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0 182 

~ S CO TARY 
For transmission on 
Tuesday Aug lat 6 .15p . m 
Peter Abraha s speaking 

ssia in 1980 

Go dd eveni ng : It is the year 1980 and the place is oscow o 

any big Russ i an city . Russian citizen wakes up early on a Monday 

morning . He i in a very nice apartment with fine furniture , a good 

carpet on the f loor, and in s pite of the fact that it 1s winter, his 

apartment is warm and comfortable . His wife and children are up 

already and he can hear them chattering away gaily in t h e living 

room . He l i es still for a little while , t h inking how good life 1s , 

and then he jumps out of bed , puts on his dressin own and goes out 

to join his family . There is his wife and thr ee children , t wo g irls 

and a boy : they are all at the breakfast table . And on the table 

there is butter and cream and milk and cheese, and the s mell of hot 

bacon and eggs and sausages and toast; nd there is a whole heaped 

bowl of fruit - oranges , peaches , p ears , apples, bananas , pineapples, 

grapes and the like . The man ki sses his wife and h i s children and 

then the h appy family settle down to a good and healthy breakfast . 

Just as they n ear the end of their meal t he telephone rings and one 

of the ch ildren answers it . She l i s tens for a while then says they 

are coming . She hangs up, turns to the other children and t ells them 

that their school transport i s zlDlX waiting do' nstairs . The ch i ldren 

get into their thick fur- lined coats , hug their parents, and dash out 

to the warm , centrally heated school bus . Th e school bus picks t em 

up at t heir door every da.y and t akes them ba ck to Jhheir door at the 

end of each school day . Tei s choolin 1s free; the clothes t hey 

wear are free , t h eir shoes and uniforms are free , t h e food they get 

at s chool is free - everyth ing is free . 
In f act , t h e foo d they had with their parents for breakfast is 



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free and the k!mXll! three-bedroom apartment in which they life is fr ~~ 

and there telephone and their gas and their electricity and their 

furniture and their radio and their television and the clothes of 

their parents - all these things are ·free. Th ey do not have to pay a 

penny for them . 

After they have finished their last cup of coffee the man and 

~is wife put on their warm fur-lined overcoats, check the time and 

go down in the lift. The lift attendant greets them cheerfully and 

gives them each a morning paper . Down stairs, the first centrally 

heated bus that comes picks up the husband; the next one picks up the 
The man 

wife . They work in different parts of the city. Razk works nine hours 

a day for only four days a week to make up his total of 36 working 

hours a week. His wife works a much shorter week. And from Thursday 

•evening until Monday morning they are free . They can catch a plane and 

fly down to the Black Sea for a weekend of sunshine in a luxury hotel. • 

And they can eat all the fine food and drink all the good wine they 

like and it won't cost them a penny . Of course, during their working 

hours they work very hard . But the reward for hard work is that every­

thing is free: food, housing , clothes, medical attention , transp~rt, 

the whole works . And the golden rule of the land is: from each according 

to his ability; to each according to his need . So every Russian gives 

what he can in skill and labour, and the state gives to every Russian 

what he or she needs. Does it sound like heaven on earth? Well, this E 

what the Russian government promised its people in a new policy 

programme last Saturday night. It says that in the next 20 years the 

conditions which I have just described will come to pass for all the 

people of Rus sia . Can this happen? The Russians say it can and will 

happen if there is no war between now and 1980. Let us hope we live 
long enough to see . Goodnight . 



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No 183 1) End of Banana Strike 
2) Holiday with Pay ~or Maids 

NEWS COMMENTARY 
For transmission on 
Wednesday Agg 2 at 6 . 15p . m 
Peter Abrahams speaking 

Good evening: I am glad that the banana strike is over and I 

hope that whatever can be salaa@~ddof ~ the fruit will be loaded 

and shipped as quickly as possible . But of course, the damage which 

has been done cannot be undone . And there is no question but that 

t his strike has caused the industry some severe harm . Incidentally, 

a listener who happens to be a banana grower got in touch with me 

after my comments of Thursday of last week . This listener said that 

I had given the impression that loaders were being paid fifty shilli?W 

for a full week's work whereas in fact loaders generally worked for 

some 30-odd hours for the money they got . I am glad to make this 

correction . However, I still feel that the basic point I make stands . 

Even if a man works for only thirty hours, if that is all the work he 

can get in one week and the pay is only fifty shillings, that man is 

certainly not well off . And in the light of the announced decision of 

the banana growers to do their own loading in the events of wildcat 

strikes, I wonder whether we should not think in terms of leaving tl:e 

entire responsibility of loading to the All Island Banana Growers 

Association and encourage the workers who now do the loading to find 

other means of earning a more decent living . Here , I think, is where 

the Roosevelt idea of works projects could come into operation . 

Certainly , from the national point of view the banana industry is het:dng 

for a mess if we keep on treating it as if it is one of the instrumm ts 

for obsorbing some of the unemployed . 

It seems to me that this strike , as well as the terms of the 

settlement, has just underlined my basic point which i s t hat the time 



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has come when we should all look at this question of mechanisation 

as an urgent national matter . I think it is high time that the 

government gave the country a clear statement as to where it stands 

on the whole quest ion of mechani sation . I think we are all agreed 

that we do not want the workers to suf fer . I think we are all agreed 

that men are more important than machines, and that we must make sure 

that the intr oduction of machines must be so handled as to not hurt 

men. But when that is said and done , where are we? How are machines 

to be i ntroduced? Over what period of time? When and where do we begll1? 

And what about the workers who will be displaced? 

I honestly think we are dead wrong to tackle this issue on a 

peacemeal basis . Just as the government has drawn up a ten- year 

development plan , so I think it can draw up a ~ive or ten year plan 

for labour and mechanisation . This would set a direction and chart 
the 

a course, and that is something we need very badly in/Jamaican labour 

situation today . 

Finally, I am very glad that the question of holidays with pay 

for domestic workers has come up in the House . I know this is a sore 

subject with most housewives . They feel that they are getting poor 

service from t heir maids and they do not see why they should pay them 

well and give them holidays with pay on top of it . The maids on the 

other hand, do not see why they should worked hard for a mere pittance 

and no holidays . I think an effort is needed from both sides , but I 

t hink the initiative is with the employer . I think many of you would 

be surprised at just how a little thoughtfulness and decency and 

consideration will pay off in the long run . The fault is rarely on 

one side only, and maids are human too , you know. Goodnight. 



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No 184 

NEWS COMMEN"TARY 

The Referendum Date & 
Manley's Future 

For transmission on 
Thursday Aug 3 at 6 . 15p . m 
Peter Abrahams speaking 

Good evening: Today ~s the big day; and later this evening Mr . 

Manley will announce the date on which the Referendum will be held . 

He will announce the date at two public meetings, one at Half Way Tree, 

and the other at the Coronation Market . He will also tell us whether 

he is going federal or not . 

Before I go on to discuss these two very important points, let ne 

try to clear up an important point of procedure. Many people have 

expressed concern about the manner in which Mr . Manley will announce 

the date of the Referendum. Some have said they thought the announce­

ment should first be made in the House of Representatives and not at 

a party political meeting . Others have said that even if the announce­

ment was not first made in the House, it should be made xx first of 

all as a statement from the government before being given from a 

party political platform. The first group holds that it is an insult 

to the dignity of the parliament of the country if t he announcement 

is made to a public meeting before the members of our parliament, who 

are the elected repr e sentatives of all the people, know of it. The 

second group says that t his is an important national matter and it 

would be an insult and more to t he whole concept of democratic 

government, if such an important i s sue is treated first and foremost 

as a party political issue to be announced from a party poli t ical 

platformo 

Now I think t here is a great deal of sense in both these objections. 

I t h ink i t would be wrong if t h e first public announc ement of the date 

of the Referendum is n fact g i ven a t a publ c meeting. But I a m 

absolutel y convinced tna~ Mr . Maniey wiil no t dot i s . I am sure he 



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is as min ful of t he d gn i ty of parliament and t ne government as the 

two groups who have expressed their concern . In fact, I would go furffll.er 

and say that he is more mindful of the dignity of parliamen~ ana the 

government than most of us . So I cannot see him doing anything which 

would undermine the dignity of these t wo institutions . In any case, ±t 

would not suit him to do so because he knows that his enemies would 

make pol itical capital out of it . So what will he do? He has already 

announced that he will give the date at two public meetings t his 

evening . 

I think those of you who are interested should make a careful 

check to morrow morning . If you do , I think you will find that either 

one of two things have happened - or perhaps both . First, I think you 

will find that today' s Government Gazette - or perhaps it will be an 
have 

Extraordinary Gazette - will/published the date well before Mr. Manley 

made his announcement at the public meetings . The second thing I think 

anybody who makes a check bmmorrow morning is likely to find out is tthat 

the government issued a public announcement of the date - with a 

poss ible time Embargo on it - long before Mr. Manley makes his 

announcement at the public meetings . Or perhaps both these t h ings will 

happen . So I think you will find t hat these objections are not really 

valid because Manl ey will go about it in the correct parliamentary way . 

I think the date of the Referendum will be either the 17th, 18th 

or 19th of September and I think Manley will declare that he himself 

will go Feder al . That is my guess . In just over a couple of hours' 

time we will know how right or wrong I am. Goodnight . 



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No 185 

NEWS COMMENTARY 
For transmission on 
Fr iday Aug 4 at 6 . 15p . m 
Peter Abrahams speaking 

Good evening: The great secret is out and , to use the Phrase 

made famous by the ~ Roger Mais, ' now we know ' . The lines are drawn 

and the battle is on . I think from here on the Federation debate is 

going to get so hot that what has gone before will seem like child ' s 

play . Well, I think it might be a good idea for us to pause and take 

a good look at what the picture looks like at this moment before the 

battle is finally joined . 

First, let us look at the line up of the political forces . I 

think it is idle for anybody to pretend that the votes in this referEIIl.um 

are going to be cast on noneparty lines . This is likely to happen wi1h 

what is known as the floating vote . But I think the vast majority 

of voters are going to vote along party lines, and I frankly do not 

see how i t can be otherwise . The P . N. P . is f or Jamaica remaining in 

the Federation : the J . L. P. wants Jamaica out of it . It is therefore 

a party issue , whether you like it or not . I think all this talk 

of approaching the referendum in a non- party spirit is rather silly . 

And this idea that it is wrong for a major national issue to be 

approached on party lines is so nruch humbug, especially when the 

country's two major parties stand opposed to each other over the matter . 

So I think we cannot escape the party political aspect of it . 

So , as I see it, the first part of the line-up is the P .N. P . 

against the J .L.P . on strictly party lines . Of the two the P . N. P . 

seems to have the more tightly knit political machine at present . Such 

differences and disagreements as there were in the top leadership 

before the Port-of-Spain and wndon Conferences, have disappeared and 

the party now seems to be working pretty smoothly. I have the feeling 



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that the P .N.P . steamroller has warmed up and is just about ready to 

go into top gear . And there is a new confidence among them . Manley's 

v i ctories at the conferences in Port- of-Spain and in London where he 

got all the safeguards for Jamaica's interests that he wanted, has 

given the P .N.P. a great boost with the electorate . The general public 

recognises these as solid achievemnts . And then there is the very 

important fact that the P . N. P . has announced a def inite date for 

1ndepemlaimee with in the Federation in May of next year . So much 

for the P . N. P . What of the J . L. P . ? 

They too have closed their ranks remarkably well in the last few 

months . At their di sastrous annual conference and when Mrs . Leon left. 

the party, it looked very much as though the party was in danger of 

falling apartf . But they rode the storm successfully and today the 

party seems more tightly knit than it was at the beginning of the year . 

Their very successful anti - Federation march on Einancipation Day showed 

that the J . L.P . is by no means a spent force and t hat they too could 

get a political machine going . It seems to me that their great 

disadvantage is that they have not yet found an issue to capture the 

popular imagination or an issue on which they could press and embarrass 

the government in a way that would win public approval . If they can 

find such an issue soon they might still give the P. N. P . a good run . 

Another factor against them is the fact t hat many people have had 

serious second t houghts about going it alone in view of the political 

restlessness of this part of the world at present. But let me repeat , 

the J .L. P. is by no means a s pent force . The question is whether they 

can find a really popular issue in time . Tomorrow I will look a t sone 

of t he other forces in the political line-up , so till then, Goodnight. 



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No 186 The Referendum: Position of other groups . 

NEWS COMMENTARY 
For transmission on 
Saturday Aug 5 at 6 . 15p . m 
Peter Abrahams speaking 

Good evening : Last night I gave you my view of t he P .N. P .-J .L. ~ 

line-up 1n the great referendum encounter that is now on . Now let us 

look at some of the other par ties and groups and see where they 

stand xuxxx and what possible influence they can exert on the r esults 

of the refer endum . 

First let us deal with the two new political parties , Mrs . Rose 

Leon ' s Progressive Labour Movement and Mr . Millar d Johnson ' s People ' s 

~olitical Party . Mrs . Leon is an old hand in J amaican politics , and, 

as she showed when she broke with the J . L. P . , she has a fair amount 

of popular support in the country . But somehow her Progressive Labour 

Movement does not yet seem to have got off the ground , or if it has, 

we are hearing very little about it . On the question of Federation 

and the referendum, the Leona have decided to sit on the fence . The 

Progressive Labour Movement , they say, will tell the people of Jamaica 

about the good points and the bad points of federation but will not 

take a stand either for or against . So I do not think the Progressive 

Labour Movement is going to influence the results of the referendum 

one way or the other. My guess is that they see this as a position of 

strength which would leave them free to carry on, no matter which 

side wins . But I am not so sure that either history or the voters 

will see their stand in this light when the next Jamaica elections 

come along . However , this is still a very young party and both history 

and the voters make str ge allowances sometimes . 

The ~eople's Political Party which is about the same age as the 

Progressive Labour Movement - both are about four months old now -
the People' s Political Party has taken a clear stand against Federation. 



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It wants no part of the Federation and it wants Jamaica to get out . 

But it does want a closer contact with the independent African states . 

Apart from its firm stand on the colour question and on Jamaica's 

getting out of the federation it has not yet offered the country any 

programme on which the new party will campaign in any local election . 

No doubt this will come in time. But the party has campaigned actively 

against federation though it is very hard to determine just what 

influence it exerts at present . I think the voting in the referendum 

will be a small but by no means conc l usive pointer . But such direct 

influence as the People's PDogressive Party has will be a for a 'No ' 

vote in the referendum . 

So much for the political groups . Rececent~y a new groupl, the 

"Save Jamaica Volunteer Non-Partisan Group" under the leadership of 

Mr . Adolphe Roberts, the elder statesman of Jamaican writing, has 

appeared on the scene with a published declaration and one radi~ 

. broadcast so far . This group is against Jamaica remaining in the 

federation and calls for a ' no' vote . As one of the founding fathers 

of the Jamaica National Movement, Mr . Adolphe Roberts is a man of 

influence among Jamaica's intelligentsia and it is here that his, and 

the influence of his group might be strongest . But against this must 

be set the. very active campaigning for federation which is being 

conducted throughout Jamaica by a group of graduate and undergraduates 

of the University College . This then, is the line-up of the parties ad 

the more active pro-and anti-federation groups. They will liven up tl::e 

campaign. But basically, the battle is between the two major parties 
t he most important 

because this is fundament ally t party i s sue in Jamaica today . Goodn~t. 



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No 187 Dangerous Driving & the Duty of the Citizen 

NE'wS COMMENTARY 
For transmiss ion on 
Monday Aug 7 at 6.15p . m 
Peter Abrahams speaking 

Good evening : I want to discuss the latest Russian space achieve­
ment, but before I do so I want to deal with something very much 
nearer_ home, and something which affects all of us nearly all the 
time . I am thinking of this very vexed question of what we should do 
if we see someone doing something wrong . Does the citizen have any 
responsibility to do someth ing when he sees another citizen behaving 
in a way which can cause damage and danger and possible death to 
other citizens? 

This question was forcmbly brought to me over the weekend . Let 
me tell you how it happened . I had to go up to Spaldings to take 
part in t he opening of t he Knox College Summer School on Friday 
evening . We have a friend from America staying with us and so I thought 
it might be a good idea to make it a family trip and show our friend 
something of that part of the country wh ich she had not yet seen . And 
so , after my day ' s work we all left Kingston on Friday evening for 
Manchester . It was a pretty good run and I thought I was doing very 
well to keep up an average speed of 50 to 55 miles and hour on straight 
roads outside built- up areas . Every now and then some speed maniac 
flashed past us, going at 70 or 80 miles an hour . As long as the road 
was clear these speeding characters were all right . But at that speed 
there is no marg in for error . Should a cow or goat or pig or donkey 
suddenly step into the road , these people would be in a mess , facing 
the pr ospect of a smashed up car and broken bones if they ar e lucky, 
or death . But they do not seem to think about this , or about a little 
child that might suddenly dash across the road . This is bad enough . 
But we experienced someth ing very much worse %k&% Friday evening . 



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Just outside May Pen one of those~ ellow P .w. n J water tanks on 

wheels came up behind us . I heard the racket of its coming for miles . 

There was a steady stream of cars and we were all running in a line 

go ing at between 50 and 60 miles . But this P .W.D. tank shot past one 

car after another, going at a lick of at least 70 . One car had to 

partly climb a bank and risk turning over because this thing was 

pass ing and there was traffic coming in the opposite direction. And 

then it shot past me and I had to swing in to avoid having my front 

fender licked. And away it went, horn blaring , pushing everybody on 

to the banks in its mad¢ career . I felt it was only a matter of time 

before it crashed into something and I prayed that no poor innocent 

human beings would suffer injury or death . And I was frankly glad 

that we were now far behind it . But unfortunately we met up with it 

again shortly after Porus because a couple of big country trucks had 

slowed it down on a narrow road . But the driver was impatient and 

making an awful racket . When the road widened, I shot past and hurried 

on prying to put as much distance between us and this dangerous thing . 

It must hav e turned off somewhere because we didn ' t see it again when 

we slowed down to a normal speed . But we did see it on the way back 

to Kingston on Saturday morning . We saw it just outside Porus . The 

front was smashed into a bank . The water hose was partly broken and 

lying on the road. The smash~t I had feared on Friday had come; and 

there was no-one in the thing . I hope no innocent person had been hurt. 

But what should all those of us who witnessed t hi s terrible driving -
police 

what should we have done? I bet no one contacted the nearest/post to 

tell them there was a potential killer on the road last Friday . And 

yet we should have , you know . And I a m as much at f ault . I also think 

we should have seen at leas t one police patrol rider on that road. 
Goodnight . 



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No 188 

NEWS CO:MMFNTARY 
For transmission on 
Tuesday Aug 8 at 6 . 15p . m 
Peter Abrahams speaking 

Russian Man in Orbit 

Good evening : Before I go on to talk about the latest Russian 

space achievement just let me quickly finish what I said last night . 

A whole heap of us saw this potential killer on the road on Friday 

evening, but I do not think anyone reported it . We behaved as though 

it was none of our business . I saw people standing on the side of the 

road watching this yellow P.W. D. water truck .-...... =.a .... running at 

this fantastic speed. And I could see the disapproval on their faces. 

But none of us did anything about it . It is no credit to us that some 

man , woman or child was not maimed or killed . And yet it is only when 

the citizens do their duty that we will begin to control this dangerous 

recklessness on the roads. So please, let us all try to help keep death 

off the roads by reporting reckless driving whenever and wherever we 

see it . We owe this much to our children, if to nobody else . 

And now for the new Russian space shot . A 26-year-old young 

Russian, Major Titov, came safely down to earth yesterday morning 

after spending 2K more than 24 hours circling our earth and passing 

over continents and oceans and cities 17 times . He ate, sJept worked 

and performed all the normal human functions at a height where a few 

years ago it was said no man could survive . This is the second time 

the Russians have shot a man into space and brought him back safely . 

For all we know, it might be the third . Before Gagarin went up last 

April there were strongly supported rumours that someone else had gone 

up before him but had met with disaster. But in any case, whether 

Titov is the second or third man, the Russian achievement is still 

the greatest scientific achievement of the ages . And even if they did 

lose mne man, it is, in terms of scientific research, a fantastically 



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small price to pay for such a revolutionary achievement. The fight to 
conquer and control malaria has claimed more lives than has the 
conquest of space so far. The roads to the North and South Poles are 
more littered with human casualties than is the road to the stars so 
far. Just think of how many men died before Mount Everest was climbed. 
And yet for this much greater and more far-reaching achievement we have 
the rumour of only one possible casualty. This initself is fantastic. 

But I have heard many people say: ' What is the point of this? 
Millions and millions in money is was ted on these space attempts while 
human beings go hungry and homeless and naked'. But you know, this has 
always been the cry in the face of some new and startling achievement. 
The people who first tried to fly in little machines built in their 
backyards were considered damfools and nobody could see the point of 
it at the time. Today man spans the continents and oceans in giant 
airliners because of the experiments of those so-called damfools. 

Today it is somewhat the same. Because we cannot yet see the 
possible results of man's exploration and conquest of space we tend 
to belittle it and dismiss it as a wasteful extravagance. Of course, 
some of us do it because this space achievement is a unique triumph for 
the Russians. I think that is short-sighted and rather silly . Does it 
matter now what nationality the person was who discovered the antidote 
to malaria? Does it matter that the Curies who discovered radium were 

. French? Does not all mankind benefit from these? So I think it will be 
with whatever gains come from the conquest of space . So let· us honour 

staggering 
a great pioneering achievement whose/implications are still beyond 
our understanding. This is a great step forward for all mankind . Goodnight 



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No 189 Behaviour at Political Meetings 

NEWS COMMENTARY 
For traBsmission on 
Wednesday Aug 9 at 6 .15p .m 
Peter Abrahams speaking 

Good evening: Some of you may remember my r ecurrent little theme 

about good news and bad news. I t goes something like this: whenever 

anything good happens, when people behave well, when they help each 

other, when they show kindness and thoughtfulness and consideration, 

that is not considered news and so it r arely makes the headlines in 

our papers or over our radios. When a man knocks down a stranger 

and robs him, that is news. When a man picks up a stranger's wallet 

and gives it back to him and puts him on the right road to where he 

wants to go, that is not news. In other words , all the bad happenings: 

the robberies, the violence, the bad manners - all this gets into our 

papers and goes over our radios . All the good happenings on the other 

hand : the helpings , the good manners, the kindnesses, the friendliness -

these are hardly ever reported. And so we tend to h ear and r ead only 

about the bad and rarely about the good . And so our count ry and our 

people and the world and its people are all painted as ugly and mean 

and nasty and rude and agressive and without cons ideration. And if 

we get t his sort of report ing day afterday and week . after week and 

month after month and year after year, we get to a point where we 

believe it • .And once we believe that everybody and v~~rything is 

no good , we shrug our shoulders and behave as badly as we expect 

everybody t o behave . We expect them to be aggres s ive s o we get in 

f irst with our own aggressiveness; we expect t hem t o be rude so we 

f orestall them by getting n our own r udene s f r s t. We expect bad 

manner s from the shop as s i sta t so we snap at her t o try and put her 

in her place before she begin_s . And so we set of a chain rea ction 

of behaviour whi ch s t arted with t h e news we r ead and hear d . 



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When we read or hear about political meetings we sort of half 

expect the reports to tell us how one leader cur sedthe other leader, 

sometimes running dovm his family tree and picking on any physical weak­

nes s he might have . And of course we almost always expect these reports 

to tell us that the supporters of the different parties have been 

violent and rowdy and di sorderly . When there is no abuse, no violence , 

no disorderliness, we are hardly ever told about this because this 

does not make good news . 

So let me give you some good news which MJD: is not good news in 

t h e accepted sense . It is simply this : I X2JlX visited all the meetings 

that took place last Thursday night when Manley announced the date of 

the Referendum and his own future plans . I went from the P . N. P . meetings 

to the J . L.P . meetings . And I was so impressed by the orderl i ness of 

these meetings . People behaved as responsible and mature citizens . 

I had an American friend with me and I took my friend into the thickest 

parts of all the crowds . And my friend too, was greatly impressed by 

the good behaviour of the crowds . The crowds were enthusiastic , some 

were gay , but they all behaved wonderfully well and I was proud that 

the stranger with me got such a good impression of Jamaican crowds . 

Indeed , my friend ' s strongest impression was that the people knew this 

was a great event and they were meeting it with a sense of sober 

responsibility . Now some of you may think this is a small thing . I 

do not . I think it is a big thing and a good thing . And it is the kind 

of good news I would like to see reported as fully as the other kind 

of news . If it is reported it might even teach some of the leaders 

to speak and behave with as much responsibility as their followers 
last 

showed/ID Thursday night . Goodnight . 



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No 190 B.G . : The Campaign Against Jagan 

NE'i'lS COMMENTARY 
For transmission on 
Thmrsday Aug 10 at 6.15p . m 
Peter Abrahams speaking 

Good evening: The British Guiana General Elections under the 
new constitution are eleven days away and we are now witnessing a 
strange campaign of interference from the outside in the affai rs of 
that country. It all began with 11n .Ehglish Peer who visited B. G. 

made a speech 
some weeks ago and who then/u11::txm:tfxk1:BXlllE[:.tk in the United States 

warning that if Jagan won the elections on August 21st British 

Guiana would become a communist satellite . Si nce then a number of 
American politicians, notably some American Senators have taken up 
thg,;t matterof warning that British Guianan would become another Cuba 

if Dr . Jagan's People's Progressive Party wins the elections . There 
have been dark hints that some sort of action should be taken to ensure 
that British Guiana does not become another Cuba . Until Friday of 
last week we had only warnings and a call from some Americans to the 
people of British Guiana not to return J agan to power . 

But on Fr iday of last week the London Daily Express came out much 
more sharply and clear ly . The Daily Express said that Jagan was liaely 
to win the election and then it went on to say that if he did there 
will be no more lessons in democracy for British Guiana because t here 
will be no more democracy . It said that the Americans saw this danger 
clearly and were justified in being anxiou_s about it . The Americans 

already had Cuba on t heir doorstep and with Jagan in power in B. G. 
communism would have two outposts on the American continent . It said 
that Whitehall ought to be as anxious as the Americans . Then it went 
on to say t hat Britain acted decisively 1n 1953 and that if a amxx 
similar situation were created by another Jagan victory on August 21st 
t hen Britain should not hesitate to repeat her firm action of 1953 . 



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Now, I think the meaning of all this is pretty clear . The line 

of the Daily Express is : if Jagan wins the August 21st elections he 

would set about trying to create a communist state . It was on this 

charge that E. G. ' s constitution was suspended in 1953 . If he does set 

about creating a communist state after the coming elections , then 

Britain should again suspend the E. G. constitution . And the Express' 

justification for this proposal is that Britain owes to her American 

ally and also owes it to the people of British Guiana to protect them 

from voting away their freedom through ignorance. 

Now I find this as tricky a situati on as you could want . The 

people of British Guiana have been given the right to elect whomever 

they want to power . That is the meaning of their new constitution . 

now the elections are nearly here and it looks as though they are 

going to choose Jagan . But , say some very powerful Anglo - American 

forces, if they do choose Jagan then their constitution should be 

taken away from them . From the point of view of the Guianese people 

t his makes a mockery of their right to choose whomever they want to 

govern~ them . And of course , all this advance anti - Jagan propaganda is 

like finding the man guilty before he has committed any crime . What 

these people do not seem to realise is that the effect of their anti­

Jagan campaign is more likely to strengthen support for Jagan rather • 
t han to take it away from . I am sure that Forbes Burnham and Peter 

D'Aguiar must be cursing ~his outside int~rference as much as Jagan, 

because it can only hurt their chances . Even those who understand the 

AngJ,.o -American fears feel that this is just about the silliest way to 

go about winning friends and influencing people . Goodnight . 



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No 191 The Destruction of the J amaican F.arth 

NEWS COMMENTARY 
For transmission on 
Friday Augll at 6.15p.m 
Peter Abrahams speaking 

Good evening: Much that is big and dramatic ·and important is 

happening all over the world right now, but my mind is on the Jamaican 
big 

earth right now. And although this may not seem as tmiam~%aJdri and 

dramatic as most of the other news going on today, I think it is one 

of the two or three most important challenges facing Jamaica and 

Jamaicans. And this challenge of the Jamaican earth and what we do with 

it is, to my mind , the most important if we look at it from a long term 

point of view. 

Man has a very intimate and a very special relationship to the 

earth on which he was born, on which he grew up and played and suffered 

and flourished and which gives him his daily bread. Without the earth 

on which he lives and from which he gets his living, man is nothing. 

When you say Jamaican, you are not just describing a man, you are 
the 

describing a man in relation to a particular piece of/earth called 

Jamaica. When you say a Frenchman, you are describing a man in 

relation to a piece of earth called from. And so it g~es with all men 

everywhere. They are rotted to that part of the earth on which they 

were born and which gives them their identity and which gives them 

their living. Without thmspiece of the earth called J amaica there can 

be no Jamaicans . And if this Jamaican earth flourishes and is rich and 

healthy then the people who live on it and live by it are likely to 

flourish and be rich and healthy . If, on the other hand, this Jamaican 

earth is sick and poor and unhealthy then the people who live on it 

are likely to be sick and poor and unhealthy . This is the way it 

always has been for the vast majoruty of people in every country. As 

lt is with the land, so it is with most of the people. And this is 



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particularly true of agricultural countries , and Jamaica is basically 

an agricultural country . We are not an industrialised country , True, 

we are making every effort to build up industries here . We have not 

done badly so far and it is very likely that in the years ahead we 

will do better, especially if our industries are based on foods and 

fruits and other raw mater i al we produce right here in Jamaica . But 

fundamentally , Jamaica is an agricultural country and it will remain 

an agricultural country for as far ahead into the future as I can see . 

And this fact makes the J amaican earth especially important to every 

Jamaican, whether he lives in the town or whether he lives in the 

country . So how does the Jamaican deal with this earth which is his 

most precious ~mxexxexaillUI possession and which gives him his unique 

and distinctive personality as a man? 

The answer, I am afaaid, is a sad and unhappy one . The vast 

majority of Jamaicans are either indifferent to this earth which gives 

them life, or else they abuse it . Now I am not saying that all Jamaicans 

do this , There are many who care for t he land, many who love it and 

nurture it, but they are a minority . The majority abuse t he land . Often 

they do so from ignorance . It is often easier and quicker to clear a 
hillside 

patch of/land by firing it . And often they had not been taught better 

ways and t hey have not been told what would happen if they go on abusing 

the land. So there is no point in blaming these people . They are trying 

to get a living as best they can. But in the process, by firing the 

land , by chopping down hillside trees and bush , they are destroying the 

Jamaican earth which feeds or should feed us all , So what can we do 

about t h is? How can we stop it? And what would happen if we don't stop 

it? I'll try to answer these questions to morrow . So till then, goodnight . 



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Terracing as a National Policy 

NEWS COMMENTARY 
For transmission on 
Saturday Aug 12 at 6 . 15p . m 
Peter Abrahams speaking 

Good evening : Last night I said the ma j ority o! Jamaicans x~• 

are destroying the Jamaican earth . If you doubt me, do what I did on 

Thurday: fly across Jamaica in one of these small planes that operate 
three 

as air taxis and look down on the Jamaican earth . If you do this , txm 

things will strike you very forc~bly . One of the three things you may 

know, but the other two things may shock and surprise you . The one 

thing you may know is that most of the Jamaican earth is not flat land ; 

by far the largest part of Jamaica is made up of hillside land which 

can be very steep in some places . The second thing - and this is likely 

to come as a surprise to many people - is the fact that you will see 

vast stretches of the Jamaican earth lying unused and unpopulated. There 

is a great deal of unused land space in the interior of t h i s island : 

and it made me wonder about all this talk of overpopulation . And I 

began to wonder why we imported so much of our foodstuff when we had 

all this land ready and available to give us food if we worked it and 

worked it well . The tht~d thing - and this was the thing that shocked 

and upset me - were the very clear signs of erosion in all too many 

parts of this hillside land . Some farmer, some cultivator, had cleared 

a hillside by fire . . He had burned bush and tree and everything else 

to grow his catch- crop or cash crop . No doubt he had had a good fi r st 

crop . But then the rains had come down and because there was no bush 

or trees , it had washed away all the top soil . And many of these 

hillsides showed bare limestone rock where the life- giving earth had 

been washed away , and where hardly anything can now be grown . This is 

a crime . And I am not talking about crime in terms of the law . This is 

something very much more serious . This means that we are fast turning 



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Jamaica's hillside land into a desert of rock . If this goes on we will 

suffer , but others will suffer even more . Our children and grand­

children and great- grandchildren will suffer even more because they 

will inherit a barren land which cannot feed them because we have 

abused the good earth of Jamaica which should give us and them a good 

life . And they will curse us for having destroyed the Jamaican earth . 

The warning signs are there already. Droughts are becoming more 

common in Jamaica every year . If there is no rain for a few weeks 

there is a drought and a water shortage . This was not always so . A 

hundred years ago droughts were unknown in Jamaica because the hillsides 

were thickly forested and acted was watersheds . But we have cut down 

the trees and burned the land and so we have droughts . So what can 

we do about this? People like Harold Cahusac are doing all they can 

through the Watershed Protection Commission- and fine job it is . But 

I do not think that is enough . I think we have done too nruch damage 

already for this problem to be handled piecemeal . I should like to 

see the government laying down a long term policy to save and restore 

this Jamaican earth . I should like to see a ten or twenty year policy 

to terrace all the hillside land of Jamaica. I know all the forward 

looking farmers and the people in our Forest Department would welcome 

this . But the policy decision nrust come from the government . And it 

owes to the country and its people to preserve and protect the land 

by launching such a policy . If we save the Jamaican earth, this land 

can feed all its people and still leave f eod over for export . If we don' 

do this then our government and all of us will be guilty of a crime 

against unborn generations of Jamaic~ Goodnight . 



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No 193 Facts of Berlin Crisis 

NEvvS COMMENTARY 
For transmission on 
Monday Aug 14 at 6.15p.m 
Peter Abrahams speaking 

G~od evening: A very large number of people are utterly confused 

about the facts of the Berlin and German crisis. Our news agencies 

tell us that the Berlin crisis is the most dangerous threat to the 

peace of the world today. Our radios and our papers tell us that the 

West - the United States, Britain and France - will not surrender 

their rights in Berlin and Germany. We hear that the American 

President has called for a stepping up of the armed forces and for 

more money for military defence. In the same vein, the Soviet Union 

has declared that it will not surrender its rights in Berlin and that 

it was going to sign a separate ~eace treaty with East Germany this 
from 

year whether the Western Powers like it or not. And/inside Germ~ny 

itself come reports of a steady flow of Germans fleeing from Fast 

Berlin to Wes t Berlin. And today we have reports that there have been 

ugly scenes over the weekend as the East German authorities tried 

to stop people from their zone from running away to the Western zone 

of Berlin. They have put up barbed wire barricades; and on Sunday 

there were clashes between protesting crowds and armed Fast German 

police using tear gas and smoke bombs. This was because in the past 

ten days or so the steady flow of fleeing refugees had begum to turn 

into a flood. 

Now we know all t his, or most of it, because the Berlin story 

has been the number one world headline story for a f ew weeks now. 

What many people do not know, what many people have asked me to tell 

them about, are the hard facts behind this present Berlin crisis. 

We know there is a crisis; we know it is an ugly business whi ch can 



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lead to just about the most destructive atomic war the world has ever 

known; we know that it is another phase in the 'cold war ' between 

Russia and the United States, and we are all very worried about it . 

But we are ax~x confused and a bit lost when it comes to the details . 

So let us begin by trying to see how this situation came about . 

One thing I think most of us know is that it all goes back to the end 

of the Second World War and the defeat of Germany . And today's Berlin 

crisis stems out of the nature of that defeat . You will remember the 

war started on September 1st, 1939. Hitler's armies invade Poland 

and in a lightning sweep they spread through all of Ellrope, occupying 

France, menacing Britain from across the Ehglish Channel, and then 

sweeping east until they were at the very gates of Moscow . But then 

the great alliance of Russia, the United States, Britain and France, 

rallied and mounted a counter-attack . The Russians pushed from the 

east and the Ang~o-American and French forces pushed from the west . 

The allies declared that they would not make peace with Germany; that 

they wanted Germany's unconditional surrender . And so they swept all 

before them, destroying Germany's economy, killing roughly 7 million 

~ermans and leaving the land in ruin . The Russians raced on to Berlin 

and reached it before the Western allies. And when the Germans 

surrendered unconditionally dm May 7th of 1945, the Russians were 
all 

the effective lords of/Berl in . But the allies had agreed that Germany 

should be divided up among the four allies and so this was done and 

Berlin too was divided into four sectors. But there was something 

very peculiar about Berlin in the new set-up . I will tell you about 

this tomorrow evening: so till then, goodnight . 



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No 194 The Location of Berlin 

NEWS COMMENTARY 
For transmission on 
Tuesday Aug 15 at 6 . 15p . m 
Peter Abrahams speaking 

Good evening: Last night I told you that Russia , America, Britain 

and France had decided not to sign a peace treaty with Germany . Instead , 

they demanded unconditional surrender . And in fact the Germans did 

surrender unconditionally on May 7th of 1945 . I also told you that 

in the conquest of Germany the Russians had swept into ckJE Berlin and 

were the effective masters of the city by the time the Western allies 

got there . In fact, the Russians had gone further, they had swept 

west one hundred miles and more beyond Berlin . And so it was that when 

Germany was partitioned into four zones, Berlin was at least 100 miles 

deep inside x:as:tx~:el!!immJ: the Russian Zone . This was the peculiar 

situation of Berlin in the new set-up . In order to reach Berlin anybody 

from the West had to travel at least 100 miles through the Russian 

Zone or else fly over Russian held ierritory . But this presented no 

problem as long as things ran smoothly between the Russians and their 

allies . And in the early days of the occupation of Germany things did 

run smoothly. El!Jerybody was friendly and co-operative. They had just 

won a bitter war and Russian and American and British and French saw 

each other as comrades and brothers in a great crusade . And so Germany 

was broken up into Four Zones wi th the Russians getting control of 

41,380 square miles of the total area and with a population which at 

the time was estimated at 17,000,000 people. Britain, France and the 

United States, together got control of an area of 95,683 square miles 

and with a population of roughly 51,000 , 000 people . In terms of land 

space the Russians got the lion's share f r om the pa t tion ng of 

Germany. Bu i n t erms of human beings t he Wes t ern allies got most. 



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The city of Berlin itsel was also partitioned into Four Zones , 

one for the Russians , one for the Americans , one for the British and 

one for the French . The total area of Berlin is 341 . 2 square miles . 

The Russians got 155 . 5 square miles of this, and the Western allies 

combined got 185 . 7 square miles . So here again Russia got the lion's 

share . Before the war the population of all Berlin was nearly 4½ million, 

In 1957 the population of West Berlin was just under 2¼ millions and 

that of East Berlin was just under a million and a quarter . So it would 

seem that again in the partitioning of Berlin the vast majority of 

the people were in the Western Zmnes . 

After thei partition of Germany the four powers a~reed to regard 

Germany as one economic whole with each zone under a military governor. 

These four governors - one Russian , one American , one Britlsh, one 

French - made up the Allied Control Council for Germany . In 1947 the 

British and American authorities decided to combine their two zones 

into one . The British and Americans were then pressing for the 

untting of all Germany and an ending of the occupa tion . This set off 

a series of disagreements between the Russians and the West which 

ended with the Russians withdrawing from the Allied Control Council 

in 1948 . And straightaway the peculiar situation of Berlin came 

dramatically into play . The Russians blockaded all the railways and 
was 

roads linking Berlin with Wes t Germany . Remember , Wes t Berlin tt deep 

in the heart of the Russian Zone . The Russians were showing the West 

just how weak the western position in Berlin was . They were also showing 

their disapproval of western policy . Tomorrow evening I will t ell you 

just what the result of all this was . So till then , goodnight . 



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No 195 The Symbolism of Berlin 

NEWS COMMENTARY 
For transmission on 
Wednesday Aug 16 at 6 . 15p . m 
Peter Abrahams speaking 

Good evening: I ended my comments on Berlin last night with the 

breakdorm of the Four Power Allied Control Council and the Russian 

blockade of West- Berlin . This blockade, some of you may remember, lasted 

for eleven months . During that time the Western powers flew more than 

2 , 000,000 tons of food and other necessities into West Berli n, so 

preventing the Russians from starving the West Berliners into submission. 

When the Russians lifted the blockade it was both a western vi ctory 

and a promise of troubles ahead . 

Up to this point the French had tried to stay out of this growi ng 

partisan scrap between Russia and the United States . But in May of 1949 

the French threw in their lot when Britain and the United States 

decided to establish the Federal Republic of West Germany . In October 

of the same year the Russians followed suit and established the East 

German Democratic Republic . West Germany became a western style state 

and East Germany became a communist style state . And so all hopes of 

a peaceful and friendly and allied solution of the German problem 

were in effect abandoned by both sides . The West wanted a solution 

along western lines , with free elections throughout the country . The 

Russians were not sure that those they backed would win such an election 

and so they were apposed to it . Bud now the peculiar position of 

Berlin had come to the fore . Berlin now became the challenge and the 

symbol to both sides . So let us look at it from each side in turn . 

As the Russians see it , here is 185 square miles of land deep 

inside the Soviet world but not belonging to it . This, as Mr . Khrushchev 

has put it , was 'a bone in the Russian thro•t' . The Russians had 

tried to swallow it in 1948 but it had stuck because they had found 



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that the Americans were prepared to go to war over Berlin . And today 

the bone is still in the Russian throat, still irritating~ and they 

still want to swallow it . The existence of West Berlin deep inside 

the communist world is a daily challenge and i nsult to communism. If 

the Russians give up the fight for West Berlin it will be a gr eat 

moral defeat for communism and Russia . And so Russia cannot give way 

over West Berlin. 

As the Americans see it , holding on to West Berlin is as important 

to them is winning it is to the Russians . They ar e there by legal 

right of the Occupation Statute and as long as they hold on to West 

Berlin they are showing the uncommitted world that they can stand up 

to communism. And their case is strengthened by the fact that the 

West Berliners do not want communism. The daily flights from the 

communi s t zone to the western zone does t he communist cause great harm 

in the eyes of the world . And also, the material prosperity of West 

Berlin as against the poverty of Fast Berlin is , as they see it, a 

daily mirror in which the two systems can be compared . And so the 

struggle for Berlin has become the great ideological symbolt of the 

bitter struggle between communism and democracy in Europe today . 

I am no prophet so I cannot tell you how t h is struggle will end. 

What is clear is that heither side are prepared t o give way on it . 

And it is not a situation over which some compromise can be worked 

out . It is a situation in which neither side is prepared to lose face 

and t hat i s what makes Berlin the potential trigger point of world 

wer today . Goodnight . 



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No 196 The B. G. Elections 

NEWS COMMENTARY 
For transmission on 
Thur sday Aug 17 at 6 . 15p . m 
Peter Abrahams speaking 

Good evening : As you listen to me this evening I should be down 

in Por t - of- Spain Trinidad, if all has gone well . I hope to s t ay over­

night in Trinidad and get a plane to British Gui ana as early as possible 

tomorrow . The whole po int of this whole exercise is of course to be 

in British Guiana f or next Monday's elections . I plan to be back in 

Jamaica on Wednesday of next week and I hope to give you a first -hand 

report of all I heard and saw over the election period . I also hope · 

to give you my personal impressions of B. G. 's political leaders and 

the poss i ble lines of action they might take in the future . 

British Guiana is one of the three or four West Indian territories 

I have not yet visited , and so I am particularly excited about this 

trip . I always find it exciting and challenging to go where I have not 

been before . And then there are features about Monday ' s elections in 

B.G. which are out of the ordinary and which lmlkle~xxx people concerned 

with the news are anxi ous to observe at first -hand . I personally am 

particularly interested to see just what kind of external pressures 

are likely to be at work in the elections . You will remember that it 

was on Thursday of last week that I told you about the campaign of 

some American politicians as well as of the London Daily Express 

against Jagan ' s People ' s Progressive Party . The Daily Express said 

that if Jagan won t he general elections then the British Government 

should suspend the B. G. constitution as it did in 1953 . This, as I 

told you last Thursday, strikes me as a very dangerous suggestion . 

And it was because of this campaign against him and his party that 

Jagan invited the United Nations to send observers to the B. G. 

elections . The United Nations has turned down that invitation . But 



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others , and I am one of them, kax2xm2zmm2 are more interested than they 

would normally have been to see just how the elections go off. And so 

I expect to see a very large number of newspaper people when I reach 

Georgetown some time tomorrow . The searchlight of the world' s press 

will therefore be very sharply focussed on British Guiana over the 

next four or five days . 

What is very unfortunate about t h is whole business is t hat there 

are these powerful outside forces who are trying to interfere in the 

internal affairs of British Guiana . And what is even wors e i s this 

prejudging of Jagan by people and institutions who are not particularly 
people 

famous for their concern about the well- being/ o~ t he conqitions under 

which people in under- developed countries live . And so you get the 

impression that it is t he mos t reactionary forces , t hose with least 

interest in the weltfare of the people , who are against J agan . As I 

told you before , I think a ll that t hes e people will succeed in doing 

is to rally the mass of the Guianese peop~e behind J agan. But we wil 

soon see whether I a m right in this . 

And now for a point of correction about some facts and f i gures on 

B. G. When I discussed the new constitution on July 26 t h , I gave you 

the popula t i on of B.G . as roughly 800 , 000 . A li s t ener phoned and 

questioned this figure . The listen er was r i ght and I was wrong . The 

1959 figur e for the population of B.G . is 557 , 960: of thi s total 268 ,710 

are of East Indian Origin and 186, 800 are of Afr i can origin . I am sorry 

about my mistake and I am grateful to t he lis tener who drew my attention 

to it . And goodnight until tomorrow. 



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0 197 The Case of Roy E Burnett 
& B.O.A.C . 

NEWS COMMENT ARY 
For transmission on 
Friday Aug 18 at 6 . 15p . m 
Peter Abrahams speaking 

Good evening: As you know, I am out of Jamaica this evening and 

more than a thousand miles away from home . And you know by now that 

whenever I have to leave Jamaica I record these commentaries in advance . 

And of course when this happens it means that I cannot keep up with 

the news that happens every day . But when I am at home the daily news 

happenings often make it impossible for me to deal with very many 

subjects which are important but whi ch are not immediate news . So I 

welcome these rar e opportunities when I can get away from the day- to-day 

news and deal ·with subjects that I have 

have had the case of Mr . Roy E. Burnett 

neglectxd • For instance , I 
&...Jl ~t IL_ / ~ ~ 

and D, 0 :A . 9• on my file for 
I\ 

a very long time now and my being away has given me a chance to deal 

with it . 

Now , basically it seems to me that Mr. Burnett ' s case i s one of 

procedure and of approach . Mr. Burnett wrote to tell Jim: ak me about 

t he matter and invited my comments . Hi s case was that he took an 

American lady to the air port to see her off after she had spent a 

3- weeks- holiday in J amaica . When the lady's luggage was processed 

there was some misunderstanding , it seems to me . The baggage on the 

scale weighed ~5lbs ; but the lady also had some rum and some hand 
~ 

luggage . The -i,QO. A . e . hostess knew the weight of the rum , and with her 

great experience , she made a pr etty accurate assessment of the weight 

of the hand luggage and charged the American lady £5 . 3 . 6 . excess . 

Mr . Burnett and his American guest, on the other hand, had seen the 

scale registering 35lbs and not having the experience of the hostess 

they could not assess the weight of the rum and the hand luggage . 

Mr . Burnett therefore asked how the xx«~ hostess had arr ived at her 



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figure . And as I understand it, it was at this point the the trouble 

began . From what Mr . Burnett wrote to me it seemed that the manner of 

the hostess' reply upset him and his guest most . According to Mr . 

Burnett the hostess said abruptly : "Do you want me to send back for 

the things?" The suggestion is implied that the hostess sounded 

aggressive and impatient . Hr. Burnett then went and talked the matter 

over with a duty officer . The baggage was weighed and it wa s found that 

the hostess ' assessment had been correct . 

Mr . Burnett ~ent a copy of his letter to me to the district 
tf:4,~ 

Manager of ,D.O . A.G . here . The district manager investigated the 

matter and wrote me 
~ 

.:73 . 0 . A. C . 1 s- point of 

a pretty detailed letter 
~ 

view . From the ~ .B,A. G. 
A. 

setting out the case from 

point of view it seemed 

that Mr . Burnett was most concerned with the question of the weight 

and on this the hostess had been proved correct . But to this Mr . 

Burnett said no , his main concern was with procedure and the attitude 

of the hostess . 
right 

For myself, I see a lot of/:pcxt±z• on both sides . The hostesses 

have to process a large number of people in a very short time and so 

they work at top speed . But that in itself can sometimes be tricky . 

When you know your business and you know you are right you tend to be 

impatient with questions . On the other hand you are selling a service 

to the customer and so it is your duty to be patient with his questions . 

The very fact that you have upset the customer to the point that he has 

complained is a failure on your part . The customer is entitled to 

courtesy at all times from those who sell him their service . 

Goodnight . 



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No 198 The Case of the Rude Policeman 

NEWS COMMENTARY 
For transmission on 
Saturday Aug 19 at 6 . 15p . m 
Peter Abrahams speaking 

Good evening: I think one of the surest ways in which we can 

measure the health of any society is by the relations between the 

police force of that society and the ordinary citizens of that society . 

Where the society is healthy and civil liberties flourish, where the 

rule of law is the order of the day - in such societies you will find 

a very cordial and fri:andly relationship between the citizen and the 

polike. There will be mutual respect between citizen and police : 

the citizen will regard the policeman as his friend and the guardian 

of his peace . Children crossing streets will confidently slip their 

hands into that of the policeman because they will see him as the 

symbol of safety. Strangers in a strange place will seek out a 

policeman first of all if they are lost: he will be the best person 

to help them get where they want to . Only the law-breakers, only th~ 

evil-doers will be afraid of the policeman . All the good citi zens, 

whether they are rich or poor, proud or humble, well-dressed or in 

rags, will see him as a friend, as someone who will protect the peace, 

guard the rule of law, and be helpful to anyone who appeals to him 

for help . That is the image of the policeman in the good and healthy 

society. 

