Date: 24 Sep 91 08:57 PDT
From: newsdesk@igc.org
Subject: IPS: SALUTE OR EXECUTE COLUMBUS?
Message-ID: <1563600002@igc.org>

/* Written 11:54 pm  Sep 22, 1991 by newsdesk in cdp:ips.englibrary */
/* ---------- "JAMAICA: SHOULD WE SALUTE OR EXECUT" ---------- */

Copyright Inter Press Service 1991, all rights reserved.  Permission to re-
print within 7 days of original date only with permission from 'newsdesk'.

Area: Caribbean
Title: JAMAICA: SHOULD WE SALUTE OR EXECUTE COLUMBUS?


kingston, sep 20 (ips) --- ''should we salute or execute columbus?
'' is the question regularly asked on a popular radio talk here in
order to gauge public reaction to government plans to mark the
quincenntenial of the explorer's voyage to the region.

according to talk show host psychologist dr. leahcim semaj, the
tally of the responses to this challenge prove that the majority
of jamaicans are not in favour of the government's plan.

but in an informal poll in the capital city, kingston, ips
found that there was very little knowledge of and far less interest
in the columbus 500 issue.

columbus who?'' asked angela smeikle a street cleaner, when ips
asked her her opinion on the matter. ''oh you mean that man who
discover jamaica ... boy, i not interested in that ... is long
time him dead and gone ... the government don't have anything
better to do?'' she added in the vernacular.

of those jamaicans who had an opinion on the matter, many felt
the government would do well to use the allocated money in more
tangible ways.

''i think the government should give the money to poor people ..
some foreigner who help put us in this deadstock position,'' said
cyril lambert, a street vendor.

but the jamaica quincentennial commission, responsible for
co-ordinating activities for the year-long observance, is spending
''very little'' on the projects, according to information and
culture minister dr. paul robertson. the commission is to act
merely as a facilitating organ and not as a planning agency, he
said.

projects include developing new seville, the first spanish
capital of jamaica, into a heritage park, searching for two of
columbus' ships sunk off the north coast of the island and issuing
commemorative stamps and specially-minted coins.

the issue seems to be of greatest importance among educated
jamaicans, like semaj, who feel that the country has been
short-changed by history and now is being prostituted by its
government.(more/ips)

jamaica: columbus (2)

semaj told ips that  he was ''thoroughly embarrassed as a black
man and as a jamaican'' by the official decision to join in the
celebration of the quincentennial.

''i see it in the same context as if germany wanted to do
something to commemorate hitler's regime ... i know for sure that
jews would not be a part of it, because they would look at it in
terms of what happened to them as a result of those forces.''

columbus 500, is a reassertion of eurocentricity, he said. ''i
have no problem with them redefining themselves, but to get us
involved in it is criminal ... the victor and the victim cannot
have the same celebration.''

the jamaican government, he continued, is showing ''total
disrespect'' for its citizens by celebrating the occasion.

but the government itself feels that it is doing nothing of the
sort.

according to robertson, jamaica cannot be ahistorical or behave
like an ostrich. ''columbus came, we went through slavery ... the
thing happened, we cannot wish it away,'' he stressed.

the government will mark the quincentennial because it views
columbus' arrival in the region as an important encounter between
two worlds that set the pattern of development of the modern world,
robertson said.

''and, furthermore, we are not celebrating the event. we are
merely marking his arrival here,'' he noted.

''in addition ... jamaica stands to benefit financially from
tourism and the interest that other people have in coming to visit
the sites where the caravels (columbus') were ... if we could find
the caravels all of this could mean increased foreign exchange
flows,'' he added.

detractors have accused caribbean governments of embarking on
the quincentennary project solely because they expect it to
increase tourism revenues.

''it is the equivalent of thirty pieces of silver,'' said
semaj whose talk show, according to the latest media poll, has a
56.9 percent listenership, the singe lhighest percentage of
audience of any time slot on the jamaican airwaves.

and flo o'connor who heads the jamaica council for human rights
(jchr) agrees with him.

''it seems to me almost contempt for the achievements of our
forefathers for us to celebrate columbus' coming with its results
of decimation for the arawaks and slavery and brutalisation for the
africans in order to make europe rich.''(more/ips)

jamaica: columbus (3)

if the government must pause for columbus, she said, the stop
should be used to re-educate jamaicans about what really happened
in the past and how the past has shaped the island's present.

''if any significance is placed on columbus coming to this end
of the world it should revolve around the fact that our
forefathers, who were brought here as economic tools, survived the
middle passage and moreso, survived to the extent that we are here
today,'' she said. (end/ips/ce/da/kb)