How Plantation Political Culture influences Contemporary Politics in Jamaica?
A political culture is a set of attitudes and practices held by a people that shapes their political behavior, acquired from one generation to another through the process of socialization and may consist of moral principles, beliefs and ideas about good governance of a society (Almond and Verba,1963: Civic Culture: Political Attitudes and Democracy in Five Nations). The political culture of any country is said to be largely influenced by its people and is a reflection of a government, but it also incorporates elements of history and tradition that may predate the current regime. For Caribbean countries, this shared history is wrapped up in the combined events of colonization, slavery and indenture-ship and have made the Caribbean unique, influencing our political culture. Aspects of the plantation political culture such as the Westminster system of Government, patron-client relationships, resistance, dependency and class structure have managed to permeate the centuries and are present in contemporary Caribbean societies as the island of Jamaica currently displays strong influence of this historical culture.
In its broadest sense, Aristotle defines politics as the activity through which people make, preserve and amend the general rules under which they live. Buddan (2002) concurs in his book Foundations of Caribbean Politics, where he suggest that politics is essentially about how society and its people are structured in and for civic life which is typically defined by their culture.
The Caribbean is a vastly diverse area representing the effects of colonization, slavery and the combination of many cultures. Tortello (2004) purported that Jamaica’s political life was borne out of a cruel system forged through an amalgamation of people and place and originated as a conquest of the human spirit. Notably, since the arrival of the Europeans, Jamaica’s political structure has been going through constant changes. Indeed, the loss of the native people and the introduction of the plantation systems apparently had immediate and permanent repercussions on the island.
The legacy of slavery provides the most significant factor for understanding contemporary politics based on the plantation theory of class structure. Beckford (2001: Persistent Poverty: Underdevelopment in Plantation Economies of the Third World) affirmed that modern society displays structural forms that are a direct legacy of the slave plantation system. According to the plantation model, plantation societies are characterized based on three different class structures. Firstly, there is an upper class or ruling elites who are traditionally white, own majority of the wealth, means of production and exerts great political supremacy. Secondly, there is an intermediate class consisting of the mulattos or brown skinned individuals. These persons are usually cultured; own some wealth but lack political influence. At the bottom of the scale is the working class or blacks or slaves, who are uneducated, lack prosperity and political authority.
Based on the plantation model, it is evident that the plantation system inaugurated a society which consisted of a lower class and a powerful wealthy upper class showing a complete separation of people based on the colour of their skin. It can therefore be argued that the complexion of one’s skin determined where they fall on the social ladder and it can also be presumed that skin colour was a criteria to verify whether or not a person was worthy of certain amenities.
The plantation model theory also contends that every society is a product of the particular historical force that gives it shape or form. In this theory, Caribbean society though based on the original plantation model can clearly be applied to contemporary politics in Jamaica. Beckford (2001) further noted that, the upper class on the contemporary Caribbean continues to be whites, who are descendants of the old planter elite class, continue to own and control a significant proportion of the territory’s wealth and as such exert great fiscal, social and political power. For example, those who own most of the islands supermarkets, hotels, land, transportation and control import prices. Majority of the non-white populations such as the intermediate and working class continue to be situated at the lower end of the social strata. They constitute the public servants and unskilled workers in the society.
Another definite feature of the plantation system that has emerged in contemporary politics is patron-client relations between the state, its institutions and sections of the urban poor (Mckenzie, 2005: The Party and the Garrison). Ostensibly, patron-client relation has materialized as the defining social relationship of contemporary politics and is thought to be a true reflection of relationships that existed within the plantation political culture, rooted in the history of the island with the relationship between the plantation owner or his emissary and the slave displaying similar distinct patron-client features. For example the slaves were being provided for by the plantation owners as they in turn provided labour on the plantation.
McKensie further argued that contemporary Jamaican democracy has also been classified as patronage-based democracy. This type of clientilistic system was developed whereby, party leaders’ provided for the needs of hard core party supporters through state patronage such as jobs, contracts, benefits, favours and housing. Patron-client relation can especially be identified with the garrison constituencies within Jamaica and its members of parliament where, in the 1960’s, the Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) using state funds developed the Tivoli Gardens housing scheme to house a set of people who were seen to be loyal to the JLP. At every election thereafter, election results in the Tivoli community were said to be in favour of the JLP. The party faithful increasingly looked to the political leaders for benefits. It can be reputed that a fundamental characteristic of this system is that its citizens, especially those in the lower classes, are bound to parties and integrated into the political system through patron client relationships.
