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i.e. Dont look to the JLPNP tribal matrix for progress..... Reform is the national imperative, not the mere exchange of tribes via elections
Social Contract mi seh....mebbe it will tek dem anedda 4 years of futility to see that as the solution... aaah bwoy
EDITORIAL - If The Gangs Of Gordon House Are To Change ...
Published: Tuesday | April 5, 2011
BY THE time Jamaicans next vote in a general election, Bruce Golding, the prime minister, will be 65. Portia Simpson Miller will be heading towards her 67th birthday.
In the context of modern gerontology, they will not be particularly old. Politically, however, they have not offered much to suggest that they are anything but worn and jaded, incapable of inspiring a transformation of the gangs over which they preside.
We refer to gangs in the sense of a group of people associating and acting together in a common cause; in this case, a grab for state power and the promotion of narrowly partisan interests, at which Mr Golding's Jamaica Labour Party and Mrs Simpson Miller's People's National Party have been particularly successful.
The parties, of course, have substantial help from gangs of another kind: those of violence and criminality, but aligned to a political cause, and which corral communities in support of either of the parties. It is a political model that has ill-served Jamaica for most of the seven decades of existence of the primary gangs.
telling statistics
For more than a quarter of a century, the Jamaican economy has, on aggregate, been flat or negative, including the last 14 consecutive quarters of decline.
Official unemployment is around 12 per cent; nearly two of every 10 Jamaicans live below the poverty line; and only a fifth of the students who 'graduate' from high schools each year do well enough to matriculate to tertiary education.
Perhaps the more telling statistic is that of 673,000 Jamaicans, or about a fifth of the population in the 15-29 age group, nearly six of every 10 of them either do not have jobs or have opted out of the workforce altogether. It is understandable that young people have lost confidence in the political process and the future of the country. They demonstrate this by the emigration of up to eight of 10 university graduates.
no energy for revolution
What is surprising is that in the face of a need for revolution, there is no apparent energy oozing from the leaders in seeking to transform their power-grabbing gangs into modern political parties capable of recapturing the ideals of their earliest days and meeting the aspirations of Jamaicans.
For example, the parties place no premium on attracting competent, experienced managers and persons with entrepreneurial skills. Nor do they seem to place any emphasis on recruiting young, vibrant talent, except those youth who embrace the norms of the gangs.
In other words, despite occasional high-minded works, the party leaders have not invested in the politics of transformative ideas to liberate communities and individuals, or a brand of economics to spur growth and create jobs. So, politics remains a dirty business.
Maybe, after nearly 40 years in its embrace, Mr Golding and Mrs Simpson Miller cannot liberate themselves from a political process which prizes a slow evolution to the top, which, for instance, would have precluded Mr David Cameron's leadership of Britain's Tories after only five years in Parliament and leadership of the country within a decade of going to Westminster. He is 43.
It might still be possible for Mr Golding and Mrs Simpson Miller to grasp a new trick, or two. But Jamaicans might find that is not worth the effort.
Social Contract mi seh....mebbe it will tek dem anedda 4 years of futility to see that as the solution... aaah bwoy
EDITORIAL - If The Gangs Of Gordon House Are To Change ...
Published: Tuesday | April 5, 2011
BY THE time Jamaicans next vote in a general election, Bruce Golding, the prime minister, will be 65. Portia Simpson Miller will be heading towards her 67th birthday.
In the context of modern gerontology, they will not be particularly old. Politically, however, they have not offered much to suggest that they are anything but worn and jaded, incapable of inspiring a transformation of the gangs over which they preside.
We refer to gangs in the sense of a group of people associating and acting together in a common cause; in this case, a grab for state power and the promotion of narrowly partisan interests, at which Mr Golding's Jamaica Labour Party and Mrs Simpson Miller's People's National Party have been particularly successful.
The parties, of course, have substantial help from gangs of another kind: those of violence and criminality, but aligned to a political cause, and which corral communities in support of either of the parties. It is a political model that has ill-served Jamaica for most of the seven decades of existence of the primary gangs.
telling statistics
For more than a quarter of a century, the Jamaican economy has, on aggregate, been flat or negative, including the last 14 consecutive quarters of decline.
Official unemployment is around 12 per cent; nearly two of every 10 Jamaicans live below the poverty line; and only a fifth of the students who 'graduate' from high schools each year do well enough to matriculate to tertiary education.
Perhaps the more telling statistic is that of 673,000 Jamaicans, or about a fifth of the population in the 15-29 age group, nearly six of every 10 of them either do not have jobs or have opted out of the workforce altogether. It is understandable that young people have lost confidence in the political process and the future of the country. They demonstrate this by the emigration of up to eight of 10 university graduates.
no energy for revolution
What is surprising is that in the face of a need for revolution, there is no apparent energy oozing from the leaders in seeking to transform their power-grabbing gangs into modern political parties capable of recapturing the ideals of their earliest days and meeting the aspirations of Jamaicans.
For example, the parties place no premium on attracting competent, experienced managers and persons with entrepreneurial skills. Nor do they seem to place any emphasis on recruiting young, vibrant talent, except those youth who embrace the norms of the gangs.
In other words, despite occasional high-minded works, the party leaders have not invested in the politics of transformative ideas to liberate communities and individuals, or a brand of economics to spur growth and create jobs. So, politics remains a dirty business.
Maybe, after nearly 40 years in its embrace, Mr Golding and Mrs Simpson Miller cannot liberate themselves from a political process which prizes a slow evolution to the top, which, for instance, would have precluded Mr David Cameron's leadership of Britain's Tories after only five years in Parliament and leadership of the country within a decade of going to Westminster. He is 43.
It might still be possible for Mr Golding and Mrs Simpson Miller to grasp a new trick, or two. But Jamaicans might find that is not worth the effort.
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