In an unhealthy society where the rule of law is flouted, where 

civil liberties are not respected and where the rule of law is weak , 

there is very little, if any, friendship between the police and the 

citizen . In such societies the citizen keeps as far away from the 

policeman as he can. He does not regard the policeman as his friend . 

As far as possible he avoids having anything to do with the police 

and he will not do anything to help the police keep the peace . In such 



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societies parents use the policeman as a bogeyman w~th which to 

frighten little children . They say : if you don't do this or that the 

policeman will come for you . And even little children shy away from 

the police . 

Well now , using these two yardsticks : one of the healthy society 

in which the policeman is everybody's friend; and the one of the 

unhealthy society in which the policeman is everybody's enemy , where 

would we put Jamaica? 

I myself would put it somewhere in the middle . It is not unhealthy, 

but at the same time it is still far from being really healthy . There 

are some very good people in our police force, and I am particularly 

impressed with one group in the force, the C. I . D. under the leadership 

of Superintendent George Mullen . I think that branch of our police is 

as good as you could find anywhere in the world and better than most. 

But I think you will find that many people, especially the poorer 

citizens, find many of the uniformed policeman rude , agressive and 

bullying . I met one such rude policeman the other day when I went into 

a police station for guidance and information about an accident . He 

was just about as rude and bad mannered as anybody I have ever met . 

He saw himself as a public master rather than a public servant . It is 

people like this man who make for the unhealthy relations which now 

exist between the public and the police . But in fairness let me say his 

superior officer immediately apologi s ed for the man' s behaviour . But 

what happens when there ~s no superior officer around or when this 

rude policeman deals with little people out on the streets? This is 

one of our big problems about which something should be done . 

Goodnight . 



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No 199 
B. G. & the Federation 

NEWS COMMENTARY 
For transmission on 
Monday Aug 21 at 6 . 15p . m. 
Peter Abrahams speaking 

Good evening: Today is the big day in B. G. and as I have told 

again and again in the past , my bet is on Jagan . I expect him to win 

though it is possible that his majority may be reduced . But I will 

give you an eyewitness account of todays happenings on Thursday 

evening when I am back in J amaica . 

One of the things w~at will be of immediate interest to us 

about British Guiana is the pattern of its future and the pattern of 

B. G.' s possible relations to the West Indies Federation . In the election 

manifesto which Jagan ' s People 's Progressive Party published on Tuesday 

of last week certain important points of future policy were laid out . 

First , the manifesto said that if the P . P .P . won the elections, 

and when they gain independence one year after the elections , B. G. 

would hold a referendum to ask the people whether they want to enter 

the West Indies Federation or not . 

By this, as you know , hangs quite a story . You will remember that 

it was late last year , and on one of my radio programmes that Mr . 

Wills I saacs dropped his bombshell on B. G .. Wills, you may r emember , 

said that he did not want a Jagan- led B. G. in the West Indies 

federation . Some of you may also remember that shortly after that 

interview I went down to Trinidad and brought back a recording of 

Dr . Er'ic Williams ' rep y to thi s statement of Mr . Isaacs. Dr. Will ams 

said very fi r mly that as far as Trin· dad was concerned they w nted 

Brit sh Guiana in the Federation . He rejected the idea that Brit i sh 

Guiana's entry into the federation should be made difficult x~xxx 

under any circumstance . As he saw i t, British Guiana had a right 

to be in the Federation and it was the duty of the federal government 



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to make things as smooth and as easy as possible for B. G. to enter . 

What form of government B.G. had and who headed her government, he 

felt , was the business of the Guianese people . Our business was to 

make it clear to the Guianese p eople that the door of the· West Indies 

Federation was open to them . fkRKII! 

These were the main lines of the disagreement between Mr . Wills 

Isaacs and Dr . Williams . As far as I know these two conflicting views 

have not been reconciled. If the ruling West Indies Federal Labour 

Party has in fact arrived at any decision on the matter , they have 

not given it out. But it. seems to me that a decision on how the rest 

of the West Indies feel about B.G . 's entering the Federation now 

becomes a matter of some urgency . 

Obvisouly, if the Guianese people are told that they are not 

wanted in the West Indies Federation or t hat they are only wanted 

under certain conditions , this is bound to influence the~ way they 

look at the matter . They are very likely to say ; alright, if they 

don ' t want us then we won't have anything to do with them . This is a 

a very natural and human reaction . 

If, on the other hand, the spokesmen of the West Indies Federation 

make it clear that they are anxious for B.G . to come in, if they make 

it clear that a place has been reserved for her and she would be very 

welcome , the Guianese reaction might be very different . And so it 

seems to me that the attitude of the rest of the West Indies to B. G. ' s 

entering the Federation can have a very important bearing on the 

results of the referendum which Jagan has promised his people . But 

we will have to make up our minds early . Goodnight . 



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No 200 

NEWS COMMENTARY 
For transmission on 
Tuesday Aug 22 at 6 . 15p . m 
Peter Abrahams speaking 

The B. G. Ref9rendum 

Good evening: Last night I told you about Dr . Jagan' s decision, 

contained in the People ' s Progressive Party election manifesto, to 

hold a r eferendum when B.G. becomes independent next year . The 

referendum will be on the question of whether B.G. should join the 

West Indies Federation or not . I told you that this meant that the 

spokesmen of the West Indies would have to make up t heir minds as to 

whether they want B. G. in the federation or not because how the rest 

of the West Indies react to B. G. will have an influence on how the 

Guianese people decide . As you know , last year Mr. Wills Isaacs 

expressed the view in an interview with me that B. G. under Jagan 

should not be allowed i nto the federation. You will also r emember that 

Dr . i c Wi ll ms d sagr eed flatly with t his view . 

But thi s is only one side of the penny . It i s an important side , 

but it i s not the most important . What is far more important is how 

the Guianese leaders themselves feel about the Federation and the 

extent to which they can influence their follo wers . .And it is at this 

point that Dr . Jagan becomes particularly important . As XH a Guianese 

of Indian origin and therefore the leader of the largest single racial 

group in the countr y, Jagan's is the dominant influence . Now please 

do not misunderstand me . I am not saying that Jagan approaches the 

problems of B. G. from the point of view of the i nt erests of one group . 

He does not ; and indeed the thing I admire most about both Jagan and 

Burnham i s the fact t hat they have both firmly refused to conduct 

their politics on racial and communal lines . As you know , Burnham 

recently expelled Sydney King fro m his People National Congress 

because King was pushing a racial line . I think in thi s both of the 



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two B.G. leaders have s hown a balance and a maturi t y which is often 

lacking among some of our own so - called leaders . 

But f acts are hard t hings and t h ey should be faced squarely . 

And t he hardest fact in B. G.' s political life i s t he central point 
Guianese of 

t hat t he/East Indian origin make up the majority of the population . 

And whether we like it or not, t here is more than a tendency a mong 

both t h e masses of East Indian origin as well as the masses of African 

origin to x~~~~mm see t heir political problems in a communal spirit . 

The leaders may disapprove of this, but the fact is there and it is 

a fact that constitutes one of t he greatest possible dangers for the 

future of B. G. as I see it . But what has this to do with the possible 

outcome of the referendum? 

Simply this . If Jagan throws his weight in favour of B. G. entering 

the federation then it is almost certain that B. G. will enter even if 

a large section of t he East Indian community deserts h i m. If on the 

other hand , he throws his weight against B. G. entering then it is most 

unlikely that B. G. wi ll . The non- Indian section of the population still 

out numbers the Indian sect i on - but only if all the non- Indian elements 

are united, and at presnt they are not and federation does not seem 

to be the issue to unite them. In any case , such a unity against the 

Indian community would be a most unhealthy thi ng and I , for one , would 

be against it . And yet it seems to me that B. G.' s t hreatening communal 

problemi has its best chance of being s olved within the larger frame­

work of the West Indies Federation . And for this r eason i t seems t o 

me important that our leaders should let Jagan know that he and B. G. 

would be more than welcome inside the Federation . Goodnight . 



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No 201 Tourism and Colour 

NEWS COMMENTARY 
For transmission on 
Wednesday Aug 2, at 6 . 15p . m 
Peter Abrahams speaking 

Good evening: I wonder how many of you have read the letter to 

the editor which appeared in the Gleaner of Wednesday of last week 

under the heading: ' Colour Prejudice in Mobay Hotel ' . If you have you 

will recall that this was the story of a resident of Montego Bay 
women 

who made friends with two white/teachers from Canada . These two 

friends then invited this man to join them and another male tourist 

for an outing . But on the way they stopped at the hotel where this 

male white tourist was staying and the Montego Bay resident and one 

of the young women sat on the hotel veranda while the other two went 

inside for something . It was at this point that the man who seemed 

to be manager of the hotel behaved in what can only be described as 

a prejudiced way thus embarrassing both the Jamaican as well as the 

foreign visitors to these shores . 

Now I know many i eeple feel that there is too much talk of race 

and colour going on in Jamaica today . And most of them deplore this 

and say we must stop talking about it . A businessman who happens to 

be a good friend of mine one day gave me a tongue- lashing because he 

felt that I was contributing to this racial feeling by talking about 

it on the radio . But you do not get away from things by shutting 

your eyes to them and pretending that they do not exist . And my own 

feeling is that it is incidents such as the one about which the man 

wrote to the Gleaner last Wednesday which create more racial feeling 

than all the talking of all the agitators in J amaica . And I t hink we 

must face the fact that what that man wrote about was no isolated 

instance . I have heard of incidents like t his on more times than I 



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like to remember . Jamaicans have been made to feel that they are not 

welcome on Jamaica's north coast tourist resortsj Sometimes they have 

been told so outright , at other times they have been overcharged , and 

at yet other times they have encountered a studied rudeness which 

can be worse than the outright insult about which a man can do some­

thing . And I frankly do not see the sense in pretending that this 

so r t of thing does not happen . 

Now I am not saying that it happens ev erywhere . I am not saying 

that all the people concerned with the hotel industry do this sort 

of thing . For instance I have always felt complete l y welcome at the 

places with which Mr . Abe Issa has anything to do and the same goes 

for the places where the Elkins are . But th ere are places where 

coloured people are not welcome in their own country . And whatever 

the r eason this is a bad thing which should be stopped i mmediately . 

As I said, this makes for more real racial feeling than a t housand 

speeches by a thousand hotheaded agitators . 

The tourist industry has a ssociations and organisations of its 

own . I should like the t ourist Board , which is subsidis ed with public 

money , and the government, to make i t clear to all these hotel 

operators that Jamaica belongs first and foremost to the J amaican 

people and that there should not be one corner of t hi s island where 

people from the outside can go to which Jamaicans cannot go , provided 

they observe t he rules and behave properly . If we have to choose 

between a tourist industry based on colour lines or no tourist industry, 

then f or the sake of peace and har mony in Jamaica , it would be better 

to have no tourist industry. But that choice need not be made . The 

rememdy is in the hands of the leaders of the industry . Goodnight 0 



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B. B Election Postmortem: 
The Hi g h Poll 

Go od evening : I have just returned from British Guiana a few hours 

ag o. And as I promised you 1 .st week whe n I left for B. G., I have come back 

,•ith areportfor you. I am sure you all know the h ard facts of the electi on : 

youknow J agan has won twenty seats; you kno F orbes Burnham ' s party has 

won eleven seats , and you know· Peter D' Aguiar ' s United F orce has won 

four seats. 1rhese hard facts about B. G. ' s Gene nerl Election have been 

rep orted very ful ly on t he r adios and in the press . So , instead of 

repeating what you a lready kno •r, I thought it might be a very good i dea 

to hold a sort of post mortem on t he B. G~ election s . 

Once you stop and think carefully about the results of the B. G. 

electi ons , and once you look at the fi gures carefully , t wo very intere:sting 

p oints come out . If you only look a t the nwnber of seats each of t he three 

parties has won , J agan ' s victory looks very decisive indee d . His Ile opl a ' s 

Progres sive Party has five more seats than the combined total of the two 

opp osition parties . This is a clear majority , suggesting that J agan has 

t he ap~roval of a clear cut maj ority of B. G.' s voters . 

But , if you look at the total number of vote s cast , and if you work 

out how they are shared among the parties , then the J agan position does 

not l ook so good . Some of you wil l remember f rom your radio and press 

reports t hat British Guiana has a total vot i ng population of just over 

246 , 000 . Up to this morning 'Then I left George t own , t ere were still 45 

undecla red votes in one constituency a nd six boxes to be opened in another , 

but these, ill make nob sic diff e r e n ce to t he figures which I want to give 

you now. Of t he 246 , 000 Gui n.nese who have the vote , 217 , 887 vrent to the 

p olls end cast t1cir votes . This me ans tha t with out the six boxes n.na. 45 

undeclaretl vote s , 88. 5% of the voters of B. G. went to the polls . And this , 



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to me , i s the fir s t really st art l i ng thi ng a b out this elect i on. If you know 

something ab out the • hysica,l si~e of B • . , i f you know the dist nces that 

people often hi:we to wa lli. to get to a polling station, and i f you know 

the conditi ons under whi ch t ey ometimes have to travel to ge t to a 

polling station , th n you are like l y to find this turn- out of voter s a 

really amazing thing . J ust let me give you one littU example . Just b~fore 

v ot i3ng start ed on Monday morning r ain fe ll in several areas . hen the r in 

stopped it was found th tin one area the p olling booth had be come flooded 

and was under water ; and I unde r stand that el e·rhere one b ox full of voters ' 

returns got flooded and had to be given up . Jut in spite of all these 

difficult i e s there was this fantastic t urn- out of voters . I personally 

do not k now of any recent el e ction in eithe r Britain or. the U1d ted states -

or any.1here else whe re democrat i c e lec t ions a r e held - whe r e t here ij.a s been 

such a h i gh turn- out of voter s . And be lieve me , the sc people_ turned out 

not becau se they wer e forced or bullied or be caus e there is a one party 

system or for any such similar reason. 

hey turned out because this election was important to them ; be cause 

they knew that h ow and what they dec i ded would set the future course of 

their country for ge nerati ons to come . And so each man and each woman went 

out and assumed hi s or her r esponsibility . Som got up from their si ck bed s , 

some hod to be carried , I know of at l east one woroan who wa s in 1 bour : 

nd they had a voting turn-out such as we have not knovn i n J amaica . As I 

wande red fr om voting stati on to voting station i n and around Georgetown on 

ond y , I thought of J amaica 1 s date with dest iny on Septembe r the 19th , 

a nd I hoped very much that the Jamaican voters would match nd outmatch 

the turn- out of voters that I s~r in British Guiane . Tomorrow I ' ll tell 

you of the second thing that struck me . So till then , g oodnight . 



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B. G. Elect i on Post Mortem : 

y 

For transmission on 
Friday Aug 25 at 6 . 15p . m 
Peter Ab r aham s spe ak i ng 

The PopuL r Vote 

Good evening : Last night I told you of the fantastically i gh turn-

out of voters on Monday i n British Guiana ' s General elections. You will 

remembe r that out of a tota l voting popul t ion of j ust over 246 , 000, 21'!, 887 

Guianese cast the i r votes - in fact the figure is higher be cause of the 

six b oxes and 45 undeclared votes which were then stil l to be counted and 

included . This means that more than 88½% of the electorate went to the 

polls . And this, look at it any way you like , is an amazing a chi evement . 

It means that the Gui a nese voter has , in this election at least , taken his 

resp-onsibility s a citizen more se r iously than the voters in countries 

which are supposffd to e ore developed . Cert ainl y , you did not have this 

kind of voting turn-out in the American r e sidenti a l election and you 

certainly d i d not have it in the last British General El ections . And of 

course we in J amaica have never come near this figure though I I d o hope 

w will do so when the voting o~ the referedum comes ar ound . As I told you 

l a st night , I think the reas on for this high poll wa s because the Guianese 

knew that they were not just choosing f or the next four or five years . 

•rhe gove rnment that le ds Brit:ilsh Guiana into independence is almost b ound 

to set the pattern for Guianese development for a ve r y long time to come . 

That Government' has now bee n chosen. But by the very nature of the large 

turn-out , the voters have se t a serious limitat ion on that g overnment . 

Of the 217 , 887 votes that were cast , 93-,073 went to Cheddi J agan 1 s 

People ' s Pr ogr essive Pa~ty . This me ans that the P. P. P . got 42 . 7% of the 

tota l vote : Forbes Burnham ' s Peop l e ' s Nationa l Congress g ot 89 , 283 . This 

is 41% of the total vote . Peter D' Agui ar s Uni ted F'orce g ot 35 , 031 , whi ch 



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is 16. 3% of the total popula r vote. 

once you bre ak the figures down in this way then you see that Cheddi 

Jagan s total majority in terms of se ats becomes a minority in terms of 

the popul ar vote . Jagan won more seat s than the t wo other parties 

combined. But he did not get more popular votes than the t wo other 

parties combinei . 'rhe two parties combined polled a popul ar vot e of 

something like xx 124 , 814 as against the P . • P.' s 93 ,073. But elections , 

a s you know, are not won or lost on the popul ar vote but on a maj ority of 

seats . And I have certainly not discussed these fi gures in order to make 

any of you doubt J agan ' s clear mandat e from the people to l ead Briti~h 

Guia.na . The twenty seats J agan ' s P. P. P . holds is a. cle a r mandate a ccording 

to the rules of parl iamentary democracy . 

The r eason why I have discussed these figures is because I think they 

are like ly to h ve an influence on the way J agan goes about things . The 

knowledge that 57 . 3"/o of the voters did not cast their vote s for his party 

wi ll tend to make him move cautiously where otherw-is s he might have moved 

boldly. All politicians who depend on votes for their power are sensitive 

to factors like this . And Jagan is both shrewd enough and wise enough as 

a politician for this f a ctor to be important , especially during the life 

time of this , the first parliament of B. G. under the new, self-governing 

constitution. Goodnight . 



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No 204 

NEWS COMiv1..ENTARY 

l)Brazilian President Resigns 
2) Alliance for Progress 

For transmission on 
Saturday Aug 26 at 6 . 15p . m 
Peter Abrahams speaking 

Good evening: The news od the resignation of t he President of 

Brazil which broke last night was just about the most unexpected and 

startling event of the week . After only seven months in office, 

President Janie Quadros suddenly resigned and said he had taken t his 

action because he had been defeated by t he forces of reaction in 

his country . I t h ink most of the world outside Brazil is very much 

in the dar k about this dramatic turn of events in Brazil . There i s 

obv iously a very big story behind this r esignation, but at the moment 

nobody outside knows just what all of that story is . But there have 
a few 

been/straws in t he wind over the past few weeks . 

A little over two weeks ago President Quadros presented his 

Congress with a bill to cut down on the flow of profmts out of Brazil . 

There had been criticism that most American compan i es operating in 

Brazil wee e sending all their pnof its back to the United States 

i ns tead of re-investing such profits in the country and thus help ing 

its development . The Oiadros bill was to curb thi s s ituat ion . But 

instead of dealing only with the profits of f oreign companies - which 

are predominantly American - the Quadros bill included all companies , 

both foreign and domestic . The bill laid down a flat 30% tax levy 

on the distribut ed profit s of all companies operating in the country . 

But on the other hand , if profits were plowed back into Brazil , then 

the tax on this re- invested money would drop to only 10%. This meant 

that if the bill were passed companies who exported their prof i ts 

m~xmiwcx~tx~etxx2nxfi2mxixx~~axxx would f ace a tax increase of 50% 

while those who chose to re-invest their profits in the count ry 

would have their taxes cut in half . And as an encouragement to local 



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capital the bi l l provided for a 15% cut in taxes for companies one 

third of whose shares were own by Brazilians . 
t~ . Now, to people whose main concern ~a-s the welfare and development 

of Brazil, and the expans on of her industries , the Quadros bill 

seemed sensible and reasonable . But to those who were concerned only 

with their profits and the safe stacking away of their profits in 

the safety of Switzerl nd or the United States , thi s vas a v ery 

revol u t .o ar y an undes ahl , meas · . A.nu my gues s i s t hat this was 

one of the points on which what R~2x Quadros has called Brazil's 

forces of reaction, have been putting up a bitter fight . And it wou ld 

seem that for the moment they have defeated him. 

But Janie Quadros is politically the most popular man with the 

Brazilian masses who voted him into power . And how the mass of the 

Brazilian people react to h is resggnation and the reason he gave for 

it, i s EJXf very i mportant . The mass of the people may accept this 

as part of the pattern of Brazilian power politics . In that case 

they may say a brilliant amateur tried to clean up t h e country but 

was beaten by the machine . Or they may decide to take a direct hand 

to reinstate Quadros. If that happens then we might expect some 

political trouble in Brazil . And any real political trouble in 

Brazil may act as the flashpoint for a wave of unrest throughout 

Latin America . And this , if it happens , could play the very devil 

with President Kennedy's Alliance for Progress idea . Goodnight . 



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No 205 

NEWS COMMENTARY 
For transmission on 
Monday Aug 28 at 6 . 15p . m 
Peter Abrahams speaking 

The Freeing of Jo~o Kenyatta 

Good evening: The crisis in Berlin , the British Guiana elections 

and the resignation of the President of Brazil - these were the three 

big stories of last week . These three stories were considered so 

important that they over-shadowed almost ev~rything else that happened 

in the world . But there was another item of news last week which was 

so important that it may, in the long run, prove more important for 

the world than two out of last week's three big stories: that item 

of news was the final and complete freeing of Jamo Kenyatta . 

You will remember that it was just over two weeks ago that 

Kenyatta was given a sort of limited freedom after spending some 

nine years in prison and under restriction : he was a prisoner for seven 

years and for the rest of the time he was restricted to a small area 

in the semi - desert far north of Kenya , at a Godforsaken place called 

Lodwar . Then, on August tbe 14th he was transferred to a place called 

Gatundu which is near Nairobi . There too he was restricted . He could 

only move about in the three- acre plot of land . And he was barred from 

holding political meetings or political office because he had been 

convicted under the charge of 'managing the Mau Mau' . And then suddenly 

last week , all restrictions were lifted and Jomo Kenyatta had complete 

and unconditional freedom. 

Those of us who know Kenya and who have followed the Kenya story 

with some care, knew that it was just a matter of time before the 

Colonial Office had to release Kenyatta, and , nruch more important , 

had to admit that only Kenyatta could .unite the major political 

forces in the country . But the Kenya settlers plus a very powerful 

group in Britain, still thought it was possible to keep Kenyatta out 



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of the political life of his country . They did everything in their 

power to dicredit him, both among the Africans in Kenya as well as in 

the outside world: and the Kenya government itself was a party to 

this campaign . The Corfield report on the Mau Mau which was published 
British Government 

by the £mxmxtaix~~~t ~~ a few months ago painted a very ugly picture 

of Kenyatta: according to that report he was everything that was evil 

and depraved and he had corrupted his people . And last year the 

Governor of Kenya, Sir Patrick Ren~ison, denounced Kenyatta as "a 

leader to darkness and death" . All this confirms the view that both 

the Colonial Office and the white settlers still felt, as recently as 

three months ago, that they could keep Kenyatta out of the political 

life of Kenya, either by banishing from the country on else by 

permanently restricting him inside the country . But the pressure of 

events soon showed them how foolish this was . A new movement of violence 

began to build up. Mass African pressure forced the new African leaders 

to demand the release of Kenyatta. And it soon became clear that there 

could be no peace or stability in the country without the leadership 

of Kenyatta . And so the white settlers suddenly discovered that after 

all Kenyatta could not have been the evil genius of the Mau Mau because 

it only began tx after he had been imprisoned and there was no way he 

could have managed it from prison . And early this year the same Sir 

Patrick Renison who had called him a leader to darkness, said there 

could be no stability without him . At last, the Colonial Office had 

accepted the new reality and adjusted its policy accordingly. That is 

the meaning of the release of Kenyatta . Tomorrow I will discuss the 

new reality in Kenya and F.as t Africa. So till then, goodnight . 



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No 206 The End of East African Settler Rule 

NEWS COMMENTARY 
For transmission on 
Tuesday Aug 29 at 6.15p.m 
Peter Abrahams speaking 

Good evening: Last night I told you about the complete and 

unconditional release of Jomo Kenyatta last week. I told you that in 

the long run this may prove more important for the world than the B.G. 

elections or the resignation of the President of Brazil; and I deecribea 

it as the new reality to which the Colonial Office has at last bowed 

its head . 

This new reality is the hard fact that white settler rule in 

East Africa is fast ending , and in her own interest Britain must now 

back the Africans rather than the white settlers. In the past Britain 

has, in spite of all protestations to the contrary, backed the white 

settlers. And in some ways British policy in East Africa has been a 

watered down version of policies persued in Southern Rhodesia and 

South Africa . There was not the same elaborate pattern of colour bar 

by law as in South Africa . But to the African at the receiving end 

the practices were all very similar. There were no Pass Laws as in 

South Africa where every black man and woman had to carry several 

pieces of paper to indentify himself at all times . But the F.ast African 

black man had to carry hi s Kipande ~ which in fact was a pass . And 

there were the same restrictions about entering hotels and bars and 

restaurants. And of course there was the same basic social attitude . 

And when the early constitutional changes were made , at best t hey 

made sure tha t something like 50 , 000 white settlers had the same 

political representation as something like 20,000 , 000 Africans . In 

Kenya 30,000 wh ite settlers had the same number of seats as 5½ million 

Africans: in Tanganyika a little over 16 ,000 settlers had t he same 

number of seats as more than 8,000,000 Africans . Only in Uganda were 



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t h ings different . There you only had a little over 3,000 whites and 

they were not settlers in the true sense as were the settlers of 

Kenya and Tanganyika . And so there was not much of a colour thing to 

be found . Instead, there was conflict between the ancient African 

kingdom of Buganda and the Colonial Office . The Baganda wanted an 

independent African state . But the whites of South Africa and the 

Rhodesias as well as the settlers of Ea.st Africa put very strong 

pressure on the British Government . They wer e afraid that if the 

people of Uganda did EEKmiu set up an independent African s t ate it 

might act as a spur and as an example to all the other Africans to 

strive for the same sor t of thing in Kenya , Tanganyika, the Rhodesias 

and South Africa . And their pressure was so strong t hat it did in 

fact inhibit the Colonial Office . And so it was that to a very large 

extent British policy in Ea.st Africa had constantly to appease the 

white settler s for whom life was very good , and who certainly were 

not prepared to give up the good lif e without a f i ght . This was 

particularly true of Kenya , where some of the best land had been 

alienated and set aside for whites only . These lands wer e known as 

the White Highlands and indeed mam:J most if not all settlers saw 

Ea.st Africa as the whiteman ' s Africa . And thi s was the root cause for 

what became known as the Mau Mau rebellion. But why , you might a sk , 

does all t his make the release of Kenyatta mor e important than the 

B. G. Elections and the resignation of resident Quadros of Br azil? 

Because I think it is the beginning of a great new power bloc in 

Africa and the world . I will discuss this new power bloc tomorrow; 

so till then , goodnight . 

• 



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) 

No 207 '!.'he Tost African Uni 1. "l 

I NEWS COMMENTARY 
For transmission on 

) Wednesday Aug 30 at 6 . l5p .m 
Peter Abrahams speaking 

Good even ng : The release of Jomo Kenyatta ma es possible the 

bringing into being ot· the Fast Afr can nion as a political fac t. 

And once the E.ast African Union does become a politicai f act then 

one of the mos~ powerful new forces will step onto the world stage . 

But let me set out the facts first . What has been known as British 

East Africa are : the British colony of Kenya which has an area of 

219 , 730 square miles , and a population of just over 6 , 000 , 000; next 

there is the Bri t ish Trust Territory of Tanganyika, which is 342 ,706 

square miles in size and has a population of just over 9 , 000 ,000 

people; and finally there is the ~ritish Protectorate of Uganda with 

a total land area of 80 , 292 square miles and a popul ation of just 

over 5 , 000 , 000 . Together, these three countries have a population of 

of more than 20 , 000 ;000 people and a total land area of 642 , 729 

square miles . 

Now , it terms of physical size , this is obviously a big unit . 

It is nearly twice the size of Nigeria . It 1s a third larger than 

South Africa . It is a third larger than Egypt . In fact , it is the 
physical 

largest single/ unit on the African continent the moment Nyasaland 

leave the Rhodesian Federation, which Dr . Banda has declared she will. 

And it is rich . It has some of the best farm and cattle lands in the 

world and it has mineral wealth as well . It has a long coastline 

and several good ports into t he Indian Ocean . Shipping access to 

Europe would be easy through the Suez Canal . Economically , the 

East frican Union can be very powerful . 

It has already gone far on the road to political union . It has a 

common currency and a common customs tariff which the British brought 



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into being. There is a University College of East Africa at Makerere, 

and Sawhili is t he language common to all three Eas t African countries . 

These are all factors which would help make union ·easy. Cultural 

difference between the three peoples are very slight and there are 

more similiarities than differences. 

But much more important than these factors is the fact that all 

the E.ast African leaders have declared t hemselves in favour of the 

East African Union. Mr . Julius Nyerere has said that he is prepared 

to postpone independence for Tangnyika if that would help bring the 

East African Union into being . And although Dr . Banda wants to take 

Nyasaland out of the white-dominated Rhodesian Federation, he too is 

prepared to join an East African Union run by Africans . Such a Union 

would change the whole political face of Africa. It will bring pressure 

: on South Africa and the Rhodesias in a way no West African state can. 

And it could really hurt South Africa economically . And the voice of 

the To.st African Union :tmcxmEiMxaffaiEX+ could easily become the most 

influential African voice in world Affairs . If you agree with me t hat 

the way Africa goes is largely going to determine the shape which the 

future takes, then you will agree with me that the creation of the 

East African Union by men like Nyrere, Banda and Mboya is far more 

important for the future of the world in the long run than the B.G. 

Elections and the going of Quadros . And at the centre of creating this 

new power force stands Jomo Kenyatta, the one man whose influence is 

so powerful and widespread as to bring these leaders together . All 

this will not happen overnight . But it will happen . Goodnight . 



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No 208 

NEWS COMMENTARY 

1) The Harmon-Blades Fight 
2} New Palisadoes Airport 

For transmission on 
Thursday Aug 31 at 6 . 15p . m 
Peter Abrahams speaking 

Good evening : I do not normally comment on spor ting events . That 

department is in the very capable hands of Roy Lawrence . But I do hope 

he and you will forgive me if I touch very briefly on last night ' s 

main fight between Jamaica ' s Al Harmon and Florida's Fr eddie Blades . 

Like hundreds of others I went to Sabina Park and paid a lot of money 

mainly to see this fight . And like almost everyone there , I was 

disappointed and disgusted with ahe downright bad displ~y we saw . It 

was a really sorry exhibition that can only do harm to boxing in this 

island. I think one man behind me summed up the feeling of most 

spectators when Blades knocked down Har mon . He shouted : ' Tell him 

you sorry , man; that was an accident .' I think t hat i f it had not 

been for the fine and skilful fight put up by Bunny Grant and the Cuban 

Garcia the entire show would have been a disaster and a washout . I 

think our promoters and our boxers owe the paying public a better 

deal than the dismal business we had last night . If they don ' t give us 

a better deal then the boxers might as well pack up and find other 

honest but less well-paying jobs and the pr omoters might as well 

invest their money elsewhere . The long suffering public will not 

put up with much more of the kind of stuff we had last night . And to 

cap it all, a number of people had their ca.rs forced open and robbed . 

My own car was also forced open and the windows damaged . Just what the 

large turn-out of police was doing is anybody's guess . 

And now for a letter from a listner on a very important point . 
w i- o r~ 

Mr. Cecil H. Cousins of Kingston v••• e : "Dear Mr . Abrahams, I would 

appreciate i t you could bring to the attention of the public through 



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your news commentary the following : A few Sundays ago I visited the 

new terminal building at the Palisadoes Airport and was shocked to 

see the manner in which the public is treating this wonderful building . 

You should have seen the way in which the wall behind the. waving 

gallery is dirty . Finger marks by the thousand are all over it . Seeing 

it , one would believe the wall is years old . Although rubbish 

a isposers are placed all over the waving gallery , there were bottles 

and p ieces of paper strewn all over t he place , even on the apron 

under the waving gallery . 

"Please make an appeal to the public to keep this building clean . 

Surely Jamaicans can show some amount of civic pride . This building 

is a national show-place and it does not reflect well on the island 

when a visitor gets such a first impression as what I saw on that 

Sunday . " That is the letter from Mr . Cousins and it i s one with 

which I agree wholeheartedly . The new airport is an attractive thing . 

Let us not defile it . The only point on which I am not sure I go all 

the way with Mr . Cousins is why we should keep it clean and beautiful . 

Of course visitors will be impressed if t hey see well -kept and clean 
I\ 

new airport . But I think that ba sically we should keep it clean and 

attractive for ourselves and out of our own sense of pride r a ther 

than simply because of what some visitor might t h ink . Beauty and 
should be 

cleanliness/xx good and right for us and we shou ld have t hem for our own 

enjoyment and pleasure fir s t and foremost. So please let us keep our 

a irport and all our other public pl aces clean for our own sakes. That 

is the way we foster nationa l pride in national ach ievement . Goodni ght. 



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No 209 The Trinidad and Barbados Elections 

NEWS COMMENTARY 
For transmission on 
Friday Sept 1st at 6 . 15p . m 
Peter Abrahams speaking 

Good evening: When I passed through Trinidad on my way back from 

British Guiana last week, I tried, naturally, to get a feel of what was 

going on in Port-of- Spain political circles . I met Bertie Gomes at 

Piarco Airport and later on I met Learie Constantine at lunch in the 

Heart of Port - of-Spain . Bertie Gomes , who now sit s as an Independent 

in .. _the Federal Parliament , seemed to me to be in a mood for making 

mischief between Jamaica and Trinidad in particular and Jamaicar{ and 

the rest of the West Indies in General . He told me gleefully of t he 

article he had written and which appeared in last Sunday ' s Trinidad 

Guardian in which he said that Jamaica wa s making 'colonies' of t he 
• 

other islands of the Federation . To back up thi s mischief-making 
July-Aug 

journalism, he quote one paragraph f r om the West Indian Economi st's/ 

editorial which surveyed t he federal s cene and discuss ed t he possible 

results of t he r eferendum . According to Mr . Gomes t he struggle bet ween 

t h e J . L.P . and t he P . N. P . i s a 'beaut i fully staged' afffair f or which 

Trinidad would have to pay in order 'that Jamaicans could hog all the 

jobs and the glory also' . In fact , Mr. Gomes is now saying that 

Trinidad should not stay in a f ederation based on the London agreement . 

The interesting t hing about t h s s tand t aken by Bertie Gomes i s 

how remark bl y :tm: c l o se i t is to t ne s t ana taken by Sir Grant l ey Adams 

s n e tne Lonaon Con rerence. Bo-r,h Sir Grant l ey ana . Gomes have now 

come out bitterly agains -r, t,h e London Conferenc e dec is ions . Both have 

accu s ed mamaica of wanting to dominate the feder ation . But in fairness 

to Sir Grantley , he has never sounded as irrespons ible a s Mr . Go mes 

was las t Sunday . When h e •~m delivered the mai n speech at t h e openi ng 

of t he Barbados Labour Party election campa i gn in Br idgetown on the 



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18th of August , Sir Grantley again declared that he would never support 

the federation as it was shaped by the London Conference . He said 

Freedom of Movement and the right of the Federal Government to impose 

taxation on the units were the two essentials . 

It seems to me that t his clearly indicates the shape and nature of 

the future opposition in the Federal parliament . And this is where both 

the Trinidad and Barbado,s elections have as importantt a bearing on 

the federation as our own referendum . 

If the Barbados Labour Party wins decisively in the Barbados 

General Elections , t hen Grantley Adams will be strengthened in pushing 

his new line in Federal politics. He hopes to muster enough small 

island support to challenge Manley for the Prime Ministership , that is , 

assuming that Jamaica says 'yes' in the referendum. But for this to 

become feasible the Trinidad D. L.P . oppos ition should win a number of 

seats from the P . N.M. And so the Trinidad General Elections also become 

cruuial for the future shape of the Federation . If Jamaica says ' yes ' 

in the referendum and if ~he P . N. M. sweeps the board in their elections 

which are now expected in late October, then it looks as though Manley 
),. ... ~ . i /).-At--~ will become Pr ime Minister after 1ndepEhmeBce and Sir Grantley ~ : 

( 1L. L.r "~ c..A.P> ./ c:t v~tL 
.e-P ,i'ead:er:=a:-f- opposition . At present everything hinges on our referendum . 
I\ 

And that is why Eric Williams has been so silent on Federation . If 

Manley wins the referendum then the .P . N.M. will go along on the basis of 

the London Conference . If Manley does not, then Williams may chart a 

new course . That is why his party conference begins four days after 

the Jamaica referendum . Goodnight . 



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No 210 Jonathan Grant on Employment Practices 

NEWS COMMJ™TARY 
For transmission on 
Saturday Sept 2 at 6 . 15p . m 
Peter Abrahams speaking 

Sood evening: Mr . Jonathan Grant, the Minister of Labour, made 

what I consider a major policy announcement at the closing of the 

seventh annual trade union course . Mr . Grant said that many workers 

in various grades of employment have for a long time been very 

dissatisfied with the fact that people were imported from abroad 

to fill jobs which could comfortably have been filled by local workers. 

I think few fairminded people will deny that this is a fact . The 

tendency has been, and still is in many places, to give the better 

paid jobs, the jobs with more authority and responsibility , to 

people from outside . I think this has now largely come to an end in 

the public sector of our economy . But it is still very pronounced in 

the private sector . Whatever the reasons for it , whether it is prejudice 1 

whether it is old habits dying hard, or whether it ls simply thought­

lessly selling Jamaica and Jamaicans short , this business of giving 

preference to the outsider is a fact and a fact that has been going 

on for far too long. Now, Mr . Grant says, this will have to come to 

a stop . 

If, in future, any firm wants to import someone to do a job , 

that firm will have to satisfy the Ministry of Labour t hat it .has 

first of all made an effort to find a Jamaican to do the job; and 

that if it had not found such a Jamaican, then it has tried to find 

xxWmx:txi:mttax someone from the other units of the West Indies . ~nly 

after it has failed in this would the Ministry permit it to import 

some one from abroad . Now this is fine. But t here is the problem of 

enforcement . 

You may have an employer who will pay lip-service to t his pattern 



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of Jamaicanisation . He will put an advertisement in the local paper; 

he will get some applications; he will interview the apllicants; he 

will then decide that none of them are quite right for the job . He 

will then go through the same prodedu~e with some of the other West 

Indies territories (though here we are likely to come up against the 

problem of applicants having to travel to Jamaica for an interview). 

And then he will turn to the Ministry and say: Sorry but none of these 

people will do for the job . What will the ministry be able to do? How 

will the Ministry be able to measure the good faith of such a man? 

Such a man may have made up his mind right at the outset that he was 

going to end up by saying no9one except someone from outside would 

suit . I am not saying that this is likely to be the general pattern. 

What I am saying is that unless the Ministry tries to make some 

provision for this sort of thing the whole idea might be defeated by 

intelligent sabotage . So I would suggest that both the unions and the 

Ministry think about this aspect . 

The other very important aspect of Mr . Grant's announcement was 

his call for Jamaicans to fit themselves for jobs needing higher skills 

and qualifications . We now have a first-rate college of arts, sience 

and technology and it is going to be almost impossible for any employer 

to say a Jamaican in not qualified after that Jamaican has passed his 

technical training at our college of Arts, Science and Technology . 

So I would strongly endorse the Minister's call, especially to young 

workers,to get themselves trained . Once they prove that there is no 

need to import people with technical training, the whole business of 

Jamaicanisation in the private sector of our economy should shoot 

ahead . And of course, the wise employer will help rather than hinder 

t his move . Goodnight. 



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No 211 P .P .P . Founding Conference 

NEWS COMMENTARY 
For transmission on 
Monday Sept 4 at 6.15p . m 
Peter Abrahams speaking 

Good evening : The founding conference of the People ' s Political 

Party took place at the J amaica Success Club in Wildman Str eet 

yesterday . I did not attend the meeting myself and reports as to the 

size of the attendance was rather conflicting . Some people told me the 

conference was well attended, others said it was not so well attended . 

But I gather it was a serious and businesslike conference . In fact , 

I gather it was so businesslike that the Confer ence did not get 

through the discussion of the P .P .P .' s Five -Year Programme . Delegates 

dtscussed the pr ogramme in great detail and only got through eight 

of the fifteen clauses . According to press reports t h ere will be 

another meeting to get through the di scus sion of the programme and for 

the election of officers . Meanwhile , the Steering Committee of the 

Party is made up of : Mr . Millard Johnson , Chairman ; Mr . Martin Allen , 

Vice Chairman ; Mr . Byron Moore , Secretary ; Mr . sil~~ster .Lowe , Assis t ant 
~e..,,J / m./~ ./' 

Secretary; Mr . Reuben Martin , Treasurer; plus ~ -fe-l-lew4ns e; 8ntlemr.n: 

-S ..,0.- Guntrey ; -Cnr s Lawrence , s . George Minott , Herbert Camp e 
' r . 

David Cooper and Sam Brown . A nt4-nttat1-on e-etrng-""cff t h i s founding 
' c on-f-er""enc-e- t-•h-es ge emen are t.Jae Execut.11r 

P.,... gh_:t-he ~Ilr ons or 

From the proceedi ngs of yesterday I think we can draw the f a ir 

conclusion t hat t he party is no in pr ocess of establishing itself 

.e-

• 

as an organised and proper political party which is out to challenge 

the dominant pos i t ions now hel d by the iif:amax People ' s National Party 

and the Jamaica Labour Party in the political life of this country . 

I think that as such it is as entitled as the two major parties to 

put forward itsi views and seek the support of the voters of the 



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country . And if a sufficiently large number of the voters of the 

country accept those views then the party may become a force in the 

country . And if a time comes when the majority of the voters a cc ept 

those views then that party will become the ruling party of the country . 

That is the way of parliamentary democracy. 

The P . P . P.' s Five- Year Programme was published in Sunday's Gleaner . 

Like the programmes of nearly all new political parties which are 

anxious to win popular support against strongly established old parties , 

it tends to be rather lavish in its promises . It says that if it is 

given power , the P . P . P . will wipe out unemployment , it will wipe out 

illiteracy, it will wipe out race and colour discrimination , and raise 

the standard of living of the masses . It promises to bring at least 

100 , 000 acres of idle land under the plough; it promises t o reduce 

import duty on the essential foods eaten by the masses , as well as 

on t~xtiles and shoes. It also promises to reduce ta:es on all 

Publ ic Pas enger Vehicles as well as on private and commercial vehicles . 

Now , duti es and taxes are the key ways in which gover nment ge t hei 

money to supply t heir citi zens w th services. Cuts in taxes mean a 

drop go ernmen i come . This is j ust a cold fact . But having proposed 

t hese cuts in taxes the P .P .P promised free education for every child 

from 5 to 17; it also promises old age- pensions and unemployed benefits . 

Now I approve of all these things . But where is the money to come from 

if taxes are cut? And can all these promises really be carried out in 

five years? If not all , then which? These are just some of the questions 

raised by the P .P .P .' s Five Year Programme . I hope the P . P .P . will 

spell out the answers a little more clearly for us . Goodnight . 



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No 2l2 The closing of Treasure Beach Hotel 

NEWS COMMENTARY 
For transmission on 
Tues day Sept 5 at 6 . 15p . m 
Peter Abrahams speaking 

Good evening: I wonder how m~ny of you gave any serious thought 

to a small item of news on the front page of yesterday ' s Gleaner . 

On the face of it this was no earth- shattering piece of news , and 

I rather suspect that most people read it and then went on the :tEE! 

other news without giving that particular item much thought . And yet 

I found t h is news terribly disturbing; and I am not the only one . I 

am sure Morris Cargill found it equally disturbing; and I am sure the 

people of the Watershed Protection Committee and the people in our 

Forest Department found it equally disturbing . 

This particular piece of news was the announcement by Mr . Ernest 

Muirhead, the owner, that the Treasure Beach Hotel has been _gl osed 

down for good . Mr . Muirhead said that he had decided to close down 

the hotel because over the past few years there had been a regular 

shortage of water for domestic use . At times this has been so tx±&t 

critical that guests at the hotel had cut short their stay and gone 

away . Mr . Muirhead tended to blame the St . Elizabeth Pari sh Council 

for thi s state of affairs . He said he had repeatedly informed the 

Council of his water problem but nothing had been done to help . I am 

not sure though that Mr . Muirhead is totally correct in blaming the 

St . Elizabeth Par i sh Counci l . They may be blame-worthy in terms of 

the direct and immediate responsibility . The Council may have been 

f orced to decide that if there was a water shortage the people of the 

area should have prior rights over the hotel . But I do hot t hink 

that takes us to the heart of the matter . 

The Treasure Beach is a small hotel which can only accomodate 

some 18 people; it is the only hotel in St . Elizabeth and so its 



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closing is a pity because it is good for our tourist trade to have 

resorts in places other than the north coast and t he Corporate Area 

of Kingston and St . Andrew . But the big thing about the closing of 

the Tr easure Beach, as I see it, is the reason behind it: the shortage 

of water . And behind that is a problem which is very much bigger than 

the closing of a dozen Treasure Beaches . I spoke about this problem 

on Saturday, Augus t% the 12th, and Morris Cargill has written and 

spoken about it too . It is the problem of the growing water shortage 

throughout Jamaica; the problem of turning the hills of Jamaica into 

semi- desert patches of rock that can hold no water when it rains . 

The north coast resorts have known water shortages too . We have the 

dreadful business of an area being in a state of drought because it 

has not rained for six weeks . We are getting shorter and shorter of 

water every year because each year more of our hillside land is cleared 

by fire. Trees and ~ush are burned down , the land is not terraced or 

else there i s a sort of silly show of terracing, and when the rain 

comes all the top soil is washed away , and there is nothing to hold 

the water and store it up for our needs . If we go on with these old 

practices , if we do not protect our watersheds, if we do not start a 

national policy of terracing to correct the damage which has been done 

for years, then it is only a mat ter of time before Jamaica becomes 

known as the land of Floods and Droughts . The Tr easure Beach would not 

have needed to close if we had cared for the Jamaican earth . It i s a 

warning of what might happen on a large scale of we do not take heed . 

Goodnight . 



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1) Citizens Committee B~r a Better Jamaica 
2) Stones at Sangster Meeting 
3) Public Opinion Criticism 

NEWS COMMENTARY 
For transmission on 
Wedmesday Sept 6 at 6 . 15p . m 
Peter Abrahams speaking 

Good evening: As with men, so with societies, there are two impulses 

always at work . There is the impulse to build and there is the impulse 

to destroy; there is the impulse to do the big and the clean and ahe 

generous thing and there is the impulse to do the mean and the petty 

and the XM~« cowardly thing . I think both these conflicting i mpulses 

in our natures and ln the nature of our society , were shown up ver y 

clearly last week . 

We had published for the first time on Friday of last week a 

manifesto by the Citizens Committee for a Better Jamaica . This manifesto 

was signed by thirteen well- known Jamaican Citizens . It offered no 

blue- print by which all our problems could be solved overnight; in 

fact, it offered no blu~-print of any kind at all ; it was a simple 

declaration of faith : faith in Jamaica and in the future of Jamaica; 

and above all it was a declaration of faith in the people of Jamaica 

and a call to "all men and women of goodwill in Jamaica to aid in the 

spread of a new , dynamic awareness of our progress as a people, and a 

new sense of pride in that progress". 

I am sure xux• the people who signed this manifesto know that 

not everything in Jamaica is rosy; that there are people who are 

hungry and homeless and that there are many who are without hope and 

who must be given hope, and this cannot be done by noble words and 

lofty sentiments only . There must be deeds to match the fine words . 

But having said that, let me say that I found this manifesto with its 

message of hope and pride a very welcome change from all the gloom and 

mi sery that so many people have trmed to generate lately . This is the 

spirit in which to go forward and build, not the spirit of fear ahd 



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hate. I hope you will all support the Citizens Committee for a Better 

Jamaica. It is the nobler impulse at work in our society . 

The other impulse, the mean and cowardly impulse, was shown at 

a political meeting . On Wednesday of last week, Mr . Donald Sangster, 

the Deputy leader of the Jamaica Labour Party, was stoned at Hampstead 

St . Mary while he was speaking at an anti - federation meeting . Fortunately 

neither Mr . Sangster nor anybody else was hurt; but the meeting was 

broken up . 

This was bad; it was mean and cowardly; t he people who threw t hose 

stones succeeded in interfering with a fundamental right each of us 

should have in a free society, the right to express our views, no 

matter how unpopular those views may be~~ - If we allow this sort of 

thing to go on unchecked we will end up by losing all our freedoms, 

not only the freedom to speak . So I hope that in the days that remain 

before we go to the polls on the 19th all citizens will avoid any 

form and violence . It is the mean and cowardly way and it only hurts 

Jamaica in the long run . 

Finally , a question to listeners . Thi s weeks Public Opinion 

criticises me for sometimes discussing a singl e subj ect over two or 

t hree commentaries . I have found that t here have been times when I 

have not been able to g ive you all the background information in one 

commentary . I have assumed t hat you would prefer me to give you all 

t he facts over t wo or t hree commentaries in stea d of s ki mming the t hing . 

You will remember I di d this with Jomo Kenyatta and Eas t Africa . I woul d 

l ike t o know if you thi nk I should stop doing this ev en if it means a 

ver y superficia l t reat ment of a sub j ect . So pl ease write an d l et me 

know how you feel so I may be gui ded i n futur e . Goodnight . 



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No. 214 l) Brawling Politicians 

NEWS COMMEN TARY 

For transmission on 
Thursday Sept. 7 at 6.15 p.m. 
Peter Abrahams speaking 

Good Evening: Last night I t alked about the mean and cowardly 
business of people breaking ~p public meetings by throwing stonr, s. 
Tonight I want to talk about brawling politicians, who s ~~ the 
kind of example tha t leads to people throwing stones to break 
up meetings. You must have se en in the Press recently a number 
of s t artling headlines about violence and brawling~either at 
political meetings or at the headquarters of some political _pa ... ;,,-7. 
I am sure you will remember tha t only this week a newspaper 
carried the story of a brawl in which some prominent poli ticia.r·s 
were involved. 

