If liberty means anything at all, it means the right to tell people what they do not want to hear. — George Orwell

A dear friend of mine who had not visited Jamaica, the land of her birth, for nearly 16 years, surprised me with a most interesting and wonderful belated birthday gift last Saturday. Voices under the window, by John Hearne, is possibly his best known novel. John, who? Doubtless this is the question immediately on the lips of some of my readers.

John Hearne — literary giant

Hearne was one of Jamaica’s best sons. The Library of Congress notes that: John Hearne was born in Montreal, Canada, in 1926 to Jamaican parents. The family moved back to Jamaica two years later. Hearne wrote 10 novels, including Voices under the window (1954), Land of the living (1961), and The sure salvation (1981). Three of his novels, all thrillers, were co-authored with Morris Cargill and published under the pseudonym John Morris.

In addition to being a published novelist, journalist, and playwright, he also compiled several anthologies. His honours include the John Llewellyn Rhys Memorial Prize and the Silver Musgrave Medal from the Institute of Jamaica.

Hearne attended Jamaica College, the University of Edinburgh, and London University. From 1950 to 1959 he worked as a schoolteacher in London and Paris. He returned to Jamaica in 1962, where he was appointed resident tutor and later director of the Creative Arts Centre at the University of the West Indies, a post he maintained for 30 years. He also served as chairman of the Institute of Jamaica and columnist for The Gleaner. He died in Kingston, Jamaica, in 1994.

Hearne stood his ground

I came upon a most interesting document in the archives of The University of the West Indies, Mona, which stated, among other things: “A prolific writer, opinionated newspaper columnist, and fearless social commentator, John Hearne exhibited a versatility and audacity which generated much debate, and earned him the enmity of hard core Jamaican party supporters.” Hearne’s admirable character traits were evidently anathema to large segments of Michael Manley’s People’s National Party (PNP) in the 1970s. He was beaten and injured at the PNP’s 39th annual party conference in 1977.

The sordid attack on Hearne was revealed in this Gleaner news item titled ‘Columnist John Hearne beaten at PNP Parley’. It is symptomatic of how press freedom was placed under “heavy manners” by the Michael Manley regime of the 70s. The story said, among other things: Columnist John Hearne was attacked and beaten at the PNP conference yesterday by a group of people who accused him of writing ‘dirty articles in The Gleaner‘. He was saved from serious injury by the police who were afterwards assisted by some PNP youth leaders. The police were forced to fire shots in the air to drive off attackers, Hearne told The Gleaner. The police confirmed Hearne’s report. Hearne told The Gleaner that he went to the National Arena at about 2:30 pm and on his way into the conference had brief exchanges with a number of people. Some people said they disagreed with what he wrote, but the exchanges were polite and he took his seat near the platform and began listening to the speech of party (leader) Michael Manley.

*Whispers

During this time Hearne spoke in whispers to a couple of party executive members. After listening for about 40 minutes, however, he realised he was not hearing clearly what Manley was saying and decided to go to the front of the arena, where Manley’s voice over the loudspeaker was very clear. On his way out, Hearne met upon a big chap who was unknown to him. The man asked him his name and wanted to know if he had written an article in yesterday’s Sunday Gleaner after Hearne identified himself. On being told Hearne had written the article, the man said, “Yuh better get outa here. We don’t want people like you here.” By the time the columnist had reached the southern area, the big chap called out to other people and a group of about 25 suddenly pounced on Hearne, thumping and kicking him. The crowd quickly grew to about 100 and, as he tried to walk away, about five uniformed policemen, five plainclothes ones, and some PNP youth leaders, tried to keep away the attackers.

*Bottles, stones

Hearne has been the subject of much criticism and verbal attacks by sections of the society describing themselves as “progressives” in recent weeks.

Placard-bearing demonstrators from the Workers Liberation League and supporters of D K Duncan in demonstrations last month criticised Hearne for writing articles critical of the PNP Government and graffiti appeared all over the Corporate Area describing him as a “British CIA Agent”, one placard declared, “Hearne must burn.” ( The Daily Gleaner, September 12, 1977)

Hearne’s only sin was that he went to Trench Town and other places in Kingston and saw how the PNP was systematically displacing people to achieve political advantage — a strategy PNP thugs termed “scatta dem” (political cleansing). He wrote about it in The Gleaner. Thereafter, he became persona non grata and a marked man by Michael Manley’s party supporters.

Remember the turbulent times

Press freedom must be protected at all costs. Recall: “The brutal attack that took place during the state of emergency when the JLP’s [Jamaica Labour Party] candidate for South West St Andrew, Pearnel Charles, had been thrown in detention camp, and Joseph McPherson, editor of The Voice, was entered as a last-minute opponent of Portia Simpson. Shortly after the nomination, McPherson and his paper were made the subject of several attacks, and once he had to be rescued by a helicopter. The Maxfield Avenue office was put under siege, invaded, and a number of employees tortured and otherwise brutalised.” ( The Gleaner, November 5, 2006). These attacks culminated in the torching of the building that housed The Voice. Recall also the murder of Earl Woodburn, an employee of The Voice, who “…had been abducted at Pretoria Road and then his savagely mutilated body was found on St Joseph Road, then a serious garrison area of the People’s National Party.” ( The Gleaner, November 5, 2006)

