“And Mary said: My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord, and my spirit has rejoiced in God my Saviour, because He has looked with favour on the humble condition of His servant. And from now on all generations will call me blessed… He has done a mighty deed with His arm; He has scattered the proud in their conceit; He has toppled the mighty from their thrones and exalted the lowly. He has satisfied the hungry with good things and sent the rich away empty.” — excerpts from t he Magnificat , Luke 1: 46-48, 51-53

In the Roman Catholic Church, the Feast of the Visitation of the Blessed Virgin Mary is celebrated on May 31. It was at the visit to her cousin Elizabeth that Mary spoke the words in what is called the Magnificat, where she magnified her praises of the Lord. She prophesied that God would topple the mighty from their thrones, exalt the lowly, satisfy the hungry with good things and send the rich away empty.

In other words, the poor would be empowered. It was Jesus Christ while in the temple who opened the scroll of the prophet Isaiah to the place where it was written (Isaiah 61:1): “The spirit of the Lord is on me, because the Lord has anointed me to proclaim the Good News to the poor. He has sent me to bind up the broken-hearted to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners…”

And this is the mission of the church as Roman Catholics see it; to have a preferential option for the poor. But this does not mean that the poor should wait on handouts, which is a great misconception in Jamaica. What it does mean is that the poor should be given the means to empower themselves.

The entire month of May in the Roman Catholic Church is dedicated to the Blessed Virgin Mary, as is the month of October where the feast of the Holy Rosary is on October 7. In many countries the May Processions take place on May 31, but in Jamaica anywhere from May 1 to May 31 is good enough.

It is traditional, but not compulsory, that in the May Processions the following hymn is sung:

“Bring flowers of the fairest, bring flowers of the rarest,

from garden and woodland and hillsides and vale.

Our full hearts are swelling our glad voices telling,

the praise of the loveliest rose of the dale. Oh, Mary we crown thee with blossoms today,

Queen of the Angels, Queen of the May…”

While honouring Mary is important to Roman Catholics and Orthodox Christians, including the Ethiopian Orthodox Church, we should nevertheless remember that today’s feast is about the visitation of Mary to her cousin Elizabeth and the Magnificat she proclaimed when she said that all generations will call her blessed. But she also prophesied that God will “lift up the lowly” and “satisfy the hungry with good things”.

The problem in Jamaica today is not so much poverty, but unhappiness caused by stress. Is it that employers do not mind workers owning houses, cars, furniture, cellphones, having vacations, and their children educated to the highest tertiary level as long as they remain ‘enslaved’ to them? Are loans encouraged just so that workers will need their jobs to service their loans and remain ‘tied’ to their workplaces?

In the immediate aftermath of slavery in 1838, the ex-slaves walked off the sugar estates and took to the hillsides to farm the land either individually or in free villages. The planter class who controlled the House of Assembly imposed all sorts of taxes on the ex-slaves-turned-peasant farmers to force them to go back to the sugar estates. Many of the ex-slave owners migrated to England, the USA or Australia.

Indeed, one could speak and write about the similarities between the aftermath of slavery after 1838 and the 1970s leading up to 1980 when there were attempts to empower the poor by the Government led by Michael Manley. This is not to say that either Michael Manley or the People’s National Party Government of the 1970s was perfect; far from it.

But in the 1970s there were many social programmes and many did not like it, perhaps due to class prejudice. So many migrated, and some did so long before others were frightened by Michael Manley’s “five flights a day to Miami” speech for those who did not like his socialist policies. Some left when free education was announced in 1973 and some left after the adjustments in land taxes in 1975.

Twenty-two years ago, in 1996, Mutual Security Bank (MSB) was up for sale. The MSB Staff Association there offered to buy the bank. The president of MSB Staff Association was sent on long leave, ostensibly for daring to spearhead the request for purchase and to stop the bid of the staff association.

Eight years ago in 2010, Air Jamaica was up for sale. The Pilots’ Association of Air Jamaica offered to buy Air Jamaica. This was not granted. In the aftermath, the pilots’ association President Russell Capleton died of causes believed to be related to stress because of the way in which the matter was handled.

I missed the talk by P J Patterson at the Hugh Lawson Shearer Trade Union Education Institute on Tuesday, last week. I saw Danny Roberts, who mentioned it to me, but I thought he said Thursday. I had wanted to say in the comments period afterwards that trade unions should be promoting cooperatives to empower the poor as is done in other countries.

I believe that all workers should have an option for a four-day workweek. In this way, they could work for themselves one day a week, whether individually or in a cooperative centred on tourism, since that industry is at the commanding heights of the Jamaican economy is tourism today.

This may be the way that not only will the hungry will be filled with good things and the lowly will be lifted up, as the Blessed Virgin Mary proclaimed, but a way for workers to service their loans without their employers knowing their private business to enslave them.

Michael Burke is a research consultant, historian and current affairs analyst. Send comments to the Observer or ekrubm765@yahoo.com.