I know tha t some of us f i nd this funny. There is a certai~, 
amusement to people in high places making public fools of them­
selves, but I think that there is a more serious aspect to this 
business of brawling politicians. 

Our politicians and would-be le aders are supposed to set 
us an example of good behaviour and good conduct in public life. 
They talk about democracy - They talk about freedom of speech -
~ey talk about the democrati c right to differ, and still respect + 
each other, and indeed this is the corner stone of parliamentary 
democrac·y, and then they set just about the worst example possi bla. 
How can we condemn the little man who flings stones to silence 
people whose views he does not agree with, when we have the example 
of some of our so-called leaders knocking each other about and 
using cuss-words inste ad of intelligent arguments. 

~ocx:immttcmrt'ocicl:1ua t. k11 rr..xtd:xim:lrldca:xlmmxk:mgxla;~c.x1m:iuc~alcidcn:kmr 
The function of leadership is not to appeal to our lowest 

instincts and our meanest impulses - The function of true 
le adership is to set standards to which we should aspire - But 
wha t sort of standards can we be set by so-called le aders who go 
in for public brawling. 

I think t his ma t ter of public brawling by our politicians 

fhe is a shameful thing which should be bitterly comdemned. 



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rights and the wrongs of who s t arted wha t fi ght and why is the 

ma t ter f or our courts to settle. What I am concerned abou~ 

are the moral and social implications of such affairs. Ind 

from tha t point of view all t his business of public brawling 

by our politicians are sordid exhibitions of irresponsibility 

which it is the duty of every responsible citizen to condemn in 

no uncer~ain terms. I frankly am ashamed to think tha t there 

are aspiring leaders in J amaica today who go in for this kind 

of brawling and seem to t ake a pride in it. If there is 

violence in the few days t hat r emain before we cast our votes 

on the 19th, I will lay a grea t share of the blame at the door 

of these irresponsible politicians. 



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No 215 

NEWS COMMEi~TARY 
For transmis sion on 
Friday Sept 8 at 6 . 15p . m 
Peter Abrahams speaking 

The Voters5 Roll 

Good evening: There are eleven days left before we go to cast 

our votes to decided whether Jamaica stays on in the Federation or 

whether she gets out . As axxxm~m~xamx part of the preparation for this 

most important event our electoral office has just issued the new 

xmtH~x list of voters who will be entitled to cast their votes . I 

have found one or two very odd features about this new list . 

First, t here is the very great drop in t he number of voters on 

the roll between June of last year and now . In June of l as t year 

we had 808 , 085 registered voters . Today we have only 774,787 registered 

voters . This means that in just about t we lve months 33 , 298 voters 

have disappe~r ed from our voters' roll . This is a very large number 

of people indeed to disappear fro m the voters' reg ister in just a 

year . Where have they gone? 

Mr . Osmond Royce, the Chief Elecoral Officer, says that over 

25,000 people migrated to Britain between June of last year and t h is 

year . That, he feels, is the main reason for the drop in our voters' 

list . But that still leaves more than 8,000 people to be accounted 

for . What happened to these people? It is poss ible, but not very 

likely, that more than 8,000 people who reg i stered in 1960 did not 

register this year . But I frankly find this hard to believe . I do 

not think that people who went to the trouble of registering last 

year would suddenly decide not to register . The people who are more 

likely to refuse to answer the questions of reg istration officers 

are people who have never been on t he lists before . Those who have 

already been on the list are not likely to become funny about 

answering questions which they had already answer ed the year before# 



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So t his missing 8,000~plus from the voters' roll become very curious . 

But when you think of the natural increase in population then the 

whole business becomes even BlClllDlKBE more curious. I have no exact 

figures for our population increase, but if we accept a very modest 

estimate of some 30 , 000 or 40,000 live births a year I do not think 

we would be exaggerating the rate of population increase. This means 

that the 30,000 or 40,000 children who were born in 1940 would be 

21 this year . But let us trim the figure even more by saying that at 

l east half of them were born before June and the other half after June 
,as very conservative estimate , 

of 1940 . This would give us/a new crop of between 15 , 000 and 20 , 000 

people who are eligible to go on the voters roll for the first time 

this year . Thus, logically and in spite of migrations, deaths and 

non- registrations, our voters list should show an increase rather 

than this very big drop of over 33,000 in a matter of twelve months . 

I think this is a sufficiently surprising and curious thing 

for our Electoral Office to do something about it . I think the 

government should call for a full investigation and report on the 

strange phenomenon of our suddenly shrinking voters roll . 

On Tuesday September 19th we will have 78,752 people fewer 

who are entitled to vote than the number of people who were entitled 

to vote in the 1959 General Elect ion. Then we had a turn-out of just 

over 66% of the voters . This time I hope we will have a turn- out 

of at least 75%. So I hope everyone will go out and do his or her duty 

to the country . Goodnight . 



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No i 16 The Problem of Public Conveniences 

NEWS COMMENTARY 
For transmission on 
Saturday Sept 9 at 6 . 15p . m 
Peter Abrahams speaking 

Good evening: There are some things we do not like to talk aboutj 

publicly because we feel that these things are either too private or 
intimate 

too concerned with ~e~amHxi human habits to be discussed public l y. 

I want to talk about one such subject this evBning because I think 

it shou ld be treated as a matter of serious public concern and because 

I hope that something will be done about it soon . This problem does 

not really arise in the country areas of J a maica : it is a problem of 

our cities and in particular it is a problem for the great city of 

Kingston . 

The other afternoon I s aw a woman near the bus stop in Dunrobin 

Avenue in the Cons tant Spring area . The woman was s~~ relieving 

herself as far back against a fence as she could get . She· -wa;o--u.i.~v 

·at i1 Tne;:::woman--leoked like__ n ondinar 

housewife ;- poor-bu-- n--ea and tidy-. - she -rooke sne 
-as/-go-t-up-.and hurried away a rrios oIIn :1: • 

Now t he f ancy name for what t h i s woman had done i s ' public voiding ' , 

and i t is something we all frown on . We s ay it i s bad and we say it is 

wrong and we condemn peop l e who do this . Some t ime ago t he J amaica 

Chamber of Commer ce con ducted a campai gn against ' public voiding '. 

And yet , what was t hat woman to do? Where could she go t o r eli eve 

her sel f i n that p~rt of suburban Ki ngston? The nearest publ ic 

conveni ence which she cou l d have used i s a t the Hal f Way Tree square . 

And anybody under real pressure would find it i mpossible t o ho l d 

themselves i n and walk that distance . And s o i t was the lack of a 
public convenience whi ch made it necessar y f or thi s woman t o go through 



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the humiliation of doing an intimate private act in public and suffer 

the curses of a superior and thoughtless motorist . It is easy for those 

of us who go around in cars to stop at the nearest gas station and 

relieve ourselves . It is not so easy for a poor and humble man or 

woman . Some of them have been turned away because they are not 

customers . It is very easy for us to criticise people who under 

extreme pressure relieve themselves whever they can . But that is no 

answer to this problem . 

Kingston's population has grown enormously in recent years . And 

as in all great c ities people are increasingly becoming strangers to 

each other and this means that a person cannot jus walk in an ere 

and ask to use the to et. And so there is an r gent and pressing 

need for mor e public coven ences than he ve y few we now have . 

I think it is high time that the Kingston ana St . Andrew 

Corporation Council pa i some attention to this public need . The few 

public lava~ories we do have are filthy anct they do not seem to have 

full time attendents to keep them clean . What I should like to see 

is the putting up of at least another half dozen public lavatories 

in central Kingston, especially where you have heavy shopping traffic . 

And I should like to see full time attendents keeping these clean . 

I am sure few people would object to paying a ~enny for the use of 

a clean lavatory , and three pence to be able to wash and tidy themselves 

and have the use of a clean hand towel . This is the sort of service 
in 

which people can buy for a few pence/almost RHJ every great city in 

the world . We need that kind of service very badly in Kingston today . 

Goodnight . 



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No 217 Colonial Shirt Factory 

N S COMMENTARY 
For transmission on 
Monday Sept 11 at 6 . 15p . m 
Peter Abrahams speaking 

Good evening: --On the f,: e'l!'lt pa§Q. of this morning's Glu.nsr there 
i.,.,--r:4.,0.--. -~ • - itcz.. 

1-a the now..s that the Colonial Shirt Factory has been closed down and 
t\ 

that some 650 workers who are now on strike will be paid off finally 

on Wednesday . This information was given 1te! sh@ sCJ lngno;r, by Mr . Sol 

Burgher, the President of the Colonial Shirt Factory , who arrived 

from the United States recently to investigate the strike situation 

at the factory . The reason Mr . Brugher gave for the decision to close 

the factory was that the workers on strike had made threats against 

members of the management staff . Mr . Burgher also said, and now I 

an quoting his own words as reported in this morning ' s Gleaner . He said: 

"We have 11 other factories in the States and we do no t bargain with 

unions in any of them" . 

From all this it would seem that the factory is definitely closed 

and that some 650 workers will definitely be unemployed . But my 

information is that things are not quite as definite as all that . I 

made some equiries today and my understanding is that a settlement 

may still be worked out . The representatives of the factory and the 

representatives of the workers are meeting with the Ministry of 

Labour tomorrow, and out of this May come a settlement . If a settlement 

is arrived at then the factory will not close . If, on the other hand , 

there is not settlement , then the factory will close . 

Now , t h is dispute is one of the clearest we have ever had in 

Jamaica . There may be a few side issues but these are not really 

important; the central and the important issue is a very simple one 

of principle, and it is this: the workers demand the right to be 



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represented by a union of their choice: the management on the other 

hand, are not prepared to neg~biate with any union . As Mr. Brugher 

said, they have 11 factories in the United States but they do not 

bargain with unions in any of them . This right to organise has been 

the issue between the workers and management almost since the factory 

was started two years ago . Some of you may remember that there was a 

strike at the factory last April over this same issue, and the strike 

was only called off af ter it had been proposed to set up a Minimum 

Wages Board for the industry . But up to now no such Board has been 

set up; and so we have the present strike which was set off by the 

dismissal of two workers . 
✓ 

In fairness to the management of the Colonial Shirt Factory, they 

say they were given the impr ession that their factory would not be 

unionised for a long time to come, if at all . If this is true , and I 

f or one am i nclined to believe them , then someone , somewhere , has 

given them the wrong information . If they were given the impression 

that they could come to Jamaica and set up a factory with cheap, non­

uni on labour , then whoever gave them this information is the really 

• guilty party in this matter . I think it is most important for all who 

are concerned wi t h our industrial developmmnt to make it unmistameably 

clear to all would-be investors from over seas that Jamaica is not a 

market for cheap unorganised labour . The workers' right to organise 

is one of the cornerstones of this s ociety . We nee~ and welcome new 

industries , but not at the price of sacrificing this cherished right . 

Goodnight . 



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No 218 The Artist and Society 

NEWS COMMENTARY 
For transmission on 
Tuesday Sept 12 at 6 . 15p . m 
Peter Abrahams speaking 

Good evening: One of the really healthy developments in Jamaica 

today is the spiri_t of dissent that is abroad in the land: people are 
questioning , people are argu~ng, people are challenging; ideas that 

had been accepted without question before are now being challBg~ad; 

old values are being put under the searchlight of critical examination . 
All this is good, though there are many people who seem worried and 
disturbed by all this mental and emotional activity . It is good because 
it is a sure sign that the society is healthy and growing and groping 
towards something more spiritually satisfying . 

One of the areas in which this spirit has shown itself most 

sharply in recent months and weeks has been in the field of the creative 
arts . The J amaican no~elist, Andrew Salkey , was back here in Jamaica 

• recently; and John Hearne is also back with us at this moment . Both 

these Jamaican writers are now operating from To.gland . And we also had 
Trinidad's Vidia Naipaul passing hhtn.1ggh here and expressing his 

dismay at the Jamaican and West Indian society. The coming and going 
of these writers has stimulated rrru.ch discussion on what part the artist 
should p lay in his society . And last week John Maxwell made his own 
contrbution to the discussion of the role of the artist when he opened 

the Parboosiggh exhibttmnn which closes today. 

I think that to a large extent John Maxwell has summed up the 

position and the feeling of the artist in his speech which was fairly 
fully reported in the Gleaner of Tuesday September the 5th . I thi nk the 
Maxwell speech reflected fairly accurately the way Jamaican artists -

whether they are writers , painters or composers - feel about their this 
position in/society. axwell said that the creative artist in Jamaica 



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could consider himself with justice as living in a cultural jungle 

surrounded by barbarians who were completely unconscious of their 

culture . Now this was strong language, challenging and provocative; 

and it certainly provoked strong reactions in some people . I had the 

pleasure of hearing some of these reactions on some St . Andrew 

veraddas . Of course Maxwell was right . This is the way the young 

artist does tend to see his world . There is a permanent conflict between 

the artist and his society - and the younger the artist , the more 

fierce the conflict and the more passionate the language . Maxwell was 

in fact doing what «exxxtm is cardinal to the creative artist: he was 

shocking his audience; he was being the creative critic , which he says 

the artist is not allowed to be in Jamaica . The one point where I do 

part company with Maxwell a little was the implicit suggestion that 

what he described was a uniquely Jamaican situation . It is not : it is 

a pretty universal situation for the artist everywhere - unless h e a~ 

is a ' yes-man ' for the dominant forces in his society . The genuine 

creative artist is impelled by that ' divine discontent' on which 

creativity feeds . And it is this divine discontent with things as they 

are which gives him his unique vision and which compelts creation . 

This is not Jamaican; this is universal, and the 'barbarians' too, are 

universal . The function of the artist , as I see it, is to help make 

the 'barbarians ' less so with the challnM e and power of his art . And 

t h is requires moral toughness , passionate involvement and a sharp 

clarity of vision . ~x There are other and easier ways of making 

a living, if that is his main concern . Goodnight . 



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No 219 

ND/S COJ\1MENTARY 
For transmission on 

1
2) Kennedy Raps Time Magazine 

) The Sewerage Scheme 

Wednesday Sept 13 at 6 . 15p .m 
Peter Abrahams speaking 

Good evening: I was very glad to see that no less a person than 

the President of the United States has criticised Time Magazine for 

some of its inaccurate reporting . The ~resident , you will remember , 
the details of 

described Time ' s reporting on/the Cuban invasion as ' the most inaccurate 

of all the articles that have appear ed on Cuba" . And on the 10t h 

of September, that is last Sunday, the Sunday Gleaner , reprinted an 

article which had appeared in another American Magazine , Harper ' s 

Magazine, howing Time ' s brand or reporting on Latin America . The 

article was by .H. oa:.i.er anu tne neaa.ing was : 1 Our Ta.Lent For Orr·enct.1ng 

r'eop.Le 1 • As you know , we have haa our share o!" Time 111Iagazine' s 

report.ing on our affairs, ana. that has not. a.Lways been too happy . But 

it is part. or tne burdens 01· a free society that we must put up with 

this kind of reporting . What I hope is that our government Public 

Relations Office wi l l not allow any inaccurate reporting abroad on 

Jamaican affairs to go unchallenged . I would kxIE likeli to see the 

Public Relations Office pick up every point of factual error that is 

published and send it to the editor or editors concerned with a 

request for correction. If an editor keeps on getting factual 

corrections to stories , it will only be a matter of time before that 

editor will begin to lose confidence in his local repr esentative and 

either tell him to mind his ways or else replace him . I think the 

damaged xk untrue reporting can do to the good name of Jamaica abroad 

is sufficiently important for our Public Relations Office to check 

all foreign stories for fact and to correct any errors promptly and 

firmly . 

And now for something smelly nearer home . The Citizens Association 



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of Vi nyard Town and Rollington Town have decided to ask the government 
pro,Posed 

to include those two towns i n the/giant sewerage scheme which the 

Wat er Commission announced three months ago . 

I was off the island when the scheme was first announced and so I 

am not familiar with all the details but I know that it is proposed 

to spend somewhere in the region of £250 , 000 for a sewerage scs eme for 

the New Kingston- Briggs Park area . This , I suspen~, is the scheme 

into which Vinyard Town and Rollington Town want to be incorporated. 

If it is, t hen I hope it will be found possible to include these two 

towns even t hough the contract has already been handed out. 

But what I want to talk about is something even bigger and more 

ambitious and , I am afraid , very much more costly . 

Kingston is one of the fastest growing cities in the entire 

Caribbean . It is a city in which house plots are becoming smaller 

and s maller . If we go on building at the present rate then another 

ten to twenty years' time should s ee the entire plain dotted with 

houses on small lots . The present practice is to use s petic pits 

throughout suburban i t x Kingston and St . Andrew . This i s so in even 

such large housing estates as Mona and Harbour View . I think it would 

be wise for us to think of a sewerage system for the entire plain . I 

know the Water Commi ss ion has a very big s cheme under cons ideration . 

What I hope is that it will be so devised that the future growth of 
accommodated . 

the city will be xxkimxmtruc«ID[BXmH~KXDH I also hope that the 
schemes 

authorities will l ay it down that all future housing 2sxatms should 

provide pr oper under ground sewerage systems r ather than the present 

septic pits . If we do not plan for this today we may hav e to pay a 

very high and s melly price in a very sickly tomorrow . Goodnight . 



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No 220 

NEWS COMMENTARY 
For transmission on 

l}End of Colonial S~tbt Affair 
.. 2. ),Delays in po.s.tal deliveries 

Thursday Sept 14 at 6 . 15p . m 
Peter Abrahams speaking 

Good evening: I am very glad indeed that a settlement has been 

reached in the Colonial Shirt Factory dispute, and that the factory 

will re -6pen next Thursday . The most important single point of the 

settlement is the one of principle about which I spoke on Monday 

evening : which is the right of the workers to ooganise themselves and 

be represented by the union of their choice . This was the central 

point of the dispute , not some of the other irrelevent nonsense that 

has been talked by some people . And this central point has now been 

accepted by the management of the Colonial Shirt Factory . And so the 

factory management has agreed to recognise the National Workers Union 

as the bargaining agent for the workers . That was the key issue of 

the dispute and that has now been settled. 

Under the settlement, the factory's management and the union will 
discuss 

meet regularly , probably once a week, to/settle any labour relations 

problems which might arise . I think the management of Colonia l Shirts 

are going to be surprised at how much mo re smoothly their relations 

with t heir workers will run as a result of t h is arrangement . And I am 

very glad too that the union has made it quite clear that it strongly 

conderrms any violence and intimidation on the part of the workers . 

All in all , I think this is a very good settlement; and now that 

the Colonial Shirt Factory people have accepted the principle of the 

right of our workers to be represented by the union of their choice , 

I hope the workers will put aside past differences and get on with the 

job in a mature and responsible way when the factory opens next 

Thursday . And I repeat my hope that those who are concerned with 



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the encouragement of foreign investment would make it abundantly clear 

to all would-be investors that we do not offer them cheap and unorganised 

labour . 

And now for a word about our postal deliveries . A listener in 

Kingston showed me a letter which had been sent to ktm his firm by 

another firm which was also located in Kingston . The letter was dated 

the 19th of August but did not reach its destination until the 2nd of 

September . This listener then checked on whether the firm sending the 

letter had delayed in posting it; the firm sending the letter had proof 

to show that it had been posted not later than the 21st of August . So, 

between the posting of the letter in one part of Kingston and its 

delivery in another part of the same city , twelve days had passed . 

This was bad enough but there was something worse . Although the letter 

must have reached the G. P . O. by the 21st of August , the date stamp 

with which the post office u x2 cancelled the stamp was gated the 

31st of August . This gave the impression that the letter had been 

posted ten days later than it was . Now, where was the letter during 

those ten days between its posting and the date- stamping of it by the 

post office? And why this fantastic delay? I think the tax paying 

public are entitled to answers to these questions . I know that since 

the settlement of the Post Office strike in July overtime has been cut 

very drastically from almost unlimited overtime to two hours per day 

per workero But that is an internal prob~em , which it is up to the 

post office to solve . As far as the public is concerned we are entitled 

to a very much better service than we are now getting . Our present 

service is poor and shoddy and just not good enough . Goodnight . 



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No 221 Police Violence 

NEWS COMMENTARY 
For transmission on 
Friday Sept 15 at 6 . 15p.m 
Peter Abrahams speaking 

Good evening: I had hardly stepped into my office on Tuesday 

morning when the telephone rang~ . The man at the other end of the 
/(Nit>./ ,,/. /~ l'W,,f)..1,,.,4+VJ.!, /\£J;s ~ 

line wanted to know whether I hB:a BBlf~ FeSis. :t.be :P @fllel?:& i:ft 1ihat~R5 ' s 

QJ.. oafter of the policeman who had been found ~ilty of assaulting a 
I~ I olid.. '411 ~., ~ 

prisoner . I told the man t. aad: l'tet done ~ and he rea d the whole 

story for me over the phone. He felt it was such a serious matter that 

he hoped I would talk about it and try and get the authori tie.s to do 

something about it . The man was obviously very angry and s ome of his 

anger came at me because I sounded so calm about the matter . A few 

minutes later the phone rang again . This man was less angry but f elt 
-~ 

equally strongly about the matter . I told him that I ..1!9!fil .... l"l'!!!!!!llil=g the 

report and I would do something about it . 

I hope all of you who read that report still remember it . It was 

a report that a Corporal Herbert Cunningham of the Manchester Police 

had been found guilty on a charge of 'assault occas ion i ng actual 

bodily harm to the person of Vivian Simpson of Balaclava on June 7th '. 

Mr . H.R. Campbell , Acting Resident Magistrate for Manchester had 

sentenced Cunningham to be bound over fo r one year . 

Viv ian Si mpson gave sworn evidence of his arrest and told of how 

he was kicked in the stomach by the Corporal . Simpson was later 

bai l ed and when he got home he began to suffer pain that grew so -bad 

that he went to see a doctor at Balaclava t hat same evening . The 

Doctor immediately sent h i m to Mandeville Hospital where another doctor 

exami ned him next mo r n i ng and after an operation found a ruptured 

inttestine . In h i s evidence to t he court t his doctor said that the 

injury he found was cons istent with having been inflicted by a kick. 



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The doctor said that Simpson remained RX in hospital for two months 

and that at one stage his condition was so critical that a dying 

deposition was taken from him . 

Cunningham, for his part , denied that he had assaulted Simpson 

but the Magistrate found him guilty which means that the court was 

satisfied beyond doubt that the charge that Cunningham had kicked 

Simpson was a true one . 

Now I have tried to be. dispassionate in tell this story because it 

is such a deadly ser ious one . A man is ar rested for t he trifling 

offence of f a iling t o move on when he o dered by a policeman and 

h e ends up near eath's door w1~h a ruptured intestine. And a po~iceman, 

a guardian ot our law anct orcter is found guilty of kicking that man. 

And to cap it all , this man is bounct over . It is a very long time 

indeed since I have felt so bitterly angry as when I read the details 

of this case • .And this is no isolated case . Almost every week there 

is some story of some assault by some policeman with a jackboot 

mentality . Some woman has all her clothes torn from her, some little 

man is clubbed to the ground, some poor person is bullied and harried . 

I am a little tired of talking about this , and I am more than a little 

distressed because basically we have a good police force . But the bad 

ones are giving that force a bad name . And I think the authorities are 

helping to give that force a bad name by not firmly and sternly and 

publicly punishing the bad ones and throwing them out of the force . 

It is up to t he police High Command to firmly stamp out this violence 

and --BE~rt~!'te'9-fl if they do not want us to lose our respect for the rule 

Goodnight . of lo . 



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No 222 Federation Summing up (1) 

NEWS COMMENTARY 
For traasmission on 
Saturday Sept 16 at 6 . 15p . m 
Peter Abrahams speaking 

Good evening: There is only Sunday and Monday left for the 

1arties and t he politicians to make their sp eeches , to appeal to us 

to vote t his way or that, to warn us of t he terrible consequences of 

this or that decision - and then their part will be over . And the 

final act will be in our hands . We will go to our polling stations 

(and I am sure we will do so quietly and peacefully) and we will make 

t h e final decision for t he future . And that is the beauty of democracy: 

that after all t h e talking and pleading , after all the cleverness 

and the sharpness of the politicians - whether t hey be honest or 

dishonest , whether they be telling the truth r lying to us - after 

all this, t he final decision is in our hands . And on Tuesday we are 

going to make that great decision in pea ce and privately . 

I thought it make be a good idea for us to look back on the steps 

which have led. to this moment and which will end one important chapter 

of our history on Tuesday . 

Some of you may remember that it was on Monday , the 30th of May, 

1960, t hat Sir Alexander Bustamante made the sudden and dramatic announce 

ment that h e had resigned his position as leader of the Democratic 

Labour Party of the West Indies . Busta said that he had taken t his 

step so that , and now I am quoting his own words: "Jamaica , the West 

Indies and the world must understand that our decision that Jamaica 

should secede from the Federation of the West Indies is irrevocable" . 

Thds ewere Busta's own words . And note that they were made in a 

context of party political alignments . I mention t his simply for the . 

benefit of all t hose who have ·been confused by all this talk that this 

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on the 30th of May , 1960 . And t hose of you with long memories will 

recall how this announcement hit the country like a bombshell . 

Manley's reply to this bombshell came a day later, on Tuesday, 

May 31st, 1960 . On that Tuesday afternoon Manley announced that the 

government had decided to hold a referendum in 1961 and put it up to 

the voters of the country to say if we should stay in the federation 

or if we should leave it . Manley said he had decided on this course 

of action because Busta ' s announcement had created a completely new 

situation about Federation . Until the Busta announcement, both parties 

had supported federation and it had always been treated as a bl - partisan 

matter . But now things had changed . With one of the two major parties 

in the country opposing federation, it was only fair and right that 

the voice of the people should be heard on th~ matter , that the final 

decision should be left in the hands of the people . And that was the 

beginning of the great debate which is now in its very last stages . 

For myself , I am very pleased and very proud to have had a hand 

in getting that debate going, and I hope it has helped to clarify some 

of the issues for you . Some of you may remember that it was on Sat urday 

June the 18th, 1960, that you heard the very first radio Forum on 
c;. <-<,,,~ 

Federation. And after that , every Saturday evening , mtRir e~e of people 

from all walks of life , high and low, rich and poor and all parties , 

have come to the microphone and discussed t heir views with me . This , I 

think, help greatly to make us understand the issues involved . And now 

the great debate is ending and I'll give you my closing words on it 

on Menday. So till then , Goodnight . 



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No 223 Federation Summing Up (2) 

NEWS COMMENT.ARY 
For transmission on 
Monday Sept 18 at 6 , 15p . m 
Peter Abrahams speaking 

Good evening : From the 31st of May, 1960 to the 19th of September 

1961 is a year and three months and nineteen days . This is the period 

of our great decision which ends tomorrow . And tomorrow it is the turn 

of those of us who are not politicians , the turn of those of us who have 

not made speeches, the turn of those of us who have not stood on 

platforms or made speeches over the radios or written letters to the 

papers . And yet ours is the final decision . It is we who will decide 

whether Jamaica will remain in the federation or whether we will go 

it alone . So finally it comes round fiB to the ordinary people and 

their is the most important part of all . 

So tomorrow is your great day, the day when you and I will decide 

the fate of this Jamaica and its more than one- and- a -half million 

peoples . The responsibility is ours and it is a greater respQnsibility 

; than that of Manley's or Bu.sta's; for what we decide is the way things 

will be . That is our power; but because we have the greater power, we 
• 

also have the greater responsibility . So it is we who are going to be 

the star performers in tomorrow ' s great drama of deciding the shape 

of the future of t his country for generations to come . It is you and. 

I, the higgler and t he street sweeper, the small cultivator and the 

big farmer, the domestics who work in other people's homes , and those 

who work in factory or office or field . It is up to us . 

And when we have decided and cast our votes the responsibility for 

the decision we make will be ours . We won't be able to blame Manley or 

Busta or the unions or the bosses or anybody else . If we decide to 

take Jamaica out of the federation we and we alone will be responsible 

f or the consequences of that decision . If we decide that Jamaica nrust 



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stay in the federation, that t oo will be our sole responsibility . And 

after tomorrow ' s votes have been cast there can be no going back and 

there can be no blaming of others because when you have power then 

you must assume the responsibility that goes with that power . 

And the world will be watching t o see how and what we decide 

tomorrow . The Africans , the Asians , the Americans, the Europeans -

they will all be watcijing us and judging us , and so will the people 

of the other islands of the Caribbean . And when we have finished with 

this referendum and our decision is known , the world will pass judge­

ment on Jamaican and on the choice made by Jamaican men and women . 

If the world thinks · our choice was small- minded and petty and selfish , 
.. 

they will look on us as a small- minded and petty and selfish people . 

If they think our choice was big and brave and of high courage and 

faith, then they will say we are big and brave people full of high 

courage and faith . They will not say this of Manley or Busta; they will 

say this of the people of Jamaica because it is the people of Jamaica 

who will make tomorrow's decision . So please think carefully and decide 

wis ely . You are deciding for generations to come . And most important 

of all , whether you are for federation or against federation, go out 

and vote . Vote the way you like, but vote . Many of you have asked me 

my views . I am and I always have 
ff?) -

been a federationist . But whether 
t\ 

you agr ee with me or not, it is your duty to yourself, to your country 

and to t he unborn J amaicans of the future, to go out and vote . Let us 

have a r eal l y record poll tomorrow so t hat all the world should know 

t he clear voic e of J amaica has s poken . Goodnight . 



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NO. 224 

SITUATI ON FOR J_ ICA 

NEWS CO TARY 
For trans ssion on 
Wednesday Sept . 20 at 6ol5p . m. 
Peter brahams speaking. 

Good evening: Almost from the moment that the 

Federation issue was settled l isteners have been aski ng me "Wnere 

do we go from here? " It was clear that J amaica was out of the 

Federatione It was clear that the peopl e of Jamaica had said 

in a firm and decisive voice that they wanted us to go i t alone 9 

and seek Dominion Status by ourselveso ~bat was not clear 

and what disturbed many people was this question - "Where do we 

go from here? 11 • 

I am glad that the Government of J amaica has now 

answered this question as clearly as did the people when they 

decided decisively last night that J amaica was to go it alone. 

The Government has sent a cable t o t he Colonial Secretary asking 

hi m to receive a del egation from t he J amaica Government as soon 

as possible to report on t he results of the Referendum and t o 

f i x a date for J a a ican Independence at the earliest possi ble 

moment e The Government hopes that the delegation will leave 

for • gland next week. This is quick , and deci s i ve actiono It 

i s the sort of action I had hoped would be takenoAft erlast night 

i t would have been a mistake for this question of what is to happen 

to be dragged outo There was an air of confusion, there was an 

a i r of uncertainty and in this atmosphere it was the duty of the 

Government to clear the ai r as quickly and as decisively as possibl e . 

The meaning of this decision by the Cabinet is that 

the Government of Jamaica has acceptea the will of the peopl e as 

expressed in yesterday ' s vote o The people said "we want • t to 

get out of Federat ion 11 •• • and the Government ' s response is ~ha~ 

"the people have spoken now it is our duty t o carry out their will"o 

I think in this decision Mro Manl ey and his colleagues in the 

Cabinet have shown a bigness of spi rit which I for one can only 



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praise in the highest termso It takes bigness on the part 
of any man to accept defeat of what he believes in and then 
go forward and carry out the will of the people. This is the 
spirit of a true democrat , and as Mr. Manley made clear in the 
statement announci ng this dec i sion it showed bigness of spirit 
to put this issue of Federat ion up to the people in the firs t 
placeo 

The second point about the announcement made by Mr. 
Manley on behal f of the Cabinet today is that a general election 
will be held before I ndependence Day so that the people of J amaica 
will once again be able to deci de the shape of their future by 
deciding which Party wil l lead Jamaica to Independence 9 

owe have two clear things - firs t, that the Government 
will send a delega tion to Britain next week to work out the details 
of how Jamaica is to become Independent on her own at the earliest 
possible moment and, second, that before Independence comes there 
will be a general el ection to decide which Party will lead J amaica 
into Independence . 

To me this is good news . It is good news because it 
is the democrat i c process of V>K>rk at its highest l evel . In one 
fell swoop all our doubts and all our confusion has been cleared 
up. Now we know what is going to happen immediately and we also 
know W1'le that we will have the final say as to who will lead this 
country on the last stages towards full Independence o It is not 
every day and it is not in every country that the people of a 
country can say that t heir Government has shown sufficient faith 
and trust in the people t o put a vital issue up to them and after 
they have deci ded, against t~e advice of that Government, to then 
follow the decision of the people and set about carrying it out 
faithfullyo This I t hink is the best eNttt~~-~he~ criticism ~he• 

against wailing Jeremiah's who see the death of democracy in 
Jamaica~ Democracy in Jamaica is very much alive and kickingo 



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No 225 Busta Reply to Manley Announcement 

NEWS COMMENTARY 
For transmission on 
Thursday Sept 21 at 6 . 15p .m 
Peter Abrahams speaking 

Good evening : Events are moving very f as t in J amaica just now , 

and we are going to need to keep our wits about us i f we are going to 

keep up wit h the pace of t h ings . And I t h ink it is a very good thing 

that the pace is so fast . The sooner we work out the details of just 

how we are going to move to independence , the better it will be for 

the stability of the country . As it is, we will have to be going 

through some lengt hy negotiations later on , so the less confus ion we 

have now the better it is for the country and the people . So let us 

try to sort out yesterday's moves and counter- moves by the two major 

parties . 

Last night I talk about the Premier ' s statement on the Cabinet 

decision t o send a delegation to London next week , and to call General 

Elections before i ndependence . As soon as the Manley statement was 

out, Sir Alexander Bustamante issued a stat ement of his o~m . Busta 

welcomed Manley ' s announcement that there will be General Elections 
V" 

befor e indepdence as in keeping wit h his expectations . This , he said, r, 
was the only course Manley could adopt in the light of the Refer endum 

result . But Busta objected strongly to Manley ' s announced decision 

that a Jamai ca Government delegation shoul d go to London next week 

to see the Colonial Secretary . Busta describe$ this decision as 

' unconstitutional, unparliamentary , a breach of public faith and 

political trickery at the lowest level ' . 

Busta says that the only honourable and proper thing for Manley 

to do is to resign straightaway and give the people the opportunity 

to elect the government they want to carry out the r eferendum decision . 

Or, he saya, the very least that Manley can do i s to take the issue 



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to the House of Representatives which alone has the authority to take 

action of any kind or approach the British Government to discuss J amaica ' 

i ndependence . Busta further demands that a arliamentary Committee 

made up of both sides of the House be set up immediately to work out 

the details which will lead to Jamaica's secession from the Wes t Indies 

Federation and to her attainment of independence and Dominion Status . 

So there are three very important things that Busta says: First, 

that Manley should resigns ra ghtaway ~~ leave it up to the people 

to elect the go ernment that hey wouia like to lead them alon the 

new path he .chos o~ Tuesday; second , if Manley does not resign 

then the very least he can lidm and should do is to put the whole issue 

before the House of Representatives to debate and decide what course 

of action should be taken; and third, that there should be a joint 

parliamentary committee to work out the details of the new direction 

we are taking . ow , I am no constitutional lawyer and so I am not 

competent to comment on whether what Manl ey has decided is constitutiona 

or not . But it does seem to me that Busta has a very powerful case when 

he demands that the matter be discussed in the House before any trip 

to London . fter all , there is a new situation in ¥amaica , and whether 

we like it or not , it has been brought about by Busta and his party . 

Over 53% of the electorate voted •e u&;r Busta'? told ~ t0-. That is 

the weight and the authority behind Busta's statement . Until there is 

a new and clear mandate as to who should lead Jamai ca on the new road 

Busta's voice will carry that weight and that authority, so I think it 

best that the matter be debated in the House before the trip to London . 

Good.might . 



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No 226 The Politica l Parties in t he New Situation 

NEWS CO iMENTARY 
For t ransmission on 

; Friday Sept 22 a t 6 . 15p . m 
Peter Abrahams s peaking 

Good evening: Last night and the night before I discussed the 

moves and counter-moves by our t wo ma jor parties . You will remember 

t hat it was on Wednesday evening that Mr . Manley i s sued hi s statement 

on behalf of t he Cabinet . In it he s aid that t he government and he, 

hims elf , accepted and will abide by the decision of t he people . And 

he outlined the s teps the government p lanned to take to carry out 

that decision . He said h e had cabled t he Colonial Secretary and tha t 

h e p lanned to lead a delegation to London to discuss Jamaica' s 

referendum decision and the earliest pos sible date for Jamaica to 

become independent on her own . In the same statement he also announced 

t hat a General Election would be held before Independence Day to give 
it 

the country a chance to choose the government which xu~ want\~ to lead 

it to independence . You will remember t hat when I commented on this 

announcement on Wednesday evening I said it showed bigness of spirit 

on the part of the Premier . I said it takes bigness on the part of any 

man to accept the defeat of what he believes in and then to go forward 

and carry out the will of the people . Of course , it so happens t hat 

Manley could accept the will of the people , even when it was against 

him , because it did no' real violence to his conscience and his basic 

beliefs . He was never against independenc e for Jamaica . Indeed , he and 

his eople ' s ational Party had pioneered the independence movement in 

Jamaica at a time when others wanted no part of it . But he and his 

party had campaigned very actively and very strongly for remaining in 

the federation , and so the result was a defeat . It was as much a defeat 
, 

for Manley and the P .N.P . as w~re the results of the federal elections 

of 1958 . And it was as much a victory for Busta and the J . L. P . as was 



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the 1958 Federal elections . I think it is a mistake to pretend any­

thing else . 

In his reply to Manley ' s statement , on which I commented last 

night , Busta made it clear that he saw the referendum result as a 
said and 

defeat for the P . N. P . and a victory for his party, when he x~mkexmfxxkxz 
now I quote Sir Alexander ' s own words : 
~mxeJCKmKKXXi!m:~x:MRxxMmlxBJ "Mr . Manley must understand 

that on the matter of Jamaica's secession from Federation and its 

independence, he does not speak for Jamaica - I do . " But Busta did go 

on to suggest a joint parliamentary committee to work out the details 

of how we are to go forward . 

So the present position of the parties is that the J . L. P . t oday 

has a greater authority than it had before Tuesday and the authority 

of the P .N. P . is of necessity less than it was before Tuesday . We had 

a similar situation after the 1958 Federal Elections when the J . L. P . 

talked and behaved as though they were really the majority party in 

the country . It was only after their xkE clearcut victory in the 

General Elections of 1959 that the P .N. P . was again able to function 

with the decisive authority of a gover nment that had a clear mandate 

from the people . It seems to me that we are in a very similar pos ition 

today as far as the parties are concerned . The big differemce is that 

federation is no longer an issue . But in the very process of settling 

the federat ion issue the J .L .P . has gained a new confidence and authority 
~ 

which is going to make things rough for the PN . P . until they get 

another clear mandate from the people - or are defeated in a General 

Election . Goodnight . 



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No 227 Jamaica and the Rest of the West Indies 

NEWS COMMENTARY 
For transmission on 
Saturday Sept 23 at 6 . 15p . m 
Peter Abrahams speaking 

Good evening : When this day is over the most fateful week in the 

history of modern Jamaica will be over . To many people who love 

Jamaica as dearly as do the best of those who voted no this has been 

a week of high tragedy . To them Jamaica ' s choice is out of step with 

world trends today . ~ erywhere else in the world people are moving 

closer to each other because they see safety, security and xprosperity 

in larger units of co - operation. Other good Jamaicans see our choice 

as a rejection of a people of the other islands , as a turning of our 

backs on those whom we consider less fortunate than ourselves . And 

some of them. have said : Pray God that the greater and richer powers in 

the world do not do unto us as we have done unto the people of the 

smaller islands. 

Comment from the outside world has so far been of surprise, of 

shock of amazement . The day after the Jamaican decision was known 

the British Government started discussions on what they call 'the new 

situation' . This new situation has to do with how our decision will 

affect the other islands of the West Indies . We have been so busy with 

our own reactions that we have not thought nruch about what our decision 

means to the other islands . Now that we have made our decision and 

cannot unmake it , it might be ·aalutory for us to have a look at the 

other lslands and how they reacted. 

ow that we are out, will the federation smash up? I think the 

final answer now lies with Trinidad . In the past Dr . Eric Williams has 

said that if Jamaica leaves the federation Trinidad would not be 

prepared to remain in it . If he keeps his word then Trinidad will get 

out and like us, seek independence on her own . This would leave 



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Barbados and seven other small islands to shift for t hemselves as best 

they can . For these islands this will mean putting aside all hope of 

a proud, independent and self-respecting i dentity . The best they can 

hope for would be a tiny federation of the Windward and Leeward 
much 

islands with a population of/less than a million peopl e who would have 

to depend per manently on some form of charity from the outside world. 

And of course, the outside world may decide that we have let them down 

and their needs are greater than ours, and so aid and assistance we 

may want might be given to t hem . If that does happen we will hardly 

be in a position to bawl . After all , t his is a choice we made . And we 

certainly will be in no position to blame Eric Williams if he decides 

to leave t he people of the small islands high and dry: we set the 

example . I do not know how many of you noticed that Dr . Lewi s fl ew 

down to Trinidad the day after our decision was made . The Univers ity 

College is a federal activity and while we can hope that the other 

i slands will agree to continue sharing its costs and keeping it in 

J amai ca, we cannot insist on it . Jamaica has had the main benefits from 

the University and its hospital so far . Dr. Lewis is now discussing 

its future . 

All th is and much mo re flow logically from our de c is ion . The other 

islands will feel we have let them down , and some may nev er forgive us 

for denying them their onei chance of a proud and independent identity 

in this modern world . Whatever happens tp us , the future will never 

again look as hopeful to the people of the small islands as it did 

before me made our decision . Goodnight . 



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No 228 l)Manley ' s ' No Resignation ' Statement 
2) Adams & Continuation till 1963 
3) Jagan's Comments 

NEWS COMl'IJ.ENT.ARY 
For transmission on 
Monday Sept 25 at 6 . 15p . m 
Peter Abrahams speaking 

Good evening: In his broadcast yesterday Mr . Manley said fi r mly 

and positively that his Government has no intention of resigning 

because of the ' No' vote in the referendum; and that seems to settle 

the matter for the present . Those who know¥~ . Manley and his methods 

will be satisfied that he would not have made such an announcement 

unless he was absolutely certain of his constitutional and legal 

grounds . He has always been a stickler for doing things legally and 

constitutionally . But many people who are firm supporters of Mr . Manley 

have expressed grave doubts about the political and tactical wisdom 

of this decision . Whether these people are right or not in their 

fears will only be settled in the General elections which Mr . Manley 

has promised will take place before indepedBnce . As I told you last 

Friday, I expect the J . L.P . opposition to make things as rough as 

they can for Mr . Manley ' s government between now and the calling of 

elections . My only hope is that the best interests of the country 

will not be too badly damaged in the process . 

Sir Grantley Adams who has made no small contribution to the 

referendum result seems determined to go on making mischief . News 

from Trinidad is that he now plans to ask the British Colonial Secretary 

to keep Jamaica in the Federation until 1963 when the life of the 

present Federal Parliament comes to an end . I hope Mr . Macleod will 

have the good sense to reject such a proposal out of hand if Sir 

Grantley does put it forward . Now that Jamaica has decided to quit the 

Federation it would be both foolish and dangerous for anybody to 

keep her in it for longer than· it is necessary for us to get disentangled 

So the sooner Sir Grantley stops trying to make any more mischief, 



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the better •it will be all round . Instead of this mischief- making 

nonsense, I should like Sir Grantley to pay serious attention to the 

very constructive suggestions made by British Guiana's Cheddi Jagan 

last Friday . 

Dr . Jagan found Jamaica ' s decision regrettable, but he said it also 

presented a challenge and an oppor tunity to Dr . Eric Williams and Sir 

Grantley Adams . He said with Jaamaica in the federal constitution had 

been so watered- down , at Jamaica ' s insistence , that it could hardly 

do what was needed for the well- oeing of the people . With Jamaica out , 

Williams and Adams had a chance to rewrite the constitution in such 

a way as to give strong powers to the federal centre and so lead a 

strong F.astern Caribbean group . Jagan also condemned the costly 

and overgrown federal government structure and said Sir Grantley and 

Dr. Williams now had an opportunity to cut down on its running costs 

and streamline it so as to best serve the interests of the people of 

the region . He said the only way to raise living standards for the 

people is to refashion the economy along socialist lines . So to sum it 

up, the Jagan message is : Cut down your running costs, write a proper 

constitution for the Eastern Caribbean, and get on with the job of 

raising living standards for the people . I am sure this is the sort of 

programme Eric Williams will buy; I am not so sure of Sir Grantley 

Adams . And I rather suspect that it is because Eric Williams has his 

doubts aboub Sir Grantley Adams that he will be unwilling now to stay 

in a Federation which is headed by Sir Grantley . Instead of listening 

to Jagan Sir Grantley is off to London today, and bent on mischief . 

Goodnight . 



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No229 The Death of Dag Hammarskjold 

NEWS COMMENTARY · 
For transmission on 
Tuesday Sept 26 at 6 . 15p . m 
Peter Abrahams speaking 

Good evening : Monday , September the 18th , was the day before 

our referendum and so our hearts and minds were dtu.11 of the decision 

we had to make the next day . Anything not connected with the ref erendum, 

all other news , seemed unreal and far away . And so it was with the 

death of Dag HammarsJjold , the Secretary- Genera l of the United Nations . 

We heard about it , we read about it , it reg istered , but in a so r t of 

far - off and remo te way . There was no time to r eally think about it , 

no time to really ask how it had happened, what it meant and what it 

was likely to lead to . And yet, that was the biggest and most far­

rea ching p iece of n ews of that week and for a long time to come because 

the deat h of Hammarskjold was more than jus t the death of a man; it 

was also an event with i mportant intermational political i mplicat ions . 

To begin with it looked as though Hammarskj old had died in a 

straightforward plane crash . He had left Leopoldville on Sunday September 

17 in the early evening to fly to Ndola in Northern Rhodesia where he 

was to meeting Moise Tshombe, the President of the secessionist Congo 

state of Katanga . There had been six days of bitter and bloody fighting 

between United Nations forces and the fo rc es of Tshombe led by white 

mercenary officers recruited from Belgium , South Africa and the 

Rhodesias as well as elsewhere . The meeting was to try and stop the 

fighting . The plane was over Ndo l a airport just after midnight and 

received clearance to land. But then it disappeared and nothing more 

was heard from it until thw reckage and the dead body of Hammarsk jold 

and f f fteen other people were found 12 hours later . Only one of the 

16 people who had been on the plane , a United Nat ions security guard , 

was alive , though badly smashed up and burnt . He died last Saturday . 



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Such imformation as we have is what this man gave before he died . He 

said that Hammarskjold ordered the pilot to change course just as he 

was getting ready to land; and he said. there was a series of explosions 

before the plane crashed . And then the rumours and the speculations 

began . It was said the Hammarskjold ordered the change of course 

because he saw firing from the ground . These rumours were strengthened 

by the fact that bullets in the body of one of Hammarskjold's guards . 

A Rhodesian government spokesman confirmed t hat bullets had been found 

in one man's body but said these had been exploded by the fire which 

broke out after the plane crashed . But the rumours persisted and the 

Prime Minister of the Central Congolese Government , !fr . Adoula, blamed 

some of the estern powers for the death of Hammarskjold . Certainly, 

Sir Roy Welensky and his Rhodesian Central African Federation government 

had made no bones of their support off Tshombe and their bitter hatred 

of United Nations action in Katanga , and for Hammarskjold in particular . 

So I fear their will always be the suspicion that Hammarskjold did not 

die in a simple accident . 

But far more important for the world is the fact that his death 

has created a crisis in the United Nations . The Russians wanted the 

position of Secretary9General abolished and replaced by what they call 

a Troika - a 3-man committee representing the East, the West and the 

Neutralists . In this way they would have a permanent veto on U. N. action . 

With Hammarskjold out of the way they have a good chance of getting 

t h is and so neutralising the United Nations itself . Goodnight . 



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No 230 The Parable of the Foelish Politician 

NEWS COMMENTARY 
For transmiss i on on 
Wednesday Sept 27 at 6 . 15p . m 
Peter Abrahams s peaking 

.Good evening: This evening I should like to read you a parable 

which seems to suit the times in which we live . Let us call it the 

parable of the foolish politician. 

There once lived a man who wanted to be a politician. He was bright , 

he was intelligent and he was full of ideas . He genuinely wanted to 

serve his country because he felt that his country needed his service . 

But he was in the very difficult position of disagreeing with all the 

other politicians in the country : he disagreed with their policies, 

he disagreed with their practices - in fact , he disagr eed with every­

t hing they did or said er represented . So he could not j o in wi th any 

of the politicians or any of the parties in order to serve his country . 

And indeed , politics being what it was i n his land, none of the mxx~~ 
politicians and none of the parties had any time for him . He was young 

and new on the scene . They had been on the scene for a long time , and 

they were not going to make room for any new boy . And so they all kept 

him out and made i t plain to him that they wanted no part of him . 

But he decided that he would defy them , that he would fight them 

and he also decided that the only way in which he could serve his country 

was to work actively t o get state power into his own hands . 

Now in this country , all the politicians had developed the technique 

of ' The Promise '. Whenever a politician stood for election , he made 

promises and the one who opposed him also made promises and the people 

of the country had got into the habit of voting for the politicians 

who made the biggest and the most lavish promises . But the older hands 

at the game had all shared in ·the business of power and so they tended 

to be careful about the promises they made because many a one of them 



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had been badly roughed up for not keeping his promises because the 

people took these pr omises seriously and had come to expect the 

politicians to do ever ything for them . 

But the new man was not inhibited by any such fears . He wanted 

power and so he went out and made promises . He promised that if they 

elected him to power he would abolish all work . He said that work was 

slavery and freedom meant no work . He said that paying taxes was a 

form of colonialism and he would abolish all taxes . He promi sed free 

housing , free education and free health services . He said the only 

work each person would have to do when he came to power would be to 

go and collect the £10 a week the State would pay each man , woman 

and child . And of course , liquor and food would be free . Now this was 

a real rallying call and all the people flocked to his banners and 

supported him . And when the older politicians still held on to their 

offices , he went to the Council of Nations and denounced them and said 

they were enslaving the people and the people were rising in revolt . 

