I monitored the media and their analyses of the two manifestos and reviews of the debates, but came away with the sad feeling that unfortunately, the fourth estate is totally caught up with the moment. It is well and good to compare the PNP with the JLP, in terms of their manifestos and statements on issues. Doing this by itself, however, devoid of any historical perspective or context is weak analysis and a recipe for running the danger of lateral development. In other words, we may keep moving left, then moving right, and left again, but not moving forward.
Although this may be an anathema to the pragmatists, and garbled gibberish to those of a neo-colonial mentality, these must be measured against the goals which our leaders set 88 years ago. This reveals what we have accomplished from the vision and programmes which underpinned the philosophy of those leaders who instigated and initiated the modern struggle for self-determination; economic, social and cultural development of the Jamaican (masses of) people.
We will then be better able to answer the question of whether those views are still relevant, or whether that vision has been achieved or short-circuited by our current crop of leaders, thereby diluting our drive for maximising our people's potential and creativity.
In Chapter 12 of Professor Rupert Lewis' book, Marcus Garvey, Anti-Colonial Champion, he records that in 1929 "On September 9 - a Monday night - Garvey held a public meeting in Cross Roads where he spelt out the PPP's political programme. the public meeting. became historically important. It was the first time that a political party defending the interests of the masses, though loosely organised, had been launched in the island".
Furthermore, as Professor Lewis goes on to tell us, (pp. 213) "this manifesto was the first of its kind in the island's electoral history. It represented a break with traditional practice where individual merchants, planters and pen keepers were returned to the legislature, not on the basis of a programme, but on their ability to hand out patronage to the voters".
In a recent conversation, Lewis gave a good contextual view of the social environment of the time. He says, "Colonial plantation politics was so different from what it is now, no one thought in terms of party, much less manifesto. Planters owned half or more of a parish and the composition of the legislative council was based on 14 members, one for each parish. The franchise was under 10 per cent of the population, a propertied, tax-paying minority. So Garvey was pioneering at the time, in simply posing the notion of party and manifesto. We now take this for granted."
The main cultural areas of Garvey's platform were: a Jamaican university and polytechnic; a national opera house, with an academy of music and art and the beautifying and creating of the Kingston Race Course into a national park, similar to Hyde Park in London. Garvey also called for the establishment of government high schools and public libraries in each parish.
We should take note, especially of his call for a national opera house with an academy of music and art, because 88 years later, Jamaica is yet to establish sophisticated venues and institutions for the staging of musical events and comprehensive training of creative talent. In fact, both current manifestos implicitly confirm this by pledging to "provide incentives for the establishment of large and medium-sized entertainment venues" (JLP, pp 45) or "fast-track a programme of construction and rehabilitation of event venues" (PNP, pp 38). It seems that the PNP is committing to spend public funds for this purpose while the JLP is prepared to give tax breaks to private sector initiatives in this area.
There is significant convergence in how both manifestos address other cultural issues. For instance, the JLP manifesto, in a more narrow focus, pledges to "support the staging and promotion of new and existing music festivals with a view to making Jamaica one of the world's premier music festival destinations". The PNP, on the other hand, commits to "establish a Major Events Attraction Programme (MEAP) that would aggressively locate Jamaica as a major events destination".
Conversely, as it relates to incentives for the entertainment industry, the JLP promises to "enact an Entertainment Industry Encouragement Act to provide incentives for the promotion and commercial development of Jamaican music, art, dance, drama, writing and publishing, fashion, craft and local cuisine". The PNP, for its part, says it will "extend the Attractions Incentives Act to the construction, development and upgrading of event facilities". On this point, the JLP's incentives would certainly benefit a wider range of activities within the sector.
Regarding sector co-ordination, the JLP says it will "establish a single agency to co-ordinate developments in the entertainment sector". The PNP's manifesto signals that it will "establish the Cultural Industries Council that will co-ordinate the development of the various processes that are critical to the value chain of producing cultural products". It goes further into specific terms of reference to state that this council will have responsibility to develop the enabling policy framework for the growth and development of the creative industries and facilitate appropriate marketing and promotion mechanisms for the creative industries.
Marcus Garvey said "why should we give opportunity to native talent? There is one thing that is native to the Negro and that is that he can sing. I do not care where you take him from. Take him from the backyard, take him from the kitchen, the Negro sings his music just the same. He can sing his. music and I believe that such native talent should be encouraged and the only way you encourage it is to have a national theatre [movement] in Jamaica".
The PNP manifesto goes on to propose that they will "transform the Edna Manley College into a world-class tertiary institution serving the creative industries". They also promise to "incorporate the cultural arts, including music, entertainment and drama, into the curriculum in all levels of the education system".
The PNP manifesto addresses the filmmaking sub-sector with a promise to increase the quantity and quality of Jamaican film productions by facilitating Jamaican filmmakers' access to UK and Canadian film industries' expertise and technology, establishing a film production centre and equipment clearing house and developing training facilities in music, film and other creative industries". How the latter will relate to the transformed Edna Manley College is not explained, but there should be some sort of virtual integration. Maybe then, Marcus' dream of a national academy of music and art may finally come to realisation.
There are two other points in the PNP manifesto worth mentioning. They say they will ensure that Jamaica Trade and Invest, as well as other agencies, strengthen the production, marketing and promotion infrastructure for the creative industries. Most importantly, they also promise to pursue the provision of a dedicated credit facility for practitioners and entrepreneurs, who are active in the creative and cultural industries, including the provision of seed investments as part of public/private partnerships to stimulate the expansion of enterprise in the creative and cultural industries.
In his book, Lewis says of Garvey, "his contribution to cultural development and his active promotion of artists in Jamaica have been neglected areas of attention and appreciation. From 1919, Edelweiss Park became the most significant cultural-political centre for Black people in the history of the island at a time when the arts were dominated by expatriates".
In April 1931, Garvey launched the Edelweiss Amusement Company, which formed the organisational foundation for a very varied cultural programme which ranged from dramatic productions, choral singing, elocution contests, vaudeville shows, movies and boxing. Dancing took place every night to the music of quadrille players and bands specialising in the contemporary music of the time.
Edelweiss Park was the centre for the development of a number of creative artistes, including Una Marson, poet/playwright; Randolph 'Ranny' Williams, an outstanding comedian of the theatre and radio; comedians E M Cupidon; duos, Kid Harold and Trim; and Racca and Sandy. Poems in dialect and Standard English were composed and recited by Garveyites. Iris Patterson, Stennet Kerr-Coombs and George McCormack wrote and performed in Standard English. An important Jamaican sculptor also encouraged was Alvin Marriott.
In a discussion of art at the 1934 UNIA convention in Kingston, Garvey described it as the highest form of human intelligence and pointed to the need for a dynamic concept of art through which contemporary experience and values could be projected. He said "as much as we are trying to develop ourselves in business, religion, politics and so on, we have to build up ourselves in art". He asked profoundly, "Are we going to build up a civilisation without those things that go to make up the culture of the civilisation?"
Lewis largely answers this in comments to me on August 15, 2007. "I think Jamaica has gained enormous cultural confidence since the colonial era and the experience we have with manifesto creation is now over 60 years and 45 years as an independent state, running what we have created with the evolution of cultural policy. Moreover [unlike Garvey's time], attention [by the political class] has to be paid to the mass of the population.
"Where Garvey is relevant is his insistence that we take on the challenges of cultural development and problem solving head-on."
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