A fellow blogger, Diana McCaulay (also a well-known environmental activist and award-winning novelist), is a Jamaican living in Jamaica. She wrote this post yesterday evening on her blog. It is about love and family, hatred and bigotry. It is very personal, and painful – and sad. Do read, and share. The link is at http://www.dianamccaulay.com/apps/blog/show/19730499-i-promise-to-love-you-for-the-rest-of-my-life

Two male students from the University of Technology (U-Tech) were said to have been caught in a ‘compromising position’ in a bathroom on the evening of November 2nd, 2012 – it is not known what they were doing and all a mob needs is a rumour. A growing crowd of other students chased the young men across the campus. One of the students escaped. The other sought refuge in the security guard post on Hope Road and what happened next was filmed by a cell phone camera. It is dark and the figures are shadowy, but it is clear that a crowd of hundreds is gathered shouting anti gay curses, demanding blood. There is laughter and an air of salacious excitement, what happen, some voices ask? One voice asks to be let in on the fun. The video camera steadies and the inside of the security post can be seen through the glass. The three security guards seem unsure what to do, but soon two of them beat the clearly terrified young man. The crowd roars. There is the sound of breaking glass.

It seems to me a Pontius Pilate moment, if I remember my Bible correctly. An innocent man delivered up to a judge of sorts, a baying mob outside. The judge seeks to appease the crowd with a beating but it is not enough. And we know the end of that particular story.

Other facts emerge. There had been car thefts the night before, a recurring problem on the U-Tech campus, leading to a horrific mob killing in 2003. Some people seem to have thought the man being chased was a car thief, as did the security guards, at least initially. Students found the young man’s photo and plastered it all over the Internet, destroying any hope he can continue to live a normal life in Jamaica, at least for the foreseeable future, and jeopardizing the continuation of his education. The guard company, Marksman Ltd., fired two of the guards the same day, the fate of the others is still under investigation. U-Tech issued a statement condemning the attack. YouTube took down the video, only to have it reposted over and over again. Social media erupted with blogs and comments. Petitions were started.

The title of the YouTube video I reluctantly watched was “Beat the Fish 2!!!” (sic) “Fish” is one of many odious Jamaican slang terms for a homosexual. The day after the attack, Friday, I was utterly unproductive at work, constantly refreshing the Facebook pages and blogs I follow, to see what was being said. There were no public comments following the articles published in Jamaica’s two daily newspapers. This was highly unusual. I wondered if, at long last, the editors of our mainstream publications had decided not to give hate speech any oxygen. But the lack of comment was short lived.

It’s personal for me. My son is gay. Every hateful, bigoted, violent remark is flung directly at him. I miss my son every day of my life, but I am so glad he does not live here. The question is: Why do I?

I had my Jamaican passport with me on Friday, because I needed to make a photocopy. I noticed it on my desk and I held it. I felt, still feel, deeply ashamed to be Jamaican. I felt complicit in this attack because of my long ago decision to remain here, to claim my Jamaican nationality, my Jamaican identity. Now, too late, I want to rescind that decision. I don’t want to be identified as part of a nation that defends and supports an anti gay stance as being cultural, as being Christian, as being an aspect of our sovereignty, our right.

It occurs to me this is why the separation of Church and State is vital. It seems harmless, even positive, when people say: Jamaica is a Christian nation. Public prayer at virtually every function seems relatively innocuous – oh sure, there might be people of other faiths in the room, but Jamaica is a Christian nation, right, they’ll understand, they must adapt to the majority’s wishes. But it is not innocuous. As they always have been, religious beliefs are being used as justification for the abrogation of the human rights of some. Religious beliefs belong in places of worship among those who share such beliefs and nowhere else. They must not have the weight of the State behind them.

In an interview with Cliff Hughes on Nationwide News Network on Friday, I heard the Minister of Education, Hon. Ronnie Thwaites, strongly condemn the U-Tech attack. Well and good, Deacon Thwaites. But it was you who recently pandered to the mob in the withdrawing of educational materials trying, however clumsily, to deal with the issue of respect and tolerance for gay people.

See Annie Paul’s post Gay Bashing in Jamaica a National Policy? for more on this issue: http://anniepaul.net/2012/11/03/gay-bashing-in-jamaica-a-national-policy/

I am tired of pretending that all aspects of our culture are defensible. They are not. There is much about being Jamaican to be ashamed of – our violent and bigoted speech and action towards gays and lesbians tops the list.

A month ago, I went to England, where my son lives, to attend the celebration of his civil union with his long standing partner, another man. The registrar who conducted the ceremony began with a simple statement about relationships between gay people. She said these unions had existed for centuries but only now was it possible for them to have legal status. My son and his partner had written their own vows and the last one was a simple one: “I promise to love you for the rest of my life.” Two honest, productive, fine young men, one Jamaica’s loss, promising to love and honour each other, to walk with each other through life. I thought there should be a banner above where they stood, something huge, big enough to be visible all the way across the Atlantic in my homeland asking this simple question: WHAT EXACTLY ARE YOU AFRAID OF?

Also Sticks and Stones by Petchary: http/petchary.files.wordpress.com/2012/11/40922utechbeating20121101c.jpg and http://petchary.wordpress.com/2012/11/03/sticks-and-stones/ 

Related articles

• Two university guards in Jamaica accused of assaulting gay student (with video) (vancouversun.com)
• Sticks and Stones (petchary.wordpress.com)
• We Are Family: on Blog Action Day 2012 (petchary.wordpress.com)
• Gay Bashing in Jamaica a national policy? (anniepaul.net)
• http://rawpoliticsjamaicastyle.wordpress.com/2012/11/03/gay-violence-at-local-university-symptomatic-of-jamaicas-increasing-descent-into-anarchy-and-mayhem/

Perhaps it is exhalation, rather than sighs. The island is (mostly) recuperating from Hurricane Sandy, and the general consensus is that things could have been worse. For some, however, life post-Sandy is still fairly grim. Those at the eastern end of the island, where the infrastructure was already in pretty bad shape, are really suffering. It is always the rural poor who suffer the most from storms. Now, over the weekend, heavy rains and flooding (especially in the parish of Portland) have rendered roads impassable and have slowed the recovery effort. Many remain homeless, waterless, powerless in Portland, St. Mary, St. Ann and St. Thomas. The Jamaica Public Service Company – which I have praised in my last blog and continue to commend for their diligent work – has encountered huge technical challenges in restoring electricity to these areas. We city-dwellers are relatively well-off and comfortable, now. It is about the haves and the have-nots, and sadly there are still many of the latter group.

Hard-working Jamaica Public Service engineers working on a light pole. (Photo: Norman Grindley/Jamaica Gleaner)

Daryl Vaz (center) launches Portland relief fund with Food for the Poor‘s Andrew Mahfood (in white shirt) on Friday. (Photo: Bryan Cummings, Jamaica Observer)

Meanwhile, we read a string of reports noting the billions of dollars’ worth of damage inflicted on different sectors of the economy. All week, the numbers floated around over our heads like butterflies – the kind you can never catch. Because, ultimately, do we have the money to make all the necessary amends after Sandy? That was a rhetorical question; you know the answer.

A few ministers, and quite a few Members of Parliament and local councillors, toured selected areas and made solemn pronouncements about what needs to be done. Promises were made. And the Opposition Member of Parliament for Western Portland, Mr. Daryl Vaz (who has been rather quiet lately) launched a storm relief fund for the parish with the inestimable Food for the Poor, headed by Andrew Mahfood – which will match donations with $100,000. This appears to be a bipartisan fund, and it extends to neighboring parishes; one hopes that the private sector will chip in. Portland often calls itself the “neglected parish”; along with St. Thomas next door, it suffers from low self-esteem – and the serious under-development of its people.

Well now. Just yesterday, the delightful, bubbly Ms. Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce, a double gold medalist in the London Olympics, graduated from the University of Technology (UTech) in Kingston and became that learned institution’s first Ambassador. I am not quite clear what her duties will be. Although of course this would have been planned months ahead, it seems a little unfortunate that UTech’s celebration of its latest batch of graduates should take  place less than two days after a screaming mob of students descended on the college’s guard house, calling for the security guards to “kill the battyman” (yes, I heard those words on the video). Please see my previous blog, Sticks and Stones, for more information on this. I wonder if any of the students involved were actually on the podium, proudly receiving their degrees.

Although this blood-chilling event last Thursday night was extensively reported in the broadcast media and discussed at length on radio shows, the island’s newspapers seem to have been steering away from it. That is, apart from a solid editorial in today’s  Sunday Gleaner. Please see that link below, as well as links to other locally written blogs that have addressed the issue with, I believe, considerable thought and insight. I will be re-blogging one of them shortly, and I do hope you will read them all. These are people who, like myself, have observed what is happening in civil society in Jamaica. And by the way, much of what is happening ain’t pretty.

Ms. Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce graduates from UTech. Former Prime Minister and Chancellor of UTech Edward Seaga is to her right; in the background is UTech President Professor Errol Morrison. (Photo: Ian Allen, Jamaica Gleaner)

Anyway, I congratulate Ms. Fraser-Pryce on her achievement – none of this is her fault – and I am sure she will be a lovely Ambassador, whatever that entails. A new assessment center for children with disabilities is to be opened and named in her honor, and that is good.

Just a quick footnote on this matter: Has anyone – the UTech leadership, the politicians, Jamaicans in general – thought about the possible global repercussions of the UTech matter? YouTube videos are powerful weapons. The moron who uploaded the video of this human rights abuse thought it was great fun to show the world this illustration of Jamaica’s homophobia and “wild West” mob-rule mentality. But it may have back-fired – not only on those who participated in this scene of persecution, but on Jamaica itself, including its law-abiding citizens. Could the world fall out of love with the Jamaica of Usain Bolt, gold medals, beaches and reggae music? Isn’t its image tarnished with violence, lawlessness and bigotry already? Doesn’t this video make matters worse? Or do Jamaicans and Jamaican leaders not realize that people around the world do sit up and take notice of such matters, which here in Jamaica might be brushed aside with a quick statement or public relations piece? What impact will all of this have on our tourism industry, for example? It’s not only Hurricane Sandy that may put a dampener on things in that respect. Take a read of the online article below - “Un-coupling Usain Bolt and Jamaica.” It will make you wonder…where are we heading?