And then one day , he suddenly found himself in power . His promises 

had paid off . For a few months there was great celebration throughout 

the free land and he gave the peop le all the things he had promised 

them . And then everything ran out because nobody worked and nobody 

paid taxes . And so it came to pas s that a day came when he had to tell 

the people the countr y was broke and they now had to work for their 

living . But the people t urned on him because he had broken his promises; 

and they hung him the public square and so died the foolish politician , 

and darkness came over the land for many years ........ Goodnight 0 

• 



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No 231 Post-Referendum Attitudes 

NEWS COM ENTARY 
For transmission on 
Thursday Sept 28 at 6 . 15p . m 
eter Abrahams s peaking 

Good evening : I hope you have followed some of the reactions and 

attitudes that came out as a result of the referendum decision . I have 

found the reactions of some of our younger people particularly 

interesting . In the main they were bitterly disappointed with the 

decision that Jamaica should leave the federation and quite a few 

eighteen-year-olds have told me t hat the result would have been 

different if t h ey had t he vote . And a large number have expressed the 

same views as those of a teenager published in a letter to t he editor 
4~~ 

. 4:n the Gleaner a few days ago . This youngster condemned the dec ision 

and said it had been made by ignorant and illiterate people . The 

youngster was obviously very upset, but for all that , that letter and 

the tone in which it was written must be strongly condemned . We should 

not abuse our fellow citizens because we disagree with their decision . 

And certainly, we s hould not abuse them on the grounds of ignorance 

and illiteracy . I think we should never forget that nobody chooses to 

be ignorant or illiterate . Such ignorance and illiteracy as exists is 

the fault of our society . And in any case, under universal adult 

suffrage there is no literate and illiterate, no ignorant and wise -

only citizens who t h e right to express t heir views freely . So p l ease, 
forward 

let us put an end to all t his abuse and name-calling . The way/aM~a~ 

demands t hat we be constructive and creative , and demands it especially 

from tomorrow' s citizens . 

Another not s.o happy a spect of t h i s 'after-the-referendum inquest' 

is all this t alk about crisis . There is a crisis in this; t here is a 

cr isis i n t hat; and now we h ear t hat t here is a crisis in l eadership . 



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'A crisis in leadership' is a fine - sounding phrase ,I admit . But 

just what does it mean in our present context? Let us try and examine 

it . Just over a year ago the Jamaica Labour Party decided on a cessionist 

policy as far as federation was concerned . Up to that point both parties 

had broad agreement on federation . As a result of that change in J.L .P 

policy the P .N. P . decided to call a referendum to let the people 

determine which road Jamaica should take . The peopl e decided in favour 

of secession . Undoubtedly, this was a psychological and moral victory 

for the J . L . P . and a psychological and moral defeat for the P . N.P . We 

had ·something very similar in the federal elections of 1958 . And then, 
they said 

as now , we had voices calling on Manley to resign because/he had lost 

the confidence of the people . But when the 1959 elections came around 

these people were proved wrong . The vote against Manley in the 1958 

federal elections turned out to be not a vote against Manley's local, 

Jamaican , leadership . How then can we say that this one is? Only the 

people can tell us this . And Manley has already promised to give them 

that opportunity soon . It is for this reason that I c annot agree with 

my friend and colleague, Morris Cargill, when he talked about ' a crisis ~~,., .,,.~~ 
in leader ship ' -~ morning . Busta and Manley a r e still the leaders of 

Ii 
our two maj or parties . There have been no internal attempts to unseat 

them . The party structure of our politics has not broken down . The 

natures of our two major parties have not changed radically since the 

19th . I frankly can see no crisis in leadership as a result of the 

referendum . There are problems of leadership, of course , but these 

have been with us a long time and are not connected with the referendum 

at all . r I will discuss some of these t omorr , , ao-dn~ght:) 

~ I"'- \M l .s .:( C. :,,.J <: ~ ,,._,......,. ..... t;: 1 #.., . (" V 'i,tj' ' 



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No 232 Some Problems of Leadership 

EWS COM -T RY 
For transmission on 
Friday Sept 29 at 6 . 15p .m 
Peter Abrahams speaking 

Ge:o.d: eveni£g : Last night I told you that I, for one, did not 

buy the proposition that there was a 'crisis of leadership' in Jamaica 

today because of t he result of t he referendum. But I did say that there 

are problems of leadership which have been with us for a long time. 

I think that in order to make any s ense out of this leadershi p 

question we should put it in its proper setting . And to me the proper 

setting is not the personal habits of this or that poli tician or 

party. he proper setting , as I see it , is the hard economic, social, 

political and historical realities of the country . 

Let us get dovm to hard cases . What are the most important 

realities in Jamaica today? First, t here is unemployment ; second , 

there is the grave housing shortage; and t h ird there is the wide 

economic and social gap between those who have and those who do not 

have . I think these are the three most i mportant factors of the 

Jamaican reality today . here are others of course; here is the 

¥ro lem of watershed protection xk~tZN which I consider most serious 

from a long term point of view; there is the urgent question of trying 

to f e ed our people from our own land instead of importing more than 

we are exporting : and there are a whole host of other important factors . 

But I think the three most important are unemployment , housing and the 

wide gap between the rich and the poor. And this , I sugges t , is .the 

proper setting in which to dis cuss our problems of leadershi p . And 

please note t hat these realities have been with us for a long time , 

not just since the 19th of September 1961 : and these problems would 

still be with us even if t he peop le had voted ' yes~ in the r eferendum. 



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I t h ink it would be stupid to pretend that our leaders have not 

tried to cope with these problems . When t h e J . L .. was in power it 

tried to cope with unemployment and housing; and when the P . N. P . came 

to power it too did its best to tackle these problems . And I think it 

is fair to say t hat for some p eople conditions are very much better 

than t hey wer e ten or fifteen years ago . But unemployment and the 

grave housing problem are still with us . So how do we deal with them? 

To build houses we need money . If t he government is to build 

low-cost houses it woul d have to find money . Some of t h is it could 

probably borr ow from abroad but the rest would have to come from us 

in the form of taxes . But what would the voters say to any leader 

who went to them and said : ' If you vote for me , I shall have to raise 

taxes in order to solve the housing problem . ' My guess is that they 

would not vote for him . What would they say to a leader who went to 

them and said : ' We have a grave unemploymnet problem . The only way 

we can solve it is by setting up compulsory work camps and moving men 

from one part of t h e island to another to work on development projects 
I t hink the unemployed t hemselves would be against him . 

su ch as terracing the land and building low cost housing .' /What would 

the workers and the employers say if such a leader said : ' The development 

needs of the country are such that we will have to freeze profits and 

wages .' I am sure t hat such a l eader would find both workers and 
To survive in 

employers against him . ~kxxxxxxxu J amaica today the l eader must 
selfish 

appease so many conflicting/interests t hat he dare not do what is 

unpopular, even if he knows its is good for t he country . Tha t is one 

of our major problems of l eadership . Tomorrow I will conclude this 

leadership di scus s ion; s o till t hen , goodnight . 



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No 233 Some Problems of Leadership (2) 

NEWS COMMENTARY 
For transmi ssion on 
Saturday Sept 30 at 6 . 15p . m 
Pet er Abr ahams speaking 

Good evening : If you agree with what I said last night then you 

will agree that the leader in Jamaica today t ends to be the political 

prisoner of all the conflicting interests in the society . But . there 

is nothing wrong with this, you will say . These are t he necessary 

checks and balances which safeguard democratic government . I agr ee . 

But democratic government is possibly the most s ophis ticated f orm of 

government in the world and requires a h i gher degr ee of political 

maturity and social consciousness than almost any other form of 

government . It is a lso open to more abuse than almos t any other form 

of government . 

Under even the most benevolen t dictatorshi p , whet her of the 

right or left , the father - figure of t he dictato r will in his wisdom 

decide what i s best f or the country and God hel p any person or groups 

who do not jump to . If the dictator- father says ther e is t o be a cut 

in wages t hen there is a cut in wages : if he says busnessmen must give 

up 90% of their prof its then they do so . If he says a thousand men 

must work for the state for t hree months and only get their f ood and 

keep , then it happens just as he says and no nonsense . 

Am I then saying that the only way in which we can solve our 

problems is by setting up a dictatorsh ip? I am not saying that at all . 

I think we can solve our problems without turning J amaica into a 

dictatorship . The British , the Scandinavians and the Swiss have proved 

that countries can have detailed economic and social planning without 

any loss of t he political rights of the individual citizen . But these 

are soc ieties in which poli tical and social awareness is h i ghly 

developed . Each citi zen accepts his responsibility for every other 



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citizen . Please note I said 'responsibility' . 

Here in Jamaica we all demand our right but few of us are prepared 

to assume the responsibilities that go with those rights . I think 

the politicians must carry a large share of blame for this . They have 

gone to the people and said we wi ll do this and the other for you if 

you vote for us . You har dly ever hear them saying 'this or that is 

expected of you' . Julius Nyerere of Tangnyika campaigned with the 

slogan: 'Freedom and Work '. And he stressed the work part in all his 

speeches . He told his people they had to make sacrifices and workim 

harder MR when they ~ere free than they did when they were a colony. 

But some of our leaders have suggested t freedom means less work . 

This too , is one of our main problems of leadership . 

It seems to me that if J amaica is to go ahead in peace and is 

to p~Dsper then we must choose our leaders and give them r eal freedom 

to lead . They must be free to plan and reorganise our economy for the 

general go od . And if drastic s teps a r e needed then they should take 

those steps . And they in turn should come clean with the peop le and 

stop making pie- in- the-sky promises which cannot be fulfilled . 

I think the only way in which we can solve our problems is by 

careful and intelligent planning of our economy . The alternative is 

to let things drift and go on making fine -sounding speeches about 

co-operation until the whole thing cellapses on our heads . There is 

no easy road ahead and the sooner our leaders tell us so and chart the 

new course the better it will be . Our task is to give them the freedom 

to lead . Goodnight . 



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No 234 The End of t he U.A.R. 

EWS COM!: ENT Y 
For transmission on 
Monday Oct 2nd at 6 . 15p . m 
Peter Abrahams speaking 

Good evening : The news of Syria's break away f~mm the United 

Arab Republic is a very serious set- back for ~ypt's President Nasser 

and his dream of Arab unity . It also reduces considerably t h e influence 

that will be exerted by the Arab nations as a group at the United 

Nations . Groups of nations always lose some of their influnce when 

they are divided among themselves . And the Arab world is as divided 

today as it has ever been . When the Syrians staged their breakaway 

revolt last Thursday, both Turkey and Jordan gave recognition to the 

new Syrian regime as soon as it looked like succeeding . F.gypt has 

reacted by cuttung off diplomatic relations with both these Arab 

countries . And it is not unlikely that other Arab countr i es, such as 

Iraq might recognise the new Syrian government . Whether the Egyptian 

government will then cut off diplomatic relations with them as well 

is a very intriguing point . If Egypt does cut off relations with 

every country that recognises the new set -up in Syria , she might risk 

finding herself in splendid iseaation from much of t he Arab world as 

well as from many other countries in t he world . But in any ca s e , t his 

is, as Nasser has said himself, just about t hw worst blow dealt to 

Arab unity . 

How did thi s come about? The critics of Nasser, and there are 

many of them, will say that the Syrian people have revolted against 

F.gyptian domination of their country . And the more extreme of these 

critics will even go as far as to say that the Syrians have revolted 

·against asser' s dictatorsh i p . But this is not the whole picture . 

From t he moment of its establishment on February 1st, 1958 the 

United Arab Republic was one of t he weirdest political marriages 



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ever made . On the part of Egypt it was an exercise in nationalist 

idealism . Nasser was the heart and soul of this idealism . In 1952 he 

had been the leading figure in a group of young officers who forced 

Farouk off the F.gpptian throne and an end to just about the most 

corrupt government of modern times . In place of the graft and massive 

thieving which ran through Egyptian politics , he brought in clean 

government and honest leadership and offered his people a new vision 

and a new pride . He gave the Egyptians a sense of direction and a sense 

of destiny such as they had not had for a century or more . And his great 

dream was a powerful group of united Arab states that would be a force 

in the world . Egypt is a massive land of well over 386 , 000 square 

miles , with a population of over 30 million people . Syria on the 

other hand is a small country of just over 72 ,000 square miles and 

a population of less than 5 million people . Gr eat big Egypt wanted 

union with tiny Syrma not because there was anything material to gain 

from the union, but because it could be the beginning of the fulfiment 

of the great dream of Arab unity throughout the region . Syria, on the 

other hand , joined the union because her government was unstable and 

the people were terrified of being taken over by t he communists . The 

Syrian motive was selfish , the Egyptian motive was idealistic . And 

now that the Syrians feel a little more secure they have broken with 

Egypt . I think the critics of Nasser should note that after · his first 

angry reaction, he called back his troops and said he wouldn ' t use 

force to keep Syria in t he union . This, as we know , is not the way a 

dictator would behave . Goodnight . 



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No 235 

EW CO TARY 
Fmr transmission on 
Tuesday Oct 3 at 6 . 15p .m 
Pete~ brahams speaking 

Developments in Ghana 

Good evening : The news from Ghana shows that that country is now 

gowing through some very profound political changes . Just over a month 

ago r esident Nkrumah called for a general wage freeze which set off 

a series of strikes in most of the main cities . At the same time 

he called for all Ministers in his government and all members of 

parliament in his party to declare all their privat e financial interests . 

. He set up a committee to investigate the financial affairs of all the 

people who were high up in his r uling Convention Peoples Party . Then 

he went on a triumphant tour to Moscow and at one of the parties 

behind the iron curtain he said such harsh things about the British 

that t he British representative walked out of the party . 

On his return from his travels, which included the Belgrade 

conference of what has now become known as the Non-Aligned nations , 

he went into action . First he took over direct and personal control 
Which he 

of t he C. P .P. - the political party/XR~ founded on June 12th 1949 

and which has led the country to its present stage . With complete 

control of the party in his hands, he set about reorganising its 

structure . All the various wings of t he party, the women ' s organisation9 , 

the youth groups , were deprived of t heir inde~endent and autonomous 

existence and were drawn into the central organisation. People whose 

loyalty he doubted were shifted t oles~ responsible positions and 

t her were com:p letely re oved from office . Meanwhi le 'the investigation 

into the personal affairs of leading party members went on . 

And then krumah took the next step . He assumed personal 

responsibility fo r all the country ' s armed forces, the navy, the air 



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forc e and the ar y . He was now Pr esident of the Republic, s ecretar y 

of t he ruling onventi Peo l es Party , and Commander- in- Chief of a ll 

t he armed forces . This was as formidable an accumulation of all t he 

sources of power into t he hands of one man as was possible . 

And then , l as t week , there came the next phases in t he gathering 

of power . On Saturday of l as t week President Nkrumah announc ed the 

extensive reshuffling of the Ghana Cabinet . He invited a number of 

his .inisters to r es i gn . Among t h em were two men who had been Nkrumah's 

closest a ssociates in the long years of struggle and power . One was 

Kojo Bostsio and t he other was K.A. Gbedemah . Bots i o had be en wi th 

Nkrumah in the London days of student agi tation . ith Nkrumah he 

had been t hrown into jail during the Positive Action campaign of 1950 . 

He had been the first Secreta ry- General of the C.P . P . at a time when 

the party had no money and no power; and he had been Ghana ' s f i rst 

Minister of Educat ion . Gbedemah t oo, was a very old and close friend 

who had gone to jail in the country ' s interest in 1950 . He had been 

the first Minister of Fi nance and in the early and tricky days when 

they fi r st took power he Bb.d Botsio had been pillars of strength to 

t he young Nkrumah . I think it is fair to say that without thes e two 

men the way ahead might have been very much more difficult for Nkrumah . 

So why has he dropped them now? They are s t ill the two most experienced 

of his team of Mini sters . I think Nkr umah ha s a maj or politica l r eason 

for his action . I think we will see that reason withi n the next few 

months . Whatever t hat r eason may turn out to be , Nkrumah is pr eparing 

the ground carefully by drawing all power into his O\fil hands . And I 

think the world may be in for qui te a sho ck from Ghana . Goodnight . 



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No 236 1) Milk for Schoolchildren 
2) Cruelty at the Zoo 

NEWS COMMENTARY 
For transmission on 
Wednesday Oct 4 at 6 . 15p . m 
Peter Abrahams speaking 

Good evening: A listener has written to me asking me to ask the 

Minister of Education why children are charged four pence for a bottle 

of milk at Hollington Town School . This listener has asked me to ask 

this question over the air and I have now done it . This listener then 

went on to say t hat milk should be free to children . 

All my sympathies are with this listBBer . I think a basic food 

such as milk should be available to all children . I do not think 

youngsters learn properly when they are in school with empty bellies . 

And I think we ought to face the fact that there are large numbers of 

parents who just cannot afford to give their youngsters four pence 

daily for a bottle of milk . It is only t hose who have tried to learn 

on an empty belly who will understand just what a hindrance an empty 

belly can be to this business of learning . And then there is the 

very important of youngsters growing up straight and tall and healthy 

through having the right amount of milk and fresh food . So I hope our 

education authorities will look into this matter very carefully and 

try to provide free milk for those children who obviously cannot afford 

to pay. But I think it is only fair for all of us to remember that 

the government will have to pay for this milk and that the only way in 

which it gets its money is from us . We always want to government to do 

something , and wuite often what we want it to do is good but costs 

money . And yet we always tend to bawl when the government come to us 

for that money . I think we must accept the fact that the whole community 

must pay for such services as free milk for children. If we want a 

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There is another important point about this milk business . I know 

that we get a certain amount of powdered milk free from the United 

States which is earmarked especially for young children . But I know 

that there is a very strong preju~~c e against powdered milk in some of 

our country areas . Parent s just will not give this milk to their 

chi ldren and some of them get this milk powder free and then sell to 

other people instead of giving it to t heir ch i ldren . Let me as sure you 

that t his is very good milk and if you mixE~ to t he right thickness it 

is a wonderful body-building food for children . You are r eally harming 

~he health of your children by selling this milk for a few penni es 

i nstead of giving it to them . So please make a nice micture of it and 

give it to your children . If you do we will have a great deal l ess bad 

teeth in t he country areas . 

Fina lly a word about t he Zoo. Many people have been very distressed 

by all t he stone- throwing at the animals . I think it is silly and 

ignorant and stupid and cruel to hurt dumb animals , especially for 

no reason and I hope this will stop . I think one way in which we can 

he l p to put a stop to it is by gett ing children to get to know and . 

enjoy and love t hese animals . And I t hink one way in which this can be 

done is for schools to organise groups to the Zoo under the supervision 

of teachers . But then there ' s the problems of each child having to pay 

a sixpence . But I think we can get over that if good citizens would 

undertake to pay five shillings each for ten children to go from a 

school . If any teacher would like to start the experiment I would be 

very happy to co -operate . So please let me hear from you . Good.night . 



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No 237 1) The Marchers For Peace 
2) The Unilateralists. 

NID.vS COMMENTARY 
For transmission on 
Thursday Oct 5 at 6 . 15p . m 
Peter Abrahams speaking 

Good evening: Earlier this week a group of men and women marched 

into the Red Square in oscow . They carried banners calling for the 

stopping of nuclear tests and for the banning of all atomic weapons . 

These people had walked across a goodly por tion of t he world to r each 

Moscow . Some had started their march in the United States; some had 

started walking in Britain; in Europe others had joined them and t hey 

had walked all t he way to Moscow . Of course t hey had to cross oceans 

and seas where walking had not been possible; and I r a t her suspect 

that t h ey travelled in trains and cars and busses over certain long 

stretches of uninhabited country . But in the main they had marched . 

And the po int of their march was in order to express to the world 

their des perate desire that there should be no war . 

When t hey reached Mo s cow' s Red Square nobody moles ted them . The 

police had put up barriers, apparently expecting a l ar ge turn-out of 

Russian citizens to either watch t he marchers for peac e or join them. 

But only s ome 300 curious Russians showed up and the police hurriedly 

removed the barriers . The marchers were not allowed to make speeches 

to t he small crowd, but they were per mitted to hand out leaflets . 

And with that the March for Peace came to a very qu iet end in t he 

Red Square,and t he world ' s press and r adio went on to tell us about 

t he size. and power of t he latest Soviet test explosion . And all over 

t he wes tern world there was anxiety and some American newspaper 

columnis ts even suggested t hat t here was no point in fight ing over 

Berlin and the United States had better make a deal with Russia . 

Time magazine of course soon slapped these newspaper men down as 
cowardly types who were out of tou ch with the American national mood 



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which it said was one of determination . 

But it was in Britain that t he enemies of atomic warfare made 

their biggest impact . For months they had protested and demonstrated 

and marched against the establishment of the Polaris submarine base 

in Scotland . They wanted no Amer ican atomic bases in Britain , and 

t hey wanted Britain to disarm unilaterally and so they became known 

as the Uni lateralists , the peopl e who said : "It does not matter what 

the Russians or Americans do , the British should get rid of their 

atomic weapons and should disarm completely . 11 

.And the leader of the Unilateralists was and still is Earl 

Russell , a nobleman who has refused to use his title, who has never 

sat in the House of Lords, and who is known throughout the world as 

the great philosopher , Bertrand Russell. Russell is a frail old man 

of 89 but a few weeks back he delibertately courted imprisonment 

when he l ed a huge sitdown demonstration in London ' s Parliament 

Square . He and a whole host of others were arrested . Among those 

arrested was the Reverned ichael Scott and some of your favourite 

British actors, actresses, poets , singers , playwright s and the like . 

.And almost spontaneously , a new slogan was born . It was ; Better r ed 

than dead . The fear of atomic warfare had led many people to feel 

that it would be better to surrender peacefully to Russian communism . 

In 1948 Russell had himself said that either the west should fi ght and 

defeat Russia before she got atomic weapons , or else the west should 

lie down and tell Russia to take over . And now the Unilateralists seem 

ready to lie down . And yet, what is the alternative? An atomic war 

is likely to destroy all life . So what do we do? I ' ll discuss that 

to morrow. So till t hen, goodnight . 



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No 238 The Need For a Sense of His tory 

NEWS COMMENTARY 
For transmission on 
Friday Oct 6, at 6 . 15p . m 
eter Abrahams speaking 

Good evening : I think there is no doubt that if an atomic war 

did break out Britain herself could be reduced to a barren desert of 

death and destruction within an hour . I am sure that this knowledge 

is one of the driving forces behind the Unilateralist position that 

it is better to be Red than dead . What the Unilateralists do not seem 

to realise is that whether they dump all their weapons into the sea 

or not is most unlikely to make any difference to what the Americans 

or Russians might do . In t erms of Atomic warif are Britain is very 

small beer indeed . On the other hand , if you tell an enemy in advance 

that if he licks you you are not going to lick back , then you are 

r eally inviting t hat person to come in and lick you . I f that person 

is certain that you are going to lick back then he will think twice 

before attacking you . 

But even worse than this invitation to disaster , it seems to me , 

is the terrible fatalism of the Unilateralists . They seem to assume 

t hat there is going to be war and that they and all they have is going 

to be destroyed . And that with their destruction everything will be 

destroyed and nothing that is worthwhile would be left and so nothing 

is worth defendi ng . And yet it was Russell himself who taught us , in 

his History of Western Phi losophy , that the circumstances of men ' s 

lives are determined by t heir beliefs , and their beliefs , in turn , are 

determined by their circumstances . This interaction of ideas on our 

physical conditions and our physical cons itions on our ideas , has been 

inherent in the unfolding of man ' s history . Let us take a simple 

example . A country of va st i~norance would also be likely to have 



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vast poverty and vast sickness. But as education, which is the idea, 

is introduced and spreads, knowledge overcomes ignorance: the resources 

of the country are better exploited, better living conditions and 

better living standards lead to better health . If then the ideas are 

positive and creative, the physi cal results are likely to be creative 

and pos itive . Where the ideas are negative men see no end to their 

problems and sink deeper and deeper into despair . And it is a fact of 

history that all man 's greatest achievements have stemmed from his 

psotive faith himself and in life and in the possibility of a better 

future . Abandon this and there can be no progress . E.M. Forster it was 

who said that t he only way t o be creative is to behave as though we 

are immortal even in the face of disaster . 

But perhaps the worst aspect of the Unilateralist position is 

the tacit assumption that the Russians will , and are indeed anxious 

to drop the bomb and the only thing civilised men can do is to 

surrender to the new barbarians . The Russians are no more barbaric 

than anybody else . And my guess is that they do not want war any more 

than anybody else . When we talk about the Russians we almost make 

them sound as though they are not human . And we seem to forget that 

communism is just one of the newest and most important, of a long wave 

of ideas that has flowed like a stream through the story of man . And 

just as those other i deas were changed and modified and liberalised by s.o ." i • " t..e- . 
time . It is only when we lose our sense of his tory that we forget that 

/l 
nothing in the world is static, neither communism nor democracy . Once 

again the Unilateralists have shown that man ' s greatest enemy is still 

fear . Fear of change, fear of himself . Goodnight . 



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No 239 1) Drop in ~~ME Adverse Trade Balance 
2) J .A.S. Drive to Produce more Food. 
3) Housihg Minis try 

EWS CO \1ENTARY 
For transmi ss ion on 
Saturday Oct 7 at 6 . 15p . m 
eter Abrahams speaking 

Good evening : The news is that Mr . Manley is due back in Jamaica 

a little later this evening . I expect hi\\{ to r eport t 'hat his talks in 

London with the Colonial Secretary have been satisfactory . I certainly 

do not think Mr . Macleod will even attempt to keep J amaica in the 

federation until 1963 . This, you will remember , was a suggestion 

made by Sir Grantley Adams s hortly after t he referendum . But I am sure 

that none of the officials in London took this seriously . 

As I say, I expect Mr . Manley to say that his talks were 

satisfactory, but I ·do not expect him to make a really full report 

until ·hursday of next week when the House of Representatives will 

meet for the first time since the referendum . I am very glad that 

things have move so fast because I am sure that any long delay would 

have led to confusion and would not have been good for the country. 

There have been two very good signposts to the future this week . 

The first was t hat the island ' s adverse trade balance in the first 

six months of this year has dropped by nearly a half , when compared 

with the first six months of last year . 

Between January and June of last year we imported goods worth 

£39 . 3 mill ions and we exported good worth £28 . 3 millions . This meant 

that we spent £11 million more than we earned . And this, as any 

housewife knows, is not a good state of affairs . The housewife who 

has only £10 coming in each week and who spends £12 a week, is heading 

for trouble . And the same applies to the nation's housekeeping . 

We did not break even this year; we are still in the red, but we 

have reduced the figure considerably . Between January and June of 

this year we imported £37 . 7 million worth of good and we exported 



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good worth £31 . 8 million . Th i s means t hat we still spent more money 

on good from abro ad t han our exports earned . But ins t ead of over­

spending by £11 million as we did last year , we overspent by only 

£5 . 9 million . And t h is t s a very great improvement . Our exports went 

up t his year and our imports went down . If we keep t h i s up over the 

next f ew years the country may get into the very happy position of 

earning more from overs eas t han it is spending . This new trend , 

incidentally, is largely due to the very good and steadying i nfluence 

of our r ec ent ly established Bank of J amai ca which seems to me to be 

doing a very goo d job now that it has settled down . I hope it keeps up 

ther good work and soon guides us out of t he r ed and into t he black . 

Another t hing which should help our financia l stability greatly 

is t he decision made by t he J .. S . Boar d of Management on Wednesday 

to make a special effort to get t heir members to grow more demestic 

food crops so t hat we can cut out the importing of about £9 million 

worth of f ood each year . I think it is utterly silly for us to go on 
Irish 

i mporting stuff like carrots and lettuce and onions and/pota to es . Many 

much richer countries than we are would not dream of importing such 

crops . And we certainly have the land on which to grow t hese . So I 

welcome the promise of t h is new effort and I wish t he J .A.S . success 

with it . 

Finally , a brief word of welcome to t he new fin i s try of Hous ing 

and t he new Minister . Hous i ng is just about our most pressing socia l 

problem and Mr . Ken St erling will need all h is energy and ability 

t o cope wit h the problem . So let us a ll wish h im well with a very 

tough job . Goodni ght . 



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No 240 

NEWS COMMENTARY 
For transmission on 
!onday Oct 9 at 6 . 15p . m 

Peter Abrahams speaking 

'1anley I s 

Good evening : Mr . Manley has returned from London pretty much 

wi th what we expec\ed him to . The British Government has accepted the 

amaican decision to go it alone , an a Bill will be put before the 

British parliament to legalise this fact as soon as possible . The 

British GovErnment has also undertaken to sponsor Jamaica ' s membership 

to enter both the Commonwealth and the United Nations as s oon as we 

attain independence . Jamaica wants independence at the earliest 

possible moment , and this too the British Government has accepted. 

It has said in effect that we can have our independence as soon as we 

have worked out the constitutional and legal problems that must be 

resolved . This means t hat t he speed with which we move forward from 

here on is entirely in our hands . If we want independence early in 

1962 , we can have it , provided we have put our house in order by then . 

Both parties have expressed the wish that Jamaica should become 

independent in ay of 1962 . The only disagreement so far is over what 

date in May , and that is a small point over which there need be no 

real crisis . So May of next year looks pretty definite . This would 

leave us with just about seven months in which to work out all the 

details , and that , as you know , is not very much time iRXWk±RmczkR in 

which to write .ai,u!t new constitutional instruments and have these 

properly and widely discussed . To get this done in time is going to 

demand a great deal of very hard work from our political leaders 
those of 

in parliament , as well as from/our c ivil servants whose duty it is 

to translate political decisions into constitutional and legal 

instruments of government . 

I think that above all else we are going to need a great sense 



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of urgency and of national unity. We are going to need to approach 

this busness of constitution- making as a national rather than a party 

matter . If either or both of our two major parties in the House 

approach this constitutiont- making business in a partisan spirit , 

then, at best, we may be in for a nasty few months of really dirty 

politics; or , at worst, we may not be ready in time with our 

constitution and we may then find that we cannot go forward to 

independence by next May . 

The challenge that now faces our political parties and our 

political leaders is to put the business of constitution-making for 

independence above party and above person . The temptation to score 

personal and party victories are going to be grea t for all concerned . 

All our politicians know that a General Election is not far away: so 

it will be a great temptation to try and score points for the coming 

election . Up to a point this is inevitable . There will be a certain 

amount of party rivalry . What I hope is that it will not get out of 

hand to such an extent that it puts back t he clock . 

The real time for the party political free-for - all should be at 

the General Election, after we have hammered out t he constitution for 

an independent J amaica . Now is a time for soberness and responsibility . 
the members of 

I sincerely hope that/our House of Representatives will set us all 
they 

an example of bi- partisan responsibility when/x~ meeti on Thursday 

to begin the big job of shaping the new constitution . Goodnight . 



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No 241 Trinidad & the Federation 

TEWS CO MEr T RY 
For transmission on 
Tuesday Oct 10 at 6 . 15p . m 

eter Abrahams speaking 

Go od evening : A number of t hings that have happened down in 

Trinidad over t he past few days seem to suggest that with Jamaica out 

of it, the W€st Indies Federation is as good as dead . First , we had 

the news t hat the Trinidad Government had bought British Wes t Indian 

Airways . Some of you may r emember that almost up to t he time that 

Jamaicans went to t he polls to cast their votes in the referendum, 
·the 

t he Federal Government was negotiating with/ British Overseas Airways 

Corporation about taking over B. W. I .A. Then , after t he J amaica decision 

was known, these negotiations were postponed indefinitely . And last 

week came the news that Trinidad had bought B. W. I . A. f or about half-a­

million pounds . It seems to me t hat if Dr . Eric Williams had enterta ined 

any i dea that the federation would continue in its present form, or 

would be strengthened , he would not have bought out B. W. I .A. but would 

instead have waited for a reorganised federal government to do so 

later . That is pointer number one. 

Pointer number two was Dr . Williams' refusal to di s cuss the 

Federation with Dr . Arthur Lewis when he especially called on Dr . 

Williams . This , plus Dr . Williams ' statement that he and his party are 

not prepared to go to London or have any discussions on t he Feder ation 

until after the Trinidad elections, suggests that he has made up h i s 

mind on an ind~pendent course of action for ·Tr ini dad . This was backed 

up by t he announcement that Mr . Learie Constantine would be Trinidad's 

Hi gh Commissioner in Britain . And then, at a public meeting at 

Woodford Square on Satur day eveni ng , Eric Williams dec lared that 

t he federation no longer exi sts . 



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All this would suggest that Dr . Williams has made up his mind to 
write off the Federation as a dead loss . His actions are t hos e of 

a man who is now laying the foundations for a Trinidad which will 

seek independence on her own . This, of course , should not come as a 

surprise to any of us . Dr . Williams had declared often enough in the 

past that if J amaica left the federation Trinidad would do so too . . 
A number of wiseacres in J amaica have d ismi s sed t hi s as just a bluff 

by Williams . It would seem that t hey were a little less wise than t hey 

t hought . 

Of course, much will depend on the outcome of Trinidad ' s General 
Election . o date for t his has yet been set but it is still expected 
to take place either late this year or early next year . The Trinidad 

D. L. P . Opposition has come out strongly in favour of Trinidad remaining 
in what is left of t he fe deration . If the opposition fights the election 

on the federation issue then Dr . Williams will have to come out and 

declare himself, and perhaps fight the election on feder ation . But 

at the moment t he opposition i s in such a stat e of disunity and seems 
to be pulling in so many di r ections , that it looks as though Williams 

will be able to dictate the terms on which he wi ll fight the election . 
And if Williams dictates the ter ms then feder ation will certainly not 

be an issue . So i t . would seem that Trinidad will definitely follow 

J a maica out of the f eder at ion . This would leave Barbados to l ead the 

Wi nwar ds and Leewards . But will they follow that lead? People like Mr . 
Gairy make¢' me dou9t it : which l eaves Britain with quite a mess on 

her hands . Go odnight . 



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0 242 

EWS CO MMENTARY 

l)Harbour 
2) 

For transmission on 
Wednesday Oct 11 at 6 . 15p . m 
Peter Abrahams speaking 

"'Y'ground Wiring 

Good evening: I think the Harbour View Citizen ' s Association 

is one of the liveliest and most active civic groups in all Jamaica . 

I think it has . done a very fine job of creating a comnrunity spirit in 

the area and I t hink it has ~NXNEMXM~REincR helped to turn Harbour 

View into something approaching a model comnrunity in a very short space 

of time . From time to time it has bad a run-in with the power-that -be -

some of you may remember the case of the stop signs - and it has not 

been afnaid to campaign actively for what it thought best for t he 

community . I am, and I always have been a great admirer of the 

Harbour View Citizen's Assocmation and I should like to see more 

community organisations like it everywhere in Jamaica . But having 

said all that , let me say that I disagree with the lates t protest 

campaign launched by the Harbour View Citizen ' s Assocmation . 

First let me set out the f acts . The Kingston and st. Andrew 

Corporat ion has decided that wires for lighting the streets of Harbour 

View should run underground . In onder to bury the wires the K. S .A.C 

would have to dig trenches along pavement verges . Now the point is 

that the citizens of Harbour View have gone to a lot of trouble 

to plant grass and trees along these pavement verges . They have done 

this as an effort to beautjfy t he area and they are alarmed tt the 

prospect of all this beauty being destroyed and all their efforts wiped 

out by ditch-diggers who will show no respect for the beauty they have 

created . They say it is true that the verges are owned by the K. S .A. C. 

but they have beautified them and so they do not want the K. S . A. C. 

to dig them up . They do not say that the K.S . A. C. must run thr wires 



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overhead, but I think there is no doubt that that i s what they want . 

nd so t hey are up in arms and have written a letter of protest to 

the Town Cler k asking the K. S .A. C. to reconsider t he decision to 

bury the wires . Those are t he facts . 

As I said, I disagree with t his prot est campaign . But pl ease do 

not misunderstand me . All my sympathies are with t he Harbour View 

citizenso I think it is dreadful for anybody to have to watch beauty 

being destroyed , especially when you have created that beauty with 

your own sweat and toil . But I think we must face one hard fact, and 

it is this . Underground electric wir ing is safer, and in t he long run, 

it is cheaper than overhead wi ring . Overhead wiring is a deadly 

dangerous business . In a storm or a hurricane an overhead pole could 

be hit by lightning; it could either be knocked down or some wires 

broken and so cause fire or death . And in a crowded community like 

Harbour View t hi s could be very serious . Or a live wire might snap 

on a perfectly calm day and dangle,harrnl ess looking , until t he first 

little boy or girl runs along and touches it and is burnt to death 

in seconds . These are some of t he real hazards of exposed , overhead 

wires . You do not have these risk s with buried wires . And when it 

comes to choosing between a beautiful verge and the safety of a child, 

my choice is t he child every time . You u-an always beautify the verge 

again ; you cannot r estore life to a child . So, in the interest of 

safety I am for t he K. S .A. C. burying the wires though all my 

sympat hies are with t he protesting citizens of Harbour View . Go odnight . 



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No 243 The Nursing Situation 

NEWS CO 4ENT RY 
For transmiss ion on 

• _ Thursday Oct 12 at 6 . 15p .m 

r - •• 

- J 

eter Abrahams speaking 

Good evening : The story behind the deep unrest that now hangs 

over our nursing profession is as sad and depressing as any story I 

have ever tried to make sense of . On the f ace of it, the nurses, especial 

t hose at the Kingston Public Hospital , were discontented about their 

conditions 'of work and nobody did much about it until Mr . Thossy Kelly 

of t he ational Workers Union stepped in, led a delegation of twenty 

nurses to a conference with the Minister of health, and came out of 

that conference with i mportant ga ins for t he nurses . On the face of it, 

it would seem that as a r esult of this decisive action the working 

week of t h~ nurses has been cut from 48 hours t o 42 hours and that 

all nurses who work on public holidays will i n future be given a day 

off to make up f or t h is . Also, as a result of t h i s decisive a ction 

a working party · composed of union representatives and 1 inis try of 

Healt h officials was set up to work out the details of the new 42 hour 

week . Th is working party hel d its first meet ing this morning . So it 

would seem t hat Dr . Lloyd has given the union de facto r ecognition 

as the s pokesman and bargaining agent for Jamaican nurses . 

And yet there is a whole lot more to t he story than this . When 

I looked clo sely i nto the matter I found that t hese dramatic gains 

'ir . Kelly had stepped in and secured had in fact been worked for over 

a long perio d of time by another organisation . I found that the J amaica 

General Tr ained Jurses Association ha d been negotiating with the 

inistry over t hese and oth er points for over a year . I found t hat as 
\:""' ·'''--~ . 

far back as/1960 t h e Trained Nurses s sociation had recommended to t he 



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I-,,.inistry t hat the nurses be given a 40-hour wor king week with 8-hour 

sfuift s . But that was not their only r ecommendat ion . They r ecommended 

a number of other t h ings to make life easier fo r our nur ses . Some 

of these , l i ke the establishing of can teens and change-room cupboards 

at K .. H. and Bellevue , have already been carried out . They also go t 

a duty allowance for night supervisors, as well as a washing allowanc e . 

With t he assistance of the J amaica Civil Service Associat ion t he 

Tr ained Nurses Associat ion got t he r ent char ged to nurses reduced f rom 

5% of their pay to 2½% of t heir pay . They got additional staff nurses 

f or Operating Theatre wo rk . The dis cussed the shortage of ataff in 

rural hospitals and got the Minis t ry to get six additional sisters 

for the se ho spitals . The outsanding quest o s which rema i ned after 

t hese changes had been made were on the ~uestion of salari es and 

working hours . 

The Civil Service and t he Nursing Association repr esentatives 

met wit h t he Minist er of Health in February of this year . They with 

t he i nister again in Jul y and aga in the d i s cuss ion was about working 

hours and salaries . The Minister assured t hem of hi s sympat hy and 

assistance . But nothing happened and some of t he poor nurses began t o 

wonder whether anything would be done for them t hrough their very sober 

and r esponsible Trained Nurses Ass ociation . Nothing happened until 

Mr . Kel l y appear ed on t he scene and threatened the Ministry with an 

ultimatum . And then things happened fast . Which makes it seem t hat 

our government only r espect s peop l e who threaten it . And t h is is 

depr ess ing . But there i s s omet h ing even more depressing from t he 

nurses point of view and I will deal with that tomorrow . So t ill t hen , 

Goodn i ght . 



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The l~ursin6 Sit,u.at:i..., . . J 

NEWS COMI>,r T Y 
For transmission on 
Friday Oct 13 . at 6 . 15p . m 
Peter Abrahams speaking 

Good evening : From what I said on the nursing situation last 

night you will have gather ed that I am not particularly impressed 1r1i th 

the dramatic entry of Tr . Thossy Kelly and t he ational Workers Union 

into the nursing situation . I am not impressed because I think Mr . 

Kelly has stepped in and reaped what others have laboured for , and 

also because I do not think it is a good idea for either the National 

Workers Union or the Bustamante Industrial Tr ade Union to represent 

any section of our civil servants . Both uni ons have strong party l i nks 

and i f they step into the ranks of t he civil service then we are in 

danger of soon having a h i ghly partisan and political civil service , 

and that would be a tragedy . It is f or this reason that I find the 

attitude of the Ministry of Health so very bad on thi s question . First 

they deal in a casual and off -hand manner with the recommendations 

of the body which has worked f or the nurses for over 13 years . They 

do this because the leader s of that body behave in a manner of great 

responsibility . And then t hey seem to jump to give recognition to a 

political trade union which spits fire at them and whose leader tells 

the nurses they must be prepared to strike the moment the High 

Command gives the word . Are we now in for the time when a cut up 

person is going to be left on an operating table t o die because the 

union has called a strike? It seems as though the Ministry is making 

it clear that it respects only aggressiveness and irresponsibility . 

I am frankly not impressed with the Mini stry ' s part in this affair . 

But what about the nur ses? They are pensiobable civil servants . 

The t rained urses Asso c iation came into being i n 1948 and fought for 



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their recognition as trained nurses with professional standing. In 

1951 the Registration Bill gave t hem this position as registered 

professional nurses and civil servant s entitled to a pens ion . But 

Registration gave t hem very much more . It made it possible for them 
of Nurses 

to affiliate with the International Council/and be recogni sed as 
is 

trained nurses anywher e in the world where t he Council xxx r ecognised . 

This means that a J ama ican nur se will be accepted as a traine nurse 

in such countries and will be allowed to work as such and get the pay 

and conditions of t he trained nurses of that country . Here and there 

she may have to do mo re work on one subject , but basically she will 

enjoy professional recognition and status . But the code of the 

Int ernational Council of Nurses forbids any political affiliation on 

the part of any of its member bodies . So, if the nurs es are represented 

by a trade union with political affiliations they are likely to f i nd 

the International Council of Nurses unwilling to a ccept them . If that 

happens any J amaican nurse going abroad may find herself in t he unhappy 

pos ition of not being recognised and only being able to get a job as 

a subordinate unskilled worker . This was the position of nurs es right 

here in J amaica . They were unskilled subordinate staff until t he 

efforts of t he General Trained _urses Association brought them to where 

they are now . Some of t he younger ones have either forgotten t h is fact 

or have not taken the trouble to find out . It seems to me that in the 

pro cess of trying to improve t heir conditions , and they should be 

improved, t hey stand in danger of losing some very i mportant things 

their own association won for t hem . I hope our nurse will think , think 

carefully, and then think again . And the Ministry needs t o do the same . 

Goodnight . 



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The Transfer of Macleod 

NID'/S COMMENTARY 
For transmission on 
~~y Oct l f"' at 6 . 15p . m 

Peter Abrahams speaking 

Good evening: A large number of listeners have asked me why Mr . 

Ian Macleod has been removed from the Colonial Office; and some have 

asked whether this was just a reshuffle in the British Cabinet or 

whether there was some deeper meaning to it . Well , I think t he first 

thing we must remember is that no British Prime Minister has ever 

reshuffled his Cabinet just for t he fun of it . There has always been 

a reason for it . Sometimes the reason has been t hat t he government has 

become so very unpopular that some new window dressing was needed; 

sometimes it was because there was some scandal connected with one of 

the Ministers; and sometimes it was because some ma jor point of 

policy had come unstuck and the Minister in charge of that po int of 

policy had to be removed . This means that almost every British Cabinet 

r eshuffle has meant either that some policy has come unstuck or that 

confidence in the government had sunk very low . 

In t he cas e of Mr . Macleod a point of policy had come unstuck . 

That point of policy was J amaica ' s decision to leave the Federation . 

The British Government had been almost more enthusiastic about the 

Federation of the Wes t Indies than anybody else . And Mr . Ma cleod was 

the spokesman and representative of this British enthusiasm for federatio: 

So Jamaica's decision was a very big defeat for British policy in the 

Caribbean . And since Mr . 'Jacleod was the Minister responsible it was 

a big personal defeat for him . 

Some of you may remember that sometime last year I talked about 

Mr . Macleod's fight with Lord Salisbury over Colonial policy . Salisbury 

is possibly the most powerful single personality in British conservative 

politics . Salisbury was bitterly opposed to Macleod's policies of 



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hastening the independence of colonial territories , especially those 

in Africa . In one of the most bitter attacks ever made in the House 

of Lords Salisbury accused Macleod of selling the British empire and 

the white settlers in East Africa down the drain with indecent haste . 

Salisbury had powerful support : he had the support of the r i ght -wing 

of the Conservative par ty and he had the support of the East African 

white settlers led by Sir Roy Welensky; and this is still one of t he 

most formidable combinations in British power politics . But Mr . Harold 

Macmillan is the head of the British Government and therefore the head 

of the Conservative party , and this makes him the most powerful man 

in th party . Mr . Macmillan ' s sympathies were very obviously in favour 

of Mr . [acleod ' s policies; and so he protected Macleod against these 

powerfu l rightwing Tory and settler forces . But Mr . Macmillan could 

only protect Mr . Macleod as long as the Macleod pol icies paid off . As 

soon as the Macleod policies suffered a severe set - back the behind- the­

scenes pressures were so great that Mr . Macmillan had to sacrifice Mr . 

1a.cleod . This is the meaning of the removal of Ian mcleod from the 

Colonial Officei . The result of the Jamaica referendum has contributed 

very greatly to the removal of Mr . Macleod from the very important 

position of being one of Britain ' s three major spokesmen to the outside 

world . This in turn, will , I think, mean some important shifts in 

Britain's Colonial policy . Just what these will be , only time will tell 
~ • ?~ ' 

but the. decision to curb mi gration is an important pointer . l i?J .:p­
ll 

-el.i □ euss mi~Mtion bomo1 I eer , au bill 1:met-1, goodnight . 



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No 246 Bad Manne?!' & Bad Behaviour at the Top 

NEWS COMMENTARY 
For transmission on 
Monday Oct 16 at 6 . 15p .m 
Peter Abrahams speaking 

Good evening : There has been a lot of talk about manners and 

behaviour recently . eople have mourned that Jamaicans were no longer 

as thoughtful of others as they used to be in the past . They have 

said that J amaic a is losing its reputation as a friendly and courteous 

place . And they have all deplored thms trend . The leaders in our 

tourist industry say that this upsurge of bad manners and bad behaviour 

will hurt the industry, and if the industry is hurt then Jamaica itself 

will be hurt . Employers deplore the bad manners of their wo rkers . 

Teachers deplore the manners of their pupils . The cry is the same 

everywhere . Things are not what they used to be , and the change in 

manners has not been for the best . And so political leaders and 

business leaders and .civic leaders are all calling for a return to 

good manners and good behaviour . And most of these people talk and 

behave as though this deterioration in manners is something which has 

happened among the so-called lower classes only, as though it is only 

the poor and the humble who are bad- mannered . And so the appeal for 

good behaviour comes from above and is directed to the peop l e down 

below, or so it seems . Now I am not saying that this is the case 

everywhere . But it is certainly so in a majority of cases . The pnly 

bad manners we seem concerned with are those of the masses . But what 

of the bad manners up at the top? What of the bad manners of our 

political and business and civic leaders? Are we saying there is one 

set of rules for the poor and the humble and another set of rules for 

the high and the mighty and rich? I do not think any of our leaders 

will say this but many of them behave as though there is one set of 



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rules for them and another set of rules for the mass of the people . 

d th s , I am afraid , is perh ps mot pronounc ed among our political 

gentlemen . 

I had a personal experience oft is double standard last Saturday . 

ta out a quarter past t welve I was comin out of Torrington oad 

and stopped beh nd two other c rs which were waitin to turn p the 

Slipe oad . In the car immediately in front of me was a Very Important 

Person . other car was in front of the . I . (scar . There was a steady 

stream of traffic going up the road and we h d to wait qu ite a while . 

ut then the V. I .. ot impatient ad deci ed to do something about it . 

ithout looking back he revered . I hooted but he reversed smack into 

the front of m c r , dented the bumper n broke the lass of one o 

· y lamps . d then , till without lookin back , hes ng out across 

the street and bulled his way i tote str am of traffic . I as very 

distressed , not so much by the damage doe as by the attitude of this 

Very Important ersonag . It seems to me that the least that good 

ma ers demanded in this c se was some gesture of apolo . I certainly 

had no thought of making an issue out of the acci en , but th s high 

and might attitude of being above the normal courtesies of the road 

bee use one is a . I . '• was most d stress ng and d·sappointing . And I 

wondered how a ybody who behaves int is manner can demand and expect 

othe s to behave with courtesy nd. good manners . It seems to me that 

much of the b d manners and bad be av1our in our society today tems 

from the bad manners and bad behaviour of the people at the top . d 

the sooner t ey themselves set better personal examples, the better 

it w 11 be for the whole soci et . The standards s hou d be the sa e 

for all, otherwise 11 standards will become t hos o the ungle . 

Goodnig t . 



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No 247 P . L.M.- ... Merger 

E'WS COM , TTA Y 
For transmission on 
Tuesday Oct 17 at 6 . 15p . m 
Peter -~br~h~mq sn~~kin~ 

Good evening: The news that Mrs . Rose Leon's regress ive Labour 

Movement and Mr . Millard Johnson's People ' s Political Party have been 

merged into one party was not entirely unexpected . But many people 

seem to have been surpri sed by the announcement . In the main this 

surprise was due to the fact that Mrs . Leon had for so long and so 

firm l y rejected any idea of conducting her politics with any hint of 

a racial line . This , they felt , would always stand in the way of a 

merger between Mrs . Leon and Mr . Johnson who frankly pushed a racialist 

line when he first emerged . But I t hink these people i gnored a number 

of very important factors . 

