Dear Editor,
Some time ago, an online petition requiring a minimum of 100,000 signatures failed to get that amount to advance the cause for the exoneration (or pardoning) of Marcus Garvey. While there was some disappointment that the online effort got less than 80,000 signatures, I, for one, was not surprised at all.
One thing that we must understand about these online petitions is that the signatures cannot be verified to be one signature, one unique person, so one person may have signed many times. Indeed, I have a feeling that many overzealous individuals may have signed many, many times. As such, I seriously doubt that more than 20,000 unique individuals around the world took any interest.
In these days, Garvey’s teachings have very little relevance to people’s lives – and that online petition brought that fact into very sharp focus.
Here in Jamaica, as in so many other countries, the top priority for most is just to get by. Many young people cannot get jobs. Imagine leaving college or university and discovering that there is very little hope? I wonder if those who pushed that petition really thought that most unemployed people would put Garveyism ahead of their desire to get a job? Do not even begin to speak about those who do have jobs but find making ends meet as hard as rocks. Where does Marcus Garvey fit into our daily struggles?
Crime in many countries is out of control, as we in Jamaica are only too aware of. It’s not surprising, therefore, that the vast majority of people worry about whether or not they will live to go back home once they leave for work. They have time to worry about Garvey and what, in most respects, are his outdated views.
I have very little doubt that this push to get much notice is being pushed by intellectuals who have very little else to do. With the passage of time, these people are finding out that their numbers are shrinking.
I have always maintained, and will continue to maintain, that Garveyism is a philosophy of the past. Give me my bread and butter and let the dead man rest in peace!
Michael A Dingwall
michael_a_dingwall@hotmail.com
Some time ago, an online petition requiring a minimum of 100,000 signatures failed to get that amount to advance the cause for the exoneration (or pardoning) of Marcus Garvey. While there was some disappointment that the online effort got less than 80,000 signatures, I, for one, was not surprised at all.
One thing that we must understand about these online petitions is that the signatures cannot be verified to be one signature, one unique person, so one person may have signed many times. Indeed, I have a feeling that many overzealous individuals may have signed many, many times. As such, I seriously doubt that more than 20,000 unique individuals around the world took any interest.
In these days, Garvey’s teachings have very little relevance to people’s lives – and that online petition brought that fact into very sharp focus.
Here in Jamaica, as in so many other countries, the top priority for most is just to get by. Many young people cannot get jobs. Imagine leaving college or university and discovering that there is very little hope? I wonder if those who pushed that petition really thought that most unemployed people would put Garveyism ahead of their desire to get a job? Do not even begin to speak about those who do have jobs but find making ends meet as hard as rocks. Where does Marcus Garvey fit into our daily struggles?
Crime in many countries is out of control, as we in Jamaica are only too aware of. It’s not surprising, therefore, that the vast majority of people worry about whether or not they will live to go back home once they leave for work. They have time to worry about Garvey and what, in most respects, are his outdated views.
I have very little doubt that this push to get much notice is being pushed by intellectuals who have very little else to do. With the passage of time, these people are finding out that their numbers are shrinking.
I have always maintained, and will continue to maintain, that Garveyism is a philosophy of the past. Give me my bread and butter and let the dead man rest in peace!
Michael A Dingwall
michael_a_dingwall@hotmail.com