A negative aspect that can be associated to this assimilation into the political system is that it may be accompanied by political and criminal violence, as well as by an especially rigorous separation, distinguished by political allegiance between political parties and their constituents. It may also result in the withdrawal of expected democratic rules and freedoms by the dominance of one party in some constituencies. This however, does not principally seem to significantly obstruct the political, social and economic development of the country. Moreover, the Jamaican population, whose apparent disaffection from the political system is constantly growing, has been increasingly rejecting patronage-client relationship.
A unique feature coming out of the patron-client relations is a dependency syndrome. Norman Girvan in his article “Caribbean Dependency Thought Revisited” agrees with this statement as he lamented that dependency had a significant impact on the political life on the region and on government policies. Within the plantation system the slaves were dependent on the planters to provide for them as they in turn delivered free labour. This type of dependency is also materialized within contemporary politics with a member of parliament and its constituents.
Within the plantation political culture, Caribbean colonies were governed by their parent countries and in the case of Jamaica, the British monarch was the head of state and the chief public representative of the country and its people. In 1962, Jamaica gained autonomy from British rule; however the British monarch was retained as its chief of state. The Constitution under which Jamaica assumed independence in 1962 is primarily based on the British socio-political culture and is modeled on the Westminster System of Government with a functional two- party system. This is showing a replication of the plantation political culture on modern day politics in the context of Jamaica having adopted the similar system of government.
Also identical to the plantation political culture that has become part of contemporary politics in Jamaica is the mentality of “Get rich quick”. “Jamaica was the meeting place of two expropriate populations: the Britisher uprooting himself in search of quick wealth through sugar; and the African uprooted by force from his environment to supply slave labor upon which his owner’s dream of wealth depended” (Manley, 1975:The Politics of Change: A Jamaican Testament). The planter class came to Jamaica with the pre-conceived mindset of obtaining quick wealth. This was achieved through the exploitation of slaves regardless of the negative consequences of their actions. Typically, these actions are emulated within the Jamaican society with a number of related robberies, shootings and killings by criminals to get quick cash to the detriment of their victims.
Resistance has also become a part and parcel of the Jamaican political society. Borelli (2002) stated that, the origins of resistance can be traced back to the Jamaican colonial history. The Maroons who escaped the plantation to the mountains of the island’s interior and created remote community and lifestyle that re-embraced African customs they had been forced to reject as slaves are prodigious example of the origins of resistance. Within the plantation political culture there were slave revolts against the system for the mistreatment and the deplorable working conditions under which they suffered.
Similarly, contemporary politics also has a lingering resistant approach directed towards the system. Apparently, the true effects of plantation political culture on the Jamaican society can be seen through simple examples such as the 1985 gas riot which led to violent protest, lootings and shootings triggered by the hike in fuel prices. As such, demonstrations and up rise in violence have been used as a social management tool against the government. Furthermore, in recent times there have been many industrial actions in the form of a “sick out” by medical doctors, police and nurses and other public sector workers to highlight their dissatisfaction against the government for unfair treatment, meagre salaries and poor working conditions among other issues.
In sum, history speaks for itself; the narrative demonstrates that the seeds of the plantation political culture are deeply embedded within contemporary politics. Such a historic legacy have been conveyed from one generation to another through the process of socialization and may consist of moral principles, political myths, beliefs and ideas about good governance of a society. The political structures of the plantation society as it existed under the plantation political culture still exist within Jamaica and to a large extent continue to shape its course. The arguments presented have established clear connections between contemporary politics and the elements of the plantation political culture such as the Westminster system of Government, patron-client relationships, resistance, dependency and class structure. It is quite palpable that amidst all the struggles of slavery and all the subsequent insurgence and protests that led to our independence, aspects of the past plantation political culture has crossed over to the post-independence era and has helped in shaping the political arena of current Jamaica.