First , I think they ignored the influence that Jamaica and 

Jamaicans would exert on Mr . Johnson as an asp iring polit ician . Those 

of you who have followed Mr . Johnson's progression over the past few 

months mus t have noticed certain changes in his approach . He has become 

less violent in his language; he has eased up considerably on personal 

abuse; and he has certainly not stirr ed up the same degree of racial 

feeling that he did in his very early days . The responsibility of 

party leader ship , the business of winning friends and influencing 

people , the business of balancing conflicting factions inside his 

party, and the very tricky business of holding on to the posit ion of 

leadership , all these seem to have had a sobering effect on him , at 

least in his utterances . And of course , willy- nilly , Mr . Johnson has 

become more sensitive to the basic political mood of the country than 

he was when he first started . J amaica is J amaica, and while the 

emotional appeal of Africa is . strong , any Jamaican politician who 

hopes to succeed must , sooner or later , operate within the Jamaican 



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frame- work, submitting to the Jamaican mood to a degree at least, in 

order to influence it . All this is not necessarily either a conscious 

or rational ppoc ess ; but it is very real for all that . And the process 

has reached the point where Mrs . Leon, a very old hand at the political 

game , feels it safe to merge with l . Johnson . And so I expect the 

new P ... to lay less stress on straight race and more on poverty and 

the working classes and on opportunity . 

Another factor which made for the merger is the will and wish for 

power , which i s the driving mot ive of all po liticians . Like all 

politicians both Mrs . Leon and Mr . Johnson want power and they t hink 

that they stand more chance of getting there as a united force . 

General Election is just around the corner . If the P .P .P . and the 

P .L .. put up candidates independently you would have a number of four­

cornered contests . This would mean that the votes of those people who 

are against both the P .N. P . and the J . L. P . would be split between the 

two smaller parties , t hus cancelling each other out and making it easier 

for either labour or the P . N .. to romp home . With t he merger the vote 

against the two major parties will not be split and the new party will 

stand a better chance . This is the hard arithmetic of the gamble for 

power , and that, more than any ideals or principles justify the merger 

for both Mrs . Leon and Mr . Johnson. The group of . L.M. dissenters 

who are against the merger can be written off . Their influence is 

slight . Mrs . Leon~ the P . L.M. Without her it is nothing . The really 

interesting question now, is what influence the new P . P .P . is likely 

to have on our two major parties and on the coming general election . 

We will have a look at that tomorrow, so till then, goodnight , 



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o 248 The new .. . & the Major Parties 

NE S COMMEN TARY 
For transmission on 
i ednesday Oct 18 at 6 . 15p . m 
Peter Abraha ms s peaking 

Good evening : It is very difficult indeed to make any kind of 

guess as to what influence the new-style P . P .P . will have. Neither 

1rs . Leon's Progressive Labour Movement nor Mr . Johnson ' s People ' s 

Political Party have ever been tested at the polls . Mr . Art hur Leon 

who now presumably be the .P .P . 's spokesman in the Hous e ~f Representati 

won his seat on the Jamaica Labour Party ticket . So the fact that the 

new party can now boast of having one member in the House does not 

mean anyth ing . We do not know whether ¥ir . Leon would have retained 

the seat for West Rural St . Andrew if he had resigned after he and 

his wife split from t he J . L.P . and then contested the seat on the 

P . L.M. ticket . 

So how do we go about trying to assess the new-style P .P .P . 's 

chances in the comi ng election? I think the only way in which we can 

make any sort of guess at this moment in time is by trying to assess 

the mood and inclinations of the country: and that is a pret ty hard 

thing to do . 

I t h ink our first question should be : Is theret a really deeply 

felt desire for radical change in Jamaica today? If t he answer to this 

question is yes then it is very likely that the voters will be more 
tur n to 

inclined to/some new party in the hope that it wil l lead them in the 
·17>.J-: 

new direction . /\ i{ ~ira:::::o:bhsP l\~ the answer is : no , there~it& ·ne 

~e~ply felt dee~oP radical ehai-ig,e then the voters are more 

likely to want to stick with the two old established parties with 

whose patter n s t hey are very familiar . So the really big question is 

t he moo d of the country . 
j "l_.'> • :') 

We know t hat there are l ar ge pockets of discontent amo~g the 



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Jamaican community : there are people who are homeless; there are people 

who are jobless . They see prosperity all about them: they see more cars 

than ever befor e on Jamaican road; they see houses going up all over 

the place ; theysee others building f ortunes . All this makes their own 

homelessness and poverty all the more bitter and i t seems to t hem that 

noflody cares about them or t heir conditions . This is the broad pattern . 

Now , if t hese people , the homeless and the jobless , feel that 

noth i ng can be done about ther r conditions within the framework of the 

present set-up then they will look for radical measures to change 

their conditions and t hey will l ook for a new leader and a new party 

to give voic e to t heir bitter ness and press for t he radical change they 

want. If , on t he other hand , t hese people feel t hat t here is hope for 

change and improvement without radically upsetting the pr esent order 

then t hey are most unlikely t o want to destroy the present order 

completely . My own guess is that at t his moment in time the maj ority 
still 

of Jamaicans/feel t hat they can get t he changes they want without any 

radical upsetting of t he present order . They feel th~t the gap between 

the haves and the have-nots can be narrowed without violence and 

revolution . If I am right in this then t he coming election will show 

a majority for one or t he other of the two ma jor parties . The showing 

made by t he P .P .P . will be an indication of the extent of the desire 
itself 

for r adical change . But the odd thing here is that the . P .P ./looks 

like becoming less radical wi t h each month that passes . Just what this 

will do for its election chances is anybody's guess . What is certain is 
cannot be 

that the P .P .P . xttiixkxx regarded as a maj or force until it proves 

itself at the coming election . Goodnight . 



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No 249 Spell of Bad Weather 

NEWS COMMEi: TARY 
For transmission on 
Thurs day Oct 19 at 6 . 15p . m 

eter Abrahams speaking 

Good evening: The weather authorites say that the terrible 

spell of bad weather we have had since the start of this week is on the 

way out . I hope, and I am sure most of you do so too, I hope that they 

are right , and that we will have a clear and sunny weekend to dry out 

our damp houses , our damp furniture and our damp clothes . I am sure 

we can all do with a period of drying out . 

I suppose the worst thing about the last three or four days for 

most of us has been the damp and the seepage . I have not visited a 

single house which did not have damp patches somewhere on the celling, 

and in some houses water literally dripped down and had to be caught 

in buckets . This, I feel , is quite a criticism of our building methods 

and of our builders . Houses that look really fine on the outside turn 

out to be poor and jerry-built affairs that cannot stand up to three 

or four days of heavy rain without almost coming apart at the seams. 

Our buildings are supposed to measure up to certain standards , but the 

condition of a number of them aft er the rain suggests that those 

standards must awfully low . Like all too many things in Jamaica the 

price is high and the quality is low . This is something we ought to 

try and break . 

Motorists , too , have gone throught their own particular brand of 

hell over the past three days, especially in Kingston . The traffic 

congest on on da , ~esda and Wednesday was fantastic . Large 

numbers of people spent one , two and three hours on what was normally 

a fifteen - to - twenty- minute journey between their places of work and 

their homes . On Tuesday evening it took me an hour and a quarter of 



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crawling at snail.' s pace to get from the Half Way Tree traffic lights 

to the Dunrobin Avenue lights; and t her e were scores of people for whom 

t his short journey took even l onger . Part of the trouble here was a 

lack of thought and discipline . If we had all accepted the fact t hat 

the road was f looded and that we woul d all get home s ooner if we 

behaved in an orderly and disciplined mann er , things would hav e gone 

a little more smooth ly . Unfortunately t here were a number of i mpatient 

people who thought it smart to jump the line and get ahead of every­

body else . The r esult was a sort of disorgani sed and undis c iplined 

scrambl e , with every man for himself and the devil take the h indmost . 

And so some s mart driver would swing out far to the right in an attempt 

to rush ahead of the line . Someone else would follow his example , and 

someone else, until three and four cars wer e travelling breas t of 

each other through a river of water . And then , of course , one or two 

stalled and t he whole operation came to a halt . And the absence of any 

police t o control and sort out the mess made driving home on Tuesday 

evening a particular nightmare . On Wednesday when we did have a number 

of police officers on the scene things moved a lot more smoothly . It 

i s at times like t hese , when the going is rough , that t houghtfulness 

and a measure of self- discipl ine becomes so very ea sential . And it is 

then that we seem to fall down so badly and become ' me - firsters '. 

But the most terrible damage of all , to my mind, was the fantastic 

amount of good Jamaican earth that was washed away to the sea in the 

past few days . Of all the damage this is the most ser ious and the most 

dangerous for t he future because land is t he life of a people . 

Goodnight . 



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No 250 

:- EwS COM IBNT RY 

Harbour Vie Citizen's Association 
~ Underground Wiring (follow-up) 

For transmission on 
Friday Oct 20 at 6 . 15p . m 
Peter Abrahams speaking 

Good evening : The other day I had a visit from¥~ . Ken Jones , 

the President of t he Har bour View Citizen's Association . Mr . Jones 

wanted to set me right on some informat i on I had got wrong . Some of 

you may r emember t hat I spoke about t he Harbour View Citizen ' s 

Association on Wednesday October the 11th . I told you then what a 

high regar d I had for the Association and its work , and then I sa id 

I disagreed with t heir latest protest campaign, which was against 

the K.S .A. C. ' s proposal that t he wir es for street lighting in Harbour 

View should run underground . My feeling , you will remember, was t hat 

this was a good and safe t hing and should be carried out . 

Well, it was about t his that !if.tr . Jones wanted to set me right . 
news 

The/report from which I had taken my information , he said, was not 

correct; and to prove t his he showed me copy of the letter which the 

Association had sent to the Town Clerk on the matter. To get the 

record completely straight , let me read the section of the letter 

dealing with this mat ter . It is this , and now I am quoting from the 

letter: "The installation of under ground wires for the proposed 

street lights in Har bour View is another matter which is causing some 

concern . I have been informed that the K. S .A. C. Counci l plans to lay 

their wires along the sidewalks and t hat this qill necessitate the 

destruction of t he grass and plants which the citizens have been laying 

out . We have gone a far way t~ instil and encourage civic pride in our J! 

people and I think it fitting t hat at this time we should be given 

some assurance that t here will be , not only the very minimum of 

destruction, but also speedy ~eplacement , if and when the verges are 



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dug up . 11 That is what :tline is what Mr . Ken Jones wrote to the Town 

Clerk about underground wir ing . And that , of course, is very differnt 

from the news report I saw and on which my commentary of October 11th 

was based . And so I am very pleased to correct the facts . The Harbour 

View Citizens' Association is not against underground wiring for street 

lights . In f act Mr . Jones told me t hat they are inf favour of it . What 

t hey do want is as little destruction of t he beauty they have created 

as possible ; and t hey want the Oouncil to assume responsibility to 

replace as quickly as possible any verges t hey may dig up . And here I 

am in complete agreement with the Harbour View Citizen's Associtaion. 

My criticism was based on a published news report which turned out to 

be far f rom accurate . 

Ther e are some other points on which the citizens of Harbour View 

feel very str ongly . They are very anxious about playing grounds for 

their children. At the moment there is nowhere except the streets or 

the tiny backyards of the houses where the kids cart play. And this is 

just not good enough for growing youngsters . There is some idea of gettin 

t hem a piece of land on the seafront s i de for playing grounds . I hope 

Mr . Keble Munn does in fact succeed in getting this soon . But crossing 

the main road to St . Thomas is likely to be a deadly dangerous business 

for youngsters and so I should like to see an overhead bridge erected 

if the playing fields are located on the other side of the main road . 

As far as I am concerned one of the silliest thi ngs that happened near 

Harbour View was the digging up of miles of sewer mains in order to 

widen the road . One day it will cost taxpayers a fortune to lay new 

eew~E mains because sewerage is a coming problem for Harbour View . But 

then , its only the poor dumb taxpayers' money . Goodnight . 



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0 251 1) Sel ect Committee on Constitution 

I: EWS COMMENTARY 
For transmission on 
Saturday ct 21 at 6 . 15p . m 
Peter brahams speaking 

Good evening: On Tuesday evening t he House of Representatives 

unanimously approved Mr . Manley ' s motion for t he sett i ng up of a 

Select Committee to prepare proposals for the Constitution of an 

independent J amaica. Th i s is t he first important step in the business 

of di.rafting the new constitution and I am glad it went as smoothly as 

it di d . As I to l d you a couple of weeks back, the first sit t ing of t he 

Hous e after the referendum could so eas ily have se~ off a pattern of 

bitter and rather vicious party strife; which wou l d have been tragic 

of our constitution- making; and so it is good that our leaders have 

behaved with the responsibility the ocassion demands . Of course , 

behaving in a responsible manner does not mean the Opposition must go 

along with the government l i ne on every issue, and indeed the Oppositio~ 

has made it clear that it does not int end to do so . Some of the 

s peeches from the Opposition during the debate were so s trongly 

critical that thane were times when I wondered whether the Opposition 

had decided to vote against the Manley motion for the Select Committee . 

Then , on Wednesday evening , we had Mr . Clem Tavares ' mot ion 

Co lling on the government to resign and ho l d new elect ions i mmediately . 

Thi s one was defeated on a straight party basis . And :tnx these two 

things taken t ogether, it seems to me , suggests the pat tern of how 

things will be conducted over the next few months . 

I think that on the big issue of Constitution- making both parties 

will do t heir best to work seriously for what they regard as the best 

constitution possible f or J amai ca . I think the approach here will in 

fact be bi-partisan and the problems will be treated as national ones 

transcending party . This will be particularly so in the Committee work . 



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But I think t hat when it comes to anything which is conducted in 

the full glare of publicity , we can expect a great deal of straight 

party politics . And I t hink we can expect some of this party politiking 

to reach new levels of n astiness and bitterness . I shall be only too 

happy to be proved wrong but I, for one , expect some s candals, some 

really dirty smears and quite a bit of character assassination . And 

not all of t h is will necessarily originate in eith er of the two 

parties . Some very powerful behind- the- scenes forces are likely to 

play some not- so -nice politics behind t he scenes . And of course the 

parti es t hemselves will make use of anything t hey can . 

It s eems to me t hat the J . L.P . will make t he running pr etty 

strongly . That is the advantage always enjoyed by an Opposition . It 

can attack and attack and attack . The party in power has the dis ­

advantage of having to defend itself and its record ; and that disadvantae 

becomes particularly mar ked when that party has suffered the kind of 

defeat suffered by the P . N. P . in the referendum . 

So it seems to me that t he months ahead will show a deli cate 

balance of behind- the- s cenes co - oper ation between t he part i es i n the 

maki g of the constitution , but a sharpening of party strife on t he 

floor o f the House , on the r adio and in the press . The great danger 

here is t hat some bright young polit i cian may be t empted to make 

party capital out of the business of constitution-making . If anybody 

does in fact yield to t hat t emptation then Jamaica ' s road to independence 

may ecome itter, torn w~t str~re, and perhaps even bloody . A great 

responsibility to prevent this res tl;. on the shoulders of the two party 

leaders . Goodni ght . 



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No 252 Cold Wab Among the Communists 

N rs COM:r. ··T RY 
For transmission on 
Monday Oct 23 at 6 . 15p .m 
eter Abrahams speaking 

feel 
Go od evening : Many peopl e KxRxf~it that the current Berlin 

crisis might lead to a shooting war of nuclear weapons. And feeling 

this, they have carried the ar gument a s tage further and say that if 

war does come it will be because the Russians want a war . On the face 

of it , this approach is logical and reasonable . rushchev has broken 

the agreement not to test atomic weapons . The Russians have set off more 

than a score of~~ nuclear explosions in the past few weeks and the 

world is alarmed by the dangers of radio - active fall - out . But instead 

of heedi ng world op inion Khrushchev has threatened to let off an even 

bigger and more deadly bomb . And in Berlin the Russians and their East 

Ger man friends have been more provocative than at any time since the 

end of the Second World War . All of which makes it reasonable that they 

are in fact looking for a war . 

And yet the truth of the matter is that the Russians do not want 

war . For all their struttings and ro cket- rattling they are probably 

more terrified of war than almost anybody else . But if t hat is so, you 

might ask , why do they behave in this warlike manner? 

Part, if not all of the answer, was supplied , I think , by the 

22nd Congress of the Russian Communist Party which opened in Mos cow 

on Tuesday of l ast week . At that Congress , and for no apparent reason, 

Khrushchev launched a bitt er public attack against the Albani an 

communist leaders, accusing them of being Stalinists : and being accused 

of Stalinism is today just about the biggest political crime any 

communist can be charged with . But of course things are rarely hat 

they seem in communist-style power politics . And the Cold War that 



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goes on among the communists themselves is a very complex and complicated 

thing . Albania, for instance is a very tiny little country of about 

11,000 square ,imiles and with just over one - and- a - quarter million 

people; she is much too small and weak to defy the giant Soviet Union 

with its nearly 9 million square miles and more than 200 million 

people . Russia could crush Albam~a like a man crushes an ant - if the 

conflict were simply between the Albanian communists and the Russian 

communists . But it is not . The real quarrel , the real Cold War, is 

between Russia and Chi na . The Russians are attacking Al bania because 

she has sided with the Chinese in this quarrel . Albania is the first 

European countr y which has chosen to follow the lead of Peking rather 

than the lead of Moscow . She is therefore a dangerous example to other 

European communist countries . 

And behind the Russian- Chinese quarrel is the struggle for 

leadership of the communist world . Until communist China appeared on 

the scene Russia was the undisputed leader of the communist world . 

But the Chinese are now challenging that leadership . They say the 

Russians have gone soft , that the Russians have now joined the ' haves ' 

among the nations and so they want co - existence with the West . The 

Chinese , on the other hand , want an all- out war with the West . In order 

not to lose the support of other communists in this struggle with 

China, Khrushchev has to show just how tough he can be, and so we have 

the threats and t he explosions . But basically , Russia does not want 

war; she has more to lose from it than she has to gain . However, ther e 

is this mounting conflict within the communist camp , and it is this 

Cold War that dictates much of Khrushchev ' s actions today . Goodnight . 



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No 253 1) The Premier's Visit to the Rastas 
2) The Voting Age 

EVl COMMENTARY 
For transmission on 
Tuesday Oct 24 at 6 . 15p . m 
Peter brahams speaking 

Good evening : Some very interesting points came out of the meeting 

between Mr . Manley and a group of Rastafarians on Saturday . First 

was the news that construction of the oil refinery would begin within 

the next f ew months , and that while the building is going on jobs -- • <~'-' u-l~'> would be provided for some twelve hundred workers . ~~mJr.l-ib ation is 

that t he refinery will be located in Western Kingston and that the 

900 per manent jobs it would prov~ later would largely benefit the 
of 

people of Western Kings ton , /whom the Rastas are a sizeable section . 

Mr . anley also mentioned the point that some people ' don't want to 

work' and I am very gl ad he did . It is a sad fact but a fact all the 

same that many of the people who bawl loudest expect ever ything to be 

done for them and are not prepared to lift a finger to help themselves . 

I hope that when work on the refinery does begin my Rasta fr iends will 

show that they are not afraid of work and that they can work as well 

as the next man , if not better . It seems to me that one of the most 

important points about help is self-help . I think all citizens and 

all sections of our community are entitled to be given a chance so that 

they can help themselves . If any section of the community expects 
people 

everythi ng to be done for it : if xk~J expect to be supplied with free 

houses , free water , free lights, free everything, then they should be 

told very firmly that J amaica just cannot afftord this kind of free ­

giving and t hat in any case this kind of living on the dole is a 

corrupting thing . Certainly , the poorer sections of any community 

is entitled to expect help from the state and t he society . But nobody 

is entitled to expect charity . 



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But perhaps the most important point that came out of the talks 

between the Premier and the Rastas , at least as far as I am concerned, 

was the point made by some Rastas that they need more land room . 

This made me wonder how many of the Rastafarian brethern would in fact 

be prepared to work the land if it were made available . It seems to me 

that the rastas, as well as other citizens could do a very wonderful job 

for Jamaica and for themselves if they were prepared to do some 

pioneering . There are large areas of undeveloped and uninhabited land . 

all over this island . We must develpp this land; we must make it bring 

forth and feed its people and earn money for our foreign buying . Would 

the Rastas and the other landless people who are now crowded into 

Kingston slums and who have no work , would they be willing to go out 

into the hills and mountains and clear the land and work on government 

supported co - operative farms? 

It seems to me that this is one of the important new directions 

our thinking must take if we are to create a decent future for all our 

citizens . We must be prepared to pioneer instead of sticking in the 

overcrowded squaller of Kingston . There is a lot of land room for those 

who are prepared to work . So let us look inward: inward into ourselves 

and inward into t he challenging hills of Jamaica . That is t he cha llenge 

to all who want land- room. 

Finally, let me say t hat I am wholeheartedly in favour of the 

voting age being reduced to eight een . •1any eight een- year- old age 

paying taxes and I support t he slogan: ' No taxation without repr esentatio1 

Goodnight 



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No 254 The Dangers of Slogans 

NEv S COMMID TARY 
For transmission ~n 
Wednesday Oct 25 at 6 . 15p .m 
Peter Abrahams speaking 

Go od evening : Last night I said I supported t he slogan : ' No 

taxation without representation '. Tonight I want to discuss the whole 

dangerous business of slogans because it seems to me that Jamai ca today 

is in danger of getting slogan- drunk, and that can be a very bad thing 

for t he political health of the country . 

10w, slogans are a form of emotional political short-hand . They 

are popular rallying cries; t hey are catch phrases used to build up 

passions to a point beyond reason . These are just three of a number of 

ways in which slogans can be used . So let us examine these three ,-mys . 

First , l et us look at it in terms of political short -hand . No taxnatmnn 

without representation is a classic example of the slogan as political 

short -hand . It states the clear political principle t hat peopl e should 
have 

not submit to being taxed unless t hey also/the right to participate in 

the government of the c ountry . This kind of slogan gener ally has sense 

and meaning and a hard moral core to it . Then we have the slogan as 

t he rallying cry . This is generally used in times of war . In the 

Spanish Civil War the mos t popular slogan was : ' They Shall not pass '. 

In the Second World War one of the British slogans dur i ng the North 

frican and Italian campaigns was : ' Sock the r,vops ' . They shall not 

pas s , has a c ertain dignity and declares pass ionate int ent i on . Sock 

the Wops , on the other hand, is racialist and nasty in the extreme , , 

because Wop i s the British term of contempt for the Italian . So the 

rallying cry type of slogan can be either V6ry noble or very nasty . 

The t hird kind of slogan , the catch phrase , is possibly the 

lowest form of s loganeering . It is often meaningless when closely 

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d this, unfortunately, is the kind of slogan we go in for most here 

in Jamaica . Let us look at the most popul ar slogan in J amaica today . 

It is one word and that word is ' freedom '. I have seen peop le work 

t h emselves into a fine pass ion shouting ' freedom ' . But when I a sked 

one of these shouters what he meant he looked shocked for a moment, 

and then , unable t o explain himself, he just shouted the same word 

louder . Now , if a slave were shouting t hat word it would make sense 

because the word would then have a special meaning in a special context . 

But when people who have the right to elect the government of their 

choice , when people who can move about f reely in their own lang and 

can speak their minds freely , when such people shout freedom , it 

becomes more than a little silly . If t hey had said freedom to work or 

freedom from hunger it would have made more sense . But t he word just 

by itself has no context here . And that is probably why some poor 

misguided people l eft their jobs the day after the referendum and ar e 

now sorry . This sort of slogan does not educate , does not advance any­

thing , it just confuses issues and undermines stability and is therefor 

t horoughly bad . 

And I am afraid the same thing must be said of t he latest P . N.P . 

slogan : Power . Why power? In what connection? In what context? I s it 

a t hreat? I certainly do not like this one any bet ter . I find this kind 

of slogan- mongering dangerous . It seems to me that our politicians 

need to r emember that slogans are goo d when they educate and point a 

direction and t hey are bad and dan erous when used to arouse ignorant 

and unreasoning pass ions . Our current crop of slogans are misleadi ng , 

confusing and dangerously stupid . Goodnight . 



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NEWS COM TARY 
For transmi s sion on 
Thursday Oct 26 at 6 . 15p . m 
Pet er Abr ahams speaking 

Good evening : For me the mos t important and t he mos t pleasing 

news of t his week was t he announc ement t hat a black Sout h Afri can has 

b een awarded the obe l Peace Pri ze for 1960 . But t h i s news i s very 

mu ch more important t h an as a s i mpl e mat ter of personal pr i de . However , 
po l i t i cal 

in order t o under s t and t he bas ic/importance of this awarding of the 

Nobel Peace Prize to a black South African , we must know s omething 

about both t he Pri ze and the man . 

So let us f i r s t take a look a t the Nobel Prizes and how they came 

about and what t hey mean . -

Swedi sh chemist ca lled Alfr ed obel s t arted wor k i ng on the 

prob l em of maki ng exp losives safe r ound about 1860 when he was just 

about xN±xxJ t wenty- seven . In 1863 , when he was_ thirty , he f ound a way 

of combining nitroglyceri n with another substance call ed kieselguhr , 

which made it safe for humans to handle the explosives . He called t he 

new combined subst ance dynamite . He began to produce dynamite on a 
:..,., .~,(. 

commercial s cale and wi thin a very short time he became one of t he 
I\ 

ri chest men in the world . 

Nobel was a good man , a great idealist , and a lover of humanity 

and he had hoped that his invention would only be used for the good 

of mankind . But he was a realist as well and he soon realised that 

evil men would put his invention to evil use , and this distressed him . 

And so when he died at the age of 63 he left ai:i rlI±xx1mnu!.!J a fund wh i ch 

at the time amounted to some 3 , 000 , 000 and he directed that the 

interest from this money should be divided into five equal pri zes , 

and these prizes should be awarded each year to persons who have 



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contri buted mos t to ' the good of humanity '. So each year, since 1901 

those persons who have made t he greatest contribution for the god f 

umanit , ave een awarded obel Prize . e fie field in which 

the awards are made a r e : Physi cs , chemistry , physiology or medicine , 

literature , and for the most important work i n the interest of world 

peace . The awards for physics and chemistry are made by the Royal 

Academy of ~ences of Stockholm ; that for physiology or medicine is 
t 

made by the Caroline 1edical Institute of Stockholm; the award for 

literature is made by the Swedish Academy ; and the peace award is 

made by the rorwegian Parliament . 

In terms of money the awards are very valuable; in r ecent years 

each prize has carried a sum as large as between £17,000 and £20 , 000 . 

But much , much more important than their money va lue , these prizes 

have become the highest forms of international recognition in t he 

world . There is no single other prize in the world, there is no 

single other recognition in all the world t hat carries the honour and 

the glory and the prestige and the status of a Nobel Prize . This is 

so because the Nobel Prizes are the only truly international prizes 

which genuinely recognise greatness and achievement on a world scale 

nd without any consideration of party , colour , class or creed . It 

is the noblest and highest form of recognition any man can attain in 

the world today . ... And so we come to the black South African , Albert 

Luthuli, who this week received this most noble of all awar ds 0 Why 

did he get it? And what does it mean? And who is this man? I will 

answer these questions to morrow . So till then, goodnight . 



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---- - - - -·-----«._} -- - --- -- -- -

EWS C.., ................ ,T Y 
For transmission on 
Friday Oct 27 at 6 . 15p . m 
Peter Abrahams speaking 

Good evening : Albert Luthuli , winner of t he Nobel Peace Pri ze 

for 1960 , is a thickset, burly man with a roundish face . He is of the 

Zulu tribe and he speaks and moves with all the dignity of the proud 

Zulu . He was born in a little tribal village called Groutville in 

l atal . He is 62 years old and until 1952 he was t he tribal Chief of 

his people . In order to be a tribal chief in South Africa a man has 

to be appr oved of by the Government of South Afri ca; which means that 

for years Albert Luthuli was regarded as a ' Good Native ' , by the 

white rulers of South Africa . In f act he was a good tribal chief fo r • 

seventeen years and the white rulers of South Africa held him up as 

an example of how they expected 'natives ' to behave . And because they 

regarded him as a good native he was appointed to a number of 

committees t hat the government approved of . He was put on the Native 

Representati ve Council , whi ch was supposed to advise the government 

on ' native policy ' and which the government consistently ignored . He 

was also a member of the South African Chr istian Council , a j oint 

council where blacks and whites who were liberal met , and he was a 

member of the Institute of Rac e Re l at ions . In 1946 he joined the 

African ational Congress but he did no t do much active work . Then 

he went on a visit to India as a delegate to the World Council of 

Chur ches ; and lat er he went to the United States to lecture for the 

American Board Missions . The very fact that t he South fr i can 

government allowed him to travel when they restricted almost ever y 

other black man showed that they felt sure of Albert Luthuli , t hey 

were sure of their good nativ~ . 

But somewhere along the way , possibl y in India , the ' good native ' 



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suddenly began to get out of hand . His Christianity became stronger 

but he now said that Christ himself would have opposed the debasing 

condit ions under whi ch black people lived . And then he made a personal 

declarati on which shook the entire South Africa . I was there at the 

time (it was the last time I was allowed into South Africa) . It was 

the end of 1952 . Luthul i declared that for thirty years of his life he 

had tried the method of pleading and moderation and it had got him 

nowher e . And so he was now urging all blacks to revolt openly and 

boldly against in justice . But , and thi s was his most important but , 

he wanted his people to use Ganfilli ' s method of non- violence . He wanted 

his people to fight against the evils of the system but not against the 

white people because they were white . He said discri minat i on and 

pr ejudice by blacks against whites would be as evil as that of whites 

against blacks . And so the def iance he preached was against the unjust 

laws and against the evi l prac i t i ces , not against the whi te people . 

The Afr i cans eeected him President of Congress that year . The government 

dismissed him from his chieftai nshi p . And at the height of the 

campaign he was one of the 156 people of all races arrested and 

charged with treason . He was released i n 1957 but his movements were 

severely restri cted and still are . He cannot make speeches and he can kt;. 
Lt,..(."~ ....J;,i.,lt.~ 

only move within a few miles of where he , lives . But his moral influence l 
~.,.;,_-~ ·7~i-.e:~~- (\ 

has become world-wide . And now the . .sweai~ ~ 6'&<~ has awarded him the 

{obel Prize for Peace , thus giving the racialists of South Africa the 

biggest moral slap in the face they have ever received . And Luthuli is 

the first African , not only in South Africa but throughout the contmnt nt , 

to get t his most important of the obel Pri zes . Goodnight . 

• 



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c J ·.1.·ne YJ.eaning or ;;,erv ce 
3) A Customs roblem 

NEWS OOMH • TARY 
For transmission on 
Monday Oct 30 at 6 . 15p .m 
eter Abrahams speaking 

Good evening: Early yesterday evening , when we in Jamaica were 

still on the alert because t here was t he like fhood of Hurricane Hattie 
/ 

hitting J amaica , t h e danger had in fact passed . But of course we id 

not know i t because we were still going by the ~t xEx~xzx~zk bulletin 

of yesterday morning . It was by i;he sheerest accident that my daughter , 
pi cked up and American station on our radio and discovered that a plane 

had 
which had j~st surveyed the area/reported that the stoPm was swinging 

gently westward and so away from us . About two hours later our own 

radio stations conf irmed this news . We were saved two hours of anxiety 

and preparation by this accidental picking up of an American stat~map{ 

and t his fact made me wonder whether it would not be a good idea if , 

in betweeb:' the official bulletins, a constant monito r ing of Miami 

radio s--tations , would not be very useful when storms are so close . 

A/things now are , there is a ;dng and nerve- straining gap between one 

official bulletin and the next' . 

The alarms of Hurricane Hattie resulted in one very pleasing 

experience fo r me . The fa mily decided that we may need something to 

dry out the house should heavy rains and storms hit us . So I was sent 

into Kingston on Saturday morning to try and buy something . And so it 

was t hat after a number of tries, I ran up against the brothers 

Fl annery who are in t he heating and plumbing and ventilation business . 

They did not have what I wanted , but unlike the other people , they did 

not just shrug and say they did not have it . They made a number of 

phone calls and went to endless trouble until they found just the 

thing I wanted . .And when they finally located a fan heater for me , theJ 

sent one of their own workers to collect it for me . These people did 

... 



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not have to go to all this t r ouble; after all , t hey were not maki ng 

a penny out of the deal . Like t he other people , t hey could have said 

' Sorry, we don ' t stock anything like t hat ' . Instead, t hey showed me 

an example of t he real meaning of service , and it made me feel good 

and grateful . So , a public salute to t he b rothers Flannery and may 

more business houses give t he kind of service and help they gave me on 

Saturday . 

And now for another kind of service . A l ady in Kingston received 

a gift package for her baby in celebration of its first birthday . The 

gift came from the child's grandmother in Ireland and was valued at 

£1 . 2 . 6 . The Customs Declaration label on the package showed that it 

came from Ireland; so did the postage stamps . I have the label and 

the stamps with me , so I know . But when the child ' s mother went to 

clear the parcel from Customs , a customs official told her it came from 

Switzerland . The lady protested t hat t h is was not so and pointed to 

the label and the stamps . fter much talk the official decided that 

if it was not Switzer land then t h e parcel must come from Germany . 

When the lady protested that this was not so either the customs official 

told her he did not have any more time to argue so sh e had better 

leave the parcel and come back another time . In desperation the lady 

paid duty on the parcel as though it came from Germany . Now, I know 

this sounds fantastic , but it is true . And this, God help us , is the 

kind of service we can do without . Thi s brand of arro gance feeding on 

ignorance is what makes zix±i uncivil louts out of some of our civil 

servants and gives t he whole service a bad name . Goodnight . 



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2) Little Theatre & Silent Zone 

NEWS COMMENTARY 
For transmission on 
Saturday Oct 28 at 6 . 15p . m 
eter brahams s peaking 

Good evening : I hope you have all read Miss Una 1·•arson ' s 

letter in last Wedneday 's Gleaner; if you have not I hope you will 

make an effort to do so because . I think her letter is very imp.ortant. 

Those of you who did read the letter will recall that Miss -~arson 

discusses the recently formed Committee for a Bette·r Jamaica . I am 

sure we have all seen and heard the advertisements put out by the 

Committee for a Better Jamaica and so I do not think there i s any 

need for me to go into that . The Committee calls on all of us to 

co0operate in the building of a better Jamaica and uses the pictures 

of sportsmen and other prominent figures as exampl es to us . Referring 

to one advertisement which showed a boxer , Miss Marson makes that 

point that boxing can hardly be regarded as typifying gentleness , 

kindliness and love . I t hink she has a point . And in any case , the 

fact that a man can run faster than all other men , or that he can 

stay under water longer or that he can jump higher or that he has 

made more money , does not of itself make him an example of goo d 

citizenship . Furthermore , we can always say that these are exceptional 

people whose attainments we can never match , no mater how hard we 

try . So , like ss Marson , I think the use of outstanding athletes 

in t hese advertisements a little unfortunate . 

But even more important than t h is, and I do hope I am not 

misrepr esenting Mi s s Marson's views, is her suggestion that some 

concrete pattern of action would prove much more useful than this 

costly Courtesy Campaign t hrough press and radio . I agree with 1iss 

Iarson t hat the basic causes for our current wave of anti - social 

behaviour stem from ba social and economic conditions and that we 



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must pay attention to these conditions i f we hope to create a better 

climate of behaviour . 

I do not think t hat t his is a point that needs to be argued or 

that any member of t he Committee for a Better J amaica will dispute it . 

Father Sherlock founded Boys Town afterall , and he knows what a great 

contribution it has made to t he morals and manners of s cores of young 

men over t he years . The trouble is , and I rather think this is part 

of Mi ss Marson ' s point , there i s only one Boys Town . And it seems to 

me t hat two or three more Boys Towns in other depr essed areas of the 

island would make a greater long-term difference than a whole mass of 

advertising . And then there i s t he question of the young girls for 

whom t here i s no Girls Town . 

I shoul d hate any of you t o feel that t h is i s carping criticism . 

The Citizens Committee for a Bet ter J amaica is a noble effort and I know 

t hat Mi ss Marson does not want to ' kno ck' it , and I certainly don ' t . 

But I do know that many people feel that the Committee can use the 

money at its disposal mor e pract ically and for more l asting good than 

by using it on an advertising campaign . 

Finally , I hope that the authorities conc erned will close Tom 
~· 

Redcam Avenue to all motor traffic wh en t here are pf erformanc es at the 

Little Theatre . The nois e of ½raffic spo i led an evening 's t heatre f or 
!,:J, ~{l~ , : L_;\-

a number of us -~ <~~1~ . Closing the Avenue will be no hardship 

to anybody and will contribute to the growth and development of t he 

theatre in Jamaica . So please let us have our t heatr e wi t hout the 

noise and r a tle of t raffi c . It i s a small t h ing to ask in t~e int er est 

of our cultural health . Goodni[):t . 



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.. "'"" . '--..,,., 

NEWS CO ENTARY 
For transmission on 
Tuesday Oct 31 at 6 . 15p . m 
Peter Abrahams speaking 

Good evening : At least twice last week it looked as though the 

world was on the brink of war . On il/ednesday East German police stopped 
two them 

/ xx American officialsin East Berlin and would not let/Nim through until 
they thei r 

/ ~kBshowed/N±x identity papers . But the American Government does not 

recognise the existence of the East German Communist Government and it 

has given its offic ials strict instnuctions not to acknowledge the 

authority of any East Ger mans . So the two officials refused to show 

their papers . The East Ger mans would not let the two offic i als pass 

and so a dozen American military police in battle- dress and with f i xed· 

bayonets had to go into East Berlin to escort ·the two officials out . 

That was the first incident and it created an air of electri c 

tension i n Berlin and throughout the worl d . The Americans. alerted 

their entire Berlin Garrison and tanks rolled up to the border between 

the Eas t ern and Wester n sectors of the city . The BritisB and French 

a l so alerted their forces . The next day East Ger man guards again 

t r ied to check the paper s and American officials and again they had 

to be escorted in and out of East Berli n by United States soldiers . 

And by this time a dangerous atmosphere of tension had been created . 

The point behind these incidents was the oc cupation rights of what 

was once the allied powers - Britain , France , the United States and the 

Soviet Union . fter the second world war all four powers agreed , and . 

this was wri tten into the Occupation Statute , that t he officials of 

each and everyone of them would have freedom of movement in all sectors 

of divided Berlin . Until fairly recently all sides have honoured thi s 

agreement . But lately the Russians have increasingly given over guard 

duty at the borders between East and West Berlin tote East German 



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police, and up until two weeks ago the East German police carefully 

avoided interfering with the freedom of movement in and out of East 

Berlin of the western occ,upying powers . Nobody who knows all the details 

of t he unfolding Berlin situation believes for a single moment that 

t he East Germanswere act i ng off their own bat in stopping American 

officials . Thef Russians , these experts say, mus t have told the East 

German to do so in order to probe and test American deter mination. 

And when the Russians realised that the Americans were prepared 

to get tough with the East Germans they appeared on the scene themselvee . 

On Friday ten Russian tanks rolled up to the East Berlin Border and 

pointed their guns at the ten American tanks on t he western side of 

the border . And so we had on Friday the terrible picture of the two 

most powerful nations on RR:tk earth po inting guns at each other not 

much more than two hundred yards apart . If one of the gunners in one 

of those tanks had lost his nerve , or if the strain had been so much 

that he had pressed a trigger in sudden panic, we might have seen 

the beginnings of t h e most terrible war the world has ever known . That 

is how clo se we all are to the horrors of war t hes e days . Because we 

must make no mistake about it . one of us, not even the s mallest island, 

will escape t he effects of an atomic war . 

And yet it is in the very fact that war would be so terrible that 

our greatest hope for peace is found . Both the Russians and the 

Americans know that whoever wins - if anybody do es win - would only 

inherit a burnt -up earth . And so neither really wants war . The greatest 

danger of all , a s I see it, t hat war may be started by some crazy 

accident while t hese p eo ple play their power game . Goodnight . 



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thoughts on the spiritual problem . 

NEWS COMlvlENTARY 
For transmission on 
Thursday Nov 2 at 6 . 15p .m 
Peter Abrahams speaking 

Good evening: The news of the terrible damage~ caused to Belize 
~ Hurricane Hattie 

and other parts of Honduras/is most distressing . As I listened to the 

dreadful news of death and destruction , a very strange thought crossed 

my mind . I wondered how I would have reacted if I had known on Sunday 

evening that when Hattie swung away from us it was going to cause 

such devastation in British Honduras . If we had all suddenly found 

ours elves with the gift of foresight, would we have prayed just as 
(yl 

hard that Hurricane Hattie pass us by? Would we have said to ourselves: 
A 

' We are probably in a much better position to stand t he shock; any city 

of ours that i t mi ght hit is less likely to be flooded by the sea; so 

let it hit us instead of helpless Belize' . Would we have t hought like 

that if we had known what was going to happen? Would you? Would I? 

I personally find it impossible to answer this question honestly and 

with the knowledge that I am being truly honest . I know t hat t he 

Christian ethic by which I try to live commands that I love my neighbour 

as myself , and I know that my neighbour should be every man . And yet 

I cannot honestly say that if I had known what would happen and if I 

had any choice in the matter , I would have prayed for Hattie to hit us 

instead of very low-lying Belize . So I think it is just as well that 

we do not have the gift of foresight , otherwise we mi ght be shocked 

to discover how very weak we are morally, and how few of us live up 

to the Christianity to wh ich we pay such faithful lip-service . 

In spite of all our great scientific and technical and political 

advances , we seem to have made very few strides forward in the pas t 

two thousand years or so . We seem to have leaped ahead in material 



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and scientifmc terms, and to have mxu taken something less than half 

a crawl forward in s p iritual and moral terms . Christ taught that man show 
can/NXXR no greater love than by risking the sacrifice of himself for 
his neighbour . Nearly t wo t housand years have passed since He taught 

t hat . In t hat space of time we have discovered t hat the earth was 

round, we have learnt to move mountains , to fly through the air , to 

travel under the seas, to split the atom - and we are now on the 

t h reshold of journeys into space . All these are fantastic advances 

in the conquest of our material world . But MEX&~ it seems to me that 

we are as far - away from f he true Christian eth ic today as our fore -

bears were when Christ walked t h e earth . I found it strangely disturbing 

to realise how very little man has really grown in spiritual and 

moral terms over t h e past 2,000 years . 

When t he Russians whose gr eat revolution wrought vast material 
changes for the benefit of people ' s bodies - when they rejected the 

Christian ethic as t he ' op ium of t he people ' , t heyreplaced the hope 

of Christian i mmortality with the embalmed body of a man in a glass 

case and t h is became t he sort of r eligious s hrine of communism . So 

t he spiritual content of the new mat erial ism wa s enshrined by adopting 

t h e met hods of ancient Egypt of mummifying t he dead human body . Hardly 

a s tep f orward in t he flowering of t he human spirit, i s it? 

These, l adi es and gentlemen, were some of t he strange t houghts 

t hat passed t hrough m~ mind a s I hear d of t he terrible disaster in 

Belize . Perhaps it all a dds up to t he fact t hat man i s no t r eally as 

wonderful a s he t h inks he is: or perhaps gr eat disasters make us stop 
and t h ink again of our relations with each other and with God . 

Goodni ght . 



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v a. t:,a.u UU U o \J o J.U!' .O o \.i" o 

Trinidad & Barbados El ections 

EWS co "11· TT Y 
For transmi ss ion on 
Friday Nov 3 at 6 . 15p .m 
eter Abrahams speaking 

Good evening: On Wednesday of t his week the Government of Trinidad 
formally took over control of British West Indian Airways , and although 
B. O.A. C. still owns 10% of t he s hares , B.W. I .A. is now t he property 
of t he gover nment of Trini dad . I was particularly pl eased to see 

t o continue t hat Dr . Eric Williams has asked Mr . H. O. B. Wooding/as chairman of 
t he temporary board of management . J\lfr . Woodi ng has a long and intimate 
experience with B. W,I .A. and I t h ink his services will be invaluabl e 
to t he company . I had been a little afraid t hat pr essure f rom t he 
mo r e fanati cal of h is followers mi ght for ce Dr . Williams to dr op 
Mr . Wooding . Mr . Wooding i s not a politician , and s ome of the P .N.M. 
people who oper ate on t he princip l e of ' You are ei t her for us , or 
against us ' have held this against h im . And then too, there is this 
ver y odd attitude among some dar k t:!es t Indi ans of hos tility and 
suspicion of any fellow dar k person who has made a gr eat succ ess i n 
bu s ines s . You will often hear the so - called s trong nat ionalists complain 
t hat all the captai ns of h i gh finance and big business are whi t e , and 
yet when a black man attains to t hat pos ition they t end to at t a ck 
and denounce him . So all in all , I am very g l ad that the Tr inidad 
government has seen the wisdom of keeping the ser vices of Mr . 
Wooding . 

I was also particular ly p l eased with Dr . Williams ' statement t hat 
his government had made provision for the participation of other West 
Indian governments in the B. W. I .A. venture . lrlhen t he Trinidad take- over 
was first announc ed t here was talk here in Jamaica of our setting up 
our own national airline . I hope t h is was no more t han talk . I t h ink 



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i t would be both foolish and an unnecessary expense f or Jamaica t o 

set up a national airline just to show ' fa ce '. We do not need a 

national airline . 11 the internat i onal a i rli nes are still at our 

d i sposal , they still come into Ki ngston and Mont ego Bay t o t ake us 

wherever we want t o go and hr i na u s back . And B.W. I .A. is all t he 

link we really need with t he Eas t ern Caribbean . So I do hope we will 

not be fooli sh about t h is nat ional airline busness . "What wou l d be very 

much more useful to us would b e a we 1 organised interna l Jamaican 

air taxi service whic]~ can take us fro m one end of t he i s l and to t he 

other in shor t time and a t a r eas onabl e f are . 

And t a l k i ng about duplica tion, I t h i nk Dr . J agan ' s i dea of a 

univers ity college f or Brit i sh Guiana i s equa lly unfortunat e . B. G, 

with it s ver y smal l popul ation oes no t n ee a un i vers ity college of 

i t s own . I thi nk the universit y college of t he West Indies with i ts 

branch i n Trinidad can ver y wel l sat isfy a l l our needs and will co st 

much less than a whole ser ies of universi t y colleges . Thi s fragment ation 

and duplication of services can be ver y costly and can , I thi nk , create 

an ugly new kind of insularity . 

Finally a word about the Tr inidad and Barbados general elections 

which will both be held on December 4th . Present indications are that 

Dr . Wi lliams' P .N. M. will have no trouble winning in Trinidad . Reports 

from Bar bados , on the other hand , suggest that t h ings do not look as 

bright for t he ruling Barbados Labour arty . It seems that the young 

men of the Democratic Labour Party have made great stri des, and unless 

Sir Grantley Adams moves with care he might find himself with no power 

in both ort of Spain and Bridget own . Goodnight . 



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NEWS CO:f.lll!ENTARY 
For transmission on 
Saturday ov 4 at 6 . 15p . m 
Peter Abrahams speaking 

- - - -- '-'- - - - - - --

Good evening : The British Government has now definitely decided 

to limit migrat ion from the West Indie s to Britain , and I t hink we all 

know that Jamaica is one of the places that will be most seriously 

affected by this decision . Officially the decision applies to the 

entire Commonwealth as well as to t he Irish Republic . The Bill which 

will bring this decision into effect, as had its first reading in the 

British arliament . As far as I a m concerned this Bill is a mere 

formality . Unless the British Government has a sudden change of heart , 

which i s most unlikely at this stage , the Bill will pass through all 

its stages without trouble and become l aw very soon . The terms of 

the Bill are such that nobody can describe it as being any kind of 

colour-bar law . But everybody knows that whatever the legal nice ties 

might be, the introduction of this Bill would have been most unlikely 

if the migrants fro m t he West Indies were of the same skin colour as 

the general populace of great Britain . As I have told you before, XN 

during and since the second world war, more oles , more Hungarians and 

more Irishmen have entered Britain than West Indians and no thought of 

limiting mi gration came up until the large flow of coloured West 

Indians . So , as far a s I am concerned , this is in f act a decision 

based on colour , and I am bit terly against it . But I am afraid the 

British government has made up its mind and I frankly do not see how 

we can unmake it now . So where do we go from here? 

The Jamaica government has set up a group to study t h e implications 

for us of t his dec i sion . I am glad of t his because we will have to 

think about t h is problem and tackle it . For ins t ance, I see one of 



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the most serious and dangerous implications of t h is restriction as 

causing a vast unemployment problem here in Jamaica . Things have looked 

much brighter than they really are because migration ha s been a safety 

valve easing the pressure of unemployment . When that safety valve is 

closed, we are going to have a really big proble m on our hands . And I 

do not see how we are going to be able to cope with t his problem, unless 

we do some very careful planning and make some very tough decisions . 

When other countries have faced severet unemployment their governments 

have taken control of the unemp loyed by setting up work camps and 

labour battalions and these have been used on great national projects 

like building roads or dams or reclaiming land . I should like to see 

a special labour force of unemployed used on a national project of 

building permanent terracmng for Jamaica ' s hillside land . This will 

both help ease unemployment and save the Jamaican earth , large amounts 

of which is being washed away today . 

One of t he t hings which has always worried me about mi gration 

was the fact t ~1at so many children were l eft behind . The migrants who 

left Jamaica be t ween 1955 and 1960 had almost 97 , 000 children between 

them . But only 6 , 500 children left t he island during that period which 

means that something like 90,000 were left behind, often in the care 

of casual acquaintances . How are these children going to grow up? What 

kind of home-life , what kind of love will they know? This is another 

problem which lies ahead of us . It is another problem about which we 

must t h ink and for which we mus t p lan . The challenge of this British 

decision is that we must now t h ink and plan for our own salvation . And 

if we dont face up to t his challenge then a whole heap of trouble 

li es ahead of J amaica . From here oh it is up to us alone to shape our 

future . Goodnight . 