Recall also “the time that Prime Minister Michael Manley adjourned a Cabinet meeting and, along with Tony Spaulding, P J Patterson, and others, led a mob on The Gleaner because they did not like what the paper was publishing. The theme of that threat was ‘Next Time, Next Time!’ This was interpreted to mean that if they ever thought it necessary to revisit The Gleaner it might be more than shouted words. The same prime minister publicly referred to the newspaper as the ‘Call Girl of North Street’, and he described the editors, writers and publishers as ‘pimps of imperialism’ ”. ( The Gleaner, November 5, 2006)

The PNP’s media economic starvation strategy: “The Administration of the 70s went further. They withheld government advertising from The Gleaner and diverted business to the Daily News. In addition, government ministries and departments were instructed not to buy Gleaner publications. So tight was the squeeze that, in July 1978, The Gleaner had to seek financial support by offering to the public $4 million of debenture to help deal with its obligations.” ( The Gleaner, November 5, 2006)

The JLP is not blameless. The banning of Guyanese scholar, Walter Rodney, from re-entering Jamaica because of his political views in the 60s, was wrong. Also wrong was a march on this newspaper some years ago by JLP supporters because they did not like cartoons of Clovis and articles by veteran journalist Mark Wignall that were critical of Edward Seaga and the JLP. I believe, as a society, we have not adequately honoured the great work of newsmen/journalists/social commentators like John Hearne, Wilmot “Motty” Perkins, Morris Cargill, David D’Costa, and a few others.

Goose vs turkey eaters

Among the prominent themes in many of the seminal works of novelist Charles Dickens are food and social hierarchies. In many of Dickens’ works, characters who ate or were associated with geese were the poor and downtrodden, whereas those who ate turkeys were the socially and economically better-offs. Some of the realities of Dickens’ time are alive and well in Jamaica today.

George Orwell’s famous maxim,“All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others,” is easily seen in many areas of our society. Take the arrest and charge of Member of Parliament (MP) for St Catherine North Central Natalie Neita-Headley, for example. It was ace newsman Abka Fitz-Henley and Nationwide News Network ( NNN) who let the proverbial puss out of the bag last Monday, January 15, 2018. The Constabulary Communication Unit did not make public the arrest and charge of the MP until January 16, 2018. Is this how most Jamaicans are treated by the police or related authorities?

These social media posts by Abka Fitz-Henley are instructive: “Police say that the Member of Parliament for North Central St Catherine, the PNP’s #NatalieNeitaHeadley has been ‘arrested and charged’ with assault of a man at Petcom on Spanish Town Rd. Neita-Headley is accused of thumping the man who fell to the ground & was hurt. ‘Yes I am aware that she was arrested & charged but I don’t think I’m prepared to say anything further beyond confirming that yes she was arrested & charged’ — said SSP Carl Ferguson confirming that MP for NC St Catherine #NatalieNeitaHeadley has been charged with assault.”

Neita-Headley is a public figure. She is a lawmaker. She is currently the Opposition spokesman on sports and also a former minister of sports. This Gleaner story of January 16, 2018 is also instructive: “According to the police, the charges stem from an allegation that on Monday, January 8, about 11 am, during a dispute with a male employee on Spanish Town Road, Kingston 11 she reportedly hit him. The complainant filed a report to the Duhaney Park police. On Wednesday, January 10, Neita, who sits on the Opposition benches in Parliament, visited the station in the company of her attorney where formal charges were laid against her. She was bailed in her own surety in the sum of $30,000 and is scheduled to appear before the Kingston and St Andrew Parish Court on Thursday, February 1.”

When Neita-Headley was contacted by NNN last Monday, January 15, 2018, she initially denied that she had been arrested. “I have not been arrested.” But you have been charged? “I don’t know.” Neita-Headley’s responses are, at a minimum, shocking, especially in light of a statement from her lawyers which confirmed she has been charged with assault. The country deserves an explanation; or are we just to accept that folks like Neita-Headley eat goose and most others eat turkey?

Recall, Edward Seaga in his seminal State of the Nation debate in the Legislative Council on April 21, 1961, more than a year before Jamaica was granted Independence, spoke about the “haves and have-nots”. Today, over 50 years later, we should ask ourselves why we are still burdened with so many of the vestiges of our British colonial past.

Derrick Smith played

MP Derrick Smith served the people of St Andrew North Western for 29 years with distinction and humility. The former security minister served in our Parliament for 38 years. He has been ailing for some time. Smith resigned last week. He also resigned as a member of the Andrew Holness-led Cabinet.

I will leave it to experts like political historian Troy Caine to adequately chronicle the political and other achievements of Derrick Smith. Personally, I will miss his sage delivery and intelligent humour. I have benefited immensely form his vast knowledge on diverse social and political matters.

Here are some more facts about him:

1. Derrick Charles Smith was born November 27, 1943 in Kingston, the son of Charles Smith and Isobel Burke-Smith.

2. He was educated at Calabar High School and the College of Arts, Science and Technology (now University of Technology, Jamaica).

3. In 2005 he was conferred with an Order of Distinction, Commander Class, for his more than 20 years of service to representational politics.

4. Smith is the longest-serving deputy leader in the JLP.

5. Prior to becoming the MP for St Andrew North Western, he was MP for Kingston West Central between 1983 and 1989.

6. He is a past president of the West Indies Jaycees, the Jaycees of Jamaica, and the St Andrew Jaycees. ( The Gleaner, September 23, 2015)

Jamaica’s best days are ahead. I am betting on Jamaica, full stop!

It may be true that the law cannot make a man love me. But it can keep him from lynching me, and I think that’s pretty important. — Martin Luther King Jr

Garfield Higgins is an educator; journalist; and advisor to the minister of education, youth and information. Send comments to the Observer or higgins160@yahoo.com.