I really hope the leaders of Jamaica – in politics, academia and in the church/churches specifically – are sitting up and taking notice, too. And talking of leadership… Once again the commentators are asking for a sign from our Prime Minister Portia Simpson Miller that she is truly engaged in the people’s business. Jamaicans often call her “Mama P” or “Sista P” - suggesting her warm, fuzzy family image. She hugs people a lot. And kisses. It’s quite endearing. I think she even hugged Prince Harry during his visit. But as one columnist noted today, why was she not doing just that with the people of Portland after Hurricane Sandy? Today’s Observer cartoon compares her unfavorably with President Barack Obama, who has been doing quite a lot of hugging and comforting. By contrast, our political leader reportedly flew over the storm-ravaged areas in a military helicopter, and did not set foot on the ground. A missed PR opportunity of major proportions. She doesn’t have ministers to do that. She has to show leadership herself, in person.

Bearing in mind her comments on gay rights during a televised election debate about a year ago, I would also love “Mama P” to reach out to the victim of the attack at UTech, to express regret and wish for his wellbeing. Perhaps even to condemn the incident? But I won’t hold my breath on that one.

On the economic front, there are still concerns that we are not being told much about the prospects for the completion of an agreement with the International Monetary Fund. The head of the Private Sector Organization of Jamaica, Christopher Zacca, hinted in a speech last week that more information would be most helpful to him and his colleagues, at this point. And I know I am a skeptic, but what if no agreement takes place at all (is it a given)? I am not sure how we would then proceed. Anyone?

Christopher Zacca, President of the Private Sector Organisation of Jamaica

Meanwhile, I went through the usual torture of watching the television prime time news this evening. Why do I watch it? my husband asks. A man grieves over his mother; another woman tells the story of her daughter, who was abducted and has never been seen again, breaking down in the end. Should the television reporters air these stories? Or should they “balance them out” with nice, “positive” stories of sweetness and light, as many Jamaicans contend? They do have a point. Of course, life is not all bad. But news is news, and “soft news” doesn’t quite have the same impact, I am afraid.

Talking about “soft”… Let me seek to balance things out with a few tributes this week. Let me open the first envelope…

I was pleased to see a piece in today’s Outlook (in the Sunday Gleaner) about Ms. Becky Stockhausen, the intrepid Executive Director of the American Chamber of Commerce. In my previous life at the U.S. Embassy I often had the opportunity to work with her and I always enjoyed it. Becky is a woman of action, and she has a lot of heart, and I like that. This determined native of Akron, Ohio could have given up on Jamaica years ago, but she has been here for thirty years. She has made a difference; and I always feel that she is on the right track. By the way, I like the series “10 Things You Didn’t Know About…” It works.

Ms. Becky Stockhausen at the American Chamber of Commerce Awards. A lady who knows where she’s going.

Congratulations to the lovely ladies of the new CVM Television series “The Naked Truth,” which started up a few weeks ago. It appears to be modeled on the highly successful U.S. program The View, in which a group of women with various personalities discuss the news and current issues, both serious and trivial, in what seems to be an intuitive and spontaneous exchange. The hosts, Shelly Ann Weeks and Paula Kerr-Jarrett, are making a good job of it so far. It is a work in progress and there are awkward moments – but such is the nature of this type of program. It will evolve…. PS: I do not like the title of the series at all. It is supposed to sound suggestive, mildly salacious, I guess. Well, if it was a group of men, I am sure that the name of the program would be something different, less…silly.

• Not long ago, I wrote a blog post about the slender little soursop tree in our back yard, and the mysterious case of our disappearing soursops. I was pleased to see a really well-written story by Paul H. Williams in the Gleaner, about this fruit’s healing properties. I adore drinking the juice, but understand that it is the leaves and bark that are really powerful. Drinking such a potion has kept Yvonne Kirlew cancer-free for years, now. The story has a South Florida connection. You can read it below.

Congratulations, too, to the four selected artists for the Super Plus Under 40 Artist of the Year competition. As usual, there is such impressive talent on display. This year, three of the artists have links to photography; and last year’s winner, O’Neil Lawrence, was also a photographer. Do go down to the Mutual Gallery in Kingston and vote for your favorite before November 19; there is a Jury Prize and a Public Prize. You can visit the Gallery’s website for more details. The private sector support for this competition is great, and especially the enthusiasm of Mr. Wayne Chen of Super Plus.

Below is a list of Jamaicans murdered over the past week. It has lengthened again, I am afraid. The storm has passed, and it is back to business as usual.

I am sorry.

Until next week…

There is something about soursops (by the way, my own tree was taken over by a vine during my absence from Jamaica, and needs to be rescued urgently!) Photo: Paul H. Williams

Cheers! Paula Kerr-Jarrett and Shelly Ann Weeks of “The Naked Truth.” Photo: Gleaner

Cartoonist Clovis contrasted the post-Sandy leadership response in the United States and in Jamaica.

By police:

Donovan Johnson, 39, Spanish Town Road, Kingston

Two unidentified men, Old Harbour, St. Catherine

Unidentified man, Gutters, St. Catherine

Donald Chin, 19, Montego Bay, St. James

Others:

Conrad Oliver Dunkley, 57, Burnt Savannah, St. Elizabeth

Tanisha Hamilton, 28, Thompson Town, Clarendon

Derek Henry, Vere, Clarendon

Sylvester Thomas, Top Hill, Portland

Maureen Cox, 50, Retirement, St. James

Owen Walters, 23, Mocho, Clarendon

Alex Elliot, 20, Mandeville, Manchester

Stephen Collier, 40, Mandeville, Manchester

Ian Malcolm, 24, Anchovy, St. James

Samuel Young, 62, Sandy Bay, Hanover

Yvonne Smith-Waldron, 51, Windsor Heights, St. Catherine

Sheryl Desouza-Wright, 53, Windsor Heights, St. Catherine

http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/news/Trial-starts-for-three-cops-on-murder-charge (Trial starts for three cops on murder charge: Jamaica Observer)

http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/news/Cop-witnessed-colleagues-abduct-men (Cop witnessed colleagues abduct men: Jamaica Observer)

http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/news/Flooding-in-north-eastern-parishes (Flooding in north-eastern parishes: Jamaica Observer)

http://jamaica-gleaner.com/gleaner/20121102/letters/letters1.html (Where will they live, Prime Minister? Letter to the Jamaica Gleaner)

http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/news/Vaz-launches-storm-relief-fund_12890369 (Vaz launches storm relief fund: Jamaica Observer)

http://www.og.nr/rbt/9719-burnt-body-found-in-port-royal-identified-as-tandy-lewis.html (Burnt body found in Port Royal identified as Tandy Lewis: On The Ground News Reports)

http://jamaica-gleaner.com/gleaner/20121029/lead/lead2.html (“I weep over my city”: Jamaica Gleaner)

http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/columns/In-these-times–we-need-decisive-leadership_12902600 (In these times, we need decisive leadership: Claude Robinson op-ed, Sunday Observer)

http://jamaica-gleaner.com/gleaner/20121103/news/news4.html (Soursop stories still creating stir: Jamaica Gleaner)

http://petchary.wordpress.com/2012/08/29/a-tale-of-two-soursops/ (A tale of two soursops: petchary.wordpress.com)

http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/columns/A-week-after-Sandy—-the-good–bad–and-ugly_12895097 (A week after Sandy: The good, the bad and the ugly: James Moss-Solomon op-ed, Sunday Observer)

http://jamaica-gleaner.com/gleaner/20121104/lead/lead8.html (Unsung heroes: Sunday Gleaner)

Sunday After Sandy: October 28, 2012 (petchary.wordpress.com)

http://bloommagazineonline.com/2012/11/03/1508/?fb_comment_id=fbc_299908706777015_1353453_300089816758904#f15ff8214c (Un-coupling Usain Bolt and Jamaica: Bloom Magazine)

http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/news/Opposition-spokesperson-on-education-condemns-Utech-beating (Opposition Spokesperson on Education condemns UTech beating: Jamaica Observer)

http://jamaica-gleaner.com/gleaner/20121104/cleisure/cleisure1.html (Let’s see what our leaders do: Sunday Gleaner editorial)

http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/news/Gay–No-Way_12464865 (Gay? No Way: Jamaica Observer)

http://www.dianamccaulay.com/apps/blog/show/19730499-i-promise-to-love-you-for-the-rest-of-my-life (I promise to love you for the rest of my life: Diana McCaulay blog)

http://rawpoliticsjamaicastyle.wordpress.com/2012/11/03/gay-violence-at-local-university-symptomatic-of-jamaicas-increasing-descent-into-anarchy-and-mayhem/ (“Gay” violence at local university symptomatic of Jamaica’s increasing descent into anarchy and mayhem: Raw Politics Jamaica Style blog)

http://jamaica-gleaner.com/gleaner/20121104/lead/lead93.html (UTech’s class of 2012 challenged to be game changers: Sunday Gleaner)

Gay Bashing in Jamaica a national policy? (anniepaul.net)

http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/editorial/Not-enough–Minister-Thwaites_12864823 (Not enough, Minister Thwaites: Jamaica Observer editorial)

Owen Ellington battles on for his job, but …… Checkmate ? (commonsenseja.wordpress.com)

http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/editorial/Sandy-s-double-trouble-for-the-economy_12885451 (Sandy’s double trouble for the economy: Jamaica Observer editorial)

Jamaica’s deadly homophobia also kills heterosexuals (76crimes.com)

http://elitestv.com/pub/2012/11/student-beating-raises-issue-of-homophobia-in-jamaica (Student beating raises issues of homophobia in Jamaica)

On the Sunday after Hurricane Sandy, with spirits somewhat restored, we spent the day with a new friend from Suriname. The gloom of the storm in the endless mists and forests of the Blue Mountains still weighed a little heavily, and our friend was far from home. So we endeavored to lighten her load (and ours, into the bargain) with a visit to the National Gallery of Jamaica.

