IN MY WORDS | The 75 Year History of the PNP

1.What was the role that the PNP played in the anti-colonial struggle?

The People's National Anthem, as it's pretty clear, is sided with the socialist party in political terms, so I think that itself is really important, the fact that a strongly conolized country like Jamaica had a party for the jamaican people, independent of what higher international powers wanted.

Also, the PNP encouraged two crucial elements to make Jamaica a self made country, which were the promotion of the country's identity and the self awareness or self counsciousness. These were the notions that helped the most in order to make people aware of the anti-colonial struggle.

2. What was/is the role of women throughout the 75 years of the PNP?

One name that comes to mind is Portia Simpson-Miller, she even was the primer minister of Jamaica after all, she was a total pioneer in the women's side of the PNP movement, advocating the democratic vote in the elections. She also started to build the road to the recognition of LGBT citizen's civil rights.

Edna Monley is also an important name. She influenced the movement in a more artistic and cognitive way, going in a more cultural way and less political, creating the "negro art", which helped jamaican people to become proud of themselves.

Other examples of the way women implicated themselves in the PNP movement is the bills of The Equal Pay for Men and Women Act and The Maternity Leave Act, both made in the late 70s.

3. How did the implementation of democratic socialism affect the Jamaican people? 

Jamaica was hurt in various ways, one of them, and the most important in my opinion, coming from the context of the Cold War, by being socialist, they were recognized by the USA and his allies as a political enemy.

That was one of the things that ended up causing an unfortunate inestability on the fragile economy of Jamaica, which could be considered a consecuence of the implementation of socialism.

4. How does the PNP justify privatization and its role in creating a path of neoliberal reforms in Jamaica?

As we saw before, Jamaica was unstable in the economic scope and the PNP saw privatization as the solution. Switching to the a neoliberal economic system would help them to get immedate stock.

5. How do you compare the role of PNP in the film, Ghett'a Life, versus the documentary?

I think it's pretty clear what's the difference between both the movie's and documentary's standpoints of view. The documentary shows political movements as a way to make people happy and united. Ghett'a Life shows politics and political leaders as destroyers of the links that tie people togheter.