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.No 2b4 

NEWS COMMENT Y 

Arterm -r,n or r1urr1cane .t1a-c.-c.1e 
& Operation Belize 

For transmission on 
Monday ov 6 at 6 . 15p . m 
Peter brahams speaking 

Good evening : It now looks as though the death roll in Belize 

is likely to end up somewhere near the thousand mark . That is the 

terrible extent of the disaster which have befallen British Honduras 

in the wake of Hurricane Hattie . But for me the greatest tragedy is 

the tragedy of living : the tragedy of the children and the homeless 

old peop le, and the horror of people being dr iven from such shelter 

as remain by snakes seeking shelter . And yet , in a way, our minds 

tend to refuse to a cc ept t he full horror of this great tragedy . We 

know it is terrible and we express our sorrow and we are prepared to 

do whatever we can to help , but somehow the starkness of it all 

cannot sink in all the way . Perhaps it is just as well . Perhaps t his 

is one of the ways in wh ich the human mind prote cts itself against too 

great a burden of horror , because if the mind were exposed to more 

hoDror than it can stand it might break under t he strain . And so I 

§h ink it is t hat we have this appearance of detachment which is the 

way in which our minds protect our sanity . And it is what we do that 

shows our awareness of t he greatness of the tragedy of Belize . 

And there has been a gr eat wave of awareness . Britain , the United 

States , the countries of Latin America have all sent help in the form 

of food medical supplies and badly needed water . The Federal Government 

has launched an appeal for a British Honduras Hurricane Relief Fund, 

and it has put the two Federal ships at the disposal of the effort for 

the relief of Beitish Honduras . Jamaica is to act as the co-ordinating 

centre of this federal relief effort . And Jamaica itself has of course 

been one of the first plac es to go into act ion . The Daily Gleaner h a.s 



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opened its own Relief Fund and military and police forces have gone 
from Jamaica to help restore order . 

With all this going on many of ·us may feel that t h ings are under 
control . We read and hear that relief of all kinds - food, clothing , 
medicines , building materials , are pouring in in a steady stream . And 
t his may lead «K some of us to relax and feel t hat we ourselves n eed 
not do anything . I think such an attitude would prove to be a very 
serious mistake . I think we are very far from the end of t h is horror 
yet . The city of Belize has been practically destroyed; there is no 
list yet of the vast numbers who are homeless; and typhoid i s a 
dangerously serious t hreat which could wipe out at least as many 

people again as did Hurricane Hattie . All this means that t here is an 
enormous job ahead . 

The first and most important immediate task is to ensure the 
healt h of the people . Ten doctors from t he University Col lege left 
for B.H. yesterday to join a large number of others who are now carrying 
out a mass ive inoculation campaign to try and beat the threat of an 
epidemic . Pray God t hey suc ceed because if they do not a very large 
segment of t he entire B.H. population may be wiped out. Then t her e i s 
t he feeding and the peopl e; and then there is t he restoring of safe 
water and light. And then the will be the big task of rebuilding Beli ze 
which i s likely to take a very long time . So please , there is no r eason 
to ease up . The people of British unduras have need of ever y penny 
we can give them . It is going to take years to restore the great damage 
done and t hey are going to need the hel p of everyone of us . So p l ease 
g ive all you can . Go odnight 

• 



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NEHS COMivI.EJJTARY 
For transmi ssion on 
Tuesday ov 7 at 6 . 15p .m 
Peter brahams speaking 

Good evening : I am glad to see that Jomo Kenyatta is back in 

London after an absence of s omething like sixteen years . For half t hat 

length of time he was either in prison or else restricted in the remote 

nothern t err itory of Kenya . But now enyatta is back on the political 

stage and it looks as though t hings are likely to start moving in 

East f r ica . Up to now West Arica and t he ongo have been t he parts 

of ri ca w · ch have commande mos '10 d attention . But from now on 

I expect Eas t Africa to get its full share of attention, and I t h ink 

much of that attention wil l be focussed around the per s onality of 

Jomo Kenyatta . Of course , Julius Nyerere, whos e Tangany ika becomes 

independent next month , will also be very much in the limelight : but 

for t he time being , at least , I expect Kenyatta to domi nate the East 

African scene . So what has brought Kenyatta to London? 

When he was given h is unrestricted freedom earlier this year , 

enyatta was the accepted leader of all the African political groups 

in Cenya . Both t he major frican parti es - t he Kenya African National 

Union and the Kenya African Democrat ic Union - claimed him as their 

leader . Both had demanded his release , and the leaders of both parties 

had declared that they would surrender leadership to Kenyatta as soon 

as he was free . 

When Kenyatta was released he tried to bring the leaders of the 

two parties together . The Kenya African ational Union was the party 
But it was on 

which had won most seats at the last election./lhe Kenya African 

Democratic Union that the Governor called to form a government , The 

leaders of K.A .. U. naturally resented this , and rivalry between the 



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t wo parties was also fanned by minority groups like t he white settlers 

who have no liking at all for what is happening in Kenya today. And 

so enyatta faced his first big cha llnge when he tried to bring the 

tvw parties together . A conference of t he two parties was held at wh ich 

enyatta urged t hem to sinlc t heir differences and form a coalition 

government . But in spite of his considerable influence, t he conference 

broke down and the old familiar charges against the Kikuyu were trotted 

out . It was said the K .. N.U. was really a Kikuyu party and the Kikuyu 

were planning to take over Kenya and to dominate all the other tribes . 

Now it is true t hat t he Kikuyu are the largest tribe in Kenya and t hat 

the majority of t he Kikuyu support K.A . . u. But K.A. N.U. is definitely 

not a tribalist party . A number of its l eading personalities including 

Torn Mboya , are not Kmkuyu . But some of t h e settlers are doing t heir 

damnedest to create tribal divisions , and the breakdown of this attempt 

at unity was in fact a settler victory . After t he breakdown , Kenyatta 

a ccepted the leadership of N.A. N.U. and his trip to London is to ask 

the British Government to hold new constitutional talks . 

I hope the British government will agree to t hese talks . I also 

hope they will not be influenced by settler attempts to create division 

along tribal lines . The settlers dream of having a sort of casting vote 

in the power set -up of a tribally divided Kenya, is very dangerous and 

could lead to frsh trouble . Kenyatta's way, the way of a united and 

independent enya without barriers of tribe or race , is the only way 

to a peaceful future for that country . Goodnight 



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The Que en 's Visit to Ghana 

! "EW CO M TARY 
For transmi s sion on 
Wednesday Nov j at 6 . 15p . m 
Peter. brahams speaking 

Good evening: To my mind possibly the most depr es s ingly cynical 

p iece of news out of t he West Indies l ast week was Dr . Williams ' 

statement t hat he had all along intended not to abide by the decisions 

on Federation reached at the London Conferenc e l ast June . Williams 

said that even if the people of Jamaica had voted ' yes ' in the referendum 

he never intended to accept the London decisions . And he gives as his 

reason for keeping silent until now the fact that he did not want to 

be involved in the Jamaica ref erendum . 

The position then is this . If Dr . Williams ha d been frank and 

honest and declared himself at Lancaster House , t h e London Conference 

would have broken down . Jamaica would t hen have withdrawn from the 

federation without the costly business of holding a ref erendum . Instead 

we were given t he impression t hat agreement had b een r eached and that 

the way was clea r for J amaica to remain in t h e federation if her people 

so decided . And now Dr . Williams tells us that t he federation would 

have been in a bigger mess if J amaica had voted 'yes' . Perhaps it 

i s just as well, in t he light of Dr . Will i ams ' s tatement , t hat the 
What i s so depressing about the whole 

people of Jamaica d i d vote (no '. xiixixxiiixxK~xixxtn:xxaxxmEExxbrm 

RM~~mxte~x~~MExxx±mn business was t h i s fooling of the people into the 

beli ef t hat agreement had been reach ed and t hat t his agr eement would 

be hanoured by all our leaders . I supported federation but in t he 

light of t his Williams revelation I t hink it i s just as well t hat 

we are out of it and all our en ergi es can now be devoted to creating 

in decent life her in J amaica . 

The Qu een and t he D.lke of Edinburgh ar e due to b egin a State 

Visit to Ghana tomorrow; and what was planned a s a joyous vi s it has 



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turned out to be charged wit h concern and anxiety . Many people are 

frankly worried about the visit and many voices have been raised i n a 

demand that the vi sit be called off . Last Sunday evening the British 

~overnment sent Mr . D..lncan Sandys, the Commonwealth Relations Secretary, 

hurrying of f to Accra to explore the situation on the spot and decide 

whether t he Queen shou l d go through with t he visit . And t here was 

worldwide speculation that the visit might be called off . Mr . Hugh 

Gaitskell raised t he matter in the House of Commons on Monday and Mr . 

Macmillan told an anxious parli ament that he had noth ing new to say . 

Now all this anxiety about the Queen's saf ety st ems from the 

fact that on Saturday a bomb was let of f by the political enemies of 

Kwame Nkrumah . This bomb damaged a big bronze statue of Nkrumah , and 

there i s an air of t ension and relstlessness in Accra today . I think 

it is pretty obvious that the Brit ish Go vernment is not happy about 

this visit . So why not just call off t he visit? Because to call off 

the visit now would be to admi t that there is a cris is in Ghana , and 

i t woul d also be a b low at the prestige of r esident Nkrumah at a time 

when he can least afford t o let his prestige suffer . If the visit were 

called off now Nkrumah's enemi es could use it to rally support agains t 

him , and so I a m reasonably certain that Nkrumah himself is pressing 

f or the visit to go through . My guess is t hat Mr . Sandye went to Accra 

t o ask krumah for a postponement whi ch krumah tur ned down for 

political reasons . So tomorrow's State visit looks like going through 

unless Nkrumah's enemies let off more bombs . All in all, this is a very 

tricky political sit uation which we can only hope will pass without 

incident . Goodnight . 



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NEwS 0OJ:1 l TARY 
For tr~nsmi ssion on 
Thursday ov 'J at 6 . 15p . m 
Peter brahams speaking 

Good evening: A few evenings ago I met a very attractive young 

woman who had come out to J amaica from England to join her husband who 

is doing a contract job here . She was a friendly and outgoing sort of 

person but she seemed frightened and on her guard, especially with the 

Jamaican men at the party . She .seemed to like J amaica and Jamaicans 

very much ; she talked like someone who had really f allen in love with 

the place and t he peopl e : and yet she was anxious to l eave Jamaica . I 

asked her why she was so eager to leave a plac e she obviously loved 

and it took me quite a ·while to get the reason out of her . And the 

reason was just about as depressing as any reason could be . 

When t h is woman first arrived here she had been struck by the 

charm and war m friendliness of Jamai cans . And t hen she had gone down­

town on her first or second shopping expedition . And as she would have 

done in England, she went down to the bus stop with her shopping basket 

on her arm . The trouble started when she got into t he bus . Some i gnorant 

person told her t he bus was not for people like her, and made some 

nasty remarks which made her feel unwanted and out of p l ace . And the 

terrible thing was t hat nobody spoke up f or her . If any prejudiced 
Jamaican 

white person had made such a emarks to a EKXXiN~iXN on an Engl i sh bus , 

at least half a dozen Engli sh people would have turned on that person 

and put him in his p lace . But no -one on that Jamaican bus came to her 

defence . But worse still was to come . 

en she got off the bus three young men walked behind her calling 

out the most filthy, lewd and suggestive rem2r ks you can t h ink of . And 

these young louts were not soft about i t . They did not seem to mind who 
else heard; and the peopl e who . did hear just went about their business 



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as though nothing out of the way had happened. And this, I think, 

distressed the young woman even more than all the dirty remarks . She 
knew th~t this sort of thing does not happen in Jamaica only . Filthy 

remarks had been flung at her on English streets . But there passers -by 

who heard were quick to turn on such young louts and either cuss them 

out or give them a cuffing or else hold them and call the police . And 

so it seemed to her that as on the bus, so on the street , no one came 

to her aid because s hai was an outsider of a different colour; and 

being sensitive she felt unwanted, and so, much as s he loved J amaica 

she wanted to leave . 

But what this young woman did not realise was that this sort of 

thing does not happen to her only, and does not happen to light - skinned 

peop l e only . It i s common on the Streets of Kingston and it is our own 
dark girls who are possibly the worst victims of this crude filth . I 

am sure very many of you , especially the men , can tell of seeing 

ordinary Jamaican gir ls being molested or called to . I once watched to 

see if a po liceman would do anything about a coupl e of young men who 

walked behind a girl calling out to her in really filthy language . The 

policeman heard them but did nothing . And it is in this business of 

doing nothing that we are all as guilty as these dirty- minded young 

louts . By looking away and pretending that it is none of our business 

we encourage rudeness and bad manners , and these sooner of later , lead 

to crime and violence . So please , next time you see this filthy calling 
out going on , make it your business to interfere . You ' ll be surprised 
to find out what cowards these foul - mouthed peopl e are . Let us stop 
them for the sake of the good name of Jamaica . Goodnight . 



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The Bus Strike & Harbour View Citizen Associati on 

Special 
NEWS COlViMENTARY 
For transmission on 
Friday Nov. 10 at 6015 p.m. 
Peter Abrahams speaking 

Good evening: Once again, a.n d for the ' second time thi.s 
yeex the people of- the Corporate Area are without a bus service. 
You will remember that it was in February of this year tha t we 
had the le.st strike and it lasted for three days during which all 
of Kingston walked to work and :to school. At that time the J oO. S 
workers were protesting against the dismissal of an inspector. A 
government appointed Tribunal later ruled that the company had been 
justified in dismissing the inspector. But th~s, of course, did 
not alter the fact tha t thousands of citizens had suffered great 
inconvenience. So, · in that last strike the workers were proved 
wrong9 Are they wrong again in this one? 

The answer is yes; they are as wrong today as they were in 
February. According to the l aw, end remember public transport 
comes under tll,e Essentia.l Services, they_ should hs,ve obeyed the 
company--'s ins~ructions and then raised the matter with their 
union. That would have been the correct and legal way of ·going 
about the ma ttero But they discovered in Februexy that they 
could break the law and get away wi th it; and so they have taken 
the l aw into the i.r own hands once inoreo But let me add that I 
do not think the company is completely without fault in this caseo 
I think tha t if the company had discussed this ; cloc~ing-in is~ue 
with the workers• representatives in advance we would not now be 
in this/ mess. To spring a ·thing like this on the workers with­
out prior discussion shows bad labour re~ations. But this does 
not alter the fact that the workers have once again broken the 
Essential Services law, and I am sure it i s because they feel 
they will get aw~y with it again. And for thi s the government 
must take a big share of the blameo 

The one good thing that ' has come out of thi s bus strike is 

the magnificent action of the Harbour View Citizen's Association. 
I have told you before now wha t a high regard I have for -the · 



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, Association. Now it has won my unbounded admiration by set­
t~ng, us a very good practical citizen~hip in actiono 

I 
Last night the leaders of the As socia,tion decided to arrange 

their own transport so tha t the working people and the children 
of Harbour View could go to work and school todayo They arranged 
to charter a bus at a cost of ~3. Oo O a trip. · They then got 
a loudspeaker van and drove through the s~eets telling the citizens 
that ~hey' had chartered this bus and that . it would leave Harbour 
View Post Office at 6.30 this morning on its first trip i nto 
Kingston and at 7;30 on a second trip. And this evening, they 
said- the bus ,would make its first trip back to Harbour -View start­
ing from the Kingston Post Office a little after four. And it 
would return for a second and, if necessary, a third trip • . As I 
said, the cost _of hiring t~e bus is £3. o. O a trip . . The bus can 
only carry 30 people a tripo But the- Association is charging 
each passenger only a shilling a trip with half price for school 

' children. So they are going to lose money on this business, and ·, 
- the Association will have to make up the loss 0 

As far as I em concerned this is the rarest and finest example 
of citizenship in action that I ha.ve seen in a very long time. 
Talking about go~d citizenship is very easy. Acting it out is 
not so easy; and this is wha t makes the Harbour View Citizen's 
Associe,tion so unique in Jamaica today, it acts out its professions 
of -good citizenshipo In this it is an example to all of uso 

• ---
Goodnighto 



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---

E rs COI, IENTARY 
For transmi ssion on 
Saturday r ov l~ at 6 . 15p . m 
Peter brahams speaking 

Good evening : I am glad to see that the Joint Constitution 

Committee of our Legislature has decided to write into t he proposed 

constitution for an independent J amaica the i nherent rights of 

citizenship . Now t his word inherent i s very important . It means 

something whi ch i s a part of you, something inborn and bas i c and 

natural . That which i s inherent to you cannot b e t aken from you except 

life itself i s taken f rom you . And t h is word inherent makes a world 

of di fference to me as far as t he pres en t discussion of A Bill of 

i ghts f or Jamaica i s concerned . 

Let me confess quite frankly that right from t he moment t hat this 

talk about a Bill of Rights was raised , I was suspicious and on guard . 

I was neither for nor against, but I was very curious . And to a l arge 

extent I st ill am very curious . row I am no constitut ional lawyer 

and cannot and I do not want to discuss t h is t hing in h i gh- flown 

terms; so I hope you will bear with me if I look at this t hi ng in 

very practi cal ter ms . In t he political tradition of Great Britain 

the peop l e have certain ri ghts that are inalienable , rights that cannot 

be t aken away from them, and their constitution merely affirms t hese 

rights which already exist . In most other democratic countries the 

constitution gives certain rights to the people . And as you know , that 

which i s given to the peop le by the state can also b e taken from the 

people by the state . So here we have two very d i f fer ent approa ches 

to a Bill of Rights : first where t he state recogn ises right s wh ich 

are inherent or inalienable to t he citizen , and second where the 

state gives rights to the citizen ; and as I s a id that which has been 



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given can be taken away . And yet it is t hese kinds of rights, the 

rights that can be taken away because t hey wer e given, that people 

who want B~lls of Rights often press for most . Let us take the example 

of t he right to property . For some people t h is is a more sacred right 

than t he rights to life and liberty (except their own , of course) . And 

so it was that even in Britain t here was a time when peopl e wer e hung 

for stealing a sheep . Of course , if you do have wealth and property 

you are almost bound to val ue ,..,. this as h i gher than t he life and 

liberty of those who do not have propBt~y; and the demand t hat t he 

sacred right to property be entrenched in a Bill of Rights i s r eally 

an attempt to stop t he r edistribution of t he wealth of a country . What 

has in fact happened where t he sacred right of propenyy has been 

entrenched and t he mas s of t he people were mi ser ably poor i s t hat 

you have had revolutions of either t h e Right o ( Left . But t he defenders 

of t he sacred right of property do not seem to l ear n from this . In 

Jamaica today we have all t he legal safeguards necessary for property , 

and if t hese safeguards were entrenched in our constitution t hat should 

be enough . Other people would limit the power of parliament . But to 

limit the power of par liament would in f act be to limit t he power of 

t he people in the running of their country . Clumsy and silly and out 

of touch as it sometimes is , parl iament is still the truest express ion 

of t he will of a people evolved under democratic government . All we 

need i s to entr ench the rule of law wi t hout limiting the power of 

parliament . Ours is a changing , growing society which cannot afford 

to entrench any vested sectional int erest s in a Bill of Ri ght . So 

let us stick to the right s which are t h e inherent aspi rations of al l 

men o Goodnight . 



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No 270 

NEWS COMMENTARY 

The Bus Strike, The Essential SerYices Law 
& the Rule of Law 

For transmission on 
Monday ov 13 at 6 . 15p . m 
Peter Abrahams speaking 

Good evening: Our latest bus str ike was bad enough in iiself: 
~ 

it ut s cores of thousands of people to great hardship , it upset the 
It 

schooling of large numbers of our children completely , and it slowed 

down Kingston ' s business very badly . And people were , and are , 

understandably angry and bitter about all this . I think the feeling 

of most citizens was summed up by the letter which appeared on the 

front page of last Friday's Star and which was signed ; ' Tired Traveller '. 

In this letter ' Tired Traveller' ment ioned the news of a week earlier 

when the J . o . s . had paid its workers approximately £35,000 in back 

__pay , and suggested that with all that money in their pocket s the 

workers did not feel like doing anything until they had spent their 

sudden riches . ' Tired Traveller' then suggested that i f these people 

no longer wished to work they should make room for the vast army of 

unemployed , many of whom wou l d jump at the chance to take the jobs of 

these strikers . I have found the views expr essed by 'f i red Tr aveller 

pretty widespread among people who have been the victims of this 

latest bus strike . 
in ter ms 

Another view , wh i ch I think is very much more serious ~x~mx:im:R 
of our future , 
i~N8~XRxmx_mixzx~fxrlRN, has to do with the way in which t his strike 

has undermined our respect for the rule of law . People have sai d 

' What is the good of having this Essential Servmces Law if anybody 

can break it and get away? ' And some others have said : "The law in 

Jamaica seems to be prejudiced : if t he employers , rather than t he 

workers, had broken the law t here would have been some firm and quick 

action '. And you know , there is enough validity in t hese remarks f or 



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us not to be able to just dismiss them . And this, I feel, is a very 

serious situation . 

The law, any law, can only operate successfully as long as the 
a 

citizens of xo country accept it, respect it, agree to live by it, and 

know that it will apply impartially to all of them . And if they accept 

that mu ch then they will also accept the right of the state to enforce 

that law if any citizen or group of citizens break it . That is the 

essence of the rule of law . And for the survival and the continuation 

of the rule of law enforcement is important . The authorities - must 

be able to punish those who break the law . 

If at any time anybody can break the law and get away with it, 

then there is either something wrong with the law, or with the enforce­

ment of the law, or with both. Sp when Mr . Seivright , the Minister of 

Home Affairs , told us in a statement on Friday that it is extremely 

difficult to prosecute successfully under the Essential Services Law, 

we are entitled to feel that something is wrong with the law . A i aw 

which cannot be enforced is a bad law . And since the government is 

responsible¢ for the passing of our laws, t hey must be held responsible 

for this bad law . They must either rewrite the law so that whoever 

breaks it can be successfully prosecuted, or t hey nrust scrap it 

altogether . To wash their hands of t his responsibility is to contribute 

to t h e break- dovm of the rule of law . 

To my mind then the most serious long- term harm done by t his 

strike is the way in wh ich it has undermined respect for t he rule of 

law in the minds of large numbers of our citizens . .And t hat is very 

dangerous for t he future . Goodnight . 



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• ......---- I "'< The Colour Bar Aspect 

NE'WS COMMfil TARY 
For transmission on 
Thursday Nov 16 at 6 . 15p . m 
Peter brahams speaking 

Good evening : I have found reactions to the latest developments 

in Britain's moves to restrict coloured i mmigrants, mos t interesting 

and most revealing . I t hink we all knew right from the start that 

colour came into this business . ost of us said so, either publicly 

or among ourselves . And yet when the British Home Secretary, Mr . 

Butler , announced yesterday that the restrictions would not apply 

to the citizens of the Irish Republic , many of us reacted with shock 

and horror . Why t he sho ck and horror? We all knew t h is was a colour 

bar thing . I had said so a number of times on this pro gramme; the l ast 

time I said so was as recently as twelve days ago, on ovember the 4th . 

The only new th i ng that has happened is that the British Government 

has decided to give up the pr etense that this is not a colour bar 

decision . Are we then shocked and horrified because the British 

government has dec i ded to be frank and honest? Or is it that we would 

have preferred not to have this ugly thing come out into the open? 

That we would have preferred to go on hoping t hat it might not really 

be based on colour? 

I think it is a mixture of both : we would have preferred t he 

fiction to go on; we would have preferred to go on hoping that it was 

not straight colour , no matter what it looked like . I think t h is is 

so because J amaicans , and indeed most peop l e who have been under 

British .colonial rule, have always cherished a s trange and very deep 
and 

faith in British justice , /in British fairness . Th ere has b een a sort 

unspoken belief in t h e moral superiority of t he Brit i sh over almost 

all other men . And when you set p eopl e up on t hat sort of pedes t al 

you exp ect more f rom t hem t han you expect from les s er men ; and you al so 



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give more of your loyalty and your faith to them than you would to 

others . And so we have the concept of the Mother Country, charged 

with all that the word ' mother' implies . For most of us ' mother' means 
trust , love , safety , security, someone to whom we can always turn in 

times of trouble . And now the mother country has let us down and in 

the process she has destroyed one of our most cherished i l l usions . 

In effect she has said that even in this Commonwealth an empire t here 

is a differenc e between white and black . She has said that Irishmen 

who are not even British subjects will be allowed in without any 

restrictions but Jamaicans and other coloured people who are British 

subjects will be restricted . And this , let us fac e it , is the view of 

the maj ority of British citizens . 

And yet , you know , we ourselves contributed to this situation . 

I am not saying.that this would not have happened if we had behaved 

differently . hat I am saying is that we made it easier for the British 
to take this action . You will remember that out of self- interest 

Trinidad rejected freedom of movement among West Indians in the West 

I ndies . And the British tories have used this to justify their action . 

And when we in Jamaica decided that we had no obligation to the 1egker 

and smaller islands of the West Indies , we made it easier for Britain 

to decide that she was under no obligation to us . And so it that once 

more we are seeing meanness , selfishness , aNM small- mindedness and 

prejudice being used t o justify even greater meanness and selfishness 
and small- mindedness and prejudice . And in the process a very great 

and a very noble idea is dying : but I ' ll tell you about that tomorrow : 
so till then, goodnight . 



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.L,J.J.'C.' VV U1ilJ.VJ.J.n '\..,, \..A....a. V J..&. .LU11J.1""- 1:; J.. I.AU .1..V J. J. ,J,.,,J,.L. J..J.. • 

The Commonwealth Aspect 

-EWs C01'4ME: T RY 
---or transmission on 

Friday Nov 17 a t 6 . 15p . m 
Pet er br ahams speaking 

Good evening: When Mr . Manley condemned the British decision to 

restrict mi gr ation , in a statement issued in London on Tuesday evening, 

he said : "The Commonwealth will never be the same again" . I am prepared 

to go a stage further: I think it i s only a matter of time before the 

Commonwealth falls apart . Indeed , I t hink t he Commonwealth idea and 

ideal is dying right before our eyes . And even if t he Commonwealth 

stayed together for t he next ten or fifteen years , it will be as a 

t hing of convenience . It will be as a loose union based on self­

interests with each member being in it just for what he can get out 

of it . The i dealism, the vision , the striving for a universal pat t ern 

o-f' political morality will have gone out of 1 t . And it will cease t o 

be one of t he gr eat est factors for peace in the world . And the gr eat 

examp le of men of diff erent races colours and creeds and of diff er ent 

countri es with different cultural backgrounds working and striving 

together for t he same ideals - t hat great example will be lost to the 

world , perhaps forever . 

ow,~~ the Commonwealth and no part of the Commonwealth has ever 

really achieved this great i deal . It may well be t hat it i s in any 

case impossible t o achieve this ideal . But the very a ct of striving 

f or a gr eat i deal makes those who strive for it more noblexxN«xg±JCEK 

and invests their lives and what they do with grandeur o 

But what do all these fine words mean in reality? The worl d in 

which we live today i s a pretty sorry sort of p l ace . It it divided 

on lines of race , of colour , of class , as well a s on lines of political 

i deology . Some parts of it are rich, others are poor; some people in 

it are permanently underfed while others have more than they can eat 



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and have to destroy surplus stocks of food so as to make sure prices 

do not fall because of a glut on the market . 

Into this rather sorry world , and out of the gr eatest empire of 

this century came the British Commonwealth . It came almost by accident . 

And Britain was at the centre of it . And t he idea was that this empire 

which had been transformed into a commonwealth could develop into a 
free 

strong community of/nations, scattered all over the world , in which 
one day 

all the citizens would/enjoy the same basic freedoms . The idea was 

that in the economic field they would all work together to their best 

mutual economic advantage . The strong wou l d help the weak , the rich 

would help the poor, t hose with special skills and know- how would help 

to train those without . And so standards would be raised and a common 

prosperity achieved for all . I n a world torn by strife and fear and 

hunger and conflict, this was a wonderful idea . If this idea succeeded 

it would be an example to all men . It would show that men could change 

the world in which they live,that men could destroy prejudices of 

race and colour without having to make ~EXNhx±~x x violent and bloody 

revolutions . But to succeed , someone, one country, had to lead in the 

journey towards this ideal . That country could only be Britain . She was 

the strongest , the oldest, the most experienced, the richest . And to 

lead successfully she had to be the symbol for all the other members . 

For years Britain was that symbol . ow she has decided that the price 

of being the symbol of that great ideal is too high because it means 

racial integration in Britain itself . And so we are witnessing the 

death of what I consider the noblest ideal of t he 20th centnny . 

Goodnight . 



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4 - EVfS MENT RY 
9~ For trans mi ss ion on 

' ~ ov /g at 6 . 15p . m 
- t1~ Abrahams speaking 

J.1.l'O' .LVOV VJ.J..L\,., V J.•J.11.:, 00 

Good evening : Every now an d then some listener brings to my 

attention some matter which seems impossible, someth ing so fant astic 

t hat if t he listener did not supply me with proof that the particular 

thing had happened , I would refuse to believe it . I want to tell you 

of one such event this evening . 

I have in my possession right now an envelope wh ich was posted 

on the 13th of December 1960 and which finally reached its destination 

on t he 27th of October , 1961 . This envelope contained a cheque settling 
there 

an account . It was posted at Cross Roads and the post office/has 

- - clearly date- stamped it ae having passed through t heir hands on 

December 14th, 1960 . The letter with the cheque in it was going to 

an address not very far from Cross Roads . But between the time when 

it was date- stamped at the Cro ss Roads post office , and t h e time it 

reached where it was going, ten solid months passed . Unbeli evable, 

isn ' t it? Well , it happened and I have t he evidence, and I will be 

only too glad to show it to our Postmaster General any time he wishes 

to see it . It is a cold hard fact that one important letter settling 

an ac count took ten months to go from one part of Kingston to another . 

Now, I am not saying that this sort of thing happens every day ; 

but it does happen and I am afraid it happens a little too often for 

us to dismi s s it as just one of t hose rare freak acci dents . We have 

heard all too often of letters taking ten days or a week or a month 

or longer to get from one part of Kingston to anoth er . So t his ten 

month t h ing is just an extreme examp l e of something wh ich has become 

all too common in our postal service . 



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Let me g ive you anoth er examp le which is l ess dramatic but 

equally serious . A letter which was clearly addressed was pos ted 

in t . Ann's Bay on September 21st . It was not de livered in Kingston 

until October 28th . And the post offi ce explanation was that it had 

been incorrectly delivered in the first ins t ance and t hat the person 

t o whom it was de l ivered did not return it to t he post of fice 

immediately . ow t he striking t h ing about t h is explanation by the 

post off i c e was that it was not a letter written to t his par ticular 

person . It was a stenci l led l et t er and t h e date of it , October 25th , 

was stencilled t oo . This , as you know , means t hat a l a r ge number of 

copies of this expl anation , all dat ed October 25th, mus t have be en 

printed , other wise you do not cut a stenc~l . So I t hink it i s reasonable 

to assume t hat there must have been quite a large number of so - called 

wrongly delivered letters wh ich turned up a month or more l ate and for 

which t h e Pos t Office put out t h i s s t an dard explanation . 

Surely , t here must be s omet h ing ser ious ly wr ong i f one of our 

biggest government organisations function like t h is . And I do not 

t h ink just putting the blame on t he pos t men is a ll t he answer . In t he 

main they are a hardworking bunch of men who try to do their bes t . But 

if the l eadership they get i s poor , if pl anning i s poor , t hen their 

b est will not be good enough . And the l eadershi p , in this case , is 

t he Ministry of Communications . The House of Repr esentatives i s due 

to meet soon . I hope s ome bold 1.H .. will raise t his mes s at the 

Post Of fice on the floor of the Hou s e . Goodn i ght . 



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,., .._, '- I '-' 

EWS COMMENTARY 
For transmission on 
Monday Nov 20 at 6 . 15p . m 
eter Abrahams speaking 

Good evening : It is per haps appropriate that the last Constitution 

Day before Jamaican independence should see the country's leaders 
making 

once more wrestling with ahe problems of/a constitution . And this one 

should be the final constitution for as far ahead into the future as 

we can imagine . So the one that is now in the making is by far the 

most important for all of us . It is for this reason that I was 

particularly glad that such good progr ess seems to have been made on it . 

At ±ME!X:fixs::t his Press Conference on Friday morning Mr . Manl ey 

reported that the Committee working on the Constitution had achfueved 

a remargable degree of broad agreement in principle . And that , as far 

as I am concerned, is saying a very great dea l indeed for the political 

maturity of our two maj or parties . It also shows , I feel , that the two 

party system has taken deeper roots here in J amaica than almost 

anywhere else among Britain ' s former colonies . All we have to do is 
newer 

look at some of the other/countries of the Commonwealth to see the 

truth of this . 

In Kenya there is a constitutional crisis building up because the 

two maj or African parties (which control most of the seats in the 

legislature) will not sit together at the constitutional conference 

table . In Ghana most of the members of the opposition party are 

in jail, and the very weak two - party system seems to be dying fast . 

Only in Nigeria does the two party system look as though it has a 

hopeful future and there it is based on the three powerful tribal 

groupings . Tanganyika lmoks like one of the most hopeful countries 
t't-0 

in terms of democratic development but forceful second party has so 



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far emerged . In Jamaica , on the other hand, the two - party system is 

older than the 1944 Constitution . Indeed , it was the effective working 

of the two - party system that brought that constitution into being . 

From all this I think we can fairly say that although constitutions 

are important , what the people of a country bring to their constitution 

and to the maki ng of it is of even greater importance . As Mr . Manley 

said to the press people on Friday monning , a constitution is just a 
is 

piece of paper . It/what the people of a country bring to it that 

makes it important . And it is because the people of Jamaica have, 

over t he years , developed a high degree of political sophistication 

and maturity that the leaders of our major parties can ~ink their 

differences and work together to draft this new constitution. No 

piece of paper could have forced them to do this . Just as no piece of 

paper could force our civil servants to serve a P .N.P . government 

loyally and , if there is a change of government , to serve the other 

party just as loyally and faithfully. All these - the two party system , 

the secret ballot , the rule of law, the non- political civil service, 

the liberties of the individual , the right of property - all these 

are already part of our cons titu tio . The i av beAo e part of tne 

tradit1nna l wo of doi t.hing i llis country. And these, I am sure, 

are the things our new constitution will enshrine . 

But the big thing that we must always remember, and t his too r . 

Manley mentioned , is that the people of a country are the true guardians 1 

and creators 
/of their liberties and that is a responsibility we cannot transfer to 

a piece of paper , no matter how beaut i fully written . Goodnight . 



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l'JO c."("( ~XJOelllX~'.XX:JUUJ. 
remier ' s Regular Month ly Press Conference 

NE.W§ CO TARY 
For transmi ss ion on 
Tuesday .- Nov 21 at 6 . 15p .m 
Peter Abrahams speaking 

Good evening : Mr . Man l ey ' s resw Conference of last Fri day morning 

was the first of what we hope will be a regu lar monthly affair . At 

these conferences the idea wi ll be to bring the people closer to the 

workings of their government t hrough press and r adio reports . Those 

of us who attended that first conference reali sed the value of it 

straightaway . And you, the listeners, heard extract s of tha t conference 

over your radios the same evening and read a pret ty full r eport of it 

in your papers the next morning . 

In a conference l asting just abou t an hour and a half Mr . Manley 

informed the country, through press and radio , of a number of most 
told 

important thi ngs . He txik:elixxE11!l'.lll:XXJ!XXEXXfl!§:r us the wo rk on the 

Constitution was going well and that a draft should be r eady before 

the end of thi s year . He said t his would give the co~ntry an opportunity 

to discuss the draft constitution very thoroughly before ±MR a 

delegation goes to London to sett le our independence . He told us 

of the country ' s defence pl ans for independence and he also dmscus s ed 

what the gover nment was doing and what the t hinking was on foreign 

affairs . On some of these matters Mr . Manley· could not be very 

explicit . He could not, for instance , say anything very firm and 

clearcut on Foreign Affairs ; and rightly so because that would be 

the responsibility of the gover nment we vote into power to lead the 

country into independence . But he did say that , speaking for himself, 

he did not see how J amaica had anything to gain from a neut r alist 

foreign policy . My own feeling is that as a matter of cold f act 

this is the way both the .N.P . and the J . L.P . will approach f ore i gn 

affairs; so I do not see foreign affairs as an issue in the coming 



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election - certainly not between the two major parties . Whether the 

Peoples olitical arty will make it an issue is something still to be 

seen . In t he early days of t he P . P .. Mr . iillard Johnson did tal k 

about a neutralist foreign policy , but sinc e then he made common 

cause with Mrs . Rose Leon and some of the more radical elements have 

left the P .P .P . and so we cannot be sure until the .P .P . issues its 

election manifesto . 

In any event, at that first press conference we got a great deal 

of clarification on a number of most important matters . And that was 

a very good thing indeed . Some of you may remember that I have often 

complained that far too few people were aware of what t heir government 

was doing and thinking and that thi s had led to a feel ing that t he 

business of government was none of their business . You will recall I 

I had told you how impressed I was with how familiar I found Trinidadians 

were with the business of their government . And I told you I thought 

Dr o illiams' regular weekly press conferences plus the broadcasts of 

debates in the Trinidad parliament had a great deal to do with it . So 

I am very happy indeed that we will have these r egular press conferences . 

If the succeeding ones are anything like last Friday's then they should 

be very useful indeed to the whole country . The plan is that Mr. Manley 

will let the journalists know in advance the subjects he wants to 

discuss and t he journalists in turn will let him know what they want 

to discuss , so that both s i des will come to the conference well 

prepared . I think t his is so important that I hope it b ecomes a regular 

feature of J amai@an public life , no matter what party gains power . It 
unhappy 

will help to bridge the/gap t hat now exists bet ween t he rulers and 

the ruled . Goodnight o 



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,..,._ '--I....., 

NEWS CO MENT RY 
For transmission on 
Wednesday Nov 22 at 6 . 15p . m 
Pet er Abrahams speaking 

Good evening : I like the sound of the new Ten Year Plan very 

much and I also like the new thinking which it sugges t s . I f I under 

stand the basic I dea of t he plan correctly then i t can be defined i n 

this way : under the old Ten Year Development lan the government had 

or anticipated having so much money and merely planned how t o spend 

what it had or expected to get . Under t he new plah the basic needs 

of t he country will be worked out and then we wi ll go l ooking for the 

money to pay for these needs . If this definition is correct , then 

this is a radically new approach to planning in J amaica . And I think 

the effects of it are go ing to be very far - reaching . 

When rrr . Manley told us about this plan he said the Central 

Planning Unit had been working on it for t he best part of a year . 

This means t hat this plan was being worked on l ong before the r eferendum 

and cannot therefore be considered as a political move which is 

suddenly being sprung on us for election pur poses . Indeed , t he 

Premier hims elf said that t h is Plan would be there for the country, 

no matter which party won the corning election . 

Before we had news of this new Plan most of us were not quite 

sure what Mr . Egerton Richardson and Mr . Ivo Desouza were doing in 

Israel . I certainly could not make any sense out of the visit, es pecially 

when I read a report that these two gent lemen had visited military 

camps . But now the visit does make sense, because Israel is one of 

the countries which has p ioneered the kind of p lanning and action 

implicit in the new Ten Year Plan . 

One of the key features of Israeli planning was and is the the 



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very high degree of participation by t h e people , especially the young 

people, in t he building of the country ' s prosperity . The p lanning 

and a chieving of Israeli prosperity was not merely the government's 

business , or t he business of the capitalists or t he moneyed people , 

or the business of t he workers or t he trades unions . It was everybody' s 

business . And in t he early days of t he building of the young state , 

doctors and t eacher, lawyers and of fic e workers , professors and 

housewives , all l eft t heir offices and their homes and studies and 

went out at weekends to help on construction work or turn the desert 

into a flowering garden of food and fruit . obo dy was too h igh or 

mighty or important for t he work of building the prosperity of the 

nation with their own bare hands . But the core of t he whole effort 

were t he young peop le . In the early days camps of young men and 

women , all dressed in kkaki shorts and shirt , almost became the 

symbol of Israel . They lived and worked in these camps . They got their 

food and shelter and a very small allowance and they worked harder 

and longer than the most h ighl y paid workers anywhere in the world . 

And they did t his because they had faith in themselves and f a ith in 

their dream of building a happy and pr osperous country for t hemselves . 

And they performed a miracle which is there for all the world to see . 

If I am right in thinking t hat this new Ten Year Plan is conceived 

in the spirit in which Israeli p lanning was , and demands the best from 

everyone of us , then we are certainly starting on a new road of high 

and creative national adventure for t he good of all the peop l e of 

Jamaica . et the government give us the tools , and l et us , the citizens 

of the country, do the job of building a truly better J amaica for all . 

Goodnight . 



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Is there a swing? 

NEWS COMMEN TARY 
For transmission on 
Friday Nov 24 at 6 . 15p . m 
Peter Abrahams speaking 

Good evening : Polling Day - December 4th which is now less than 

ten days away - is the same for both Barbados and Tr inidad . But while 
and 

there a r e reports of emergencies , violence , /death even from .Trinidad , 

events in Barbados are moving along with the traditional Bajan calm 

and sense of order . Any news of violenc e i n the Barbados election 

campaign would be most surprising and most unexpected . 

But beneat h the calm of the Barbados elect ion campaign there are 

some very interesting developments . Reports suggest t hat there is a 

very real chance that the Barbados Labour Party may lose this electi on . 

Certainly , it would seem that the chanc &.; fof ±u Sir Grant l ey Adams ' 

Labour Par ty losing have never been as real as now since the coming 

of ·adult suffr age t o Barbados . The best ±1«:a:t hope t hat most experienced 

observers would concede the Barbados Labour Party is that the result of 

the lection may be so close that neither it nor the opposition Democratic 

Laboun Party may win an outright majority . In that event/ we may see 

a minority party l~ke the Barbados National Party , which is conservative , 

holding the balance of power . And. the National Party is more likely 

to form a coalition with Sir Grantley ' s party than with the more 

radically inclined Democratic Labour Party . Of course, all t he observers 

may be wrong and Sir Grantley may once again do what he ha s eo often 

done in the past - pull a victory rabbit out of the hat . 

But let us look at t he line up of forces . On the one side is the 

Barbados Labour Party which ha s been in power for so long tha t the 

younger people cannot remember a time b efore its rule . In the main 

it is the party of the old men , solid, steady and experienced in the 

handling of power . Reports from Bridgetown suggest that it has conducted 



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a dull and lacklustre campaign, offering no really new ideas, and 

certainly not firing the imaginations of the younger people who have 

re~ched the voting age over the past three or four years . In this party 

the only really outstanding fifgure , the only one with any personal 

glamour and appeal, is Sir Gr antley Adams who has been so preoccupied 

~ a i ters { hat he has had very little time to devote to the problems of 

his party at home . 

On the other side is the Democratic Labour Party , t he party of 

the young men, of Er;roll Barrow and Cameron Tudor . They are good 

speakers , they give the impres sion of being full of new ideas and they 

are eager and pushing for power . They seemed to have injected real 

ecitement into the campaign and , much more important, they seem to 

have aroused the emotions of the voters, especially the young vot ers 

who are unfamiliar with Sir Grantley ' s past record and past achievments . 
new 

And the Democratic Labour Party has one very powerful/ally . In the 

past the Barbados trade union movement has always back the Barbados 

Labour Party at election time . Indeed there was a time when the link 

between the ruling party and the trade union movement was taken for 

granted . But in this election campaign Mr . Frank Walcott , one of the 

most distinguished and respected trade union leaders in the entire 

region, has thrown his considerable weight behind the D. L. P . If the 

young men of t he D. L.P . win power nn December 4th, Walcott will be able 

to claim much credit for it . So , on the face of it, it looks as t hough 

there could be a swing in Barbados . But do not bank on it . The magic of 

~rantley Adams could swing things back . The whole situation is most 

interettinglt fluid at this moment in time . Goodnight . 



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The outbreak of violence . 

EWS COMl, • TARY 
For transmission on 
Thursday i:·ov 23 at 6 . 15p . m 
Peter brahams speaking 

-, l f;,Js-1 
Good evening : Yesterdayfi we had the news from Trinidad t hat the 

Governor , Sir Solomon Hochoy, had declared a state of emergency in - · - ~ 
. ~ ~.--l- tL. t.l I, • .\. /}_L-(.._..,J- t,:;.c,f . 

'7we electoral districts .. w+-..i-b~~ ~ us't in ane. Bar taria. This is the I - o 

result of a very disturbing outbreak of violence t hat has hit that 

country now that polling day is only ten days away . 

The immediate r eason behind the declaration of t he state of 
on Monday of 

emer gency is t hat/~a~x±Er t his week ixx±mrt one man was shot dead 
near P . o . s . 

and four others were seriously injured at a public meetingj Before 

t h is meetings had been stoned , party constituency offic es had been 

invaded and s mashed and t he homes of cand i dates had also been stoned . 

To try and cope with this problem Tr inidad ' s polic e authorities have 

set up emergency police stations in the more explosive areas and t he 
cons t ab l es 

Governor has appealed to ex- servicemen to join up as s pecial/p11d:i:gm 

for the election per io d . 

But almost more serious than t he violence itself is the story 

behind it because it is a story that h i ghlights in a most dramatic 

form the problem of t he rule of law i n one aspect of the political life 

of a country . 

On October the 15th Dr . Rudranat h Capildeo , the l eader of Trinidad ' s 

Democr atic Labour Party Opposition , s poke at a mons t er public meeting 

at ueens Par k Savannah . This , inc id entally, is opposite the home of 

the Governor General of the Wes t Indies , Lord Hailes . It was one of t he 

lrgest political meet ings ever heli in the his tory of Trinidad . At 

t hat meeting Dr . Capildeo told his audience to break up all meet ings 

of Dr . tlilli ams ' Peoples rationa l [ovement, whenever and wherever 

they wer e held . He told h i s followers to run the P .. } . out without 



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allowing t heir speakers to be heard . And then he told his follo wers 

to arm t hemse lves with weapons to take over the country . 

Now t his was clear incitement to violence and under t he Trinidad 

law , which is much the same as t he law of J amaica , r . Capildeo had 

laid himself open to prosecution . The Trinidad Guardian made just 

t hat point when it editorially condewned Dr . Cap ildeo ' s speech . But 

Tr inidad ' s law officers did noth ing about t his open incitement to 

violence; and t his is where the political consider a tion comes in . 

If Dr . Capildeo were prosecuted , the D. L . P . could set him up as 

a martyr and build their campaign around his prosecution . And this , 

skilfully handled , could be very embarrassing for the P .N.M. and mxi 

could even lose them the election . lternatively , the prosecution of 

Dr . Capildeo could have led to an earlier and even more serious 

outbreak of violence and communal rioting . These are t he arguments 

which could , and have been advanced in certain Trinidadian quarters , 

f or nothing being done about Dr . Capildeo 1 s open incitement to violence 

and rebellion . 

On the other side of t he penny, there are t hose who f eel that 

if t he law had acted firmly and impartially and prosecuted Dr . Capildeo, 

just as it would have done with any other citizen who broke t h e law, 

t he violence and death of t his week might not have taken p lace . They 

feel the law has shown itself to be weak and influenced by political 

consideration . Those are t he two sides of the penny . What is certain 

is t hat t his outbreak of violence in Trinidad is one of t he gr eatest 

challenges ever posed to t he rule of law in that country . Goodnight . 



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NEifS COM!• fil\ T RY 
For transmi ss ion on 
Saturday Nov 25 at 6 . 15p . m 
Peter Abrahams speaking 

Good evening : Tr . Harold Bahusac ' s warning t hat the operations 

of t he Wes t Indi es Sugar Company at Frome may collapse i s very serious 

indeed . Tr . l±x Cahusac said that t l:e Fr ome Division of the Wes t 

Indies Sugar Company made only 1 . 4% profit on ii its 1961 sugar crop 

operations . He also pointed out something whi ch most people tend to 

forget and t hat i s t hat h is estate , as indeed all t he big J amaican 

suagr estat es , are run on money inves t ed by peopl e in Engl and . -ow , 

when peopl e invest money in any ent erprise they do s o because t hey 

hope to get some ret urn from it . This is normal business practice and 

t here is nothing sinister in it . 
- ment 

Generally speaking , t he bulk of the invest/in something like a 

sugar company or a mine come from peopl e who are not f ant as tically 

rich . In Engl and for instance , old l adi es wh o have inherited a little 

money , sometimes it is a f ew t housand pounds , are among the most 

i mportant inves tors . These peopl e put their inheritance or their 

annuity or their savings into something wh ich looks safe and which 

p romi ses them a reasonable and s t eady return on their invest ment . This 

i s how some of the biggest firms abroad get their vas t sums of capita l . 

Often, the money of these small inves tors make up as much as half or 

two - t hi rds of tbe total capi tal of some big concern . And for t hese 

small investors the steady income f ~·om their investment i s as 

i mportant as is the wage packet to t he worker . Som~ ol l ady who 

has inherited a house and two t housand pounds will 6ften . o the 

advi_e of her lawyer , put the t wo t housand pounds into some safe 

business which would ensure her a return of 10%. This wi ll give her 

e. steady income of ;..,200 a year to l i ve off . But i the interest drops 



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fro m 10% to 5% or less she will end up havin3 only £100 or less x~ 
a year to live of f . As long a s she is prepared to do t h~t thinGs are 
fj e for t he company which is using her money . But if she decides 
that she cannot live off t hat money and might do better with it else­
where and withdr aws the money then things will b egin to get rough 
for the mmning company or the shi pping company or the sugar company 
which i s using her money . And if ten t housand other small investors 
make t he same decision t hen the company is in serious trouble . And it 
i s at this point t hat the country where t he money is invested begins 
to feel the p i nch . Because of the f light of investment capita l t he 
company may decide to cut down on its operations . }md this in turn may 
mean the laying of f of some of its workers and so creating unemployment . 