We did not regret it.

As I noted in a recent post, a strong move is under way to “revive” the downtown area of Kingston. This can only work to the benefit of a cultural oasis like the National Gallery – a government entity, but certainly not dull or lacking in variety and vibrancy. The NGJ’s mission statement is “to collect, research, document and preserve Jamaican, other Caribbean Art and related material and to promote our artistic heritage for the benefit of present and future generations.” This is something which Executive Director Veerle Poupeye and Assistant Curator O’Neil Lawrence put into practice every day. Moreover…with her small and enthusiastic team, Ms. Poupeye has also, in her quiet, determined way, greatly expanded the Gallery’s outreach through innovative programs, such as its monthly Sunday openings (the last Sunday of each month from 11:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.) These are free and include guided tours, musical interludes, children’s activities…and simply the enjoyment of permanent as well as current exhibitions.

Now, it is well worth while spending some time downtown, as we did, where the waters of Kingston Harbour sparkle brilliantly and the city somehow seems to regain its personality in the calm of a Sunday lunchtime. The day was quieter than usual, as the good citizens of Kingston pulling their affairs back together after the storm. But we had had enough of sweeping and cleaning and clearing up, and wanted to refresh ourselves; and we found many friends and acquaintances eager to do the same.

While we were away (or “off the island” as Jamaicans like to say) a remarkable exhibition opened at the National Gallery: the winners of the First International Reggae Poster Contest went on display. There were 1,142 entries from 678 designers in eighty countries – from every corner of the planet – an indicator, of course, of reggae music’s extraordinary global resonance. The first prize winner was Alon Braier, from Israel, who visited Jamaica for the exhibit opening. His piece was a serious portrayal of the “Roots of Dub.” The central figure, the engineer/producer, has one finger poised to press a button on the amplifier; in one corner, roots musician Augustus Pablo plays his haunting melodica tunes; in the other, a rather stoned-looking Lee “Scratch” Perry half-smiles, enigmatically.

First Place Winner (Alon Braier, Israel) – clearly a dub fan

Second prize, from Turkey, is completely different: a dazzling five-point, red gold and green star; third prize, from Italy, is a flowing portrayal of a singer  with birds nesting, resting and then flying from his dreads with the logo, “Riddim is Freedom”; fourth – and one of my personal favorites – from Poland, is a fine portrait of veteran reggae singer Winston Rodney (Burning Spear); and fifth is a Jamaican entry full of vigor and complexity by Taj Francis, a graduate of Kingston’s Edna Manley College for the Visual & Performing Arts. The “top ten” can be found on the contest’s website – link below; including #10, which I find quite beautiful, from Greece.

Second place: Zafer Lehimier, Turkey: Dazzling and vibrant.

All I can say is that we were so overwhelmed and impressed by the diversity of the 100 posters on show that we realized it must have been incredibly hard for the fifteen international judges to pick the very best. Some reflected the lyricism of roots reggae; some expressed the harder, more aggressive mood of dancehall and the first deejays; others simply celebrated the music, interpreting its messages for the most part as peace, love and harmony. I have posted a few other favorites of mine below, so that you can see the amazing range of moods and interpretations.

3rd Place: Rosario Nocera, Italy…. Free as a bird.

Reggae music is complex. It is not one thing. It is not just rhythm and baseline – although these are important components, to draw you in. It is so much more – and the “more” is what this ground-breaking exhibition encompasses – the quiet philosophy, the raw emotion of reggae music, for better or for worse.

10th Place: Dimitris Evagelou, Greece. The essence of Rastafari.

5th Place: Taj Francis, Jamaica. The Upsetter in all his colorful eccentricity.

4th Place: Tomasz Bartz, Poland – the one and only Burning Spear.

Now to the even more important part: The posters are to be auctioned off this weekend – yes THIS weekend - at the National Gallery of Jamaica on Sunday, November 11 at 2:30 p.m. All proceeds will go to the Alpha Boys School (which deserves at least another blog post for itself), where many of Jamaica’s musicians got their training with the Alpha Boy’s Band. Alpha Boys is no ordinary boys’ school; it was, in fact an orphanage, founded by the Roman Catholic Sisters of Mercy in 1880 on Kingston’s South Camp Road. The flyer below shows Sister Mary Ignatius Davis, the iconic head of the school for an astounding 64 years, who passed away in 2003. The school teaches music and as well as academics has a strong focus on vocational training for boys from very deprived backgrounds (a number of them were homeless, alone, and without family, but Alpha takes care of them, gives their lives structure – and brings music). The illustrious alumni of Alpha include jazz trumpeter Dizzy Reece, singers Leroy Smart and Johnny Osbourne, pioneering dancehall deejay Yellowman; trombonist Rico Rodriguez; founding members of the legendary Skatalites, Tommy McCook, Lester Sterling and Dizzy Moore – among many others. What better beneficiary could there be?

The Alpha Boys are more than half-way downtown. Another important arrow in the bow that the poster competition has let fly is the campaign to build a Reggae Hall of Fame on Kingston’s waterfront. Something along the lines of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland, Ohio, which I have visited and which is a delightfully brash and enticing attraction on the lakeside, built of glass and steel. As a huge rock fan since the age of ten, for me it was like visiting a cross between a shrine and a garden of unexpected delights (their small but intimate exhibit on the Doors moved me nearly to tears, when I visited). I hope the reggae version might be something similar, for the true fan. On the Reggae Hall of Fame’s Facebook page (why don’t you “like” it?) Michael Thompson describes the vision as “a new approach for Kingston’s development, linking reggae with urban revitalization.”  Aha.

So there you have it. Please come down on Sunday to bid for your favorite poster – or, if you cannot afford it, just enjoy a final look at the exhibit. The exhibition officially closes TOMORROW!

For more details, visit the National Gallery of Jamaica website or contact them via their blog, Facebook page or on Twitter. Support Jamaican art, and especially this amazing initiative!

Alpha Boys Band get warmed up.

World-a-Reggae Poster Auction Flyer

Director Veerle Poupeye welcomes visitors to the National Gallery of Jamaica.

National Gallery of Jamaica logo in the colors of the Jamaican flag.

http://natgalja.org.jm/ioj_wp/ (National Gallery of Jamaica website)

http://nationalgalleryofjamaica.wordpress.com (National Gallery of Jamaica blog)

http://www.reggaepostercontest.com (First International Reggae Poster Contest: website)

http://www.alphaoldboysassociation.com/history.html (Alpha Old Boys’ Association: History of the School)

http://jamaica-gleaner.com/gleaner/20120917/ent/ent2.html (Alpha Boys’ Home gets Royal Philharmonic treat: Jamaica Gleaner)

http://freestylee.net/tag/reggae-hall-of-fame-propaganda/ (Posters for Reggae Hall of Fame)

http://www.reggaehalloffame.com (Reggae Hall of Fame.com)

A Pause for Refreshment…and Art to Soothe the Soul (petchary.wordpress.com)

Sticks and Stones (petchary.wordpress.com)

What to See and Do in Kingston (channelvoyager.com)

Post-Sandy Cheer, Part One: Gastronomic (petchary.wordpress.com)

National Gallery of Jamaica’s Saturday Art-Time (repeatingislands.com)

National Gallery To Open ‘World-A-Reggae’ Exhibition (repeatingislands.com)

VIDEO: Hurricane Sandy hits Jamaica coast (bbc.co.uk)

A few more of my favorite posters, below:

84th Place: Mario Fuentes, Ecuador. Green, glowing, Inca feel.

97th Place: – Nazanin Tamaddon, Iran. Let’s Reggae!

14th Place: Miguel Cachia, Malta. The Legends.

70th Place: Dean Bradley, United States. The swagger of dancehall.

69th Place: Denni S., Indonesia – a lovely old time feel.

47th Place: Vilmas Narecionis, Lithuania – I love the delicate doves of peace. But then, I am a bird-lover.

37th Place: Corine-Campbell, United States – so fresh and youthful.

• Clarks, the shoes that tap to Jamaica’s reggae beat (guardian.co.uk)
• Heart on sleeves: 50 years of Jamaican album covers tell the story of a nation (independent.co.uk)

Ugandan Independence Ceremony, 9th October, 1962 (Photo: Lambeth Palace Library)

An ambitious group gathered in that pivotal year, 1962, for the African Writers Conference at Makerere University in Uganda. Among the attendees were Chinua Achebe and Wole Soyinka of Nigeria, as well as Ngugi wa Thiong’o of Kenya (then James Ngugi) and Rajat Neogy, a Kampala native who would soon launch Transition Magazine. Langston Hughes, who had a particular interest in anthologizing African writers for publication in the US, made the trip from America. The young and thoughtful group discussed the formidable legacy of colonialism for African writers. How do you cultivate emerging literatures? Is it inauthentic for African writers to write in colonial languages like English and French, rather than indigenous languages? Are there certain kinds of stories that are more or less ‘African’?

Makerere University, Uganda

These questions are hardly settled today, but the literary experiments attempting to resolve them reached a global audience thanks to the unprecedented African Writers Series. The series published authors like Achebe, who advised the project for its first 10 years. Indeed, the first title published was Things Fall Apart, a new issuing of the book that first appeared in 1958, just shy of Nigeria’s independence. Shortly after the AWS launch, Things Fall Apart became required reading by the Cambridge School Certificate Examinations for overseas students in the United Kingdom. This singular move led to Heinemann immediately selling 20,000 copies.

