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Why di killin' cyaan done
Henley Morgan
Thursday, December 06, 2007
FORMER prime minister and distinguished fellow of the University of the West Indies, Edward Phillip George Seaga is like the student who refuses to draw upon life's experiences to gain insights to complex problems. Reporting on a recent speech he delivered to the Lay Magistrates Association of Jamaica, Observer correspondent Elliott Blake wrote, "Seaga suggested that violent behaviour by adults was often the result of their experience as abused children." No academician would deny there is a connection between child abuse and subsequent adult violent behaviour, but for Mr Seaga it is a continuation of his avoidance of what he knows to be the deeper truths concerning the genesis of gun crime and the spiralling murder rate in Jamaica.
The tendency to generalise and normalise the factors that have propelled Jamaica to membership in that ignominious club referred to as the murder capitals of the world, has spread to infect that august body, the World Bank. In a report titled Crime, Violence, and Development - Trends, Costs and Policy Options in the Caribbean, the bank groups Jamaica with other Caribbean nations and declares the region to be the most murderous in the world. Former National Security Minister Peter Phillips, in his recent published analysis of Jamaica's murder epidemic, has also adopted the unhelpful practice of taking comfort in the adversity of our sister Caribbean nations.
The Bible declares that there is none as blind as he who (though his eyes are open) refuses to see. Attempting to analyse Jamaica's crime problem from the blinkered perspective of political self-interest or out of one's desire to avoid the pain of having been complicit in the genesis of the problem will get us nowhere closer to a solution. We will end up in the same frustrated state as Mr Seaga who, at the end of a long analysis of the crime problem in one of his regular newspaper columns, succumbed to the proverbial throwing up of the hands in the air. To quote him, "Wha' fe do?"
Jamaica's crime problem cannot be understood in the context of crime generally. This country (along with the other so-called murder capitals of the world) is an aberration. We are an aberration because our beautiful island was infected with a disease which has been allowed to go untreated for over a generation. The disease, which some people don't want to talk about, is the political garrison. Any discussion about the causes of crime generally or murder specifically must take place in the context of this great evil which was perpetrated on an unsuspecting and naïve populace.
For the doubting Thomases I have a proposal. For the next six months (or the last six months for that matter), let the police record the communities where murders are committed. For those murders that are committed in communities other than garrisons, determine whether the murderer or suspected murderer lived for any considerable time in a garrison. I will wager a bet that upward of 80 per cent of murders committed will tie back to one of the 12 or 14 garrison constituencies identified in the Report of the National Committee on Political Tribalism (1997) and a handful of other urban communities with strong garrison features, such as found in sections of Montego Bay.
Accepting the premise that the advent of political garrisons and the resulting culture are the major causal factors behind Jamaica's extraordinarily high homicide rate, I will go on to give my top 10 reasons why di killin' cyaan done.
1. The big 'G' for many young men in Jamaica is the gun. Not God, not girls and certainly not government. The youths worship it. The gun is an idol.
2. The nexus between gun crime and politics. For those who will protest that this still obtains, let's talk about the connection between dons, contracts and politicians.
3. The need to settle score; avenge past wrongs. No justice or restitution from the formal system for those who have been wronged.
4. Failure to deal with social and other root causes, namely, 'degarrisonisation'.
5. Crime is like a contagion. It is mutating; taking on more militia and terrorist characteristics. The old methods don't work anymore.
6. Crime has become institutionalised. It is a business that pays - trading ganja for guns, renting and leasing of guns, extortion, contract killings, etc.
7. Turf wars are linked to the drug trade and other illicit activities.
8. Police do not have a free hand - there is double standard in how some communities and individuals are treated.
9. Police corruption; crime provides income for police - a prime example, when they cast a dragnet and family members must pay to secure the release of the accused against whom no charge has been laid.
10. Setting up committees to study the problem then ignoring their recommendations; lack of political will.
Maybe one of the media houses will pick up on the idea and solicit views as to why di killin' cyaan done. I am having a similar conversation with the young men said to be "shottas" in the inner-city community where I operate. The problem is not going to be solved by just talking about it, but from these conversations some new ideas and fresh resolve may emerge.