This danger of the flight of investment capital i s the essence of 
Mr . Cahusac 's warning . And if the situation in the sugar indus try is 
t hat the investor got only 1 . 4% return on h i s investment for the 1961 
crop oper at i on then the danger is very real and very serious . One of 

jThe r easonsfor this situat ion , 1-"r . Cahusac says is t hat thw wo rker 
is not giving a f air day ' s work for a fair day ' s pay . He says t hat over 
the pas t few years wages have gone up from 2/6 a day to 10/- a day , but 
alt hough the worker earns four times more today he gives half as much 
wo rk as he did whenhe got a quart er of his present pay . And so our 
cost of producing a ton of sugar i s roughly £16 more t han t hat of Cuba, 
which means Cuba can sell her sugar cheaper on the worl d market than we 

• can . Look at this anyway you like and the fact still remains t hat the 
workers of Jamaica wi ll suffer grievously if Jamaica ' s sugar industry 
collapsed for what ever reason . Goodnight . 



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DTS COHMElJ TARY 
For transmission on 
Monday Nov 27 at 6 . 15p . m 
Pet er Abrahams speaking 

Go od evening : At their annual Conference yes t erday the leaders 

of the J amaica Labour Party gave u s an outline of t he pol i c ies on 

which t hey wi l l fight the coming gener al election , and which t hey wi ll 

persue i f e l ected . They also named t he people who mi ght be r egar ded 

a s t he i r hadow Cabinet and the po s t s t hese people will hol d if t he 

;it .L .P . wins . • 

Of course what was given out was only t he outline of poli cy . 

A co mmi tt ee is now busy draft ing a ful l Election .fan ifesto which wi ll 

no do ·bt be publi shed later . s you know, we alr eady have t he People ' s 

at ional a r ty 's olicy St a t ement which was adopted a t t heir annual 

conferenc e earli er this mont h and which has been -pub lished i n the 

pr ess i n sections . 

So , bear i ng i n mind that the J . L.P .' s pol i cy is only i n outli ne , 

zxN let us see wher e t he two policies agree and where t he diff er on 

major mat t ers . First l et us l ook at the a r ea of agr eement . Both par ties 

are agreed on the impo rtance of agriculture ; both agree that the use 

of land must be planned . But t here is a difference in stress . The P . N. P . 

plan proposes to enact measures to ensure t hat land will be put to 

good use and will provide t hat every f ar mer with more than 100 acres 

who leaves t he bu l k of his l and in i dl eness will have Ni t hat idle 

part of h is land leased by the government for a f a ir rental and with 

an opt ion to buy . Such land will then be rented to tenants who mus t 

undertake to deva&pp it ac cording ton~ a p lan . If , on the other hand , 

the farmer with more than 100 acres does try to develop all h i s land, 

the Government will do everything to hel p him within t he l imits of 

its resourc es . So the P . .P . plan envisages a combination of i n centi ve:i; 



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and controls . Those who make good use of their land will be h elped: 

those who persist in leaving large chunks of their land idle will have 

to rent it to others who will make good use of it . The J . L .P . outline 

sees the development of the small farmers, to use Mr . Seaga ' s own 

words "as the greatest single potential for the development of Jamaica" 

and it is proposed that farmers who become efficient and produce will 

be able to get more land to develop . So the J . L . P . plan also envisages 

incentives but , in the outline at least, ther e is no indication of any 

controls for those who do not produce and who do not become efficient . 

Ba:b perhaps this point of difference will disappear when the details 

of t he J . L .. mani f esto is published . 

Still on agrm.culture , both parties are agreed on the importance 

of proper marketing arrangements . The P . N.P . plan proposes that the 

government or some agency created by t he government will buy all z~ 

produce of certain crops grown on speciflied land and at fixed prices . 

Buying depots will b e set up for this purpose and the agency will 

dis tribute t he crops t hroughout the country or else can and preserve 

them for future use . The J . L.P . outline proposes the s etting up of 

a Marketing Authority with headquarters in Kingston and branches all 

over the country . It is planned to provide each of t he major branches 

with equipment for buying , cleaning, gr ading and packing for distribution 

of t he food grown by t he farmers . The language here is differBnt but 

the basic approach on marketing seems to be t h e same in both parti es , 

or , at least , in the election plans of both parties . 

But time is up , so I will try to finish t his balancing of the two 

programmes tomorrow . So, till then , Goodnight . 



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.v 

ro cOj r . ~ . r . ~ u . ~.r . ~~ec~ion rrogrammes \ cJ 

EWS COMM TARY 
For transmi ss ion on 
Tuesday Nov 28 at 6 . 15p .m 

eter Abrahams speaking 

Go od evening : You will remember that l as t night I discussed the 

approa ch of the two major parties to l and use and agricultural marketing 

as expressed in the P . N . . policy statement an d t he outline of J . L .P . 

policy which was g iven in speeches at Sunday ' s annual conference of 

the J . L . . You will also remember that I found the basic approach of 

both parties mu ch the same . The one po int of differenc e was that the 

. N.P . ' s approa ch was a combination of incentives and controls where 

the l and was persistently left idle . The J .L . P . also offered incentives 

but said nothing about dealing with farmers who d i d not make good use 

of the land . But this point of d ifference , I said , may disappear 

when the J . L .. comes to publish its manifesto in full . 

It is not possible to carry tNxEa~~~ thi s sort of point- by- point 

compari son very f a r down the line because we do not as yet have t he 

full J . L . . policy statement . It was relatively easy with agriculture 

because t his was t he one point , according to news reports , on which 

the J .L .. gave mos t details . 

The . L.P . proposed the setting up of what they call Vocational 

Training Camps on a mas sive scale for t he youth of the country to 

learn some vocation after leaving school . And there would be opportunitie 

for adult training too . Here again, the two parties seem agr eed on the 

basic i dea of national training camps for our youth . But on the face 

of it there i s again a diff erence in emphasis . As I understand it, t he 

P . . i dea is more than just vocational training for the young : it is 

that plus a definite patt ern of civilian nationa l service in the 

interest of the country . But here again t he apparent gap may disappear 

when we get the details of t he J . L . . manifesto . 



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try 
I think it would be most unfair to XDx~xx.x~ to carry the 

compari son any further than this point . The P .N.P . has issued its 

policy s tatement in full and so we know what it proposes to do about 

ro ads , about electric power , about hous ing . The J . L.P . has so far only 

said that they will t ackle the problems of hou s ing , water supply , 

road , light power, electricity , me ical facilities , clin ics, post offic s 

and postal agencies . To find out just how they will tackle these 

probl ems we wi ll have to wait for the detailed statement of their 

manifesto . And when we have t hat detailed statement we may find t hat 

some points which now look like differences may turn out to be points 

of agreement, while points on which it now seem there i s agreement 

may turn out to be diff erenc es . 

But in spi te of all this , I do feel we can now arrive at one or 

two basic conclusions about the poli cies of t he two parties for the 

coming election . It would seem that the needs of t he country and the 

mood of the peopl e are such that a certain degree of national r adicalism 

i s demanded of both parti es . Ther e are certain basic jobs that have t o 

be tackled and on the whole they requir e planning . So both parties mus t 

offer the country p lanning . Ther e is economic inequality so both parties 

mus t offe r greater economic equality . The P . N. P . programme t a lks about 

an old age pension scheme ; I shall be most surprised if the J . L .. 

programme does not also come out wit h a pens ions scheme . No party wi t h 

a conservative programme could hope to win the next election so we will 

all be radical and the issue is likely to turn on which of the radicals , 

the old or the new , are best qualified to l ead the country to 

independence . Goodnight . 



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1. Nur§ing •Situation 
2. N. W.U. on Wiadcat strike 

NEWS COMMENTARY 
For transmission on 
l[Hllf Wednesday Nov. ~ at 6.p.mo 
Peter Abrahams speaking · 

, 
Good evening: The J amaica Trained Nurs~~ Association ha& been in 

ct.s...:...-. 
touch DI with me to tell me of the unhappy mess in which the entire 

nursing service now seems to be. bx As you know, under pressure 

~ r. Tossy Kelly of the N~tional Workers Union the Mini s ter of 

Health uztiiixu introduc \the 42 hour \ week wi1lout reference to 
the nursing organisation and without consulting the matrons whose 

responsibility it is to translate these decision into reality. 

The result is that there is utter confusion in the nursing profession 

and we f ace the danger of a complete breakdown of discipline in the 

running of our nursing serviceso 

I have heard distressing stories of junior nurses being agres­

sive and abusive towaxds senior nurses, matrons an d tho s e in authority 

over them. The fine discipline, the dedication, the sense of 

service whichlil.s always been outstanding as the hall-mark of the 

nursing profes sion throughout the world now seems to be in very grave 

danger here in J e.maica. 

You all know the history of the unfolding of this very unhappy 

situa tion so I will not burden you with it now. All I would remind . 
you of is that for more than a year the Jamaica Trained Nurses 

Asso ciation through the Jam ica Civil Service Association has 

recomfnded the institution of an eight hour duty shift and a forty 

hour working week for J unaican nurses. For reasons of its own the 

Mini s try of Heal th did nothing a.bout these representFt tions until 

Mr. T~ssy Kelly of the National Workers Union appeared on the scene 

the hand of the government with the result that the Minister 

is sued circular No. 55 dated November the 9 directing tha t a 42 

hour a week come into immediate effect. 

Now nobody is quaxrelling with the 42 hour a week but al the 

senior nhrses, the matrons and everybody els e who is concerned with 

the efficient running of our nursing s ervice are more than distressed 

at t he manner in which this was brought into effect. 

If the representa tion of the nurses more than a year ago had 



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been listened to and i f the Mini s try had acted upon it the transition 
to the 40 or 42 hour ~ week could have been carried out gradually 
2 nd peacefully KD without upsetting the efficiency of the service 
and without creating the deep and unhappy rift which now exists. 
And certainly we would not now be f aced with the situation where 
all discipline and all respect for authority i s in danger. 

Possibl the most unhappy aspect of the whole situation is the 
f act tha t ma rons whose duty and responsibility it is to see that 
their hospitals are mn efficiently have now been-~ into the 
villainesses of the whole affair. Once respect for the matron of 
any hospital is undermined then tha t hospital cannot function 
effectively. And if tha t happens then it i s the poor sick patien~s 
who will be the first sufferers. And this is the unhappy situation 
which is now coming to pa&J. 

I think t hat the Ministry of Health has been as wrong as it is 
possible to be. I do not think Mr . Tossy Kelly has done the Nursing 
service of J amaica any service at allo And I am desparately af raid 
th t the government of J amaica is going to compound this wrong . 
All one can do now is to hope tha t Mr. Manley will personally inter­
vene and try to s ave the situation . If he does not t hen I fear that 
those of us who may find ourselves in hospital under the !rade Union 
regime of Mr. Tossy Kelly ma for a really bad time. So please 
Mr . Manley try and clear up this unhappy situation. 

I Finally, I am glad to see that the National Worker's Union, 
Mr. Floriezel Glasspole, t he Minister of Education, and Mr . J. 
Grant, the Minister of Labour, condemn wildcat strikes at Sundays 
annual conference of the National Worker's Union. The workers of 
Jamaica no less than all the other people of Jamaica owe the country 
and a special sence of responsibility a t this time in it's history. 
And so I hope the workers will take note of this call from the i r 
leaders and that we will see and end to wildcat strikeso Goodnighto 



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y 

- --- -·-u--- - -- --- --··- -- .. -• ... -- ~ 

Party P~ litical BDoadcasting 

NEWS COMMENT RY 
For transmission on 
Thursday Nov 30 at 6 . 15p . m 
Pet er brahams speaking . 

Good evening : I am sure t hose of you who heard l ast night ' s 

' Press Conference ' programme found it very interesting . I certainly 

did . I thought Mr . Manley and the three journalists who questioned him 

supplied us with good entertainment while clarifying major points of 

the programme on which the P . N.P . will fight the coming election . I 

hope we will soon have a Press Conference on t he election programme 

of t he J . L.P . with Sir lexander Bustamante - or someone named by 

h im - being questioned by t he same t hree journalists who ques tioned 

I•'Ir . Manley l as t night . I am sure we will get as much entertainment and 

as mu ch clarification from that as we got last night . Indeed , I think 

t h is should be arranged for next Wednesday evening , if that is at all 

possible . Everyt hing wi ll then b e still fresh and listeners will be 

able to balance the two programmes against each other . 

This brings me to the whole ~uestion of election broadcasts. At 

pr~ sent all the political parties buy air time and broadcas t as often 
as often 

as they can get the time and/as they can afford t he time . This is fine, 

and I do no t t h i nk we want to quarrel or interfere wi th t his . Anybo dy 
~ L:,....:..t, 

who has the money can buy time on any of the radio stations . Of course, 
/\ 

the stations have to examine s cr ipts to make sure that nothing which 

is damaging or land!, the station in a court of l aw , is allowed to nass . 

But I wonder if you have noticed something whi ch has struck me very 
~ ~ forcibly . It i s this : For about five or six weeks before ~n QJcetie~ 

~ A 
the airwaves choked with political broadcasts ; and in that period 

we generally ha~ more party broadc as ts than we had t hroughout t he 

rest of the year put together . 

who ha4._ the money , ~ uy time 
I\ 

And any one of us , you or I or anybody 

and go on the ai r . We had an example 



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of thi s dur ing t he closing stages of the r efer endum campaign when 

all sorts of groups and individua ls bought t i me and , wi t h in t he 
,-J '-'"'\L~ limitations of t he law of libel , sai d a l most everything t hey wanted to . 

A 
d I heard some r eally fant a s t ic ones . For inst ance , I h ear d one 

polit i cian s ay t hat he had arr anged with s ome Afri can gover nments 

f or -150 mi llion , but of course he could do noth i ng unless the peopl e 

voted a c er tain way . obody ha s s i nce bothered t o say i ng anythi ng about 

t 1ese mil l i on s . 

And t hi s r a i ses the rob l em and t he qu es t ion of f reedom of speec 1. 

re we , i s an one e t i tled , r ovi de . e covers h i ms elf aga inst slander 

or libel, to mislead and misinform~ the genera l public? I s f r eedom of 

speech f reedom t o mi s lead and misinform by just about t he most power fu l 

medi um of communication we have ? If t he answer is yes , then ther e is 

nothi ng more to s ay . I f , on t h e other hand , t he answer is no; if we say 

that our freedom of speech , like all our freedoms , can on ly survi ve and 

f l ourish if we guard and use it wi t h respons bility , t hen t h i s whole 
~ question of politica l broadcas t s at e lection should be revi ewed , and I 

~ h~~nged . What I shou l d l i ke to s ee i s some sort of contro l on 

el ection br oadc as. ~ arting about s i x we eks before t he da t e on which 
I\ l ( ~ ~~ ~ ~ ~ to ~ ~ ~ 

votes are to be cast . ~ Lhat tin1e the present sy:s Lem can carry on .. 
fh.a.. ~ ~ l ~ ~ ~ !:J ~ ""° ~ . 

BJ1t fr~ h~~ e ~ y. f ~ s ~ ~cs~ t~~~:);~ 
~ l 0 1,r0d t.o make elec L..1.un oroadcas t13 . kl:1d Lhe;y shoula: oe g l v en free , 

~ ~ 'b ~ ~ l~~ tt ' 6 t t ' • ta geve111mc , 3.L- L. 0 u e11 s rehg 4:: an reprcoen a ion ins. 

Houog . Thi s would make for gr eat er cla r ifi cat ion of i ssues and l ess 

abuse of our cher ished right t o free speech . Goo dni ght . 



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mr COMMEfT_ RY 
For transmission on 
Friday :Deb 1 at 6 .15p .m 
Peter Abr barns spealcing 

2). Siemveight & Police Brutality 
3 Re - organisation of Postal Servic e 

Go od evening : Let us , for a change , loolc at some of t he good news 

of t h i s week . All too often we underline only t he bad and ignore the 

good . There ar e thr ee pieces of good news on the local s cene about 

whichj I personally am very p leased . First, I was very glad to see 

thet,,ihe ings ton and St , drew Corporation Council had more money to 

spend on Christmas wo r k this year than t hey had l as t year, and that 

t hi s applies to mo s t of the Local Gover nment Authorit i es in Jamaica . 

It looked at one s tage as t hough t his i s sue of Christmas work was 

going to become a party polltical football . It would have b een tragic 

if at t hi s · season of t he year , party po li t ic s had been pl ayed b sed 

. . on t he ·economic mi sery of a section of our community . hat makes this 

news especially good though is that nearly three times as much money 

will be spent t his year as was spent last year . This means that 

Christmas cheer will be spread more widely t han it was last year . 

Another pl easing aspect is t hat t his year ' s Christmas work will be 

tied in with the country ' s broader developmental projects . Thi s gives 

it a greater value t han a mere seasonal easing of unemploymen t . 

The ~±N second p iece of goo d news i s that the Minister of Home 

Affairs has a t last decided to take action on the mounting volume of 

complaints about police brutality . Thi s came ou t of the case of a 

sixteen- year- old youngs ter who mi s sed hi s bus home t o the country , was 

then arrested , badly beaten up and held in prison for some t welve days 

without being able to make cont act with h i s people . This was just 

about as nasty a case as any I know of . Mr . Seivright has asked fo r 

a full report . I hope he wi ll publish that full report when he gets 
it . Indeed , I t hink it is his duty to do so . The tempt ation will be 



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to deal with the matter on a departmental level , punish t hose who are 
found guilty and hush t he matter up . To do so would be a mistake and 
it would also be grossly unfair to the very large number of goo d and 
decent policemen in t he force . Unless this whole affair is conducted 
~NXJXXN~ publicly and t he guilty and their crime held up to public 
scrutiny , the distrust and suspicion most of us have will be directed 
against good and bad policemen alike . So , in the interest of good 
relations between the public and the polic e I would urge Mr . Seivright 
to publish all the facts of this case . Or even better still , do what 
was done with t he Harmony House Hotel colour bar allegation: appo int 
a Commissioner to conduct a public en~uiry . That would really clear 
the air and make for confidence . 

Finally , it is very goo d. to know that the postal service will 
be re- organised . It h as been obvious and evident to everybody that 
our postal service has been in an awful mess . I have talked about it 
on a number of occasions recently . It was only on ovember 18th that 
I told you the fantastic story of a l etter with a cheque in it which 
took ten months to get from one part of Kingston to another . So I was 
very gl ad when Mr . Arnett tabled h is Ministry Paper t his week setting 
out the pro~osals to revise t he service . There is only one additional 
suggestion I would like to make, and it is not an orig inal i dea of mine . 
It comes from someone with vast exper i ence in post of fice work and it is 
for t he setting up of a Post Office Advisory Boar d to work with and 
give advice to t he people who run our postal s ervice . Goo dn i ght . 



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t 

EvlS CO llvIEi~TARY 
For transmission on 
Saturday Dec 2 at 6 . 15p . m 
Peter brahams speaking 

Go od evening : i s s Una a rson has been worki ng very hard t o try 

and interest us in the setting up of a Community Chest fo r J amaica . 

So far most of us have been singularly uninterest ed and I am not sure 

our lack of interest is not due to ignorance . So it might be useful 

to f i nd out just what a Community Chest is and how it operates . 

At t he pr esent time we have a whole heap of voluntary and charitable 

organi sations and t hey are particularly active around t his time of 

t he year . You have peop le begging money t o give under privileged 

children a good time at Shristmas . You have others begging to g ive 

old people and t hose in institutions a cheerful Christmas . The Mayor 

of the Kingston has s tarted his own fund and t here ar e a whole host 

of others . 

The r esult is t hat t he bus iness co mmunity in particular is 

bombarded with appeals at . this time of year . And quite often one 

businessman may f ind hi mself seei ng four or five different peop l e 

each of whom is beggi ng for a different charity . And four or five times 

h e has to wr ite a cheque . is time is was ted and , depending on the kind 

of person he is, he i s either embarrassed or upset or angered by this 

direct begging and waste of h i s time . He knows that each begging is 

for a good cause , but a whole string of beggars still add up to a 

nuisanc e , no matter how good t he cause . And so he gives wit h anything 

but a charitable or cheerful spirit . This has become a f orm of ransom 

to which he must submit ever y year . d there very many businessmen 

who dread t he coming of Nx the Christ mas season with its rush of 

begging . But Christmas is only the h i gh point of something whi ch has 

been going on all through the year . He has already had his belly full 



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of the beggars and s o he gives hi s guinea or two or three gu i neas and 

hopes nobody else wi llll turn up . But s omebody always does . That i s the 

way of it today/ in Jamaica . 

But if t he same bus inessman were living in a country wher e they 

operate a Gomrnunity Chest , he would be relieved of t h i s string of 

people who come begging for good causes all through the year and whose 
number s increase alarmingly around Christmas . Instead, he will make 

only one single contribution f or the whole of the year and this will 
and the amountM he g ives go into the Community Chest or United Fund . His name/will be publi shed 

for all to see and no one will come begging to him or will bother hi m 

for the rest of the year . From his point of view t his i s a very gr eat 

convenience and it makes it poss ible for h i m to g ive in a s p irit of 

genui ne generosity . And what appli es to the businessman applies a l so 

to t he professional or other citizen who is in a position to g ive to 

charity . 

From the point of view of the various voluntary and charitabl e 

organisations the Community Chest wi ll cut out a lot of unnecessar y 

wo rk and i t will get rid of the rather shady chariti es . And these 

organisations can then call on the Bhest f or money on t he basis of t heir 
needs and their wo rk . I n terms of organisation I can see the Counci l 

of Voluntary Social Servi ces running t he Community Chest and sharing 

out the money t o the organisations . All in all , I t h ink Uss Marson ' s 

idea is excellent and I hope t hat by thi s time next year we will have 
a s trong Community Chest going . Goodni ght . 



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J.. 

.L~V CUV 

EWS CO:tvIM TARY 
For transmission on 
Monday Dec 4 at 6 . 15p .m 
Peter Abrahams speaking 

Good evening : Today is election day in both Trinidad and Barbados . 

In Trinidad the polling bocllIBsj,111 have clo s ed by now and t h count ing 

of vot es will be we l l under way . In fac t , since Tr ini dad is usi ng 

vot ing machines , there wi ll har dl y be much count ing to do and we should 

know t he r esults from there relativel y early t h i s evening . 

In Barbados on the other hand x2xxt the r e su l t of the vot ng wi ll 
,r-k-:.A ic;. ~ 66 tk~ ~ ~~ 

aroeade,i Gove"' mrrent 1lro,--dec-1.aed t-hat 
.,~ <...~ (.r­

ot start. immediately after the closing 

not be known unt 1 t omorrow • 
• v-.,.J. • lv,.-t. r 

• e count it.Lg of votes l:;il:~H:1,-~f,,l-

of the polls , which is the common practice almost everywhere else in 

the world . Instead , they are going to lock up their ballot boxes 

tonight and store them away until tomorrow morning when they will be 

opened and counted . 
t~'2- ~ ~ ~ ~ <...Q,i 71.a 

t u ortunate ecision on the par--t-G-:f 
-.tS 

sorts of disturbing 

and unhappy questions . Why did the 

this? ~l-1 i charge of these boxes overBi-ght'? And what 

guarantee is there ~hat a few t housand votes wilJ not be sl~ d ~ 

the boxes during the quiet 9purs of the night? mrd one ;--_ 
l76_. 1!.Q ~uir.....,,~ ~ ~ ..._.., :e 

• - ,_,_.~=-.r, haa -it th right-to hang 

~an imper 'electoral pPe-e-edUP-e o ~ts own? It is not enough t o say 

that the people who will ~ n ~ of the boxes overnight are 

honest and responsible • . They may well be . On the other 

hand , one or two among them may have such intense part i san feelings, 

or they may h ave been offered such an attractive britle, t hat the 

temptation to slip in a few bogus votes may be irresistable . But even 

if t h i s does not happen, the mere fact that it is possible, and that 



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the voters of Barbados feel t hat it is possible to monkey with the 

ballot boxes during the night , is the strongest pos sible condenmation 

of t hi s 
~-

ny sr i tl ams ' Barbados Labour 
.· a~ . 

.fra'IF-e-&aA-tl---tr.la,~~~½&---in"1;e-;R:--'t7o-:iffi"9~- '&a~~-..p.a -s-i ~ 

r e-t7t:H:''fl€,€1;--=&€-f~fe:l;i...--.:.i.:,m~S!OQ:i:~Wll.ell..l,._,Q.i;:!,q~-ew,_~~..u.:1.J¾!~-9-'::i.Il.O..,-:;;-C,.J....a~~ 
•. tQ_, ~--1 

t !l--i:.--.-tn-i-rTD""- thls wil ensure votes are 
c-e75'f 

\ll...Jll:!..!::fir.--f'rjC......O-Wfl- ~re-lH--.W:1--W..~ --.Lt-b-:l:.-a--./:itr;~~!-UB.Q t . . . In 

any event , we will not know the Barbados results until some time 

tomorrow . And if, as some p eople t hink may happen , the Barbados Labour 

Party is defeated , then we may witness the twilight of the very long 

career of Sir Grantley Adams on t he West Indian politifal scene . 

The Trinidad picture is a lot more complicated . We may knovi the 

results of the Trinidad voting later t his evening , but that is not 

going to help us very much in coming to grips with the unrest which is 

now so widespread there . Observers in Port- of- Spain are very worried 

abou t what might follo w the r esults . Or . Rudranath Capildeo , the leader 

of the Trinidad D. L .P . has promised violence and bloodshed if the P .N.M. 

is returned to power . And h e has hinted to at least one very reliable 

observer t hat he might call for t h e partiti~ning of Trinidad into XN 

two states : one Indian and one non- Indian - if t lie votes go against his 
. 

party . So the results of today ' s Trinidad election may only be the 

p relude to a period of greater restlessness and trouble . Capildeo may 

of course be pulling a fast one to try and frighten the voters into 

voting D. L. P . for the sake of peace and order . But we cannot be sure 

of t h is until we see what happens after the voting is delcared tonight . 

Goodnight . 



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Et/S COMI"1ENT Y 
For transmission on 
Tuesday Dec 5 at 6 . 15p . m 
Peter Abrahams speaking 

Go od evening : At last the long debate among Jamaicans as whether 

or not Cuba ' s Fmdel Castro is a communist or not can finally be put 

aside . For a long time now the friends and supporters of Castro and 

Cuba ~a ve said that Castro was not a communist and that the charge 

that he was leading his country to communism was American imperialist 

propaganda . The enemies and critics of Castr o on the other hand , have 

stoutly insisted that he was leading his country on the road to 

communi sm. And then t here were those who were somewhere in between 

t hese two extreme positions . Those who said that Castro was a victi m 

of circumstanc es, that he was not a communist but that he was under 

strong pressure from the communists in Cuba . These people saw Castro 

as a nationalist revolutionary who had received his s t rongest and 

most consistent support from the communists both inside and outside 

Cuba and who therefore saw himself as beholden to the communits . These 

people insisted that Castro himself was not a Marxist and much of the 

1arxian appearance of his regime could be blamed on his brother Raul 

and his r gentine- born friend Ernestp Guevara , the twp men closest to 

him in Cuba today . 

This was a pretty universal view held by p eople who were neither 

passionately anti - communist nor pass ionately pro - co mmunis t , people who 

did not see everything as either a sinister communist plot or a sinister 
the 

Yankee- impBBialist plot . And these were/people , too, who argued that 

if Fidel Castro had been li::t treated differently by the United States 

in his early struggles , if the Un1ted States had given gim both moral 

and material support when he first launched the fight against the 

Batista dictatorship, the Cuban revolution might have taken a more . 



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libertarian direction and would have been less bitterly anti - American . 

Let me confess that I tended to side with the people who held this 

middle position on the Cuban situation and on Fidel Castro .- And I still 

feel that t his view was bxJ by far the most sound and the most realistic 

of the three views on Castro and Cuba . In the beginning Castro was 

not a communist . 11 he said , all he promised attested to that fact . 

He had promised elections and I think he meant it at the time . But 

Castro was as subject to pressures as any other human being . And the 

pressures were great . There was fantastic political and economic 

pressure from the United States culminating in the Bay of Pigs adventure . 

'.}fu.ere were tije political and economic pr essures from within Cuba , and 

there were the inevitable pressures of the Cold War which came into 

play when the U.S . turned against Cuba and the Soviet Union became i t s 

cha~pion in both the political and economic fields . And all these 

pressures have gone into the making of the shifts and changes of Castro ' s 

personal outlook as well as of his policies . 

The making of a revolution is no easy thing: within that limitation, 

possibly the easiest thing about any revolution is the actual violent 

uprising , and possibly the hardest thing is to keep a revolution from 

running away from its original intention. Stalin turned Lenin ' s socialiet 

revolution into a quarter of a century of personal dictatorship and 

terror . Castro's libertarian revolution is now set on the road to 

communism and the dictatorship of the party . It seems to me that Castro 

has simply submitted to the strong pressures from E~:th ~xxk within 

Cuba as well as from the outside world . Go odnight . 



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N7i1d COMI~ T RY 
For transmission on 
Wednesday Dec 6 at 6 . 15p . m 
Peter Abrahams speaking 

Good evening : The present political crisis in the Dominican 

Republi c presents yet another important challenge to United States 

policy in the Caribbean in particular _and in Latin America in general . 

The dictatorship of t he Trujillo family is at an end after over thirty 

years . But as happens so very often in such cases, t he end of the 

dictatorship has left the country in a political mess . When a dicta t or 

is xxxxmtx2m assis¢inated, and is not immediately replaced by another 

strong and ruthless dictator , you general l y have political confusion 

in a country . And this is especially true where the dictator ' s pers nal . 

rule has been absolute over a long period of time . Another factor 

which makes for political confusion in the case of the Dominican 

Republic is the fact that the dictatorship was not overthrown by a 

single organised movement with recogn ised leaders and a clearly stated 

programme of proposed action , as was the case when Castro's movement 

fought and overthrew the Batista dictatorship . In Cuba there was 

one r evolutionary leader and one movement with whom the people could 

identify the movement . In the Dominican Republic no single leader and 

no single group cam claim the credit fo r t he overthrow of the rujillo 

family . And so you have the confus e situation wher e a whole host¢ of 
as well as 

parti e /MN s ome military types NNN are scrambling for ~~NE~ the spoils 

of power , and you have a r esident who is not free of the taint of 

association with the Trujillo dictatorshi p . 

From the point of view of the United States t his is a very tricky 

situation . D.lring the closing stages of the Trujjllo dictatorship the 

United States showed its disapproval of the reg'm by adopting certain 

economic measures in association With other Latin American states . So, 



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the United States has , in a sense , contributed to the over throw of 

the Trujillo dictatorship . But the United States is acutely sensitive 

to the latent anti - erican feeling among the masses of Latin- America, 

and she is scared s tiff of being accused on interferi ng in the internal 

affairs of any other country . And yet she has interfered: first by 

giving conditional support ~~r the son of dictator Trujillo , provided 

he gradually introduced democracy . But last week young Trujillo, who 

was in any case more fitted for the life of a pl ayboy , gave up the 
with him 

attempt and skipped the country . He is reported to have taken/something 

like \560 million and a blonde German beauty to comfort him in his 

lonely exile . The United States , meanwhile , sent a cruiser and a 

couple of aircraft carriers loaded with U. S . marines because two of 
ex- 7c 

the/dictator ' s brothe~ were maki ng a bid f~~ recapture power . This 

U.S . show of strength stopped the two Trujillos but d i d nothing else 

to relieve the crisis . And thi s poses quite a problem . 

Having intervened to keep out the Trujillo family , should the 
~t, Ct. ~ ~ ~ • 1, 

United States now c4'tl.tinuetc1 ~~E~xmrrucxRtxkxaNa try a-n-d. influence the 

situation until a genuinely democratic government is established? And 

if she does interfere in this way in favour ofl democracy , is it a good 

or a bad thing Cuba has already denounced the United States action 

as setting a preceident for action against Cuba . But then , many peopl e 

have criticised the United States in the pas t for not helpi ng t o over­

throw the Batista dictatorship in Cuba , as she is now doing in the 
~ Dominican Republic . The knowledge that we tend to f i nd fau l t wi th a:rl 

A 
they do inhibits the mericans very badly , even when they try to do 

what they think is right. This is part of the American problem in 

this region . Goodnight . 



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AJA~A~~XA W A A AB~~ ~a~~ 

After the Barbados Elections: 
Sir Gr antley Adams . 

NEWS COMMENTARY 
For transmission on 
Thursday Dec 7 at 6 . 15p . m 
Peter Abrahams speaking 

Good evening : The complete and utter defeat of the Barbe.dos 

Labour Party in l as t onday ' s Gnner al Elections has been the talking 

point throughout the British Caribbean . It has dominated the news; 

and it has even pushed the striking .. M. victory in Trin idad into 

second place . And yet Barbados is smaller than Trinidad , has less people 

and is economically weaker . And in terms of the future of the federation, 

the last word with Trinidad , not Barbados . So why this intense 

fascination with the Barbados results . 

I t hink the ain reason is that we all know that what happened in 

Barbados on Monday signalled an important tur ning point in West I ndian 

affairs . Some of us know this instinctively and may not be able to 

put forward sensible factual arguments for this knowledge . But the 

knowledge is there . We know that this is the end of an er a and we know 

that it is the twilight of the career of one of the really big men of 

that era . The long and very distinguished career of Sir Grantley Adams 

is ending , and ending in defeat . And it is always saddening to wi tness 

the fal l of a titan . 

Grantley dams , Alexander Baatamante and Norman Manley were the 

three most important leaders thrown up by the crises of the angry 

thirties . There were others , of course , like Uriah Butler and Bertie 

Gomes . But t bey were not in the same class as these three . And old man 

Marryshow was really a link and a survival from another generation of 

West Indian leaders whose dreams were fulfilled by Adams , Bustamante 

and IIanley . And these three , more than any other individuals , more 

than the Colonial Office even , shaped and made the islands of the 

British West Indies into what they are today . They shaped t he political 



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thinking of these islands and they created such pride as the people 

of these islands have in their West Indian-ness . 

And of t he three , Grantley Adams seemed the most securely based . 

Busta had [anley to contend with and Manley had Busta to contend with 

right from the start . But Grantley stood head and shoulder above 

everybody else on the Bajan political scene . The Barbados Labour Party 

was his creation . And all the vast changes that have taken place over 

the past fifteen years : the economic and social progress , the stability 

and political maturity of the people ; the changes in labour conditions -

Grantley and his party have had a major hand in the shaping of these . 

And it was precisely because his personal position and the position 

of his party in Barbados seemed so secure t hat he was the only one of 

the big three with enough confidence to leave the base of his power 

and go into the federation . And it was during his years away from home , 
idea of a 

during the years when he tried unsuccessfully to give shape to the/ 

West Indian nation that his personal power eroded at home and the 
a second 

power of his party collapsed . I think/to reason for the collapse of 

his own and his party ' s power was because Grantley did not believe in 
The party was his personal tool . 

genuine party democracy . /And so the young men of spirit and idealism 

soon broke away from him and only the 'yes ' men and the party hacks 
him 

remained; and they just could not cope without/when he l eft the scene . 

But whatever his faults, he made a great contribution and I think 

history will judge him a hero who risked and lost all for his dream of 

West Indian nationhood . And that, surely , is a noble cause in which to 

lose; much nobler than winning in lesser causes . Goodnight . 



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El C HENTARY 
For transmiss ion on 
Fr iday Dec 8 at 6 . 15p .m 

eter Abrahams speaki ng 

The New Men . 

Go od eveni ng : The new government of Barbaads will be sworn in on 

the 19th of t h is month when the new sessioni of the Barbados parl i ament 

opens . I thought you might like to know somet hing about the new men 

who wi l l take over . 

First there is the Premier - designate , Mr . Err ol Walton Barrow. 

He is a relatively young man , somewhere between 39 and 41 . His friends 

call him ' Dipper '. He is a very successful barrister who was regarded 

as the young man most likely to succeed Sir Grantley Adams as the 

leading lawyer in the island . din the days when he was a member of 

Sir Grantley ' s party he was considered the leading intellectual of 

the Barbados Labour Party and a man who would go far if he follo,ved 

the guidance of Sir Grantley . During the Second World War he flew 

with the R.A.F . and at one stage he was General lexander's personal 

pilot . For his war services he won the D.F . C. He is also an economist , 

having earned the B. Sc . degree in England . 

When he returned to Barbados at the end of the war , he and his 

good friend Cameron Tudor joined the Barbados Labour Party . In the 

1951 elections he contested a seat for the Barbados Labour Party and 

won . But a year later , in 1952 , both he. and Camero n Tudor broke with 

the party . The reason for the break was that they disagreed wi t h 

Sir Grantley ' s economic policies and because Sir Grantley just could 

not stand criticism from any of his followers . Between 1952 and 1956 

they worked very hard building up a nucleas for the launching of the 

new party . I met both Barrow and Tudor for the first time towards t he 

end of 1955 and I saw the great odds against which they had to struggle . 

All the leaders of the Barbados Labour Party had nothing but contempt 



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for them; and Sir Grantley wa s theri still very much on the Bajan s eene . 

11hey lauched thei r party in 1956 with Barrow as t he leader and Cameron 

Tudor as the secret ar y . Just how well and har d t he party wor ked over 

the next fi ve years was shown on Monday of thi s week . 

Cameron Tudor is most likel y t o b ecome Mi n i s ter of Education and 

I expect h i m to p l ay a ver y important part inside t he House . He i s in 

h is early orties , ei ther 41 or 42 . He studi ed History a t Oxfo r d 

Uni ver s i t y and I think he was the f irst co loured an ever to become 

pres ide t of t h e Oxford Union ociety . He is a brilliant debat er and 
he taught h i s tory in bo h 
xxg~~a±xxNM~i xrx~f xNixx~rJ Barbadds and Briti sh Guiana before he 

enter ed polit i cs . Althou t h y ar young , ot Ba~row and Tudor a r e 

po lit ical vet er ans who have come up the har d way . Anyone who knows the 

Barbados scene will tell you just how roue.11 life was for anybody who 

fought against Sir Grantley dams in Barbados in the early 1950s . 

Other likely Minister s are : for Trade and Industry, w . Wynt er 

Crawford , an old- time enemy of the Barbados Labour Party and a political 

veteran who is the publisher of the oldest weekly in the island , the 

Barbados Observer . Cr awford is in his fifties . The likely Mi nister of 

friculture and Fisheries is Captain Wi l frid Ferguson . He pioneered the 

inter- island trade in the days of schooner . He is in the middle fifties . 

ext there is Ellison Carmi chael, a layyer of about 39 to 40 who is 

likely to be Minister of Communications and Works . Then there is Edwy 

Talma , possibly the oldest of the group and in his late fifties . He was 

a '-iinister in Grantley ' s government but broke with him in 1956 . Finally 

t here is Theodore Branker who will be Speaker . He too is an old hand . 

These are t he new men in Barbados and I am sure we wish t hem well . 

Goodnight . 



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Ev, S CO:t-IMENT Y 
For transmission on 
Saturday Dec 9 at 6 . 15p .m 
Peter Abrahams speaking 

Good evening : Last Saturday the ~inister of Agriculture, ~ . Keble 

Munn, told a gathering of farmers in St . Catherine that a special 

incentive subsidy of £5 per acre, up a maximum of two acres, will be 

~iven to farmers to encourage them to produce food for local consumption . 

This will go on until March of next year, and a total of £20 , 000 is 

the amount earmarkec. for the subsidy . 

Then, on Tuesday of this week, the President of the Jamaica 

gricultural Society , Mr . Rudolph Burke, told a press conference of 

the Society's plans to operate a Farmers ) arketing Organisation . He 

said the Society is now negotiating with the government for a loan 

of 180,000 to finance the operations of the new organisation . 

The idea behind this new organisation is that the food grown by 

farmers should be made available all over the country in the best 

possible condition and at the best possible prices . The organisation 

will be run as a straightforward business company which would have to 

stand on its own feet and pay its own way; and , of course, it will have 

to pay back, with interest , the money it borrows ~r om the government . 

To do this , it will have to make a profit , no matter how small . 

s ir . Burke explained it, there will be a central collecting centre 

in Kingston and about five or six smaller centres throughout the 

country . Farmers would gM take their produce to the centres near est 

to them . There their produce will be graded and packed and made 

available to the consumers in the district . Any surplus would be shipped 

out of the district to a ther areas which are in need and where it could 

be sold . For instance, if there is a glut of one crop in Manchester 



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and a severe shortage of the self- same crop everywhere else on the 

island, both the farmers and the consumers generally find themselves 
in a mess at present . The producers in Manchester find themselves 

having to sell that particular crop at a give- away price . The only 

people who benefit are the consumers in the area . If the producers 
art of 

manage to ship/the crop into 
often 

cost of transport is/so high 

Kingston or some other large centre, the 
selling 

that the/price XEX~~~MX~XXXXR in Kingston 

or elsewhere is pushed up to an unreasonable degree . And where this 

does happen it usually some middleman , rather than the producer or 

consumer who gets any benefit . More often though the surplus cannot 

be got to Kingston before it goes bad and so it is a dead loss to the 

farmer and the housewife in Kingston buys imported lettuce and carrots 

and tomatoes and the like . This affects the islandss foreign exchange 

position and it pushes up living costs . 

For the sake of the economic health of the island we must produce 

more of the food we eat; we must import less . But there is very little 

sense in asking the farmer to produce stuff which he knows he cannot 

market economically . But once given a reasonable a rantee for his effort, 
and a reasonable return, I mx am sure the Jamaican/ farmer can produce 

good and proper all the basic food we need , as well as some luxuries . Soxmxrk~tix~ 

marketing becomes crucial . For this reason I hope the gover nment will 

find the money to lend the J .A. S . even if it means tightening elsewhere . 
The setting up of a really decent agricultural internal marketing system 
is one of our most pressing needs . We canN~t cut living costs drastically 
with proper marketing . So , I , for one , am completely in favour of this 

J .A. S . proposal and I hope it comes into effect very soon . Goodnight . 



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T:EIJ s co JNTARY 
For transmission 6n 
Monday Dec 11 at 6 . 15p .m 
Peter Abrahams speaking 

last 
Good evening: t midnight/~N Saturday Tanganyika became the 29th 

independent African state , and the latest proof of the fantastic ~R~ E 

speed with which the world around us is changing . Nowhere in the world 

is that change as striking as it is on the great African continent . 

Right up to 1954 - a mere seven years ago - the power and influence 

of the 20 ,000 odd European settlers seemed strong and secure enough% to 

last another twenty years at least . And the Europeans of Tanganyika 
were 

were more intelligent about t heir own interes ts than 2xt~Er the settler£ 

of Kenya to their north , the white Rhodesians and Portuguese to the 

south of them , and Belgians to the west of them . And so Tanganyika was 

one of the few places in multi - racial frica where the whites restrainea 

their arrogance and colour discrimination was at a minimum . The whites 

there realised that it was in their long term interests to co - operate 

with the 9¼ mi llion Africans and to share with them such wealth as 

could be got out of the country . And so it was the Europeans who , 

immediately after World War Two, pressed hardest for their version of 

partnership between t he rac es . This gave each of the racial groups ten 
in 

seats/the country's Legislative Council: the 20 , 000 Europeans had ten, 

the 72 , 000 As ians had ten and the 9¼ million Africans had ten . Few of 

us t hought much of that constitution at the time . It was loaded against 

t he frican maj ority . But we also knew t hat it was¢. better than the 

representation enjoyed by a ll the other fricans of multi - racial Africa . 

I think it was at this point that the very r are quality of 

leadership of Julius ryerere .showed itself . He formed the Tanganyika 

African National Union in 1954 and although he and his party disappro ved 

of the ~arity constitution, they set about working it, making it 



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succeed . It would have been so easy to do what so many other colonial 

leaders did when t hey were faced with an unsatisfactory constitution . 

Like them , yerere could have bunnt himself and his mo vement out in 

agitation against the constitution; he could have let loose a wave of 

communal trouble and r acial hatred . The first B. G. constitution for 

instance was a much better pne t han Tanganyika ' s first ' parity ' 

constitution . But the manner in which J agan and his party dealt with 

it led to a state of emergency . And today B. G. is still not independent . 

Tanganyika started on the same road later and got there first because 

of the very wise and very mature leadership of yerere . 

And in the proc ess yerere has won the respect and confidence of 

all the different racial groups . And he has got there without hurling 

curses at the British and without having to send a s ingle silly cable 

to the United Nations . The result is that his country has been accepted 

into the Commonwealth , that the United Nat ions will welcome it with 

open arms , and Britain has undertaken to give it large and much needed 

financial aid . And please do not be fooled into thinking that Nyer ere 

is any less an anti - colonialist than Nkrumah or Jagan or anybody else . 

It is just that he is a master at doing things quickly and quietly for 

the goo of p eople and his country . Just how much of a mas ter of 

intelligent politics he is is proved by Tanganyika's pre sent status . 

And in the months and years ahead this quiet political intelligence 

is going to have a profound influence on the part Africa will play in 

world affairs . In fact, the :ernergBB of Tanganyika ' s Nyerere is going 

to create a new power balance inside Africa itself . But I'll discuss 

that tomorrow, so till then, goodnight . 



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.: 

NEWS COl/1Ml:!.1iTARY 
For transmission on 
Tuesday Dec 12 at 6 . 15p .m 
Peter brahams speaking 

Good evening: Students of frican affairs have begun to notice 

some clear trends and patterns in the new Africa . Until round the 

beginning of t his year the Republic of Ghana was generally accepted 

as the leading African state in terms of political influence, both 

in the outside world and ·among t he newly independent frican states . 

Ghana was one of t he founding members of the Casablanca powers . This 

was an attempt to create unity of action and policy between the Arab 

and Negro states of Africa: and the two leading figures of this movement 

were Egypt I s Nas ser . and Ghana's Nkrumah . 

Side by side with this bro ader Pan- African- an- Arab unity plan , 

Nkrumah persued his ovm dream of a United States of Wes t Africa . To 

thi s end he got Guinea and Hali to join Ghana in what is known a s the 

'Union of frican States '. krumah also tried t o persuade Liberia ' s 

President Tubman to enter into this loose ' Union of Africa States '. 

Tubman did not like the idea . Liberaa has strong economic ti with 

the United States; indeed , American investment is the backbone of the 

Liberian economy, and the Ghana-Guinea- t:ali Union s howed signs of being 

strongly anti - merican and pro - Russian, t hough the declared policy of 

t he Union was one of non- alignment in t he Eas t - Wes t conflict . But 

between 1958 and 1960 Tubman dared not offend krumah with an outright 

no . -krumah's was the most powerful voice in free Afriua . And so 

President Tubman looked as though he might go along but he was very 

careful not to commit himself . He was being a good politician and 

playing for time . 

Then, in 1960- 61 there was the sudden rush of independent African 

states and on October the 1st of 1960 the ~iant igeria with its nearly 



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40 million people became independent . Up to this point the only really 

powerful voice out of Africa had been that of krumah speaking for 

the Ghana- Guinea- ali Union, which was strongly critical of t he West 

and more oft en than not sided and voted with the E.ast in the United 

ations . This led many observer to feel t hat the free frica was 

moving into t h e Soviet orbit in spite of its declaration that it was 

following a policy of neutralism . But with Ni geria a t t he United 

ations a new and very much more moderate voice was heard . And this 

encouraged resident Tubman to call, in May of 1961 , the conference 

in ~onrovia, of 20 moderaaey- inclined African States . 

There were now two distinct power grouping in free frica : the 

radically inclined Casablanca powers and t he mo derately inclined 

,Icfl'iovia powers . And in terms of numbers and material potential the 

moderately inclined group was t h e strongest . And i geria stood out 

as potentially the most powerful single forc e in either group . This 

wa~ a severe setback for the Nkrumah dream , especially as he had said 

things which had offended the Ni gerian leaders , many of whom had no t ime 

for him . 

But so far Ea.st Africa had not come into t he picture . Now , in the 

shape of Tanganyika East frica is in t he p icture and the Nyerere 

approach to things is much the same as the approach of t h e Nigerians . 

It is moderate , intelligently progressive but quiet: it is neautralis t 
of ideas 

but with a bias in favour of the West . The next conflict/in Africa 

may weel be bwtween t hose of t h e Ghana- Guineas - Mali group on the one 
. {(J- ,·, Al~ 

side and the igeria- Tanganyika approach on the other . • 

~ k 



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--- - - · - · ... - -· -----v- -

S COMMENTl'RY 
For transmission on 
Wednesday Dec 13 at 6 . 15p . m 

et er brahams speaking 

Good evening: The Uni t ed Nations is mankind ' s gr eatest hope for 

peace in t oday ' s world . If the Uni t ed Nations Organisation f a ils in 

this noble effort to keep the peac e of the world , if the Uni t ed Nat ions 

breaks up or if it becomes so ineffective that no s t a te takes it 

seriously, then the danger of war will increase a thousandfold . And ri t 

at this moment in time the Uni ted Nations is in very grave danger , and 

the cause of the danger i s the situ ation in the Katanga Provinc e of 

the Congo . Unit ed Jations soldiers are today fighting in the Kat anga 

against the soldiers of Moise Ts hombe and white mercenaries from 

Bel gium , the Rhodesias and South Afric a . Patrice Lumumba , the first 

elected Prime Mini ster of the Congo - indeed the only e l ected one -

was murdered in Kat anga and Moise Tshombe knows a lot more about it 

than he has told . That great and good man , Dag Hammarskj old , d i ed 

under very suspi cious circumstances on h i s way to have peace tal ks 

with Thsombe . It certainly looks as though t here might have been f oul 

play in the case of Hammar sJjo l d as well , though we may never know. 

Jill.d scores of African , I ndian and other soldiers who were servants of • 

the United a tions and bore ar ms in the cause of peace , have di ed 

because of Moise Tshombe and the Kananga . Certai n ly, the casualty r ate 

has been very high , and the cost to the peo ple of the Congo has been 

terrible . 

And now t wo distressingly sinister features have emerged from that 
( 

unhappy country . Sir Roy Welensky , the Prime Iinister of t he Central 

frican Federation, a man who has made no secre t of his hatred for 

racial equality in any ~rW!~~Lill• r· form , has come out into the open as 

Moise Tshombe's principal advi ser and defender . He has advised Tshombe 



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on the attitude he should adopt t o the United Nations, and in this Sir 

Roy Welensky has had the a ctive support of the Belgians . And when Sir 

Roy was interviewed in London recently, one journalist asked him by 

what authority he was interfering in forgmgs,{ affairs sinc e h i s countr y 

was not yet independent . Sir Roy We lensky ' s answer s owed his utter 

contempt for British policy in fric a and for t he United Nations . He , 

said Britain was abdicating her responsibi l ity by giving independence 

to people not yet out of the busg; Britain just did not know what was 

going on in t h.B Congo ; he did not care what anybody t hought , the Congo 

was next door to his country and he would go on doing exactly what he 

was doing . And that was that . And let us not fool ourselves . Tshombe 

has defied both the United Nations and the Congo Central Government 

precisely because he has this powerful backing from Sir Roy Welensky 

and the Belgians . Both have a vested interest in the mineral wea l th 

of Katanga . 

