Uneasy lies the head that wears a Crown. - William Shakespeare
For those unaware, Jamaica will be celebrating 50 years of national independence this August 2012. Their prime minister, Mrs. Portia Simpson Miller, is planning to herald this august achievement by ditching their diamond Queen and by reintroducing the death penalty to its country's citizens. As David Flint over at ACM has noted, all we know for certain is that some unspecified form of politician's republic will come with the gallows. Happy birthday, Jamaica!
Quite frankly I am aghast that one political party can use its temporary mandate to overturn the monarchy forever. Speaking as an irredeemable medievalist, I do not believe that one generation has the democratic right to overturn the cumulative work of generations that preceded it, but at the very minimum I would have thought that the people would need to be consulted in a referendum on a clear question on so fundamental an issue as this. This is particularly worrisome if in fact 62% of its population truly supports the institution. Just who and where are these friends of the Jamaican Crown, and why are they not better organized?
Speaking personally, as a democrat instead of an "irredeemable medievalist", I'm surprised that Jamaica has stayed a monarchy for so long. Nonetheless, I bet replacing the monarchy with will prove to be harder than Mrs Simpson thinks, and HMQ will be around a lot longer yet.
ReplyDeleteAs Canadians and Australians, we are accustomed to referenda because we have written constitutions to seal our federal compacts, whereas Britain does not. They are deliberately designed to make it hard to create, change or abolish institutions. Look at the dog's breakfast that Tony Blair made of the office of Lord Chancellor - an office that has been in continuous existence longer than the Crown (it lasted through the Cromwell years).
I think the last realm to become a republic was Mauritius.
I'm with you on saving Her Jamaican Majesty, but disagree with your disparaging of the death penalty.
ReplyDeleteWinston Churchill was a firm supporter of capital punishment. He once observed: “The mood and temper of the public in regard to the treatment of crime and criminals is one of the most unfailing tests of any country... [They] mark and measure the stored-up strength of a nation, and are the sign and proof of the living virtue within it.”
Of course I value democracy, but I also value beauty, myth and transcendence and all the treasures bequeathed from feudal times. When I say I am a medievalist, I'm really saying that I am deliciously fascinated by the surviving curiosities and boldfaced anachronisms inherent in our ancient monarchy, and strongly support constitutional limits that preserve it. A system of government should be beyond the ambitions of a political party and democratic politicians in possession of their temporary majorities.
ReplyDeleteWesternCiv: I am guilty of playing mischief, of deliberately equating republicans dreams with death.
ReplyDeleteA little mischief is good for the soul.
ReplyDeleteYes, Mauritius...i was 4 or 5 years old at the time. The people was not even consulted, the Mauritius Labour Party was against it and the then Governor General seemed too stunned to react at the change. It was effected by a Leftist coalition whose main support was among the lower caste (if not outcastes) Hindus, the underprivileged muslims and the black creoles. As a note, i think that democracy can only work if it's coupled with subsidiarity.
ReplyDeleteI'm not an expert on Carribean politics - but is the referendum that was held in St Vincent and the Grenadines in 2009 likely to be a guide on what to expect?
ReplyDeletehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vincentian_constitutional_referendum,_2009
http://welections.wordpress.com/2009/11/27/saint-vincent-and-the-grenadines-republic-referendum-2009/
HMQ hasn't lost a referendum since the early seventies - I wouldn't count on a referendum in Jamaica being different.
First I like to say I like your blog and I am a regular visitor. Such a pity you associate the move towards Republicanism to the death penalty. That is probably the last reason a person who supports becoming a republic would have. Most thinks that even if we become a Republic we should still retain the Privy Council and most Jamaicans do not support the CCJ. I do support a referendum but it is true that both political parties made it clear in their manifestos that they intend for Jamaica to become a Republic on its 50 birthday, the general public knew this, so I can understand why they feel they have the mandate.
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ReplyDelete