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<TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=1 width="100%" border=0><TBODY><TR><TD><SPAN class=TopStory>Away with political tribalism</SPAN><SPAN class=Subheadline></SPAN></TD></TR><TR><TD>
Monday, October 02, 2006
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<P class=StoryText align=justify>One of the more tragic aspects of Jamaican life is the ease with which some people - particularly at the lowest economic rung - will use violence almost as a first resort.<P class=StoryText align=justify>Hence the frighteningly high level of maiming and murder among people who are relatives, friends or close acquaintances - a constant source of stress for the police and the judicial, social and health services.<P class=StoryText align=justify>Clearly, this propensity to violence has much to do with the failures of our education system, and the breakdown in community and family values.<P class=StoryText align=justify>This newspaper cannot ignore the cause and effect contribution of history. For, whether we wish to admit it or not, our experience of slavery - that ultimate expression of man's inhumanity to man - remains like a shroud.
All that aside however, the reality is that if people will kill and maim over some minor and domestic issue, they will do as much in the name of party politics.<P class=StoryText align=justify>For as difficult as it may be for people in their living rooms in upper and middle class Jamaica to understand, many people in the economically depressed communities perceive that who wins an election can have a serious impact on their everyday lives.<P class=StoryText align=justify>It has been their experience that when their political party is in power they are more likely to benefit from handouts and the spin-offs of contract work, etc. When their party is out of power, they will more likely have to do without the usual benefits.<P class=StoryText align=justify>It may well be true to say that this scenario is changing and that political victimisation is nowhere near as bad as it used to be. There is no question though that it still exists. Indeed the principle of 'to the victor goes the spoils' is a well-established and accepted practice in Jamaican politics.<P class=StoryText align=justify>So it is that we should not simply assume when there are incidents of violence in particular communities that individual political representatives or aspiring representatives are directly at fault.<P class=StoryText align=justify>Add the role of the ruthless extortion and drug-funded gangs and 'dons' who have allied themselves to one party or the other and the situation becomes even more complex.<P class=StoryText align=justify>What our politicians can and must do is to constantly insist to their supporters that violence is not an option; that they should turn their face against anyone who would encourage or incite violence as a means to a political end. Indeed in a society such as ours with violent crime - not least of which is murder - such a huge problem is the civic duty of our politicians to do all in their power to discourage physical conflict. They should do all they possibly can to help the security forces stifle the forces of evil.<P class=StoryText align=justify>It is in that light that we must view the recent upsurge of politically related violence and tension in a few of our more fragile communities, most notably Mountain View.<P class=StoryText align=justify>It seems to us that at another level, Jamaicans have a responsibility to make sure that the politicians understand that we cannot and will not tolerate a return to the behaviour of the 1980s and before. Those politicians and indeed any political party perceived to be tolerating or failing to act decisively against political violence and tribalism should be made to pay in the ballot box at the upcoming parliamentary elections.<P class=StoryText align=justify>They must be made to understand once and for all that this is no
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