I believe I have finally got an answer to a question that I asked in this space nearly a year ago.

Recall People’s National Party (PNP) President Mark Golding declared in this newspaper last June that he was a socialist. Following on his public admission, I asked in this space: “Just what kind of socialist is Mark Golding?” I also noted the following: “Golding is the de facto alternative prime minister, folks; therefore, we have a right to know the precise foundation upon which his socialist ideology is situated. Does he have sympathies with communism or totalitarian regimes? Are his socialist beliefs grounded in Marxist doctrinaire? Is he a Christian socialist? Or is he a devotee of Fabianism — the rotten dogma from which democratic socialism was hatched? Is he a libertarian socialist?” (Jamaica Observer, June 13, 2021)

Disturbing utterances by Golding recently has led me to deduce that he is a quasi-revolutionary socialist. This is a brand of socialist thinking that is rooted in far-left titivations and founded on the redistribution of wealth and not its creation.

GHOSTS

The long-standing battle between the proprietors of lands in Little Bay, Brighton, and Salmon Point in Westmoreland has been in the public domain for donkey’s years. The bitter feud has outlived numerous administrations.

Ghosts were resurrected when, early last month, an attempt was made to demolish the structures built by the people who have been squatting on the lands mentioned.

That attempt was thwarted after the residents doused the heavy-duty equipment with gasoline and threatened to set it afire.

This is the powder-keg scenario that exists in Brighton, Little Bay, and Salmon Point. In the midst of this very flammable situation, the Leader of the Opposition Mark Golding, a constitutional officer, goes into the environment and does what I believe is the equivalent of throwing gasoline onto a searing fire. I believe his actions were not prime ministerial. And Golding deserves the strongest rebuke possible.

Consider this: “Speaking at the same meeting, Opposition Leader Mark Golding told residents that under the law, they have a right to the property that they now occupy. He said the People’s National Party respects the laws of the country and the rights of property owners.

‘Many of you are property owners in your own rights. You may not have a legal title yet, but you have been living on the property and you have invested in your property far beyond the 12 years prescribed by law,’ Golding noted.” (The Gleaner, April 23, 2022)

Would Golding have similar prescriptions if he owned the property? Golding is a lawyer and investment banker. He doubtless knows that the court has ruled for the residents to vacate the property. The owners of the lands in Little Bay, Brighton, and Salmon Point have been toiling for years, hoping to get possession. They have failed.

THIS AIN’T RADICAL

It is now clear to me that Golding is desperately trying to sell himself as a radical revolutionary socialist. The fatal flaw with this brand of socialism is that it has not succeeded anywhere in the world. And I suspect will never succeed. Adherents of this faulty dogma foolishly try to be all things to all people. Ultimately, the only real beneficiaries are the proponents of the dogma.

Ponder this: “He promised that he will continue to lobby the Government on their behalf to arrive at a decision that will benefit all concerned.

‘I will continue to do what I can to try and bring about a solution to your situation. I will be working closely with your attorneys, with our candidates and our councillors, he assured.’ ” (The Gleaner, April 23, 2022)

Will the residents of the lands mentioned benefit from Golding’s remonstrations. I think not! But Golding, of course, stands to gain, albeit in a miniscule manner. How? His remonstrance is political adhesive for the base of his of party, which has been rapidly losing its adhesion, this according to four scientific polls published in recent times.

Golding needs to understand, however, that there is nothing radical and/or remotely revolutionary in his alarming comments regarding the highly flammable situation at Little Bay, Brighton, and Salmon Point. I think Golding’s performance in this land matter only succeeds in further branding him as a political misleader who is out of touch with today’s Jamaica.

Golding, it seems, is rapidly regressing into a period which well-thinking Jamaicans have long ago abandoned. It is possible to be modern and radical at the same time, Mr Golding. Stoking fear is not it.

HARBINGER

On the matter of stoking, what exactly is Golding stoking here? “ ‘At the end of the day, the Government cannot abandon you,’ he insisted. ‘You can’t leave it to one family, where their rights, as they see it, overcome the rights of so many people. That can’t be right. The Government must intervene!’ said Golding, while urging the residents to stand together.” (The Gleaner, April 23, 2022)

I interpret these sorts of statements as harbingers.

I think when politicians spill their guts, we must believe them.

In the 1970s, Jamaica made the fatal error not to believe Michael Manley. We were set back for many years as a consequence.

I think Manley’s democratic socialism experiment exacerbated the class divisions of the 1960s. Manley’s brand of socialism — copied from Britain — was not the promised panacea for the biting social disparities of the 60s. I previously elaborated — with copious evidence — on these and related that the mimicking of Manley won’t help Golding to market himself as a radical revolutionary socialist. In fact, Golding needs to revisit the near catastrophic missteps of Manley. An objective analysis may order his steps and help him to gain some needed traction.

UNUSABLE PAST

On the matter of woeful missteps, consider this: “ ‘We will fight, fight, and fight again for the people of these communities,’ declared [Bertel] Moore during a meeting with residents at the Brighton Community Centre in Westmoreland on Thursday.

