Anika Kiddoe | Wars all around us: Our role in preserving humanity

MANY OF us take Jamaica’s National Pledge seriously. Every single word of it. Not only is our pledge a holy vow to the Most High God, not only is it a solemn promise to all mankind. It is also a spiritually potent sequence of benevolent affirmations, culminating in an invocation for Jamaica to “play her part in advancing the welfare of the whole human race”. So, as my thoughts about Jamaica’s past, present and future collide, I cannot help but ask: How could WE, of all people, possibly even consider staying quiet about mass bondage and slaughter – of any people, anywhere? What would Deacon Samuel Sharpe think of us? What would he say to us?

It has become an annual tradition for me to reflect on the pre-eminent yet under-recognised significance of December 27 in our nation’s history. I recall, with reverence, the decisions from that day of the estimated 60,000 men and women who, alongside the deacon, were forced to defend themselves from violent attacks for refusing to work without pay during the Baptist War (1831-1832).

SELFLESS SACRIFICES

I experience a healthy level of anxiety about what I should be doing more, or better or instead, to honour their selfless sacrifices (even martyrdom); and my consciousness is steeped in gratitude for their priceless legacy – not just my physical freedom, but that of all peoples across the terrorised, traumatised lands then referred to as ‘the British Empire’. As horrific as war is, some situations demand it. But, even in the context of war, there is such a thing as gratuitous violence.

Determining whether a particular form of violence is called for can sometimes be complicated. There are violent acts that decent persons might deem justified and necessary under certain circumstances, but gratuitous under others. Genocide isn’t one of them. Genocide isn’t just wrong. It’s ALWAYS wrong.

We all know the events unfolding in Gaza don’t constitute the world’s first or only genocide. Nonetheless, this one is unique. It is unique because there’s been nowhere for the targeted population to run to; they’ve been relegated to exist on a sliver of land, blockaded now for 17 years and counting. There are several recent media discussions underscoring the facts on the ground, but I must highlight this one conducted by Candace Owens: ‘Israel versus Palestine with Norman Finkelstein’. I am no fan of Owens, for countless reasons. But this? This, I respect unequivocally. By five minutes into watching the interview, I trust that you’ll understand not only why I regard Finkelstein as being among the noblest embodiments of what academia has to offer to our time in this world, but also, why I feel indebted to rare human beings like him for their courage and sacrifice in seeking to bring objective truth to the light of day, in pursuit of justice, morality, decency, empathy and compassion.

HUMAN WELFARE

The circumstances of Deacon Sharpe’s last words prove that heroism isn’t defined by government decree. Right now is an ideal time to acknowledge as well that our mandate, as Jamaicans, to advance human welfare didn’t begin when the pledge was penned. (Let us remember Dutty Boukman. Let us remember Mary Seacole. Let us remember Harry Belafonte.) It was already thriving for centuries in the hearts of our acknowledged, under-acknowledged and unacknowledged heroines and heroes, at home and abroad, until – through sheer genius – it was captured in writing ( circa 1961).

Whether measured by population, land mass or national output, our size had no bearing on our capacity to assert our independent integrity while still under colonial rule in 1959, when Jamaica became the first country in the Western Hemisphere to declare a trade embargo against apartheid South Africa, on the basis that it was “revolting to the conscience of decent people throughout the world”. This was done three years ahead of the United Nations resolution, for which it loudly opened the door. Since then, generation after generation has ensured that Jamaica’s global stature continued to be fuelled by audacity.

MORAL LEADERSHIP

Given that the down payment for the multi-generational legacy of moral leadership in the world was the martyrdom of untold numbers of our ancestors, what cost to us would justify breaking with that tradition? Do we have a price tag for turning a blind eye to any genocide, much less one being committed by a UN-recognised government? I refuse to believe that. Remember, ‘the same knife weh stick sheep, stick goat’.

I call on every Jamaican to take the boldest available moral actions to help those facing threat of genocide. At the highest level (setting precedence for other nations to follow), this must include, but not be limited to, a trade embargo against the apartheid state now carrying out genocidal acts. WE are NOT the generation that will reduce Jamaica’s National Pledge to meaningless words in the face of the near-incogitable scale of evil being unleashed on the people they’re subjugating. We are just as capable of outsized geopolitical impact as our foreparents were. We SHALL be counted among the heroes and heroines who stood up for humanity in this modern era.

In the words of His Imperial Majesty Haile Selassie I, immortalised in song by Robert Nesta Marley, “Until the philosophy which holds one race superior, and another inferior, is finally and permanently discredited and abandoned, everywhere is war.” Fight the fight!

Anika N.C. Kiddoe is an economist and social impact consultant. She’s also a cultural activist, a director of Manifesto Jamaica, a recipient of the George Beckford Prize for economic development studies with special reference to the Caribbean, a Thomas De La Rue Scholar, and a former assistant lecturer at The University of the West Indies, Mona. Send feedback to columns@gleanerjm.com.