Marjorie A. Stair Bureau Chief
"THERE IS a time in every man's education when he arrives at the conviction that envy is ignorance; that imitation is suicide; that he must take himself for better, for worse, as his portion; that though the wide universe is full of good, no kernel of nourishing corn can come to him but through his toil bestowed on that plot of ground which is given to him to till"
- Ralph Waldo Emerson
Essay on Self-Reliance
We celebrate our fortieth year of Independence on 2002 August 6 and if there is one feature of the Jamaican character/culture that has changed since 1962 August 6, the year we rid ourselves of colonial rule, is the increase in what I call the dependency syndrome.
This is contrary to the proud, independent self-reliant people of the past who, though much poorer than people are today, were too proud to beg and took pride in using their entrepreneurial skills to 'tun dem han' an mek fashion' and to use the resources thus gained to educate their children, who represented a more prosperous future.
In the new materialistic Jamaica, where external appearance and the flaunting of the trappings of material wealth is more important than integrity and sound education, envy and imitation have become the order of the day resulting in violent domestic disputes, other crimes and other socially dysfunctional behaviour.
In the new Jamaica many believe it is more prudent to have contacts with and become dependent on those who hold power - power in any form held by criminal Dons, politicians or the big narcotic drug dealers - than to bestow their toil on the plot of ground which is given to them to till.
As a matter of fact, many choose to leave their plot of ground idle and earn less in more prestigious jobs; or become "wrappings', otherwise called disposable drug mules - slaves of the drug dealer because they have become trapped in a sort of senseless collective self-hate and poor self esteem that leaves no room for self worth and the self respect which precedes self reliance. Human life has a very low value in the Jamaican society and death and murder have become commonplace in the fortieth year of our Independence.
In his Grace Kennedy Foundation lecture, "Patterns of Development and Attendant Choices and Consequences for Jamaica and the Caribbean", former Governor of the Bank of Jamaica, the Honourable G Arthur Brown tells us that in the golden age of international economy - the late 1950's, all of the 1960s and the early 1970's - during the time that we became independent, Jamaica made remarkable progress. He says that although the politics of joining and leaving the West Indies Federation did detract us for a few years, it was not enough to stifle the growth that was manifest in all economic areas and in standards of living.
He describes what happened as a burst of energy, enterprise and initiative in the private sector, in the government, in our schools, and in all areas of our society, reflecting a determination to move ahead and take on new challenges. There was a feeling of pride and love of country that permeated everyone despite political rivalries.
Life expectancy at birth in Jamaica was not very different from that of industrialised countries and in terms of GNP per capita, we were in the top quarter of developing countries as listed in the World Bank's Annual Development Report.
All of this, as stated in earlier articles, was accomplished with little foreign borrowing and little help from abroad.
There was a year when the International Monetary Fund (IMF) designated Jamaica as a country, which would be required to accept Special Drawing Rights, Which meant that Jamaica was regarded as having an exceptionally strong currency.
TRAUMATIC CHANGES
There was even talk of delinking our Jamaican currency from the British pound which experienced traumatic changes in the 1950's and 1960s.
How things have changed? And why have they changed so completely and so drastically? Well, the Oil crisis, Debt crisis and structural adjustment all intervened and changed the whole world and, especially the fate of the developing countries.
Some, even much smaller economies than ours such as Barbados, somehow managed to survive and prosper so the drastic changes in the quality of life and standard of living cannot be attributed to these changes only.
The fact is that we have achieved quite a lot since Independence - quantity wise, but we have retrogressed with respect to our capacity to maintain what we have and the quality of some areas of our lives has deteriorated.
So we have more schools and more children have access to secondary and tertiary education but the quality of the education has to be questioned given the results.
We have more and better roads but many have been allowed to deteriorate to the point that they are almost non-existent. We have rationalised our health services and, especially in rural Jamaica, hospitals are now further away and medical care much more expensive with long waits for elective surgery and some aspects of health care.
We now seem to be training teachers; nurses and other professionals for export, as many are not satisfied with their current economic and social status in Jamaica and opt to migrate.
We have more access to land and housing but squatter settlements proliferate. Many see this as the easiest route to owning property as our government has become preoccupied with regularising illegal settlements instead of creating new and properly planned ones and, as a country, we now have serious problems enforcing law and order.
The available agricultural technology has improved but many farmers have little access and farming has declined significantly. No other sector has filled the vacuum left in rural Jamaica. So, as rural Jamaica empties, leaving hectares of lands lying idle and abandoned homes, urban squalor increases and squatter settlements in resort areas and our cities proliferate.
DEEP TROUBLE
The fact is that, as it stands, the formal economy is in deep trouble and our country is crippled by debt and is probably surviving more on the proceeds of its huge informal economy than the formal one.
How then can our government so frequently and casually write off debt, grant waivers, guarantee all sorts of loans and grants to the selected few, bail out private business and banks, and casually throw away billions of dollars in politically contrived projects that are plagued by corruption?
How can we restore the golden days and achieve real economic development if the political agenda takes precedence over the economic one at all times?
How do you decide to grant a waiver of duties on the importation of race horses when many people are dying or are seriously ill because they are unable to purchase medication on which duty has to be paid and schools, post offices and court houses are falling apart?
Dependence has replaced self-reliance and many believe that they are ill equipped to overcome the challenges that faces us and others do not care much anyway.
