 1962 it has become one of the 10 richest countries per capita, and is spotlessly clean and crime free.

The Jamaican electorate got it right again. After taking everything into account – government performance, opposition promises, media reports, competing advertisements, leader debates – we voters came up with a result which made almost everyone happy. Comrades were glad to see their party get home on top, if only just. Labourites were pleased at avoiding humiliation for the first time in 4 elections. And non-partisans were delighted to get our balanced parliament since independence.

Britain is the world’s oldest democracy. America is the richest. India is the most populous. And watching the JLP mass rally at Half Way Tree last Sunday it occurred to me – and not for the first time – that Jamaica must surely be the most exciting. What other nation celebrates democracy with such unbridled passion?

Last Monday’s nomination day television scenes must have gladdened the hearts of everyone who loves this country. For the laughing faces of Labourites and Comrades dancing together were proof positive of the proud joy we as a people take in our ability to freely elect our leaders. And justifiably so, because for all its faults independent Jamaica has been a political marvel, and is surely a leading contender for the title of “world’s most exuberant democracy”.

Every August we hear dewy-eyed imperialists nostalgically lamenting how much better off we were under the Union Jack. And the recent Stone poll showing that 53% of Jamaicans feel we would have been better off if we had remained a British colony was certainly food for thought. Yet suppose a referendum had been held in 1962 and a majority of Jamaicans had voted against independence. Would Britain have continued to support us as a colony?

“Disband the Commonwealth” demanded a recent Observer writer, apparently forgetting it is a voluntary organization whose members can leave whenever they wish. Indeed the commonwealth’s very existence is an implicit acknowledgement that British colonial rule generally did more good than harm. Why would any country choose to be part of an association whose founding member had a mostly negative effect on its development?

A cynical friend describes the coming election as a choice between a potential Zimbabwe and a potential Argentina. For if the PNP wins we are facing 18 consecutive years of rule by a party which is already showing complete disdain for the public’s wishes. While a JLP triumph means handing the reins of government to a manifestly incompetent organization.

In 1807 Britain became the first major power to abolish the slave trade. (In 1802 Denmark abolished slavery in tiny St. Thomas, St. Croix, and St. John).[1] Eric Williams and others argue that slaving was abolished primarily because it was no longer contributing positively to Britain’s economy. But British West Indian imports and exports were greater during the period of abolition than they were 50 years earlier. And West Indian planters valued their plantations at 50-60 million pounds in 1775 as against 85-100 million in 1807. Indeed the major attack on the British slave trade came during its most profitable period.[2]

Slavery is an extremely complex and emotional subject strewn with myths and misconceptions. There could be no more appropriate time than black history month to examine the objective realities behind this terrible institution and to look at the controversial issue of reparations.