The fiftieth anniversary edition of “Things Fall Apart” by Chinua Achebe. Still relevant today…

AWS published fiction, poetry, plays, and nonfiction, including reprints and original work, from a list headlined by authors like Ngugi, Ama Ata Aidoo of Ghana, Tayeb Salih of Sudan, Bessie Head of Botswana, Dennis Brutus of South Africa, Ayi Kwei Armah of Ghana, and Nuruddin Farah of Somalia. While many titles were written in English, others were translated from French, Arabic, Portuguese, Swahili, Achioli, and Yoruba. While the series brought international attention to the diversity of literature in Africa, Heinemann paperbacks were primarily designed in affordable editions for African students. Achebe, in his collection of essays Home & Exile, writes:

The launching of Heinemann’s African Writers Series was like the umpire’s signal for which African writers had been waiting on the starting line. In one short generation an immense library of new writing had sprung into being from all over the continent and, for the first time in history, Africa’s future generations of readers and writers — youngsters in schools and colleges — began to read not only David Copperfield and other English classics that I and my generation had read but also works by their own writers about their own people. The excitement generated by this […] was very great indeed and continues to delight many people to this day, in Africa and beyond. The British poet and broadcaster Edward Blishen said of the African Writers Series, “I saw a whole new potentially great world literature come into being.”

Nobel Laureate Wole Soyinka at the Calabash International Literary Festival in Jamaica in May 2010.

The taste and scrutiny of the editors is evident in the number of authors who went on to win the Nobel Prize in Literature: every African Nobel laureate in literature, save one — J.M. Coetzee — is an AWS author. (As well, AWS published one of the earliest books by Peace Prize-winner Nelson Mandela.) Wole Soyinka became the first African writer — in fact, the first black writer — to win the Nobel Prize in literature in 1986. Two years later, Egypt’s Naguib Mahfouz won, a first for a writer in Arabic. South Africa’s Nadine Gordimer took the prize in 1991, and Doris Lessing in 2007. While Lessing is now a British citizen, her roots are in Zimbabwe. The series published her novel, The Grass is Singing, in 1972. Lessing’s Nobel lecture discussed the dream deferred for writers raised with a dearth of literary resources. She spoke of a Zimbabwe library she visits, where the only books on the shelves are “tomes from American universities, hard even to lift, rejects from white libraries, or novels with titles like Weekend in Paris and Felicity Finds Love.” In such a context, Lessing said, there are bound to be “books never written […] Voices unheard. It is not possible to estimate this great waste of talent, of potential.”

Nobel Laureate Doris Lessing was born in Iran, lived in Zimbabwe and fled to the UK as a result of her anti-apartheid views.

The last of about 350 AWS titles published by Heinemann came in 2000. By then, books were appearing sporadically under quick-shifting ownership. But after more than a decade of silence, and now in its 50^th anniversary year, the African Writers Series was revived this June by Penguin Classics, with the release of two early novels by Ngugi wa Thiong’o: Weep Not, Child and A Grain of Wheat. There is nice symmetry in Penguin picking up the mantle of the legendary series. As James Currey writes in Africa Writes Back, a history of the Heinemann project:

The Series was to become to Africans in its first quarter century what Penguin had been to British readers in its first 25 years. It provided good serious reading in paperbacks at accessible prices for the rapidly emerging professional classes, as the countries became independent.

Kenyan writer Ngugi wa Thiong’o is Distinguished Professor of the Departments of Comparative Literature and English at the University of California, Irvine.

The original AWS paperbacks visually gave a nod to Penguin by borrowing its distinctive orange color for the covers.

For its part, Penguin (which shares a parent company with Heinemann) publishes Ngugi’s novel Petals of Blood, which John Siciliano, series editor, told me is a “steady seller.” It seemed natural to relaunch AWS with two additional Ngugi titles. As they get the Penguin Classics treatment, AWS titles will appear with introductions (unlike the Heinemann books) from prominent writers. The cover design gives no indication that AWS titles are distinct from traditional black-spined Classics, but their first page features a “Message from Chinua Achebe,” in which the series’ former curator gives his endorsement to Penguin’s project: “Through the series, the creative exploration of those issues and experiences that are unique to the African consciousness will be given a platform, not only throughout Africa, but also to the world beyond its shores.”

The new AWS will be ongoing, rather than finite. Siciliano “aims to make the series as diverse as possible” while ensuring that selections are driven by editorial quality. He’s also interested in titles in translation and, if necessary, would consider commissioning new translations that would put the novels “in the best possible light.”

“This is not a passive thing,” Siciliano said about launching AWS with Penguin. “This is something I pursued […] This is about enlarging the canon.”

¤

It’s impossible to talk about Ngugi’s fiction without talking about politics. Though Weep Not, Child and A Grain of Wheat were published before Ngugi changed his name, before he was imprisoned for his writing, before his exile to the United States, and before his pivotal Decolonising the Mind cued his shift to writing in Gikuyu (he translates his own work into English), both novels proclaim Ngugi’s interest in how politics push against the ordinary habits of students, lovers, families, and workers. Weep Not, Child, which takes its title from a Walt Whitman poem, was published in 1964, and may be the first novel published by an East African. In it, we meet two Kikuyu brothers growing up in rural Kenya just as the Mau Mau uprising is beginning to challenge the British government. Njoroge is thrilled that he’s designated by his family to attend school. Kamau apprentices in carpentry. But while Njoroge sees education as the gold-plated path to progress, Kamau is drawn to the forthright methods of Mau Mau. When loyalties to family, country, and self conflict, Njoroge struggles to find a vision he can hold onto.

“Weep Not, Child” – the first UK edition published in 1964. It was the first novel by an East African author to be published in English.

In a neat 149 pages, Ngugi fits an epic sweep: this is an omniscient story, spanning a decade, hemmed in by the long dark shadow of World War II. Kenyans were conscripted to fight for the British; upon return, they found that British soldiers were rewarded with land and loans that they did not receive for the same service. Some Kenyans had farms taken from them to benefit the very British men they had fought alongside. In Weep Not, Child, the lingering chill of wartime trauma meets the looming specter of Kenya’s war of independence.

The novel carries common tics of an early go at longform fiction. Particularly after the publication of Ngugi’s childhood memoir, Dreams in a Time of War, it is apparent how richly Weep Not, Child is informed by the author’s own biography. The story is also heavy with exposition: the narrator explaining why each person says each thing slows dialogue. As a reader, I feel that the author doesn’t quite trust me to extrapolate and understand.

It is tempting to read Weep Not, Child as an allegory because of its spare style, peopled by characters that verge on emblems: The Father, The Overseer, The Loyal Friend. But Ngugi gently resists this. The story invites our expectations of how, for example, Njoroge will reconcile his personal dreams with his dreams for his country, but it sidesteps them at the last moment. The novel is also empathetic. Ngugi is attentive to the conflicts inherent in British characters who have not lived in England in decades, or perhaps ever. They know Kenya as home. But while their love for the land may be authentic, it is mutated by their grasping entitlement. Ngugi also draws out the worthiness of the Mau Mau’s fight for freedom, even as he underscores how their grand purpose could sometimes be netted by ignoble motivations: revenge, and the sheer adrenaline of brutality. In short, Ngugi writes a book that has moral purpose, but leaves just enough room for the complexity that comes with it.

While Weep Not, Child is a sturdy story with clean, bright lines, A Grain of Wheat is sensual, mysterious, devastating; a multi-threaded novel that builds tension by refusing to resolve its stubborn ambivalence. It is remarkable that the two were published a mere three years apart. In A Grain of Wheat, Ngugi makes a great leap forward in terms of emotional resonance and sheer fictional verve. Ngugi takes on an ensemble cast and plays much more confidently with suspense and revelation in A Grain of Wheat. The story unfolds over the four days before Kenya celebrated independence from Britain in 1963, but it spends much time in flashback. Again, we are immersed in the life of a rural community, where politics are at once immediate and detached. As villagers are consumed in plans for the uhuru ceremony, we learn that all is not well. The violence experienced by those held captive by the British is still fresh; the betrayals among spouses and neighbors are not forgiven; and those marked as heroes have long, troubled memories.

Gikonyo is a carpenter who was held in the British “concentration camps — named detention camps for the world outside Kenya,” for six years of the Emergency. This was the period from 1952-1960 when the colonial government permitted itself extreme measures in a bid to keep control: it is particularly horrifying given how soon after the Holocaust this system was built. To keep himself sane, Gikonyo holds tight to the memory of his lovely and brave wife, Mumbi. But when he returns home, he finds Mumbi with an infant child that is not his — and a friend of Gikonyo’s, with whom he took the Mau Mau oath, now works as a district chief in collaboration with the British.

Mugo, meanwhile, was also in detention camps. His quiet countenance invites others to see in him what they want to see — and their vision does not include his haunting secret. While Mugo tries to rebuild his life separately from the others, he is continually lured into public spaces, where the dissonance between the demons of his past and what his neighbors want from him are violently juxtaposed.

A Grain of Wheat stokes the fires of mythology. It draws richly from Christianity — an import from the British, of course, that Kenyans in the novel adapt, use, and re-use. The title references John 12:24: “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit.” We are told explicitly that “the revivalist movement was the only organization allowed to flourish in Kenya by the government during the Emergency.” Sections in the novel open with lines from Exodus that, we are told, were underlined in red in the personal Bible of Kihika, one of the story’s young martyrs. And it does not feel like a coincidence that Gikonyo chooses carpentry, the trade of Jesus, as his life’s work. Set in this Christian context, acts of betrayal, martyrdom, and confession take on elevated meaning.