But by far the most distressing aspect of this Katanga business 

was Dr . Cruise O' Brien ' s charge that Britain and France had tried to 

sabotage U. N. operations in Katanga . These char ges could be and were 

dismissed until 1r . -ehru, the Indian rime Minister , confirmed them . 

It is not so easy to di smiss them now . Under pressure from the Rhodesians 

and t he Belgians, it is charged , the French and British have tried 

to obstruct the U .. operation and this has encouraged Thhombe in his 

defiance . Because the United States would have no part in this mi serable 

business Belgian crowds have stoned the U. S . IDnbassy in Brussels . 

The tragedy of t h is business is t hat the authority of the United 

ations is now in q.anger and the fault this time, lies with us, not 
t;I' ~.._,<:, 

the Russians . Goodni t . 



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0 297 Inquiry Into 2 Cases of oli ce Brutality 

EWS COMI:-'.iEf TARY 
For transmission on 
Thursday Dec 14 at 6 . 15p . m 
Peter brahams speaking 

Go od evening : I am very gl ad indeed to see that the Government 

had decided to z~xm«zx set up a Commission to inquire into two r ecent 
some 

cases where the police - or, rather , axxE~t±~ xof it members ,- were 

charged with ill- treating prisoners in their custody . Some of you may 

remember that I suggested t hat this line of action be taken in my 

commentary of Friday, December the i st o Of course , I was not the only 

one who suggested this; there were many other people who felt jus t 

as strongly about this . And I think both Mr . Gr aham Perki ns and the 

everend Pron~er did the n ire J a aican community a very great 

service by their prompt and vigorous protests: and so also di d the 

daily press which gave their protest s great prominence . So I think we 

might fairly and truthfully say that the government decision to set 

up this commission was in answer to responsible and concerted pr essure 

from representatives of all sections of the Jamaican community . And 

t hat is a very good t hing . It is good that the community should have 

reacted as it has; it is good that pres s and radio reacted as they 

have; and it is good t hat the government has been sufficiently 

sensitive and sufficiently big to respond creatively to these pressures . 

Giving in to public pressure on a matter like this is not a sign of 

wealmess . It is a sign of strength; it is a sign that our democratic 

institutions are in a state of go od health; tbat our legislators are 

responsive to public feeling . And it is in this spirit t hat I should 

like to see all of us approach the enquiry . 

There is one thing I hope we will not do, because I think it woulc 

be most unfortunate . I hope we will not now, or as a result of what 

comes out of the enquiry, condemn the entire police force for the 



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misdeeds of a small minority in that force . There is a danger that 

some people may be inclined to do this . 

It is unfortunately true that many of us still see the police 

as the enemy . This is part of the hangover from colonial days when the 

police were in fa ct the guardians and aggnt s of an externally imposed 

' law and order ', when it was their business to see that we obeyed the 

rules made for us by others from outside . I n those days it was almost 

inevitable that there should be hostility and suspicion between the 

police and the ordinary citizens . 

And it is equally true of course t hat there are ma~y people within 

our police force who still have the colonial outlook on the duties 

and functions of a policeman . They feel they have to threaten and 

frighten us into obedience, that they have to bully abd baton us into 

submitting to the law . Both these views, t hat of the citizens who see 

the police as the enemy, and that of the police who still feel they 

are agents of some alien master , both these views are completely out 

of date . What has led to the persistence of these out- of- date views 

has been the tendency on the part of the government and the police 

high command to protect the police from public criticism and public 

enquiry until some really nasty crime forced them into a court of law . 

I hope x x xtx~E Sir Alfred Rennie's enquiry will put an end t o 

t h is state of affairs Q I hope that a s a r esult of it the citizens and 

the police will see ~~ornx~t E~ t hat we must depend on each other in 
hard 

the/kxM and di f ficult business of building an or derly society based on 

the rule of law and the sacred dignity of every man , no matter how 

humble . Goodnight . 



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--------- ---------- - ---- _ ......, ______ ,... - ----

-E ,vS CO rv TARY 
For transmission on 
Fr iday Dec 15 at 6 . 15p .m 
eter brahams speaking 

Good evening : If the report in Wednesday ' s edit ion of the Star 

is correct then Mr . Mi~lard Johnson and his People 1 s Political Party 

had a rough time on Friday evening of last week when they held a public 

meeting on the Spanish Town Road . According to the report ·members of 

the audience took strong objection when P .P .P . speakers attacked Sir 

lexander Bustamante and the Jamaica Labour Party . The report says 

that people demonstrated noisily and speaker after speaker was heckled 
was 

so persis t ently that what :t» -,:. said could not be heard at times . The 

report says the demonstration got worse when Mr . J ohnson himself took 

the m:i:k:e microphone and declared : 11 No brown man in this country mean 

you any good . " pparently a voice from t he audience then yelled t hat 

Busta had been here with the people from 1938 and t hat Mr . Johnson 

had just come . 
the whole point in telling you this 

ow/:i::txxxxN~:txm~x~x~~EExt~xtRiixJ~H is because I t h ink it 

carries a very important lesson for ever y would- be politician , especiall3 

for every young man who has political ambitions . And I think it i a a 

lesson that could be of very great benefit to Mr . Johnson if he really 

intends to build a political career for himself XN here in J amaica . 

And the lesson , stated baldly , is this : any young man who wants t o 

bui ld a political career in Jamaica today must know something of the 

Jamaican past and the road by which Jamaica came to where it is today . 

For any young man to behave as though there was nothing before he 

appeared on the scene , is to invite disaster . To dismiss the old 

leaders as though they have done nothing, or as though their contributior 

was slight and unimportant , shows El!fflm:t two things : first , it shows a 

lack of a sense of history; and , second , it is a dismissal of what 



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might b e an i mportant piece of t he history of a peop le . 

Certainly , in the case of J amaica, you cannot dismiss Busta and 

Ianley wi t hout , in a sense a lso dismi ss ing all t hat happened in J amaica bet ween 
Jfi the years 1938 and 1961 . Very i mportant things did happen between 

t hose years, whether you approve of them or not . And again , whether 

you approve of t hem or not , Busta and Manl ey were the dominant 

political figures on the scene between these years . And ,XN again , 

whet her you like it or not , t hese years and what these men did in these 

years are now forever enshrined as part of J amaican h istory . And so 

it seems to me that when t he audience protested against the attacks 

on Busta on Friday night of last week they were also protesting , 
the re jection of 

ins tinctively perhaps , against/the history of their past s truggl es 

and t he leaders of t hose past struggles . And to me t his shows a 

polit~cal maturity and a sense of h i s tory which many a leader or 

would- be l eader can learn from . 
try and 

It is no t necessary to/comp l etely wipe out the past . The wi se 

man takes all that is best from the pas t and builds on it . He r ejects 

only t he bad . And 1:n the same way the ambitious young politician would 

be wise to acknowledge the contribution made by the old leaders . He 

will build on it, and he will honour them for what they hav e done , and 

then he will carry t he torch until he , too , hands it over to a new 

generation of young l eaders suit ed to the new times • But this approach , 
like all genuinely creat ive effort , is mu ch har der and demands more 

i s 
t han merely denouncing and t earing down . But it/iE~NBf t he only road 

to r eal great ness . Goodnight . 



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-, --·--o-- - - -----·- - -
2) Keep Death Off the Roads 

NEWS co ,u TT y 
For transmission on 
Saturday Dec 16 at 6 . 15p . m 
eter Abrahams speaking 

Good evening : There are only eight days more to go to Christmas . 

The spi r it of t he season is on us and already fireworks are going of f 

and the round of Christmas parties are in full swing . This is of 

course one aspect of t he spir i t of Christmas and it is an aspect to 

which all of us look forward for a who l e year, and so we tend to let 

ourselves ' go' over the Christmas season . 

But there are creatures for whom Christmas is a dreadful time of 

year . Ther e are cats and dogs and donkeys and other creatures for 

whom Christmas is a time of r eal terror . I am sure most of you have 

seen dogs and cats running in utter and desperate terror, without 

knowing where they are running t o, while bangers explode all about 

them. The animals in my family are pretty isolated but even so , we 

always have to let them into our bedroom, especia lly on New Years 

Eve , when the fireworks start on a hill wh ich is at least a couple 

of miles away from us . It is patheti c to see the utter panic which 

~rips them . And surely , it is not part of the spirit of Christmas 

to drive other living creatures into a state of wi ld terror . 

And this terror becomes worse where little boys think it i s gr eat 

fun to fling fireworks at dumb creatures just to see how they run . nd 

it is unfortunately true that there are quite a few grown-ups ·who also 

go in for this sort of thoughtless cruelty . 

Now, I am not suggesting that anybody should. be deprived of the 

f un of letting off fireworks . Let off your fireworks by all means . 

But please let them off in your backyards . And if you have animals , 

get your animals indoors and reassure them . And if parents will tell 



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their children of the utter misery suffered by children , I am sure the 

children wi ll be more thoughtful and protective . The cruelty of 

children generally stems from ignorance and it is up to parents to 

telli t hem what i s involved . But perhap s the best thing of all i s for 

t he father of the family to personally supervi se the l etting off of 

fireworks . In thie way we ensur e t hat the kids themselves do not come 

to grief and no har m is done to either property or creatures . In my 

family we have solved t he problem by just not using bangers . We have 

encouraged our children over t he years to be utterly contemptuoys of 

the ' big noise '. Instead , we have a great deal of fun wit h sparklers , 

catherinewheels , shooting stars , rainbows and all sorts of multi- coloured 

fireworks that never let off a s ingl e bang . So why not try a noiseless 

fire·works display t his year . You might find it much more fun than just 

making loud noi ses . 

Finally, a word about road traffic . Let us face it, most of us 

drink a lot more a t Christmas t han at any other time of t he year . And 

it is generally after we have a few under the belt that we tend to be 

a little reckless . Of course, we do not see it as recklessness at the 

time . \rle always fe el in completet control; in fact we generally f ee l 

that ·we are more in control and so we tend to take chances t hat we 

wou l d not normally take . That i s the real danger . So pl ease , l e t us 

take i t easy this year . Both you and I know exactly what to do . So let 

us do it and keep death off the roads this Christmas . Goodnight . 



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0 300 India & ortugues e I ndia 

E~S C Ei: Y 
For t r ansmi ss ion on 

onday Dec 18 a t 6 . 15p .m 
eter brahams speaki ng 

Good evening: The news of t h e Indian mi l itary at t ack on Goa, Damao 

and Di u poses a most interesting problem in politica l morality . The 

Br i t ish Government and practical l y the entire Briti sh ress h ave 

condemned India as an aggressor . The Uni ted States government has 

exp essed ' strong disapproval ' . And most Western ropean countries , 

like Fran ce , Holl and Belgium and Spain , have f o l lowed the Anglo - Amer i can 

lead and denounc ed. Indi a a s an agressor against or tuga l . On the 

other side, the Soviet Union ha expres s ed support fo r the Indian 

mi l i t ary action , and it is reasonably certain t hat I ndia will get 

support f r om exRx most , if not a l l , of the f ro - Asian and Lat in 

erican countries . For th i s reason I ex ect t he or tuguese to suffer 

a major politica l defeat when they r ais e t h is matt er in the United 

Nat i ons . But be that as it may , we s t ill have the picture o~ one 
condemning 

group of nat ions/ EXKNN±xg the Indian action as naked militar y agression ; 

while another gr oup of nation s see it as an act of lib eration . So , wherE 

do we go from h er e? How do we sort out t h i s bus iness ? Is I ndia the 

agressor or t h e l i ber uaor ? 

To get at any sor t of r eas onab l y unpre judiced answer we need first 

of all to get at the facts . 

The first fac t is the phys i cal l e n.ec ft n location of these enclaves . 

11 of t hem are on t he wes t coast of India . Go a , the largest of them , 

is 250 mi l es s outh east of Bombay and it is the main trading and 

bus i ness centre fo r ortuguese interests in what is known as ' PortuguesE 

I ndia' . Damao is the second in size and it is roughly 100 miles north 

of Bombay . And Diu is a relatively tiny island just off the coast , 

roughly 130 west of Damao . Altogether these three enc laves have a total 



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land area of 1 , 540 square miles , and with a population which is estimated 

at about 640 , 000 . The chief exports of the enclaves are coconuts, 

fish , salt , spices , caju- nuts and copra . 

The majority of the peop l e are Indian with only a handful of 

Portuguese administrators and businessmen . The great majority look and 

live and behave and make their living like all the rest of India ' s 

400- odd millions •- They speak the Indian language of their particular 

area , but instead of English as the sort of second language , Portuguese 

is the second language . So in Goa which has much more than four- fifths 

of the total population, the main language is Marathi , with Portuguese 

as the second language for the educated classes and the business 

community . In religion the majority of t he people of India ' s west coast 

are Hindu, and so the majority in the Portuguese enclaves are also 

Hindu . And, as elsewhere you also have a small smattering of Christians 
small group 

and Ivoslems ; but whereas this/s:mx:.t:tRRmgx of Christians tend. to be 
Catholics 

mainl y protestants in the rest of India, they are/i~~ngMRKE in Goa, 

Damao and Diu . 

So what we do in fact have is this position : Goa, Damao and Diu 

are naturally , logically and historically, physical parts of India , not 

cut off or separated in any way . The people are Indian in cultural , in 

language, in race , and in the way they earn their living from the Indian 

soil . The one big difference is that centuries ago the Portuguese 

colonisers took thses bits of land from a politically divided India 

and called them ' ortuguese India '. The question now is, ' Has the governmen 

of a united India the mora l right to get back these bits of land by force 

Wa'll look at this question tomorrow . So till then, goodnight . 



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..L.L.L\.A,J..0. (..l, J..V.L vu.el..,l'C;'OC ..LJ.J.U...1.0. \C.} 

-E-Ns CO ·1 ~TARY 
For transmission on 
Tuesday Dec 19 at 6 . 15p . m 
• eter Abrahams speaking 

Go od evening : I ended my comments last ib.ight with this question : 

' Has the government of India the moral r ight to get back these EN~XRXRK 

Portuguese- held enclaves by force? ' In other words, is t h e Indian 
military 

government morall;y right in i t 0 /attack on what the history and geograpby 

books call ' Portuguese India? ' 

In the main , opinion in the United States and the West says no , 

India was not right . And people who have never liked I r . Nehru, and 

heaven knows there are very many of them in the West who dislike every­
thing about him , these people have seized on this attack to call him 

two - faced, a fraudulent moralist and all sorts of other nasty names . 

Nehr u , they say , is always lecturing the Western world about political 

morality and now he has revealed himself as no better and in some ways 

worse than those he lectured . I am inclined not to take these people 

too seriously . I am not s ~~ing their views s r ould be dismissed out 

of hand but I think they suffer from such vast prejudice that we mus t 
discount more than half of what they say . These are the people who 

damned the Israelis for the capture and trial of Adolph Ei chmann . Their 

sense of justice and morality is terribly one- sided . Few of them had 

raised their voices against the slaughter of 6 , 000 , 000 Jews . But how 

they clamoured about legality and Justice and orality when t his mass 

murderen was spirited out of r gentina to Israel . 

I would have taken the bitter protests of these peop le much more 

ser_iously today if they had shown the same rare concern when India 
Goa 

did in fact try to settle this/business peaceful way back in 1957 . 

In that year the government of India invited the ortuguese government 
to negotiate a settlement of the ortuguese enclaves . But the Portugues e 



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r e jected t his attempt of a peaceful settlement out of hand . Those 

pieces of I ndian soil, they said , were i ntegral parts of Portugal and 

no nonsense . They were not prepared to negotiate over' Portugues e 

India ' . And neither Brita in nor France nor the United States used 

their influence to persuade ortugal . And ther e was no bi g press 

campaign or clamour of public opinion t e lling the Portuguese t hat 

t he age of empi res was dead . Thi s left Indi a with two alter natives : 

she could either accept the fact that part of her t BE%~xt t erritory 

must fo rever be held by t he ortuguese or else sh cou l d act on her 

own to free it . t ow she has acted . But please note t hat she did not 

just ac t i mmediately after ortugal re jected her call fo r negot iations . 

For four years , between 1957 and ec ember 1961 she tried peaceful 

means . It was only after these failed t hat she resorted to f orce . 

So if. we say t hat India had no moral right to resort to force t hen we 

are also saying t hat Portugal has a moral right to hold on to Indian 

soil for as long as she likes, or forever . We may not intend it t hat 

way but that i s how i t would worlc out in r eality . 

right back to the question of morality in politics . 

nd so ·we come 

t the best of times there is very li tt l e morality in politics . 

Certainly absoluteX political morality i s almost completely impossible 

for governments . Within t his limitation , it seems to me t hat India 
mora l 

has a XEXJ vastly mJl!Z s tronger /case than Portugal . We ma~ r egret that 
most 

she had to resort to violence , but the oldest and now the/xi:,: ::id :s: backwar 

of the world ' s colonial powers f orc ed her to it . And t hat , of course , 

is the real problem of political morality in our modern world . 

Goodnight . 

• 



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No 302 Pens ions ocheme 1·or :r- . H . R . s 

{E\lS COM ,iE.~TARY 
For transmission on 
Wednesday Dec 20 at 6 . 15p .m 
eter Abrahams speaking 

Good evening: "When the Bill provided for a pensions scheme for ~M~ 

t he members of our House of Representatives was fx~st passed l as t 

Wednesday , I wondered just what public reaction would be . People in 

all countries tend to be very suspicious and very critical of their 

politicians . They always expect their politicians to pull a fast one , 

and they sort of nerve themselves for it . And they are particularly 

suspicious and on the alert when politicians raise their own pay , or 

bui l d a new canteen, or give themselves any allowanc e or set up a 

pens ions s cheme fo;r themselves . And this is as true of Jamai ca as it 

is of all countries where people freely elect their governments and 

enjoy freedom of speech . 

Some of you may still remember the general reaction to the 

proposal to raise the salaries of Ministers . Nobody objected to the 

fact that some civil servants were drawing more pay than the Unisters 

under whom they served . But many people felt it somehow wrong for t es 

Ministers to increase their own pay . And yet you lmow , if s ome of t hese 

people had stayed in private business or gone into it, many of them 

might have earned four and five and ten ti□es what they get as Ministerr. 

And it is a simple fact that any private individual who runs a private 
one of 

business with a staff about the size of/our s malle t ministries 

generally gets more pay and a whole heap more fringe benefits than 

the most senior of our ,~inisters of Government . So any man who is reall~ 

out to make money would be a fool to go in fo r politics in J cmaica . 

Indeed , I do not know of any country which is not a dictatorship in 

which any man has made a great fortune out of politics . Possibly the 

best paid of the politicians are the members of the United States 



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Senate, but even there I do not know of a single Senator making a 

fortune out of his political income . Of course, there have been the 

crooked politicians who have used their positions to make large sums 

on the side . But I am not t11inking of these now: I am thinking of 

straight and hones t ear nings in the form of salary and al lowR:mnces . 

And the f act is t ha t mos t pol i ticians end up a s poor men , often a 'te 

a lifetime of service to their country . And yet , in spite of this 

hard fact, we all still tend to be suspicious every time our politicians 

try to improve t heir wages and conditions/ of work . 

d quite frankly , t1ink this i s a very healt1y attitude - if 

we do not carry it too far . It' ink it is go od for them to know that 

we are watching them : they will then be careful of what they give 

themselves . But I think we do not want to overdo it . If we create an 

atmosphere in which they are too scared of the voters to give themselves 

dece t pay and conc.i tions , we mig t end up with a situation in which 

only people of inferior abili.ty , people who can_ot make the grade in 

any other big job , go in for politics . And then we will have only the 

second- raters and the quality of the political life of the country 

might suffer seriously . de do not want politics to be only a rich man ' s 

business . And so I am all for this pensions scheme , especially since 

they themselves ars going to contribute to it . But ofcourse what we 

do want is not just a pensions scheme for politicians . We want a nationaJ 

pensions scheme for every working person in this country so that every 

person will be able to spend the last years of tr-eir lives in freedom 

from want after a lifetime of work . Goodnight . 



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vvu..L· ucuy cc .1.11uut'>u L,l u.1.nes s 

~E'l'IS COF21Ei\TA Y 
For transmission on 
Thursday Dec 21 at 6 . 15p . m 
eter Abrahams speaking 

Good evening : I hope you will JC!lmr agree with me that po litics 

and the problems of the world should be put as ide for the next few 

days . We have these things with us all the year round and I thinl{ it 

is a good thing to get away from them for a few days - and what better 

few days than over the Christmas season . 

I am afraid some of us are getting to tbe point where Christmas 

is seen as the most hectic weekend of the year , something you prepare 

for with a kind of desperation . Hore noney is spent , more food is 

eaten , more liquor is consumed . There are times when I have felt , 

over the pas t few days , t hat we are not very far from a straight 

commercialisation of Christmas : it is the merchants ' peak selling 

period - he can do more business and show a greater turnover than at 

any other time of t he year . You know the line: ' To daddy can afford 

not to give his baby this super- duper machine ' or ' Mr . Y is giving Mrs . 

Y this superb set of so - and- so . See the stars in r1rs . Y's eyes . If 

you want to see stars in her eyes 6o like Hr . Y.' It is the big sale; 

it is big business . 

And in the l ast few days I have seen the big sale going on with 

people getting bad tempered and rude to each other . Although trade is 

_not as brisk as the mer chants would like it to be , t he / pace is still 

hectic for their shop assistants . And when you have been on your feet 

all day, and you are tired and you are worrying about your own 

Christmas shopping , and about how to make ends meet, you end up being 

.not exactly in the most tolerant or friendlj frame of mind . And so when 

a customer walks in who is diffi cult and demanding , you may suddenly 

lose your temper and snap at them . 



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But it i s not only the shop assis t ants whose tempers are frayed . 

The nerves of t he customers are in pretty bad shape too . woman who 

has spent hours going from pl ace to p lac e trying to get exactly what 

she wants at exactly t he price she can pay , will gradually build up 

an irrita tion . She is tired; she is hot and sticky ; crowds have bumped 

into her; the traffic has been i mpossible; the children are waiting at 

. home ; there is dinner to be prepared . It all builds up to a very 

unpleasant view of t h e world . And when t he shop assistant seems to be 

taking her time , or i gnoring the customers, the woman may suddenly 

fl a r e up in anger . 

In the course of one afternoon I have witnessed at least four 

such violent flar eups between cus tomers and shop assistants . And it 

is a sad and depressing sight to see to women snapping and snarling 

at each other in public plac es , and saying cruel and hurtful things 

that t hey would not dream of saying normally . 

a then of cours e t here are t he buses . They all seem to be 

running behi nd schedule round about this time . And so they bull t heir 

way through traffic and l eave pass engers behind , loaded with parcels. 

And the cyclmsts ana the motori s ts are all in a gr eater hurry than ev er 

before . And so We have everywhere a desperate and dangerous and bad­

tempered scramble with no thought for each other . 

I think it is time we stopped and took sto ck . We are approaching 

Christmas more in the spirit of a Pagan Bazaar , and we a r e wrong . 

Christmas especially is a time for t houghtfulness, for friendliness, 

for hel pfulness . And the gr eat social l esson i s to love t hyf nei ghbour . 

Goo d..'1 i ght . 



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No . 304 The Red Hills Road 

NEWS COMMENTARY 
for transmission on 
Friday 22nd at 6 :15 p. m. 
Peter Abrahtms speaking 

Good evening: I travel up and down the Red Hills road 
every day. It is the way to work from home in the mornings 
and the w~y home from work in the evenings , and so t the 
very least I make the trip once a day . Often I have to do it twice or even three times . And there is a section of the Red 
Hills ro ad which is just about the worst piece of roadway I 
kn ow in the corpora te area . This section of the Red Hills 
Road begins when you leave Dunrobin Avenue and go under the 
bridge . It runs all the way until you get to the Consolidated Bakery. It is a series of potholes , of sandbanks , and of 
treacherous bumps . I think th, .t little stretch of road causes more damage to cars than any other short stretch of road that 
I kn ow of in the whole Corporate Area . 

And the worst part of it begins at the bridge below 
Salford Avenue and run s all thew y to the Bak~ry. The bridge 
below Salford Avenue has been closed down for ne rly half a 
year now and all travellers to Red Hills have to make a detour through twisting road s , in a built up ea which wa s not planned tot ke such heavy traffic . An d the work on this bridge i s so slow th t it looks as though it might rem in closed for another half ye ar . Every single resident of Red Hills I have spoken to is bitter in his or her criticism of the snail ' s pace at which the work has been going on . 

Below the clo sed down bridge we get wha t c n only be des­cribed as just about the most up and down road ever found on 
rela.tively level 1 .nd . The road bounces f r om a rising into a dip, then up to another rising, an d back into another dip again. 
And this goes on and on until you reach t he bakery . After the rain this rising and falling be comes even worse bec ause we now have deep pools and rutted sandbanks to cope with as well . 
And 11 this adds up to jus t about as nasty an d dangerous a . . 



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piece of road as you could wish not to be on . 

Work is now going on on the road . It is being widened . 
The workmen are putting up concre te p vements almost right 
up ag inst the walls of buildings on the right going down , 
so it looks as though we will on ly have a pedestrian sidewalk 
on the left , but perhaps this cannot be helped since we will 
have to have a wider road if the Red Hills Rock Hall area is 
to get a decent bus service . And certainly, Red Hills in 
particular is in very great need of a decent bus service . 
A growing number of young men and women come dovm from Red 
Hills to jobs in F..ingston . At the moment they are dependent 
on a single country bus whi ch makes the journey from the 
distant fastnesses of Sligoville . This bus makes only one 
journey down in the morning , and if it is late or breaks down, 
all our young men and women risk _losing their jobs . This is 
serious enough. But we also have the problem of children who 
h6ve won scholarships to se condary schools in Kingston. And 
they are in a mess if the bus is late or kind motorists do not 
give them lifts . I kn ow of at least one s_chool which sends 
them home if they are late . 

So in the interest of both work and education we need a 
decent bus service. And for that we need a decent road . And 
just widening the road without also filling out the rises and 
the dips is not going to solve our long term problem. As 
long as these rises and dips exist the Red Hills road is going 
to be almost impossibl.e after tee rain . All the taxpayers money 
spent on it , will go down the drain. So let us also have a 
levelling of the Red Hills Road, Please . 

Goodnight . 



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r 

N.o 305 The Cbristm~s tory 

,·l COMi.\ TARY 
for transmiss i on on 
Snturd ;y 23rd t 6:15 p . m. 
Pet r Abrahams , speli.k ing 

Good evening: I th:ink tha t one of the best Christma.ffi stories 

I have come across i s to be found in the Dece ber issue of the 

Reader ' s D i ges.t . And like all good Christmas stories it is a 

children ' s story; it is the s tory of how a ch ild reacted ta t he 

oldest and most :important situation for ev~ry true chris tim . 

As usual , t this time of yea:r many schools are put t:ing on t he 

Nativity play and so this story could be set in J mnaica or it coul d 

bi& s_et in Afr ica or any country of the world . 1t is universal . 

1t iG t he s.tory of the Christmas. Pageant . 1t is. also the a.t ory 

of ev~r y little boy, and ev ry little girl . 1t is t he story of a 

ch ild a.nywh .re in the world who com s from n , ho e wh ich is truly 

chris t fan . 1rhe child ' s p..r nts. ar no t rich but f ther has a job 

and so they manag to make t h in w r out . T 

t hey 1.:1.ve ::, c l t~r , and there is a sense of s.ecurity :i.n t he f amily. 

it is a hospitable f amily, a family which never turns away the 

atranger, a family m wh ich the ;paren,ts live out their christian 

beliefs. They help their neighbours :in any way they can. They th:ink 

and speak well of their neighbours . They show no envy, no malice , 

and no bitternes s towards t hose who have more t han t hey have; and 

they do not look down with S£orn on thoae who have less than they have • 

.And so the ch ild grows up wit h a true christia.n spirit . Nobody 

tells it t hat t h is is the true christian spirit . There are no high­

soundmg lectures_. jn the fam ily . Mother and f a ther live a good life . 



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And i t i s this child who is sel ec ted to play the part of the 

lmkeeper in t he s chool ' s Nativity pl ay. The ch ild i s excited abou t 

t he play but becomes unhappy when i t d i s covers t hat i t i s to t ell 

Mary and Joseph t hat t here i s no room at t he Jm when they knock on 

t he door to try and find a pl ace t o r est and s l eep . And t hroughoout 

t he rehearsals the ch ild always bur s t into t ea.rs when it r eached t he 

point wher e i ~ had to turn away Mary and Jo seph. The teacher coul d 
,:/l 

not underst'' ~ t he r eason for t h i s odd behaviour and so t he t e acher 
/. ,. a fl 
,L.Q., ~ 

tried t o find out why t he ch ild always wept a t t h is 
/ 

ed tha t nobo_g,y at its home, ne i ther i t s mother nor 

point . lt: expl a :in­
J 

its fat her had ever 

' turned anybody away .f'rom t heir door . The t eacher underst ood but t he 

pl ay had t o go on , and so the teacher expl a ined that nobody was r eally 

being t urned away . This wa s only make belief. The child t ried to 

accept th is expl anation , but it still ,ra s not ver y happy. The world 

of r e ality and t h e wor l d of make bel i e f are often t he s w.ie f or a child . 

t l ast the day of t e per formance ca.Ille . '::he s chool was packed 

with parent s . and ch ildren , and. everybody was excited . The cur t ail went 

up and t here was Mary and Joseph s t and ing in .f'ron t of t he Jm knock ing 

a t the door . The d oor opened and t he l it t l e innkeeper looked out a t 

t hem and said ID a most unhappy voice 11 I am sorry t here i s no room a.t 

the ~ 11 and t :ien he added in a sudden burst of .f'r iendlIDess " But 

won I t you come ID and have a drink . 11 Goodni ght. 



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.. 

NO . 306 The Me ning of Christm s 

NEWS COMMENTARY 
for transmission on 
Monday 25th at 6:15 p . m. 
Peter Abrahams speaking 

Good evening : To me Christmas and the meaning of Christmas 
is summed up in these two stgries from the Gospel according 
to Luke in the very beautiful translation of Ronald Knox . J-n~ ~ k fJrt 

It happened that a decre e went out at · this t i me from the 
Emperor Augustus, enjoining that the whole world ~hould be regis­
tered; this register was the first one made during the time when 
Cyrinus was govern or of Syria . All must go and give in their names 
each in his own city, and Joseph being of David ' s clan and family 
came up from the town of Nazareth , in Galilee, to David ' s city 
in Judaea, the city called Bethlehem, to give in his name there . 
With him was his espoused wife Mary , who was then in her pregnancy, 
and it was while they were still there tha t the time came for her 
delivery. She brought forth a son, her first born , whom she 
wrapped in his swaddl ing clothes , and laid him in a manger , because 
there was no room for them in the Inn . 

In the same country there were shepherds awake in the fields, 
keeping night watches over their flocks. And all at once an angel 
of the Lord came and stood by them , and the glory of the Lord shone 
about them , so tha t they were overcome with fear .. But t he angel 
s aid to them, Do not be afraid , behold I bring you good news of a 
gre t rejoicing for the whole people . This day in the city of 
David, a Saviour ha s been born for you , The Lord Christ himself . 
This is the sign by which you are to kno w him; you will find a 
child still in swaddling clothes , lying in a manger . Then , on a 
sudden a multitude of the heavenly army appeared to them at the 
an gel ' s side , giving praise to God, ands ying, Glory to God in 
high he aven, and peace on earth to men that are God ' s friends. " 

And the second is the story of the Good Samaritan . 
Ith ppened once that a lawyer rose up, trying to put him to the 
test; Master he said , what mu s t I do to inherit eternal life? 
Jesus asked him, Wh tis it tha t is written in the law? 

Wh tis thy re ding of it? And he answered, Thou shalt 



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love the Lord thy God with the love of thy whole heart , and thy 
whole soul , and thy whole strength, and thy whole mind; and thy 
neighbour as thyself . Thou hast answered right, he told him; do 
this and thou shalt find life . But he , to prove himself blame~ 
less , sked, and who is my neighbour? Jesus gave him t his 
answer ; A man who w son his w y down from Jerusalem to J erico 
fell in with robbers, who stripped him, and be a t him , and went 
off leaving him half dead . And a priest, who ch need to be going 
down by thesame road, s aw him there and passed by on the other 
side. And a Levite who came there saw him , and passed by on the 
other side . But a cert in Samaritan , who was on his travels , saw 
him and took pity on the sight; he went up to him and bound up the 
wounds, po~ring oil and wine into them, nd so mounted him upon 
hi s own be ast, and brought him to an inn , where he took care of 
him . An d next day he took out two silver pieces , which he gave 
to t he Innke eper , and said, Take care of him, nd on my way home 
I will give thee wh tever else i s owing to thee for thy pains . 

• Which of these thinkest thou , proved himself a neighbour to the 
man who had f allen in with the robbers? And he said, He that 
sheweth mercy on him . Then Jesus said, Go thy way and do thou 
likewise . Goodnight . 



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N0 .307 Boxing Day 

NEWS COI\t1MENTARY 
for transmi ssion on 
Tuesd y 26 th a t 6:15 p. m. 
Peter Abrahams spe king 

Good evening: I hope you have all had a wonderful and family 
Christmas and that today, Boxing Day, has been full of restful 
fun. I kn ow we all know the meaning of Christmas , even though 
some of us -may treat it as just anotherday for big eating and 
hard drinking. But I am not so sure that we all know how Boxing 
Day came by its name. I remember many Boxing :Hays ago, when I 
was still an easygoing young bachelor, a friend and I tried 
to find out just how Boxing Day came by its name . We had no 
reference books to look up and so we £.mndlllKKK made up our o~~ 
explanation, and it is one which I am still rather fond of. It 
went like this: throughout Christmas Day everybody was kind and 
thoughtful of everybody else . People had too much to eat and 
drink and no exercise, and so , on the morning after Christmas , 
in the olden days , they used to work all the over-eating and 
drinking out of their s ystem by turning ·t hat day into a sort 
of universal boxing match. And all the people of the world spent 
that day boxing with each other, in a very nice and frmendly sort 
of way of course : hence the name Boxing Day. 

That is of course not the true meanitjg¢and explanation. 
In all likelihood we can trace this feast day back to a time 

before christianity, though it was not called Boxing Day then. 
In the daysxa~ when the Romans worshipped the stars and the 
elements Saturn was one of the mightiest Roman Gods; and one of 
the greatest of the Roman feasts was called the Saturnalia, which 
was a monumental pagan binge of eating and drinking. On the day 
after this feast the Roman citizens gave parcels of the left-over 
food and drink to their slaves and household servants . 

Later, during the early days of the Christian era, boxes 
were put in churches and during the Christmas Day service s the 
wealthy were invited to put t heir gifts for the poor into these 
boxes . On the morning after Christmas Day the priests opene d 
the se boxes an d distributed the gifts among the poor in the 
community. 



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In those early days church offerings were not only in the 
form of money, and so I think it is reasonable to assume that 
real boxes rather than collection plates were needed. One could 
hardly put a chicken or a hunk of roas t beef or a sucking pig 
in a collecting plate . 

From this, in feudal times developed the custom where the 
baron or the squire, and their l adies of course, presented boxes 
of food on the day after Christmas to t he serfs and peasants 
who live d and worked on their e states. 

Still l ater, and nearer modern times, when serfdom gave way 
to wage labour , employers made up these Christmas Boxes and gave 
them to their employees on the day after Christmas . The day 
after Christmas was traditionally the dayxmnt:uMffia:¢on which what 
we would now call 'the Haves• gave their gifts of food and clothing 
and the like to the 'have nots' . It was the day on which the 
errand boy and the post man and the policeman on the beat 
received their Christmas Boxes from the gr and ladies and gentlemen 
with the fine houses and beautiful carriages. 

It is only in relatively recent times that this ancient custom 
has chan ged and presents are given on the l ast working day before 
Christmas instead of on the day after Chri s tmas. 

So , tradi~ionally and historically, today ~ the day of 
§iving. Todayx±x the day on which the boxes of goo d things to 
eat , the boxes of clothing ,wiii handed out to the poor. But times 
change and the world in whi ch we live is much more democratic . 
The poor are no longer a breed apart who must only celebrate after 
Christmas . Boxing Day is a reminder that t his was not always so . 

Goodni ht . 



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No 308 • 

NEWS COMMENTARY 

Surnm ry of the Ye r: 
l s t Quar ter . 

-! ,L, ~ aM tl- L--f( 
fo r t r nsmission on 

~ ~ ~ o-tl_ ~ . 

Wedne sday 27th at 6 : 15 p.m . v--------------­
Peter Abrahams spe aking . 

Go od evening : I think it is time wee took stock of 
the year t ha t i s f as t dying and pick out the high points 
of t he news of the ,P s t twelve months . So let us spend the 
l ast f ew days of 196i in 'a sort of survey of this dying yea:r . 

. I n January I think the mos t importan t local political 
event was the br.e ak: between Mrs . Rose Leon and the Jamaica 
Labour Party. You will remember tha t Mrs . Le on resigned 
from the J . L. P. on the week- end beginning Saturday January 
21st . At t he time there seemed great confusi on inside the 
J am ica Labour Party . On t he broader West Indian scene 
Janu ry s aw t he coming of full internal self- government to 
Barbados and· t he emergence of Mr . Peter D' Aguiar in British 
Guiana as t he firs t genuine conservative le ading a conser­
vative p rty . On the international scene the very first week 
of 1961 opened with disturbing news from three cor ners of the 
earth. In far away South Eas t Asia t here was a running 
crisi s in Laos with t he Communi sts warming up the cold war in 
a very confused and confusing situation . Ne arer home we had 
news of the break in diplom tic rela tions between the United 
Sta te s and Cuba. And from Belgium h~d come t he news of an 
acute National crisi s with strikes, stree t - fights and violence 
the loss of t he Congo ' s massive we 1th. Finally one of the 
most important items of news on t he intern a tional scene was 
the inauguration of Mr . John Kennedy as the thirty- fifth 
President of the United St tes on January 20th . There were 
ofcourse other lesser items such as the 1 unching of Rose 
Leon ' s new par ty , the conflict between t he upper and lower 
Hous e s of our Parliament a.p d t he ground- breaking ceremony 
of the National Stadium . 

Febru ry opened wi th a s trong wave o criti ci sm of the 
K. S .. C. nd the Puplic Cleans i ng Department bec ause of 



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the stc te of our streets. In February too we had our first 
bus strike of the yea:r and the ann ouncement of the Suga:r 
Workers' Pension Scheme . 

But possibly the most important t alking point in Jamaica 
in February was the sudden eruption of t he race an d colour 
question. 

On the international scene two topics dominated world 
he adline . The first was the reces s ion in the United St tes, 
the emergence of West Germany a s the we althiest and most 
powerful economic forc e in western Europe . 

The second was the de a th of Patrice Lumumba . For Africa 
and i ndeed for the whole world this was the most important 
single event of t he month . Its re percussions were felt through­
out the world . There were demon s tr tion s a t the United Na tions 
and indeed in all t he major citie s of t he world . Ri ght here in 
Kingston we h d a prote s t march through thecity . 

March began with t he news of t he tumble of egg prices to 
3/6. This was very welcome to t he hous ewives. And on March 6th 
the people of Ghan a celebra t e d their Independence Day which 
drama tised t he fantastic speed with whi ch Afric a was marching to 
Independence . In 1961 the total number of independent African 
st te s ro s e to twenty-nine an d Africa be c ame t he most powerful 
single bloc in international a ffairs exerting the mo s t powerful 
influence of any group of na tions a t t he United Nations . One 
of the re sults of t he new Africa was the forc i ng of South Afric a 
out of the Commonwe alth. 

Here a t home t he Governor opened the 1961- 62 session of t he 
Parliament an d tow rds the end of the first quarter ·of t he yea:r 
we were in t he grip of a crippling s trike of government sub­
ordin te employees . 

I will continue t he survey tomor row, so till then, 
goodnight . 



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u :JV"::J nunill1c1.r·y oi t.ne .r.ec:1,r ; 
The Second Quart er 

]: EWS co~n· TARY 
For transmission on 
Thursday Dec 28 at 6 . 15p .m 
Peter brahams speaking 

Go od evening : One of t he most striking events of this dying 

year here in Jamaica was the great debate on t he question of race and 

colour discrimination . This debate r eached its peak during the second 

quarter of t he year, between the mont hs of pril, May and June . I am 

sure you all still remember the outlines of t hat debate: it stirred up 

strong pas sions in large numbers of peopl e . Some people insisted that 

t here was r a c ial discrimination in amaica: others insisted that there 

was none : some wer e all for talking the whole thing out; others did 

not want to talk about it at all and accused t hose who did talk of it 

of bui lding up racial hatred . On the whole t l1ose Jamaicans who were 

dark- skinned and poor wanted to talk about it; the light - skinned and 

well- off Jamaicans wanted to suppress the talk . Some of the light ­

skinned people even saw this debate as the beginning of bla ck racialism 

taking over in Jamaica , and a few of them pacl:: ed up and sold out and 

left this island . Now t hat all the pass ion and fear has died down a 

little it sl.'1ould be possible to look back calmly and assess the value 

of t Lis debate . Was it a good t h ing or was it a bad thing? 

~·ow , we all know that co mpared to most countries in the world 

Jamaica is relatively free of racial discrimination . And in terms of 

t he English- speakirnt world Jamaica is the freest where race and colour 

discrimination are concerned . That is the picture in co mparative terms . 

But when you stop compar ing the racial situation in J amaica with the 

racial situation elsewhere then the p icture i s not all that perfect . 

Jamaica ' s racial picture is perfect when compared with that of South 

Africa or the United States . But the dark- skinned Jamaican boy or girl 



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who cannot get a job in a commercial bank or big i nsurance office , or 

t he front office of some large commercia l establishment, is not 

interested i comparing conditions with South fric a or elsewhere . 

To h i m or her t h is is discrimination based on colour, and no amount 

of comparative ar gument makes any difference to that fact . And it is 

a fact . Eve~ to day , a lthough t h is patt ern i s changing slowly, all 

you have t o do is walk down King Street or Har bour Street and look 

into the big stores or b i g offices . Wi t h rare exceptions the peopl e 

in t he front offic es , the peop l e behind counters, the peop l e at 

reception desks , are light - skinned . The dar k- skinned person with 

ability faces. odds because of h i s or her dark skin . b l a ck girl may 

be a very able secrtary but her chances of becoming the personal 

secretary to t he manag i ng director of t he firm ar e so slim as to be 

almost non- existent . nd the dark- skinned person knows t h i s and so 

he or she cannot pretend that this problem does not exist . It is easy 

fo r someone who is not a victim of t h is situation to deplore all t h is 

talk about race and colour . Indeed for a long time all t hose who have 

benefitted from this situation have succeeded in suppress ing all talk 

about race and colour . And we all shared in t he deception t hat t here is 
xax no colour problem in Jamaica . It is not a big problem and it is 

not a d ifficult one to solve , but t he re certainly i s a colour problem. 

In the second quarter of 1961 we began to face the f act of this problem 
by talking about it . imd the credit for starting us tallcing about t hi s 

probl em in the second quarter must go to ,rr . r:illar d Johnson . Tomorrow 
I will discuss t he h igh point of the t hird quart er of t he year, so till 
t hen, goodnight . 



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··--- -
1 o 310 Summary of the Year: 

The Third uarter 

1 YEvvS co 1 .:1..D .,_ RY 
For transmission on 
Friday Dec 29 at 6 . 15p . m 
eter brahams speaking 

Good evening: There is no question and no doubt about the high 

point of the third quarter of this year . On the 19th of September the 

people of Jamaica rejected federation firmly and decisively . That, both 

for Jamaica and for the 'ME::s::t other r;1lest Indian islands , was the high 

point of t he quarter and the hi gh point of the year . Years of pl anning 

and scheming and hoping and dreaming for the creation of a unified 

nation out of ten scattered islands - were b rought to nothing in a 

single day . t the time when we made this decision we saw it as our 

business only . We knew that it was likely to mess up the entire Wes t 

Indies federation, but I do not think many of us saw much fu r ther t han 

that . For instance , I do not think many of us realised fully the 

master- plan to which Britain was working and which made her so very 

anxious to see us inside t he federation . Row , looking back, we can 

see the unfo&ding of that master p lan a little more clearly . And 1e 

can also see how our decision has messed it up a little . 

Br itain had reached the point where she could no 

longer sustain the role of a colonial power, even where some colonies 

seemed unwilling to be liberated . But even more important, the economic 

and political pressures from a revitalised western .I!.urope , led by 

West Germany , were getting too much for her . 1/hen the European Common 

iarket was first formed Britain was strong enough to refuse to join . 

t t hat time she said her associations with the Commonwealth made it 

impossible . She knew that she could not be both an integral part of 

t he economy of 1:lestern Europe and still play her traditional role in 

t he Commonwealth . This was true when the Common Karket was first formed 



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and it is still true today . And so, when Britain changed her mind and 

decided to apply for membership of t he Co mmon Market, she knew that 

certain very clear results would flow from t hat decision . First, the 

nature of the Commonwealth was bound to change, and second , t hat in 

the long run the Commonwealth itself would fall apart . I t h ink we can 

now be pretty certain t hat Britain does not like t he idea of having 

to take t h is course of action . But she has no choice . She either joins 

Western .Europe or else Western Europe would squeeze her : it is a 

question of survival . d so she tried to set her house in order before 

taking t his decisivej step . She set about liberating her coloni es and 

dependent territories as quickly as possible . But she ran up against 

a snag in t he Caribbean . There she had isaand colonies t hat were too 

s mall and weak to achieve independence on t heir own and t he f ederation 

seemed t he only way of getting rid of them in a n eat and tidy manner . 

But we upset the app lecart by voting 'no ' on September 19th . And so 

she was saddled with t he problem of colonies t hat she no longer want ed . 

And as f ar as she was concerned we in J amaica wer e r esponsible for t his 

messy state of affairs . I t hink the decision to restrict mi gr a tion is 
in part 

;6ne expression of Britain's irritation with our decision . It is likely 

t hat t h is r estriction woul d have come in any case . But I think our 

quitting the f ederation just brought it about a little more quickly . 

nd so the t h ird quart er of t he year¢, with the r eferendum a s its 

h i gh point, clarified our own n ew situation in the world and gave a fore ­

warning of Britain ' s decision to be rid of her r emaining colonies . It 

also heralded Bri t ain 's turning from t he Commonwealth and towards 

• es tern Europe . Goodnight . 



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NEvfS C0M)J1YT Y 
For transmission on 
Saturday Dec 30 at 6 . 15p . m 
Peter Abrahams speaking 

Good evening : This is the last working day of the last quarter of 

the fast dying old year . And for most of us the working day is over 

and we are getting ready for midnight tomorrow when we herald in the 

new year . 

For us in Jamaica xaxx~~x~ the high point of the whole of this 

year was , of course, the referendum decision . But I think for the 

world as a whole 1961 wi ll be re membered as the year wt.en man fiPst 

ventured into outer space . If there are men living a thousand years 

from now, and in s pite of all the alarms and t hreats of war , it is 

very likely that there will be : t hose men will look back at this year 

as a great turning point in the history of mankind . Indeed , those men 

of a thousand years from now will probably be alive because on Friday , 

1pril the 7th , 1961, a 27- year- old Russian airman named Yuri Gagrin , 

was shot 200 miles out into space , circled the earth like a g l owing 

star, and then was brought back to earth safely again . fter all t l~e 

t housands of years of his existence here on earth , man h d fina lly 

broken t he bond that tied him to the earth . It may take time; the 

casualty rate may b"e h i gh , there may be many disasters; but now t hat 

he had talrnn t he first great leap forward , man is bound to conque :e 

space . That is his nature . It is part of ~an ' s nature to battle against 

t he unknown until it becomes the known . That is how he battled a"·ainst 

the frozen death of the north pole until he mastered it . That is how 
frozen 

he is now battling against the vast/continent of antartica . "-:any men 

have died in these battles but in t he end man has triumphed. And so it 

will be with the journey to the stars . • 
And to the people of a t housand years from now it would not matter 



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t ha t t he first man who ventured into space was a Russian . Because if 

if man survi ves for nether t housand year s i t wi l l be becaus e mankind 

has overcome its stupi d and silly li t tle prejudic es of nationalisms 

and r acialisms and all t h e other l i t tle isms which would redu ce him 

to a cipher . So the peopl e of a thousand year s fro m now will be peep e 

who trave l t he sky-lanes between one star and another , and they will 

not look a t each others ' co lour . nd much of the his t ory of this perio 

they wi ll find pr imitive and bar baric . They will think NK of us as 

i gnorant and backv.rar d people who spent our r esourc es building up 

mi l i t ar y strengt h whi l e milli ons starve and go hun ~r y . They will t hink 

our col d war a si l ly , childish and danger ous business . But they wi l l 

fo r give us mu ch because XNll Ganlihi and Einsten lived i n our time : 

and one t aught us morality and t he other one t aught us s c ienc e . And 

they will forgi ve us because Thomas Mann wrote ' The Kagi c Mounta i n ' an d 

E. M.FOrster wrote I Passage to I ndia ' in our time . . nd they wi l l 

forgi ve our other barbarisms because we also had poets and singers 

who dr eame d great dreams and sang sweetly . .1:\nd then they wi ll say : 

11 And it was in the year 1961 that those pri mitives finally br oke the 
and move 

gr ip of the eart h s o that we may l ive/among the star s . 11 And they will 

bless us . 

Tha year that is dying ·was a. great year , ladies and gentlemen . 

A y~ar of difficulty but also one of great achievement . I think our 

des cendents of a thousand years from now will feel quite proud of what 

was achieved this year . So , let us l ook at the star s at midnight 

t omorrow and salute the future with pride and hope . 

Goodnight . 


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