“World music is defined as all contemporary popular music that comes from anywhere outside Europe or North America except Jamaica.” Electronic Mail & Guardian, October 2, 1997

A few years ago I had a contentious discussion with some NDMers about constitutional reform. I argued that political formats similar to Jamaica’s had worked very well in countries like Australia, Barbados and Canada, so it didn’t make sense to blame all our problems on a faulty governmental system. They however maintained that Westminster was an outdated colonial relic and only with a modern separation of powers model could Jamaica make the adjustments necessary to compete in the modern globalized economy. The future, they claimed, lay in places like Argentina.

“Knowledge” said Francis Bacon “is power”. And the more knowledgeable an electorate the more powerful a democracy is in terms of carrying out the true will of the people. With this goal of empowering the electorate through information in mind, the Jamaica Chamber of Commerce (JCC) intends to organize both national and constituency debates in the forthcoming general elections.

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.

If someone had asked me two weeks ago which party I was going to vote for in this coming election my honest answer would have been I don’t know. It would be difficult to cast a ballot for a PNP government which has let crime get completely out of control. But then could I really vote for an official opposition JLP which seems to have lost the ability to act rationally even in its own self-interest? As for the others, the only things the NDM seems to stand for are confusion, indiscipline and arrogance. While the UPP espouses socialist policies discredited two decades ago.

When Jamaicans go to the polls this year - and the indications are that it will be sooner rather than later – not many are going to concern themselves with race or ideology. Perhaps a few diehards will be thinking about skin colour and socialism and globalization. But the majority of voters will be wondering which party can cut crime, fix the roads, and give us a consistent water supply. The question most of us will ask as we dip our fingers in ink is “Who can run this country properly?”

Last week I came across an article entitled “Growth May Be Good for the Poor - But are IMF and World Bank Policies Good for Growth?”. The answer as usual is, it depends who you ask. However the following chart surprised me.

When I was a boy my friends and I spent nearly all our spare time discussing sports. Pele was a big favourite, but nothing was as important as West Indies cricket. We were glued to transistor radios during test matches and Garfield Sobers, who time and again single-handedly rescued his side, was to us the greatest man alive.

The other day a friend told me about an engineering job he had been hired to do in India. He was keen on seeing a new part of the world. But the war talk between India and Pakistan was making him think of cancelling his trip. Isn’t it amazing, we laughed, how safe Jamaica seems nowadays?