Henley Morgan
Thursday, December 06, 2007
FORMER prime minister and distinguished fellow of the University of the West Indies, Edward Phillip George Seaga is like the student who refuses to draw upon life's experiences to gain insights to complex problems. Reporting on a recent speech he delivered to the Lay Magistrates Association of Jamaica, Observer correspondent Elliott Blake wrote, "Seaga suggested that violent behaviour by adults was often the result of their experience as abused children." No academician would deny there is a connection between child abuse and subsequent adult violent behaviour, but for Mr Seaga it is a continuation of his avoidance of what he knows to be the deeper truths concerning the genesis of gun crime and the spiralling murder rate in Jamaica.
The tendency to generalise and normalise the factors that have propelled Jamaica to membership in that ignominious club referred to as the murder capitals of the world, has spread to infect that august body, the World Bank. In a report titled Crime, Violence, and Development - Trends, Costs and Policy Options in the Caribbean, the bank groups Jamaica with other Caribbean nations and declares the region to be the most murderous in the world. Former National Security Minister Peter Phillips, in his recent published analysis of Jamaica's murder epidemic, has also adopted the unhelpful practice of taking comfort in the adversity of our sister Caribbean nations.
The Bible declares that there is none as blind as he who (though his eyes are open) refuses to see. Attempting to analyse Jamaica's crime problem from the blinkered perspective of political self-interest or out of one's desire to avoid the pain of having been complicit in the genesis of the problem will get us nowhere closer to a solution. We will end up in the same frustrated state as Mr Seaga who, at the end of a long analysis of the crime problem in one of his regular newspaper columns, succumbed to the proverbial throwing up of the hands in the air. To quote him, "Wha' fe do?"
Jamaica's crime problem cannot be understood in the context of crime generally. This country (along with the other so-called murder capitals of the world) is an aberration. We are an aberration because our beautiful island was infected with a disease which has been allowed to go untreated for over a generation. The disease, which some people don't want to talk about, is the political garrison. Any discussion about the causes of crime generally or murder specifically must take place in the context of this great evil which was perpetrated on an unsuspecting and naïve populace.
For the doubting Thomases I have a proposal. For the next six months (or the last six months for that matter), let the police record the communities where murders are committed. For those murders that are committed in communities other than garrisons, determine whether the murderer or suspected murderer lived for any considerable time in a garrison. I will wager a bet that upward of 80 per cent of murders committed will tie back to one of the 12 or 14 garrison constituencies identified in the Report of the National Committee on Political Tribalism (1997) and a handful of other urban communities with strong garrison features, such as found in sections of Montego Bay.
Accepting the premise that the advent of political garrisons and the resulting culture are the major causal factors behind Jamaica's extraordinarily high homicide rate, I will go on to give my top 10 reasons why di killin' cyaan done.
1. The big 'G' for many young men in Jamaica is the gun. Not God, not girls and certainly not government. The youths worship it. The gun is an idol.
2. The nexus between gun crime and politics. For those who will protest that this still obtains, let's talk about the connection between dons, contracts and politicians.
3. The need to settle score; avenge past wrongs. No justice or restitution from the formal system for those who have been wronged.
4. Failure to deal with social and other root causes, namely, 'degarrisonisation'.
5. Crime is like a contagion. It is mutating; taking on more militia and terrorist characteristics. The old methods don't work anymore.
6. Crime has become institutionalised. It is a business that pays - trading ganja for guns, renting and leasing of guns, extortion, contract killings, etc.
7. Turf wars are linked to the drug trade and other illicit activities.
8. Police do not have a free hand - there is double standard in how some communities and individuals are treated.
9. Police corruption; crime provides income for police - a prime example, when they cast a dragnet and family members must pay to secure the release of the accused against whom no charge has been laid.
10. Setting up committees to study the problem then ignoring their recommendations; lack of political will.
Maybe one of the media houses will pick up on the idea and solicit views as to why di killin' cyaan done. I am having a similar conversation with the young men said to be "shottas" in the inner-city community where I operate. The problem is not going to be solved by just talking about it, but from these conversations some new ideas and fresh resolve may emerge.
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