“ ‘As a representative of this area, I could not stand by and see these people come and want to move you as if you are nobody,’ he said to thunderous applause.” (The Gleaner, April 23, 2022)

The mayor of Savanna-la-Mar Bertel Moore surely must know that his utterances are, at a minimum, dangerous, if not incendiary. All right-thinking Jamaicans should be frightened, no, terrified, at Moore’s statements.

What is Moore’s end game?

As I understand it, Moore is the first citizen of Westmoreland. I believe the implications of his statement are dire and will have a chilling effect on investors locally and abroad. Moore’s statements are a throwback to an unusable past which caused thousands of some of our best and brightest to flee this country in the 70s.

Many of them have not come back since.

Check this: “The battle for the property has been raging for decades and saw one of the proprietors – John Eugster – being murdered in 2004 after trying to reclaim the lands.

“The tussle continued with Eugster’s widow, Kathleen, a United States citizen, for control of sections of the 867-acre property.

“Notwithstanding a 2011 court decision granting writs of possession and the eviction of at least 27 settlers, Eugster has been unable to regain possession, which is reportedly earmarked for a US$5-billion investment.” (The Gleaner, April 23, 2022)

Is the public to believe that Moore, the chairman of the Westmoreland Municipal Corporation (WMC), is oblivious to these realities? I believe Mayor Moore is driven by internal political mechanics which are predicated on ideas that belong to a land of fantasy. The fuelling of “red yeye”, an undignified trait, is reprehensible.

I gather Moore owns land. Is he going to give any of his land to the squatters? Of course, he will certainly not. And that is the sum total of socialism. What socialist proponents prescribe for the masses, they exempt themselves.

TIME COME NOW

Last Sunday, I said, among other things: “Recently we were presented with another road map: The Report of the Jamaica Education Transformation Commission, chaired by Professor Orlando Patterson of Harvard University. I think that if we neglect this most recent opportunity then we have sounded our death knell.” I stand by that.

I am very happy the Jamaica Teaching Council (JTC) Bill is now finally before a joint select committee of Parliament.

I have been hearing about the JTC Bill and imminent amendments to the Education Act for at least 15 years. The 15-year gestation might soon end.

Over many years I have used this space to, among other things, pinpoint the crucial relationship between education and social and economic mobility. I think a critical mass is now seeing the light.

On April 21, 2022, Nationwide News Network (NNN) reported: “The School of Education at The University of the West Indies, Mona, says it’s in support of the Jamaica Teaching Council Bill and the Government’s push to regulate the profession.”

The NNN news item also noted, among other things: “However, the School of Education did raise concerns with specific provisions of the far-reaching legislation…Director of the School of Education Dr Marcia Rainford described the JTC Bill as bold and necessary.

“This is in stark contrast to the Teachers’ Colleges of Jamaica and its Dean Dr Garth Anderson, who last week questioned the need for the Ministry of Education to have a hand in monitoring teachers.”

I am glad that the premier institution of higher education in the region has entered the arena of the mentioned debate. I have argued in this space for many years that The University of the West Indies has been far too reticent to enter the public square, for example, appearing before joint select committees of Parliament to deliver informed direction and leadership on national issues that affect the social, economic, and political growth and development of this country. Kudos to The UWI, Mona.

I maintain that if Jamaica is to escape from the punishing clutches of a low-wage, low-output economy and make the necessary leap to a high-wage, high-output one, we have to first shake up the foundation of our education system.

If Jamaica is to break free from our stifling, low-trust, low-consequence environment, we have to demolish the scaffolding which holds up our education system.

The late civil rights leader and radical Malcolm X, famously said: “Education is the passport to the future, for tomorrow belongs to those who prepare for it today.” And Nelson Mandela, anti-apartheid leader, international statesman, and the first black president of South Africa, said, “Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world.”

Education is the key to halting the continuous and costly slide in Jamaica’s productivity.

Check it: National productivity has declined every year since the early 1970s, revealed a 2018 finding by the Jamaica Productivity Centre. This is not an accident, all things are connected. Unsurprisingly, the Planning Institute of Jamaica (PIOJ) told us recently that “65 per cent of Jamaicans, aged 25-54, have no examination passes at secondary level”.

Tinkering with our education system over many decades has landed us in this quagmire.

We will never make the necessary leap to a high-wage, high-output economy unless we make radical shifts.

It bears repeating, our full social, economic, and political potential will not be realised unless we substantively tackle the elephant in the room — our underachieving education system.

Time come now!

BEST QUALIFIED

I think that sacrificing Jamaica’s influence for party political expediency is not prime ministerial. Those who do so are sending us a harbinger. Right-thinking citizens should “tek sleep and mark death”.

The Government recently announced the candidature of Senator Kamina Johnson Smith, the minister of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade, for the post of Secretary General of the Commonwealth. I believe Johnson Smith is eminently qualified for this position, and she is highly respected locally, regionally, and globally for her many outstanding achievements. These are too numerous to mention here, but are available at the press of a button.

Are you a fully paid-up member of the Jamaican family if you thumb your nose at Johnson Smith’s candidature simply because she is a member of the Andrew Holness-led Administration? I think not!