Ja: Wanted for Jamaica: a University of Woodford Square

Should we be afraid of repercussions from the Caricom statement on Haiti? Hopefully not. Rather, we should be encouraged that our leaders met, discussed the crisis leading to the sudden departure of President Jean-Bertrand Aristide last weekend, and asked for an international probe.

As we keep eyes and minds wide open, we acknowledge that Prime Minister Patterson's statement on behalf of the Caribbean community was balanced and circumspect. We know that Caricom is 5.5 million people in 17 small states, and the powers that be could very well be chuckling into their cocktails over what little upstarts we are. But, as Tennyson wrote, "Right is right, and to follow right were wisdom in the scorn of consequence." (Well taught, Mrs Golding!)

However, we should be careful that we don't launch into the old "those Americans" diatribe since "they" include supportive friends, as well as thousands of our relatives who have no desire to live the edgy life of today's Jamaica. We had better realise that while we can feel comfortable arguing in public about our preference of US political candidates, we would not dare do the same when it comes to our leaders. Those of us who have been threatened or victimised in this country know that a heavy price can be exacted for free speech.

Et tu, Jamaica? Jean Lowrie-Chin's article is a refreshing breath of air blowing into a fog of anti-U.S. editorials and columns. Nevertheless, it is astonishing to discover that Jamaicans don't possess the same freedom of speech rights that citizens of southerly island T&T possess. Therefore, I advocate that Jamaicans should establish for themselves a University of Woodford Square in order to familiarize politicians with the right of the citizen to speak freely within the parameters of the law, and to toughen the thin skin of politicians when they hear themselves being reviled by the populace.

In T&T, Woodford Square in Port of Spain has long held the sobriquet of "university" because any man may stand there and say whatever he wishes. Because of Woodford Square's importance to political discourse in a nation that was striving for independence, no prime minister of T&T has the power to prevent the nations' citizens anywhere from speaking out against the government. [This is not to discount the role played by calypso in asserting and securing the free speech rights of T&T citizens.] When deceased PM Eric Williams did not like what critics had to say, his recourse was to turn off his hearing aid. That free speech, be it political or whatever, is protected by law, and no-one, either in the interests of political correctness or some misguided sense of respect for the dignity of politicians, may tell a Trini that he can't talk freely. Perhaps Jamaica needs some of that.