Religion and politics merge when, as in Weep Not, Child, Jomo Kenyatta’s presence looms large as “Black Moses.” His imprisonment and trial were a significant rallying point for Kenyans, who would make him their first president. Meanwhile, the stories of Gandhi’s movement in India are passed from character to character like creation lore. And the narrative style A Grain of Wheat evokes the voice of myth. While the reader follows the intimate perspectives of Mugo, Mumbi, Gikonyo, and others, first-person asides are tucked through the pages. The narration is omniscient, but personal; first-person, but dislocated.

Jomo Kenyatta (1894 – 1978), the first leader of independent Kenya. Jomo means “Burning Spear.”

The novel bears serious weak spots. Ngugi’s female characters are not well developed; they are never seen speaking or thinking about anything other than the men in their lives: fathers, brothers, sons, husbands, lovers. He also sometimes over-romanticizes peasant life (he revised the novel after publication to push the Marxist point further), and he continues to rely on exposition more than he needs to: particularly in this novel, characters are so richly drawn that they are better left to their own devices. But altogether, Ngugi allows himself to luxuriate in description, to more bluntly piece together the discomfiting parts of life, and to explore the crisis that comes when our delusions and visions appear with the same force. This is an extraordinary book.

¤

Penguin South Africa first debuted its version of the revived African Writers Series three years ago, with Weep Not, Child on the inaugural slate. But it got some public pushback. In The Guardian, Akin Ajayi accused the series of being “locked in the past” with its focus on publishing novels between 15 and 50 years old. In contrast, the Heinemann Series focused largely on contemporary titles. Writes Ajayi:

I don’t have anything against the selection [of titles] itself, it’s just that it’s hard to see what the selection can tell the curious reader about lives lived across Africa today. These books can’t say much about the challenges of globalisation, migration, or the struggle by the citizens of Africa’s 53 countries to form an authentic identity, because these books are not of the moment. Classics, yes; contemporary, no. And in this sense at least, the new [Series] disappoints.

Billy Kahora dismisses the argument. Kahora is an accomplished Kenyan author and managing editor at Kwani, which publishes print books as well as Africa’s most prestigious literary journal.Ajayi cites Kwani as evidence of the contemporary literary talent that AWS might tap, but he minimizes the organization, referring to it as “a website.” (Disclosure: I worked at Kwani last year.)

Kahora said, Penguin is “doing a great service to the continent” by re-issuing classic titles. “Have you ever heard anyone in the West complaining about the republishing of Dickens, Mann, Tolstoy, Balzac?” Kahora added.

Kahora also suggested that critics who call the classic books dated “almost always” think that certain parts of life are a “contemporary phenomenon, and that these older [AWS] books have nothing to say to our contemporary condition.” To that, he points to B. KojoLaing’s Search Sweet Country (1986), which he said, “already prophesied what our contemporary urban spaces would become.” Kahora said, “I am yet to read anything contemporary that captures the nervous condition of the African returning from the West as well as Achebe’s No Longer At Ease or Hamidou Kane’s Ambiguous Adventure.” “And so,” he added, “it must be understood that the books from before and those from now are in perpetual conversation.”

That is the excitement of a living canon. But that doesn’t make it easy.

¤

The Caine Prize for African Writing is often nicknamed the “African Booker” — a frustrating comparison given that they are very distinct prizes: one for a novel, the other for a short story. But the moniker is meant to convey that extraordinary fiction can be found among the award winners and finalists. First awarded in 2000, the Caine Prize has in some ways served like the mid-century version of the African Writers Series: it brings global attention and opportunity to outstanding fiction writers from Africa. This includes Leila Aboulela, a Sudanese writer who quickly went on to publish several critically-acclaimed novels and a story collection. Helon Habila of Nigeria has written or edited five books since winning the Caine Prize. Kenya’s Binyavanga Wainana used his winnings in the Caine Prize to create Kwani.

Leila Aboulela, Sudanese writer and the first winner of the Caine Prize for African Writing in 2000. (Photo: Vaida V. Nairn)

This year’s Caine Prize winner, Rotimi Babatunde, was named on July 2^nd and received a £10,000 prize. Unfortunately, though, he emerged from a set of finalists that were selected from a mere 122 nominations and only 14 African countries. (The continent is home to 54 countries). Bernadine Evaristo, chair of the prize, said she is frustrated with some of what she saw:

I’d rather a story is provocative and unsettling rather than familiar, safe and perfectly accomplished. Yet risk-takers are rare. Among the submissions I’ve encountered a lot of uninspired prose that feels so dated, so Middle England circa 1950s, even though it might have been written in Central Africa in 2012. Luckily there are a few adventurers too. But we need more experimentation and daring, stunning image-makers and linguistic explorers who might, for example, infuse English with an African language or syntax. Not necessarily pidgin, but perhaps something else, something new — the English language (and forms) adapted, mutated, re-invented to suit African perspectives and cultures.

Binyavanga Wainana, who now directs the Chinua Achebe Center for African Writers and Artists at Bard College, echoed these thoughts in a posting on Facebook:

So MANY boring African artists. It has to be said. The Colonial school system in Anglophone Africa was designed to create dutiful (dull) and Safe Subjects. 50 years later, much of (young) African writing in English is safe […] they have also learned what they think “is being looked for” BY PRIZES, FOREIGN PUBLISHERS and foreign NGOS. Nobody invests in Boring. Their imaginations are tame and limited. They do not provide a vision of what is possible. […] At the Achebe Center I look for talent that has bold new things to say to Africa and the world. Innovators take risks and do not behave as prescribed by the ‘Theme makers’. Artists make their own insurgencies.

How do you cultivate emerging literatures? The questions confronted by the independence generation of writers still reverberate today, not only for writers, but also readers, publishers, literary critics, translators, technologists, and booksellers. The literary experiments continue.

Ngugi now teaches at the University of California-Irvine and was a headliner at the most recent Kwani LitFest in Nairobi, which had a theme inter-generational literary conversation. Ngugi, who led the 1970s campaign to transform the University of Nairobi’s Department of English to the Department of Literature, spoke of artistic purpose in both content and language.

Writers must continue to be advocates for the expansion of the democratic space. For there cannot be democracy for writers where there is no democracy for all. And this reality, my friends, is not specific in any generation or any one country or region. Imprisonment, exile, and even death has been part of the occupation hazard in the history of ideas. [...] We must ensure that Africa does not remain a beggar at the gates of European languages, and ensure that all of the arts are surely to excite and expand the imagination. Surely we in Africa must dare to imagine a different future, of an Africa that has peace for itself, but is able to engage with the world on the basis of self-belief and confidence.

Elsewhere in Nairobi, Riva Jalipa manages AMKA, a monthly gathering designed to promote women’s literary writing and women’s voices in Kenya’s public discourse. It is another kind of literary experiment, one that unfolds quietly but persistently. Men and women attend the Saturday meetings downtown, and the crowd includes both emerging and established writers, as well as “just people passionate about literature,” Jalipa said. “Over the last two years, [AMKA] has become more and more engaging, becoming a platform not just for literary critique, but socio-cultural and political commentary.”

In the twenty-first century, a new balance must be struck between developing brave and interesting contemporary literature while keeping in conversation with classics. “There are too many good books that have been relegated to the dustbin of history and they should be re-issued and popularized as much as possible,” Kahora said. While Heinemann’s African Writers Series struck new ground, there is now an established legacy to draw from, to reject, to inspire. Penguin’s revival of the series, then, facilitates the great conversation. It will be a joy to see where this goes.

Related articles

• Patchwork: Another likely award winner… (daily-mail.co.zm)
• The crazy things academics do for money (nation.co.ke)
• iRead: Nigerian Literature, what’s sex got to do with it? (ireaddadabooks.wordpress.com)
• Publishing Books from Routledge (routledge.com)
• CFP: African Literature Today: writing Africa in the short story (africainwords.com)
• The importance of Language (theafricanwriter.wordpress.com)
• The Use of Language in Things Fall Apart (theafricanwriter.wordpress.com)
• Achebe returns with long-awaited “Biafra” memoir (vanguardngr.com)
• Ngugi wa Thiong’o's Memoir – In the House of the Interpreter (Book Acquired, 10.24.2012) (biblioklept.org)
• http://collections.chadwyck.co.uk/marketing/home_aws.jsp (African Writers Series: Online Edition)
• http://www.ngugiwathiongo.com (Ngugi wa Thiong’o homepage)
• http://www.kwani.org (Kwani LitFest, Nairobi)
• http://www.leila-aboulela.com (Leila Aboulela homepage)
• http://www.caineprize.com (Caine Prize homepage)
• http://achebecenter.bard.edu (Chinua Achebe Center for African Writers and Artists, Bard College)
• http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/booksblog/2010/feb/16/africa-writers-series-penguin-heinemann (African Writers Series: a review in the UK Guardian)

Two elephants are standing in Jamaica’s living room right now. They are growing so large that we have had to move out most of the furniture. The last item we will remove will be the cosy armchair with the nice soft cushions. It will be hard for Jamaica to let that one go – it’s just so comfortable.

The two elephants are called Economy and Crime.

But dears – forgive us, there have been so many distractions over the past few months…In roughly chronological order: Jamaica 50; the London Olympics and its aftermath, which occupied us for a couple of months; Hurricane Sandy; and in the past week, the U.S. elections!  Our Jamaican political analysts waxed lyrical on election night. I must confess that we were also glued to our television set, heart in mouth, on the edge of our seat; and then basking in the euphoria of President Obama’s win. We had to stay up for his stirring victory speech. Well, the elections blanketed the Jamaican media, with every radio and television station worth its salt running a “U.S. election special.” I get the feeling that Jamaicans find the U.S. vote more exciting, absorbing and inspiring than their own elections – its entertainment value is higher as it is at a distance, I suppose. And although most commentators agreed that the result would have very little impact on Jamaica per se, they still devoted many hours on TV and radio and many column inches to discussing it. For several days.

