Ungratefulness is worse than witchcraft – Old Caribbean proverb

Jamaica's Ambassador to the UN Brian Wallace - Photo: news.un.com

These are profound words given ages ago, which are still relevant today. The critical concern, however, is especially in politics, it has serious social consequences. The island of Jamaica has joined twenty-four other countries in abstaining to vote on the UN Resolution to end the United States’ unilateral embargo against Cuba. What is most disgraceful in this state of affair is that nine of the countries, which cowardly and opportunistically abstained, are countries where a majority of the population are people of color. WPG10 Television reported on their Prime Time Caribbean broadcast that one country’s leader gave the reason for their abstention as “not wanting to upset the United States.” As opportunistic and politically spineless as it is, he made an honest comment, one you can respect instead of the hypocritical, buffoonery comment of the Jamaican Foreign Minister, Kamina Johnson-Smith. It is obvious that the Jamaican government has succumbed to pressure from the United States and have taken the unprincipled and opportunistic way out.

The Jamaica Labor Party (JLP) Has Always Been Reactionary

Former Prime Minister, P.J. Patterson has referred to the abstention vote as an abominable betrayal that stains the country’s record of standing up against oppression. This action is nothing new under a Jamaica Labor Party (JLP) government. The JLP has consistently and historically pursued a position of ideological bankruptcy, culturally shallow, and “kissing” up to foreign powers. It was under the JLP that Alexander Bustamante told the security forces to “bring in all Rastas dead or alive;” it was the JLP that banned books on African History and the National Liberation struggles in Africa, with the ridiculous characterization of calling such books “subversive materials;” it was the JLP that banned Walter Rodney, the scholar and professor at the UWI, from reentering Jamaica on returning from a Black Writers Conference in Canada; in more recent history, it was the JLP leadership that collaborated with the US’ Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), that carried out the destabilization campaign against the Michael Manley administration.

The explanation given by the Jamaican Foreign Minister is mischievously misleading, and an attempt to intellectualize and “sanitize” a backward and disgraceful position, which by extension is an attempt to fool the Jamaican people. “We did not vote ‘against’ because we do not support unilateral actions in accordance with the UN Charter, and we did not vote ‘for’ because it is clear that continuing to do the same thing each year to support the resolution simpliciter with no improvement in the circumstances is but in fact a deepening of the humanitarian crisis and suffering. This does not serve the benefit of the Cuban people.” The Foreign Minister lacks the analytical skills to realize that the basis for the worsening conditions facing the Cuban people, is as a direct result of the embargo. Even if the matter comes up for vote every day for the next one hundred years, the embargo is illegal, immoral and in contravention of the right of nations to self-determination.

If the government is so concerned about the interests of the Cuban people, the only moral, humane and self-respecting thing to have done was to vote unequivocally in favor of ending the embargo. In the interest of shared humanity, a concept familiar to all enlightened society, a vote other than an approval for ending the embargo, is a “vote” in support of flouting International Law and complicity in the economic genocide perpetrated against the country of Cuba. It is idiocy and bowing in the face of aggression to speak about “constructive engagement,” the prerequisite for such engagement is justice. The country of Cuba is under economic siege, failure to understand this shows how shallow and disconnected the Foreign Minister is with the objective reality of the situation. Cuba has always been committed and willing to engage in dialogue with the United States on the basis of mutual respect, equality, and the right to self-determination.

The Legacy of Colonialism Continues

Apart from the political and ideological bankruptcy that the action represents, there is the psychological, which is more dangerous because it is not easily and readily seen. Colonialization of the mind is worse that than social, it renders the victim incapable of challenging and freeing oneself from the colonial master; the victim voluntarily offers to “lick the boot” of the oppressor (a latent addiction to white supremacy). Because of self-hatred the victim readily shows a deference to the enemy, an addiction to their own colonial and imperial “master,” they would never dream of acting independently or challenging the white status quo. Former Prime Minister P.J. Patterson makes the scholarly connection between the cultural and political interconnection of the abstention vote: “It was a day of shame for the land of Marcus Garvey, and a stain on the record of a nation which, before we had even raised our own flag, closed its ports to trade with apartheid South Africa.”

P.J. Patterson, former Jamaican Prime Minister - Photo: 1bw21.org

The country of Cuba, revolutionary Cuba, has consistently stood on the side of oppressed people globally: it has shared it’s scientific developments with the world; it has provided material and medical services to countries of the Global South; it has provided scholarships to poor countries for students to study medicine and technology in Cuba, without charge; it has paid a tremendous price with the loss of lives, fighting alongside National Liberation forces in Southern Africa. The countries of the Global South, including Jamaica, owes a tremendous debt to the country of Cuba for their sacrifice, and principled cooperation with developing countries. To ignore that reality, to bow to pressure from foreign powers, to justify and gloss over a Policy of inhumanity, is not just ungrateful but downright backward and shows colonial mental, political, and cultural retardation.