Ronald Thwaites | The question of morality and power

“No limit except my morality.” You think is joke the man joking about the extent of his power?

That statement coming from the commander of the world’s largest economy and most powerful armed forces cannot be parsed away or walked back. It bespeaks a political philosophy, a perception of humanity which rivals the emperors of history.

Ignore constitutions, gerrymander or buy out elections, kill more George Floyds and Steve Bikos. The post-war democratic and human rights matrix is on life support especially in the Caribbean, but indeed anywhere the Emperor and his war machine decide to control – Greenland, Canada, the Panama Canal, Gaza? ... Kingston?

Jamaica’s sovereignty now depends on whether the directors of the Monroe Doctrine think we “are doing the right thing”. What if they decide that our bauxite is as strategically important as Venezuelan oil? Or that our sweet sensimilla is a nuisance competitor to their domestic production? Most likely of all if they frown on our continuing principled opposition to the Cuban blockade?

Busta, who stood up to Malan the South African racist, and Norman, the consummate nationalist, are groaning together as they contend with the midnight devils in Heroes Park.

What was the anti-colonial struggle all about anyway if less than a century later external dominance can resurface with even greater virulence? There we are, squabbling unsuccessfully about how to banish Charles Rex only to find ourselves in the thrall of a less-benign power structure!

As Judy Brown lamented in the family planning commercial. “Look what we come to!”

INTERNAL WEAKNESS

The external peril is not all we face at the dawn of 2026. The rule of law, the fundamental construct of a democratic polity, was shown last week to be in serious danger. The right to life is compromised by the spate of suicidal men who, we are expected to believe, take on heavily armed policemen.

Where are the guns reportedly seized from gunmen kept and accounted for? What is the position of the judiciary whose duty it is to adjudicate but whose function now is superseded by those who determine guilt, sentence and execution on the street? How different is all this from recent tactics in our waters?

Can you overhear the panic in the Cabinet Room? What if ‘He’ increases the tax on remittances or positions his ICE thugs outside Western Union, Moneygram or the building societies? What if anyone loses his farm-work ticket? ‘He’ of unlimited power, only has to place a tax on airline tickets to J-a or contrive a hostile travel advisory and our economy will shudder worse than it did on January 14, 1907.

None of this is far-fetched. They can be decreed by an insomniac in a dark-of-night social media posting. Most of these measures have been threatened already. With racism renascent, Congress comatose and the Supreme Court compliant, the Man is truthful: the only restraint to his exercise of power is his “own morality”. And what is the substance of that?

FINAL JUDGEMENT

Rash power unleashed is as unethical here as abroad. What we are sure of is that killers and their collaborators, whoever they are, except in instances of extreme self-defence, may likely evade accountability while alive, but certainly will face God’s judgement in the hereafter. The good end of crime reduction can never morally justify the means of taking life unnecessarily.

IS AVOIDANCE VIRTUOUS?

So our Government ducks under the table and calls that posture diplomatic savvy. Bruce can chat good sense but nothing official. The political and economic consequences of angering Hitler paralysed the Vatican in World War 2. We fear backing ourselves into a similar corner of moral turpitude regarding Venezuela. So we retreat into the dungeon of ‘kibba wi mout’, pretending that what is being wrought in the Caribbean doesn’t really affect us.

Meanwhile, the spirits of Hugh Lawson, Michael Norman, Marcus, Mandela, ML King, and the host of others who defined Jamaica’s strength as defenders of principle over expediency, must be writhing in shame.

NO TRIALS?

Every law-abiding citizen should be shocked by the admission of Chief Justice Sykes that “we can’t try our way out of the backlog” of criminal cases. So, no wonder we adjudicate on the streets in preference to the courtroom. I recently observed the case of a person whose life has been dismantled by having to spend more than five years in custody waiting to be tried. This is not unusual. What poverty of spirit or pocket can prevent us from naming more judges, finding more courtroom space, utilising the services of hundreds of lawyers to clear off the backlog? Not only for swift justice to be done for victims and accused but to better deploy the millions we spend to keep pre-trial prisoners in sub-human conditions.

INTERNAL STRENGTHS

This new year, after the ravage of Melissa and the imminent danger of recolonisation, the national spirit can be rekindled by an undivided effort to restore the integrity and efficiency of our legal system, our education and health delivery and our increasing capacity to value ourselves. It is from such good purpose that internal strength is generated so that we will be able to withstand any and all external and internal trials.

Our commitment is to constitutional democracy and the rule of law, not to the erratic passions of any populist caudillo.

Rev Ronald G. Thwaites is an attorney-at-law. He is former member of parliament for Kingston Central and was the minister of education. He is the principal of St Michael’s College at The UWI. Send feedback to columns@gleanerjm.com.