Somehow this reminds me of Jamaica – political supporters hanging in trees: Obama supporters celebrate outside White House on election night (Photo: lightbox.time.com)

Jamaica has two of these. They sit comfortably together: the Economy and Crime.

I repeat: the two elephants are called Economy and Crime. The politicians (and the print media) are trying their best to avoid discussing these two highly intelligent – and very large – animals. Only our diligent broadcast media and our talk show hosts, antennae waving in the cool winter breeze, seem to have picked up on the first elephant. No one pointed to the second one, although there was much focus on the white-collar variety. On the white-collar front we seem to have had mixed results, and success in some quarters. And yet the list of names at the end of my weekly post shows no sign of growing shorter (the numbers only fell during the week of Hurricane Sandy). Of course, those aren’t white-collar. Those are the “working class.”

Have I missed something, or have the media released the murder statistics for, say, September or October? If not, why not? By my count, fifteen Jamaicans have been murdered in the past week, as of 6:00 p.m. on Saturday – plus two brothers killed by the police. By tomorrow morning, there will likely be two or three more homicides (and I can now confirm that, as of Sunday lunchtime). You might think I am obsessed, but perhaps that’s because our local media is hardly talking about it. It seems to be a “given” – like our deteriorating economic outlook – just the norm. The print media studiously avoid reporting daily murders, unless it is something particularly egregious.

Meanwhile the police are seeking men with curious names like “Weed Seed,” “Duppy Film,” “Eggy” and “Wasp” (wasps bite harder than bees in Jamaica). Maybe they have “handed themselves in” to the police, by now. If not, they know what they might expect.

Before I go any further, a quick word – well, just a short rant – on the print media. I would like to suggest, seriously, that one of our daily national newspapers should simply become a lifestyle magazine – advertising a specific lifestyle: that of standing around at uptown cocktail parties with glasses in hand, or sitting in a restaurant, wearing the latest fashions, with one’s “BFF” (dresses exposing one shoulder seem to be de rigueur at the moment). There is an obsession with food and drink, and women in short skirts and high heels. All these people are grinning away happily, while the rest of the island struggles with floods and homeless people, sending their children to school without breakfast, and those little everyday injustices that don’t affect the grinning ones at all. They just want to get their pictures in the ever-expanding social pages. Oh, and the Saturday edition should just call itself “Hair and Nails,” or something similar.

Listen, I don’t want to sound churlish. Nothing wrong with having fun. And Jamaicans certainly know how to party! It’s the Fun Island!

Thank God for radio, which does try to tackle real issues seriously (to be fair though, the Gleaner has been putting some adrenalin-packed punches in their editorials lately…) A man who is fast becoming my favorite radio talk show host, Mr. Ronald Mason of Nationwide News Network, commented last week, “Why is there no sense of urgency?” Mr. Mason is gruff and blunt, with a touch of humor; he does not countenance the unofficial spokesmen/women for either party, who are always seeking a foothold in the talk shows. No propaganda for him. He reminds me of the late and much-revered Wilmot Perkins, whom we all miss dearly (but who could have been accused of bias at times). Mr. Mason used the word “autopilot” to describe the current state of our governance; and I have used this word myself in the past. “This country is in a financial crisis,” he insists, adding that “the people need to know” what is going on in the economy. Where is our growth plan? What is our job creation plan (no, not “JEEP”)? Where is our vision, our future?

And yet the newspapers’ Friday financial pages barely referred to the following facts that were revealed this week:

• Jamaica’s Net International Reserves have lost US$833 million this year and are now at their lowest level for ten years (US$1.1 billion), with thirteen weeks’ worth of U.S. Dollars remaining;
• Financial Secretary Wesley Hughes (the chief civil servant in that Ministry) is resigning – so far as I know, we do not know when, or why;
• The head of the Planning Institute of Jamaica, a key government agency, is resigning – Dr. Gladstone Hutchinson was on secondment from a teaching post in the U.S., but still not great news;
• Jamaican dollar bonds performed the worst out of fifteen Central American and Caribbean nations in October, with interest rates rising to over eight per cent.

There has been precious little comment from our political leaders, too – apart from the Opposition Jamaica Labour Party (JLP), whose voice does not resonate strongly in the media at the moment. Broadcaster Cliff Hughes interviewed former Finance Minister Audley Shaw on the whole situation, and did not let him off the hook; the thing is, there has been foot-dragging and failure to step up to the plate in both administrations. The head of the JLP’s G2K young professionals, Floyd Green, suggested that “we are at a standstill” in our discussions with the International Monetary Fund. Is this really true? What is the true status of the IMF discussions, as of now? Or are we just waiting to hear something?

Only one Sunday newspaper column focused on Jamaica’s economic muddle; it is written by a Jamaican who does not live here, interestingly – a member of the so-called diaspora. Mr. David Mullings writes, “If we believe that Jamaica will be better off in a generation based on the current path, then we too are in denial.” The other Sunday opinion makers write about everything from (mostly) Obama to CARICOM to a trade agreement on rum – all of academic interest, if truth be told.

According to Bloomberg this week, a senior economist at JP Morgan asked the question: “How much longer can Jamaica muddle through this with virtually no growth?” Answers, please, Minister of Finance (they didn’t answer Bloomberg’s phone calls or emails, it is reported). With Belize and Grenada already there, will Jamaica be the next Caribbean country to default on its debt?

I am sorry. Too many questions. One major issue that the print media did a good job of reporting this week has been the terrifying, and seemingly intractable, issue of the lottery scam. Where will it end, one wonders. Alarming reports have emerged of the use of Jamaica’s humble postal service as a method of smuggling in the proceeds of the scam. The scale of all of this (which may be only the tip of the iceberg, who knows?) is frightening. Even more disturbing is the Jamaican government’s seeming inability to tackle this disgraceful state of affairs decisively. It has been said over and over that new legislation is urgently required to deal with the problem. It has not been forthcoming, although the government would like us to believe that they are taking it seriously. And how long has it been? Two years? Three years? The “lotto scam” has grown into a kind of monster – like the one in the sci-fi movie “Alien,” which feeds off humans and grows increasingly vicious and bloodthirsty. If you can bring yourself to read it, the Sunday Gleaner report below gives some idea of the scope of this nightmare that won’t go away.

The lotto scam was the focus of a recently published report by the very credible local think tank, the Caribbean Policy Research Institute (CaPRI). Unfortunately, CaPRI has not yet posted any information on their website (http://capricaribbean.org) that I can refer you to.

And then there is credit card fraud.

With the usual huffing and puffing of hot air, the Upper House unanimously passed regulations governing casino gambling on Friday. One Senator made an enormous issue out of the word “gaming” as opposed to “gambling.” I suppressed a groan. There are all types of gambling/gaming going on all over Jamaica already. Pontificating won’t make any difference.

Flooded gas station in Port Maria. (Photo: Jamaica Observer)

And let’s not forget… Thousands of Jamaicans – yes the poor ones out in the “bush” – are still suffering from the after-effects of Hurricane Sandy. The media has not forgotten this, to give them their due. There are a few thousand still without power, as the Jamaica Public Service Company struggles to reach them on damaged roads. Some are still in shelters. Others are still suffering from really bad weather, which has persisted in the past few days in some parts of the island. Yesterday, almost the entire town of Port Maria was flooded after heavy showers; the north-east corner of the island is being battered by rain and wind as I write. It’s not over yet. Perhaps the Prime Minister could venture out at some point in the next few days to show a little sympathy and to promise succor and relief. Something could be arranged. And I am sure that a few of those famous hugs would do the trick.

Talking of St. Mary, I must hand out some major kudos to the Jamaica National Building Society for their outreach to this particular community in St. Mary, through a residents’ forum, over this weekend. St. Mary is reportedly the poorest parish in Jamaica – beautiful, and under-developed. Congratulations to Mr. Earl Jarrett and his dedicated team on their Disaster Recovery Program, with the theme “Leading with Action.” Just what we need.

“Big ups,” too, to the medical team of the California-based Integrative Clinics International, which visited the birthplace of Bob Marley (Nine Miles, St. Ann) to provide free health care to the residents of the small rural community. The volunteer doctors and nurses paid their own way to Jamaica. I am glad they had the support of Ziggy Marley’s Unlimited Resources Giving Enlightenment (URGE) Foundation and the Bob Marley Foundation (Ziggy is my favorite Marley, after Bob of course).

I have felt a surge of sympathy for the hard-working Mr. Errol Greene, Town Clerk at the Kingston & St. Andrew Corporation. His job is not an easy one. His somewhat battered-looking visage and his air of patience and determination, are quite endearing. On a regular basis, he dons his hard hat and marches out into the downtown area, ready to do battle with strident illegal vendors, who don’t go lightly. I am sure he has security back-up; but his job must be one of the most stressful in the city. Nevertheless, he aways has a twinkle in his eye. Cheers, Mr. Greene, and keep up the good work!

Errol Greene, the intrepid Town Clerk, minus hard hat in this photo.

There is a Japanese expression “ganbatte!” which means “Keep going/don’t give up!” I would like to say this to Mr. Justin Felice, the former anti-corruption man in the police force who now heads our Financial Investigation Division; Ms. Leesa Kow, president of the Jamaica Money Remitters Association; Superintendent Leon Clunis, head of the Anti-Lottery Scam Task Force in the Jamaica Constabulary Force; Postmaster General Michael Gentles, and all those engaged in the fight against the scammers, who have caused untold suffering in Jamaica and the United States. Mr. Felice and the others are working so hard to combat this scourge; they need the support of political leaders. Once again, the Jamaica National Building Society has supported their efforts and held its second forum “to discuss strategies in support of Government and private sector initiatives to eradicate the lottery scam and address its impact on security, trade and foreign relations” this week. Well done, Mr. Jarrett et al.

