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Who will bell this cat?
Henley Morgan
Thursday, August 16, 2007
The underlying causes of crime have been widely researched and debated. Universally, it is accepted that poverty, lack of opportunity, unemployment, poor parenting, poor socialisation and low educational attainment play a role.
The crime that is occurring in the handful of countries belonging to the exclusive club sometimes referred to as "murder capitals of the world" cannot, however, be explained by casual reference to anthropological, social or even economic factors. In all the exceptional cases, that is, countries with Jamaica's level of murders, one detects an aberration along the path leading to national development.
At a specific point in each country's development, there occurred a life-changing, culture-altering event, action or behaviour that was allowed to continue unchecked. For Colombia (46 murders per 100, 000 inhabitants in 2005), it is the cultivation and processing of coca leaves, for South Africa (43/100,000), apartheid and for Jamaica (55/100,000), tribal politics.
Jamaicans must not underestimate the link between the tribal politics which gave rise to garrisons and the youth with a gun in his hand (and little knowledge in his head), creating mayhem along Mountain View Avenue or wherever. The advent of garrisons over 40 years ago marked the descent of Jamaica into anarchistic behaviour. Today, these communities are, without exception, zones of exclusion characterised by endemic poverty, an absence of social services, crumbling infrastructure and appalling sanitation, making them a fertile breeding ground for criminality.
The evidence of the damage done to the country is mind-boggling. First, there are the statistics themselves. From 1965 to 1969 there were 541 murders reported. Over the decade of the 1970s there were 2,686; the 1980s: 4,870; the 1990s: 7,621, and between 2000 and 2006 about 8,531. Add up these numbers and you get 24,249. That's a lot of acreage taken up in grave space on a very small island.
The evidence can even be seen in the positive developments taking place on the island. On a recent visit to the north coast, I was enthralled by the number of new hotels under construction. Amidst giving thanks to Almighty God for this good fortune, it struck me that what I was looking at were really garrisons, or maybe fortresses would be a more apt description. I mean, the fence goes up before anything else, and unless the building is at least two storeys high, you can't see the roof. To get through the gate you have to have credentials, and entering by the sea is impossible.
Which is more a garrison, Trench Town or one of these hotels? At least, in Trench Town we are not walled in and there are several routes, for the most part unrestricted, to get in and out for those who would venture. Jamaica pioneered in all-inclusive hotels. Because of unabated crime, we are again pioneering. This time in what shall surely one day come to be known as enclave tourism.
The Planning Institute of Jamaica is doing excellent work toward developing a National Development Plan to the year 2030 for Jamaica. Boldly, degarrisonisation (to coin a word) is being featured as a key strategy in the way forward. The JLP manifesto contains a section entitled, "Transforming political garrisons". Not to be outdone, the PNP manifesto speaks to making a paradigm shift by transforming inner cities to winner cities. All very good signs that politicians are awakening from their state of denial, and accepting that removing this blight from the Jamaican political, social and economic landscape is not an option.
The debate between the prime minister and the opposition leader exposed the struggle to let go of the past. The protagonists, in debating the vexing issue of garrisons, found themselves in a position where one could not easily score points against the other. The listener could be forgiven for concluding that the dismantling of garrisons will not become a reality anytime soon.
It bears repeating that garrison politics as practised in Jamaica for over a generation ranks among the worst cases of political gerrymandering and electoral manipulation to have ever taken place in a democratic country. Those who now tell us we must live with this aberration for another generation either benefit from its existence or they are cowards. There are no other categories in which to place them.
All the words expended in the debates would have amounted to what inner-city people call waste argument, if there is not a resolve on the part of the political parties to reverse the status quo. Either we "bell" the problem of garrisons or confront it with the resolve of a "clenched fist". Which will it be?
hmorgan@cwjamaica.com
Henley Morgan
Thursday, August 16, 2007
The underlying causes of crime have been widely researched and debated. Universally, it is accepted that poverty, lack of opportunity, unemployment, poor parenting, poor socialisation and low educational attainment play a role.
The crime that is occurring in the handful of countries belonging to the exclusive club sometimes referred to as "murder capitals of the world" cannot, however, be explained by casual reference to anthropological, social or even economic factors. In all the exceptional cases, that is, countries with Jamaica's level of murders, one detects an aberration along the path leading to national development.
At a specific point in each country's development, there occurred a life-changing, culture-altering event, action or behaviour that was allowed to continue unchecked. For Colombia (46 murders per 100, 000 inhabitants in 2005), it is the cultivation and processing of coca leaves, for South Africa (43/100,000), apartheid and for Jamaica (55/100,000), tribal politics.
Jamaicans must not underestimate the link between the tribal politics which gave rise to garrisons and the youth with a gun in his hand (and little knowledge in his head), creating mayhem along Mountain View Avenue or wherever. The advent of garrisons over 40 years ago marked the descent of Jamaica into anarchistic behaviour. Today, these communities are, without exception, zones of exclusion characterised by endemic poverty, an absence of social services, crumbling infrastructure and appalling sanitation, making them a fertile breeding ground for criminality.
The evidence of the damage done to the country is mind-boggling. First, there are the statistics themselves. From 1965 to 1969 there were 541 murders reported. Over the decade of the 1970s there were 2,686; the 1980s: 4,870; the 1990s: 7,621, and between 2000 and 2006 about 8,531. Add up these numbers and you get 24,249. That's a lot of acreage taken up in grave space on a very small island.
The evidence can even be seen in the positive developments taking place on the island. On a recent visit to the north coast, I was enthralled by the number of new hotels under construction. Amidst giving thanks to Almighty God for this good fortune, it struck me that what I was looking at were really garrisons, or maybe fortresses would be a more apt description. I mean, the fence goes up before anything else, and unless the building is at least two storeys high, you can't see the roof. To get through the gate you have to have credentials, and entering by the sea is impossible.
Which is more a garrison, Trench Town or one of these hotels? At least, in Trench Town we are not walled in and there are several routes, for the most part unrestricted, to get in and out for those who would venture. Jamaica pioneered in all-inclusive hotels. Because of unabated crime, we are again pioneering. This time in what shall surely one day come to be known as enclave tourism.
The Planning Institute of Jamaica is doing excellent work toward developing a National Development Plan to the year 2030 for Jamaica. Boldly, degarrisonisation (to coin a word) is being featured as a key strategy in the way forward. The JLP manifesto contains a section entitled, "Transforming political garrisons". Not to be outdone, the PNP manifesto speaks to making a paradigm shift by transforming inner cities to winner cities. All very good signs that politicians are awakening from their state of denial, and accepting that removing this blight from the Jamaican political, social and economic landscape is not an option.
The debate between the prime minister and the opposition leader exposed the struggle to let go of the past. The protagonists, in debating the vexing issue of garrisons, found themselves in a position where one could not easily score points against the other. The listener could be forgiven for concluding that the dismantling of garrisons will not become a reality anytime soon.
It bears repeating that garrison politics as practised in Jamaica for over a generation ranks among the worst cases of political gerrymandering and electoral manipulation to have ever taken place in a democratic country. Those who now tell us we must live with this aberration for another generation either benefit from its existence or they are cowards. There are no other categories in which to place them.
All the words expended in the debates would have amounted to what inner-city people call waste argument, if there is not a resolve on the part of the political parties to reverse the status quo. Either we "bell" the problem of garrisons or confront it with the resolve of a "clenched fist". Which will it be?
hmorgan@cwjamaica.com
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