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... In response to the criminal violence in Jamaica it is popular by many to promote state violence as the ultimate solution.
Forty years of history with increasing violence...by the criminals we breed and the State in response....gives the lie to this nonsense theory of an eye for an eye.... we have clearly ended up blind.
There is definitely a place for state violence in managing crime...but why after 40 years of failure of this policy people would STILL be promoting this folly as a "solution" is beyond me.
It's obvious that we need a new policy strategy to address this issue.. a New Paradigm. Any new policy may need a long time to succeed...hopefully not 40 years.
Instead of police raids being the main point of contact with citizenry...police have to be a normal part of the community.
However community policing (which is normal in civilized countries) cannot work in the current socio-political situation in our polarized inner cities.... this is not NYC or Detroit or Anywhere, USA...so solutions that work in those places CANNOT WORK in Jamaica.
What much of Jamaica has devolved into is a series of armed tribal camps protected by local militia supported by politicians of the MAIN PARTIES VYING FOR STATE POWER
.... there is no analogue of this worldwide.. in any country not at war....not even S Africa or Brazil or Colombia. In those countries the levels of violence may be similar...but what is missing in those countries is the POLITICAL DIMENSION that Jamaican violence & crime has.... recently reinforced in Parliament by our Prime Minister.
The only solution is if the two tribes acquire 2 enlightened leaders willing to cooperate to gradually reduce the garrisons under a social compact involving ALL of civil society.
This can only happen if enough people DEMAND that it happens...instead of following the same destructively negative & partisan beliefs.
It starts with the man in the mirror.
Forty years of history with increasing violence...by the criminals we breed and the State in response....gives the lie to this nonsense theory of an eye for an eye.... we have clearly ended up blind.
There is definitely a place for state violence in managing crime...but why after 40 years of failure of this policy people would STILL be promoting this folly as a "solution" is beyond me.
It's obvious that we need a new policy strategy to address this issue.. a New Paradigm. Any new policy may need a long time to succeed...hopefully not 40 years.
Instead of police raids being the main point of contact with citizenry...police have to be a normal part of the community.
However community policing (which is normal in civilized countries) cannot work in the current socio-political situation in our polarized inner cities.... this is not NYC or Detroit or Anywhere, USA...so solutions that work in those places CANNOT WORK in Jamaica.
What much of Jamaica has devolved into is a series of armed tribal camps protected by local militia supported by politicians of the MAIN PARTIES VYING FOR STATE POWER
.... there is no analogue of this worldwide.. in any country not at war....not even S Africa or Brazil or Colombia. In those countries the levels of violence may be similar...but what is missing in those countries is the POLITICAL DIMENSION that Jamaican violence & crime has.... recently reinforced in Parliament by our Prime Minister.The only solution is if the two tribes acquire 2 enlightened leaders willing to cooperate to gradually reduce the garrisons under a social compact involving ALL of civil society.
This can only happen if enough people DEMAND that it happens...instead of following the same destructively negative & partisan beliefs.
It starts with the man in the mirror.