Justin Felice, head of the Financial Investigations Division.

And that brings us full circle to the issues of the economy and crime: how can we expect foreigners and others to invest in a country where a segment of the population has been working to swindle and rob overseas citizens of their savings (there have been some suicides, by the way)? And where so many Jamaicans are being slaughtered, week in, week out? Let’s get a grip. “Action” is a word JNBS use frequently in their slogans. We all want to see more action from our lawmakers. Get on with it, please, before it is too late.

P.S. Mystery of the week: I am completely puzzled by the Jamaica Public Service court case, and the perceived change in priorities of the Simpson Miller administration and Energy Minister Phillip Paulwell with regard to the issue of JPS’ license, granted by an earlier People’s National Party administration. I think I must be rather stupid. Can anyone explain what is happening? I must pay more attention and try to work it out for myself, I think…

Energy Minister Phillip Paulwell

As usual, I recall the grieving faces of Jamaican men, women and children who have lost their loved ones under violent circumstances. Below is this week’s sad tally of Jamaican citizens who have been murdered this week. I have noticed that many of them are young men in their twenties; and that something is going very wrong in the parish of St. Catherine. And are curfews the answer?

Nurse Pattye Anderson and Dr. Doug Aberg with Nine Miles residents Sadie Bygrave (left) and Fabian Anderson. (Photo: Lionel Rookwood, Jamaica Observer)

A car is swept away by floods in Port Maria on Saturday. (Photo: On the Ground News Reports)

Cheryl Hall lights a kerosene lamp in a shelter in Manchioneal, Portland. (Photo: Garfield Robinson/Jamaica Observer)

Head of the police Organized Crime Investigation Division Fitz Bailey looks at recently seized equipment, cards etc used by an alleged credit/debit card fraud ring. (Photo: Michael Gordon/Jamaica Observer)

Young Tandy Lewis, a public relations officer at the Jamaica Postal Service, was one of the victims of the lotto scam, it appears. A former colleague, Barrington Davis and his companion were also victims. All murdered.

Killed by the police

Mytona Stewart, 25, Central Village, St. Catherine

Lincoln Stewart, 23, Central Village, St. Catherine

Daniel Hayes, 18, Old Harbour, St. Catherine

Other murders:

Unidentified man, Rose Hall, St. James

Pansy Morgan, 62, Watermount, St. Catherine

Unidentified woman, 25, May Pen, Clarendon

Shemell Gillespie, Waltham Crescent, Kingston

Unidentified man, Kingston Gardens, Kingston

Keneil Graham, 28, Bushy Park, St. Catherine

Unidentified man, Portmore, St. Catherine

Leroy McLeish, 27, Sheffield, Westmoreland

“Hot Head,” Sheffield, Westmoreland

Floyd Brown, Sheffield, Westmoreland

Navado Whitmore, 27, Dias District, Hanover

Unidentified man, Keesing Avenue, Kingston

Trevor Wright, Washington Boulevard, Kingston

Randy Bogle, 23, Old Harbour, St. Catherine

Richard Swaby, 24, Mandeville, Manchester

Sebastian Earl, 25, Watson Grove, St. Catherine

Marlon Blake, 21, Old Harbour, St. Catherine

Oneil Brown, Old Harbour, St. Catherine

Related articles and websites:

http://jamaica-gleaner.com/latest/article.php?id=41022 (Police kill brothers in alleged shootout: Jamaica Gleaner)

http://rjrnewsonline.com/local/murders-keep-st-catherine-police-busy (Murders keep St. Catherine police busy: RJR)

http://jamaica-gleaner.com/gleaner/20121111/lead/lead1.html (Mail, money and murder: Postal service under pressure as scammers move in: Sunday Gleaner)

http://jamaica-gleaner.com/gleaner/20121111/lead/lead3.html (Security auditors called in: large sums detected in unlikely mail: Sunday Gleaner)

http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/news/New-law-will-hit-scammers-_12968573 (New law will hit scammers: Jamaica Observer)

http://jamaica-gleaner.com/latest/article.php?id=40872 (Burnt Port Royal body was Tandy Lewis: Jamaica Gleaner)

http://jamaica-gleaner.com/gleaner/20121108/lead/lead12.html (Slippery slope: Lotto scam undermines financial sector: Jamaica Gleaner)

http://jamaica-gleaner.com/gleaner/20121109/lead/lead1.html (Scammer fears: Jamaica Gleaner)

http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/news/DPP-wants-more-power-to-fight-lottery-scam (DPP wants more power to fight lottery scam: Jamaica Observer)

http://jamaica-gleaner.com/latest/article.php?id=41028 (Security worries for remittance companies: Jamaica Gleaner)

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-11-08/jamaica-bond-yields-jump-to-nine-month-high-after-belize-default.html (Jamaica bond yields jump to nine-month high after Belize default: Bloomberg News)

http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/columns/Denial-is-disastrous_12959710 (Denial is disastrous (David Mullings op-ed: Sunday Observer)

http://jamaica-gleaner.com/latest/article.php?id=41026 (UTech security guards pointed out in ID parade: Jamaica Gleaner)

http://jamaica-gleaner.com/latest/article.php?id=41029 (Police crack credit, debit card scam in Caribbean Estate: Jamaica Gleaner)

http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/news/DNA-draft-Bill-expected-today_12955648 (DNA draft Bill expected today: Jamaica Observer)

http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/news/Port-Doubt_12959068 (Delay in removal of prison said in conflict with Panama Canal timeline: Jamaica Observer)

http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/news/-They-took-my-leg- (“They took my leg”: Sunday Observer)

http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/news/US-medical-team-helps-Nine-Miles_12966348 (U.S. medical team helps Nine Miles: Sunday Observer)

http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/news/Nannyville-youth-donate-books-to-community-school (Nannyville youth donate books to community school: Jamaica Observer)

http://www.og.nr/rbt/9921-choir-members-take-cover-during-shootout-in-mandeville.html (Choir members take cover during shootout in Mandeville: On The Ground News Reports)

http://rjrnewsonline.com/local/southern-regional-health-authority-faces-possible-lawsuit (Southern Regional Health Authority faces possible lawsuit: RJR)

http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/news/Senate-approves-casino-gaming-regulations (Senate approves casino gaming regulations: Jamaica Observer)

http://rjrnewsonline.com/local/pioj-director-general-financial-secretary-to-demit-office-soon (PIOJ director general, financial secretary to demit office soon: RJR)

http://www.jis.gov.jm/news/leads-105/32238 (Jamaica decisive on lotto scam: Jamaica Information Service)

http://rjrnewsonline.com/local/security-guards-in-utech-beating-pointed-out (Security guards in UTech beating pointed out: RJR)

http://jamaica-gleaner.com/gleaner/20121111/business/business7.html (Consumers paying for 17% of JPS losses, says Paulwell: Sunday Gleaner)

http://jamaica-gleaner.com/latest/article.php?id=41070 (More rains for St. Mary as parish recovers from flood; Jamaica Gleaner)

http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/news/No-timeline-for–Sandy–relief-houses_12949270 (No timeline for Sandy relief houses: Jamaica Observer)

http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/news/Gov-t–Joining-JPS-in-court-case-intended-to-protect-consumers_12941404 (Government joining JPS in court case intended to protect consumers: Jamaica Observer)

I must write this down, before I forget. I got up yesterday morning and told my husband, “Dear, I dreamed about giant crabs.”

A scene from “The Weeping Demon” – one of the eight stories in Akira Kurosawa’s astonishing film “Dreams”

Now, one of my favorite films is called “Dreams” (Yume).  Directed by the iconic Japanese filmmaker Akira Kurosawa in 1990, the film has just the right combination of surreal images, discordant messages, and troubled emotions – all filmed in dazzlingly bright colors. Kurosawa on steroids – no, he has always been on steroids – rather, on an acid trip. There is a foxes’ wedding procession; there are dolls and mountains and demons and windmills and a nuclear meltdown. It is broken up into eight segments – interspersed with the comment “and I dreamed this, too…” Another Academy Award-winning film director, Martin Scorsese (another of my very favorites, too) appears, oddly, as a very crochety Vincent Van Gogh (he had just cut off his ear). Just as, in dreams, people you know often appear as someone completely different – familiar, and yet not.

Martin “Van Gogh” Scorsese in Kurosawa’s “Dreams” – very grouchy.

Well, back to my dream, now. We were in Jamaica (by “we” I mean my husband and myself, and a few other shadowy figures, possibly family members), and we had visitors from overseas. We were showing them around. “We must take a walk along this beautiful river,” we told our visitor. One of them I recognized clearly as an old friend of my sister’s family, whom we had met again recently in the UK.

And so we set off, in single file, along a well-worn pathway beside a sweetly flowing river. The water was cerulean blue, and the vegetation on either side was as green as the enhanced color that I set when I am taking a photograph sometimes – almost acidic. The landscape was gorgeous, and as we walked along we chatted. Then, for some reason, the river seemed to disappear. It ran into the ground, soaking down through gravel and pebbles. The riverbed remained, and we continued to walk – this appeared to be perfectly normal to us. I stepped down into the riverbed and found small pools of water. “Look, here is some water!” I told the others. I paddled my feet in it (I had no shoes on and seemed to be wearing a long dress, so I lifted up my skirts to avoid getting them wet). I seemed to find this quite enchanting. The water was cold and clear.

Then I noticed that the ground was shifting and trembling slightly beneath my feet. I went back to the path and joined the others, who I saw were suddenly filled with terror.

For lo and behold, ahead of us what we thought was a boulder in the riverbed was lifting itself up and as it did so, it revealed the beady eyes and twitching proboscis of a huge crab beneath. And then its huge legs unfolded, groping in the air, like something from an old monster movie. And this crab was a carnivore, and hungry.

You know what it’s like in dreams. When you want to move – especially to run away from something that fills you with fear and dread – your legs feel like lead. You cannot move – or only extremely slowly, like an astronaut in those heavy boots on the moon. And yes, there were more crabs. And yes, one of our visitors became a victim. Kicking and screaming, he was slowly devoured by the first crab. It appeared that other crabs masquerading as rocks in the riverbed were also intent on having us for supper.

The giant crabs looked something like this, and almost the same garish orange.

At this point I woke up, gasping for air. Our lovely sight-seeing trip had gone badly wrong. And those crabs were seriously out to get us. If I hadn’t woken up, I fear I would have been eaten, along with my husband and all our happy tourists.

“London’s lost route to the sea” – the beautiful Wey and Arun Canal.

So there you have it. You dream interpreters can have fun with this one. I wonder if the setting of the dream was connected to an autumn walk I took back in September with my brother, along the Wey & Arun Canal in Sussex. You can find the photos of that quiet, melancholy English afternoon on my Flickr photostream at http://www.flickr.com/photos/bananakatie/.

I do know that in every dream that I remember, there is always water – the sea, a river, a pond, a lake. I believe Water means simply Life. That explains quite a lot.

And another time I will write more about the awesomeness of Mr. Kurosawa. As a former student of Japanese, his work looms large in my consciousness… Waking or dreaming.

Iconic Japanese director Akira Kurosawa stunned the film world in 1950 with “Rashomon.” He died in 1998. (Photo: EPA)

Walking along the Wey and Arun Canal near Loxwood, Sussex in the UK.

“Dreams” is a combination of fear, wonder, beauty.

Related articles

• TMT: Ran at the Royal (le0pard13.com)
• http://movies.nytimes.com/movie/review?res=9C0CE5D7103AF937A1575BC0A966958260 (New York Times review: Kurosawa’s “Dreams”)
• Watch Kurosawa’s Rashomon Free Online, the Film That Introduced Japanese Cinema to the West (openculture.com)
• http://www.weyandarun.co.uk (Wey and Arun Canal)

A friend of mine teased me the other day that my weekly commentary on Jamaican affairs is generally of the gloom-and-doom variety. But hey, I am a cynical optimist. I always hope for and expect the best, but when I don’t get it… Whatever!

So much for my personal outlook on life. Let’s look at a few things that have been going on in the past week… and I have to say that I have actually found a number of “positive” stories for you, my faithful readers.

Firstly – and I think this is rather important – I was pleased to learn today of an initiative by University of the West Indies (UWI) students, a response to the recent homophobic beating of a student at the nearby University of Technology in Kingston. It is borrowed from a U.S.-based campaign called “NoH8″  (“no hate,” you see). Although some of Jamaica’s more devout Christians may not believe in the idea of love and tolerance (curious isn’t it?) I believe this is a good effort that really deserves our support – and in particular, one hopes, from public figures, celebrities etc. And I am especially glad to see young Jamaicans taking a stand. Kudos to the UWI Guild of Students’ Maya Wilkinson.

Maya Wilkinson of the NoH8 campaign had to immediately clarify that she is not gay. If she was, presumably the campaign would have no credibility in the eyes of the media and others. And she would not show her face.

The faces of the University of the West Indies’ NoH8 campaign.

The Sunday Observer article ran a report on the matter that included comments from a student who claimed he had been tricked and harassed into participating in the campaign but subsequently withdrew when he heard that it was in support of gay marriage (which it apparently is not). The Observer’s continued ambivalence on such matters has been quite evident (the newspaper rarely seems to use the term “human rights” for example) but I am glad that they printed the article, although I am not sure about the overall tone of it. Read it and see for yourself. And I suppose one should be thankful that the Observer cartoonist no longer depicts homosexuals as bizarrely distorted freaks in women’s clothing, but rather as “fish” (this being the latest derogatory term for gays in Jamaica). You see, they are still obsessed with the topic.

But isn’t it strange how quiet our politicians are, as well as our leaders in general? They have remained mostly silent on this topic – one that is fundamental to the health of Jamaican society. The media and the Jamaican people have had much to say, and the debate has been generally thoughtful, interesting and vibrant up to this point. But clearly our leaders consider the issue of violence and intolerance of anyone who is “different” (not just gays) to be of little relevance; in fact, one has the sense that politicians, sportsmen/women, entertainers etc are avoiding the subject; or am I being unfair? The Minister of Education put out a hasty statement immediately after the University of Technology student mob chased and attacked a young man accused of being a homosexual. But since then a deafening silence, so far as I know. Correct me if I am wrong – but I have been listening out for something.

I have posted below what was probably my favorite cartoon of the week from Clovis… our beleaguered Finance Minister scraping the barrel for U.S. Dollars in the Net International Reserves. Somehow I feel stressed every time I hear him speak – because he sounds so stressed himself. It doesn’t engender confidence in me. Unlike the ever-cheerful former Finance Minister Omar Davies, he always seems rather down. Cheer up! It can’t be that bad – can it?

Finance Minister Peter Phillips always seems harassed and unbelievably stressed. I would love to see a smile from him – perhaps next week, Minister Phillips?

This editorial cartoon made me laugh out loud. It is just the expression on Finance Minister Peter Phillips’ face…

Oops! I promised to be positive. OK…The aforementioned UWI now has a shiny new Medical School, which will accommodate far more students than the current 350, including some foreign ones, it is hoped. It’s a nice building, and designed by a Jamaican, Robert Woodstock.

Now, I mentioned distractions in a recent blog: distractions from the large elephants currently installed in Jamaica’s living room, which is bedecked with the traditional crocheted mats and flamboyant artificial flowers. One of these was the news that the state-owned Jamaica Urban Transit Company (JUTC), which operates buses in Kingston and surrounding areas, is to ban preachers on its buses. Yes, preachers. These devout gentlemen (I think they are mostly men) climb aboard with Bible in hand and proceed to harangue the captive, and not necessarily willing, congregation who are going about their business. They bellow, they pray, they shake their fists, they sing. At the end of their sermons, they take a collection. The preachers condemn those passengers who rebel (objecting to the proselytizing or refusing to pay up) to eternal hellfire. At which point other passengers may verbally reprimand the heathens, who then shrink into their seats with embarrassment. But hellfire might be preferable to taking a JUTC bus with a preacher on board.

This issue rattled on all week in the local media. This huge story (was it a huge story, I ask?) broke on Monday morning, and was still making front page headlines on Friday. Enough already, I cried. The preacher-on-the-bus issue was examined and discussed from every possible angle on radio talk shows, and radio and television stations ran numerous vox pops, asking every man, woman and child on the street, “What do you think?”

But then, one asked, what about the distorted, maniacal ramblings of so-called deejays, with their misogynistic lyrics that are offensive to women (and men), which minibus drivers apparently still play at full volume for the delectation of their passengers? Perhaps, as radio talk show host and Sunday Gleaner columnist Orville Taylor sagely observed, there is a serious underlying issue here, that of “respect for the rights and freedoms of others.”

This actually points to the fact that Jamaicans have a remarkable, and not particularly admirable, capacity for putting up with crap. To put it bluntly (pardon my French). And it also highlights once again a quite recent tendency for evangelical Christian beliefs to be foisted on the public in general. No meeting or meal can take place without a fervent prayer preceding it. We are told to lower our heads obediently and listen to someone asking the Almighty to direct our thoughts and guide our pens as we write, or for the food we are about to eat to be properly digested (yes). Supposing I am an atheist, an agnostic, a Hindu, a Buddhist, a Muslim or any other religion? Freedom of religion works both ways. I am sure these Christians are well-meaning, but please don’t impose your beliefs on others and simply expect us all to fall in line… But then again, Jamaicans do acquiesce, meekly. They do fall in line. Anything for a quiet life (or in the case of the JUTC buses, a noisy one).

And now, lo and behold! The Public Defender, Mr. Earl Witter, bestirred himself yesterday and decided he was going to investigate the constitutionality of the whole affair. A fellow blogger has commented on this, and you will find the link to his sharply observed blog post below. I plan to write more, but would just like to enquire of Mr. Witter: Could you kindly give us an update on your report on the Tivoli Gardens “incursion“ of May 2010, during which over seventy Jamaican citizens died at the hands of the security forces? This report was promised to us within two weeks, some months ago now (or maybe I imagined that). The Gleaner enquired about it in its editorials of August 27 and October 3 of this year. The Public Defender, who has described himself as a “whipping boy” for the media, has promised that we will soon see the report. When can we exhale, dear Mr. Witter?

Meanwhile, it’s politics time again. This time, the Opposition Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) held its annual conference – a rather subdued affair compared to last year’s, when a huge crowd, transported by many buses, converged on the National Arena just prior to the election – which, of course, the JLP comprehensively lost a few weeks later. This year they met at the Jamaica Conference Centre downtown – a really nice, more intimate venue compared to the cavernous and ugly arena – just for one day, not two. Many supporters, however, said they preferred the Arena (perhaps it was harder for them to smoke their ganja at the Conference Centre – this is a party conference tradition, by the way).

Today’s Sunday Observer ran the eager headline this morning, “JLP in turmoil.” The Sunday Gleaner chimed in, “Warmington faces JLP’s wrath” (the last two words in huge red letters). Yes, once again the local media have discovered unrest in the JLP ranks, and there is nothing that they enjoy more than alleged plots and sub-plots within either of the two political parties. Mr. Everald Warmington (always one for a bit of excitement) filed a court injunction to prevent the election of deputy leaders (there are four) which he said was in breach of the party constitution. He withdrew the injunction at the end of the week, so I don’t know where that leaves us. It’s a nice tasty morsel for the local media to get their teeth into, though. Meanwhile, Opposition Leader Andrew Holness (who served as our Prime Minister briefly last year before his thumping defeat) sounded more than usually animated this afternoon at the podium, expressing concern for the poor – he took a leaf out of Portia Simpson Miller‘s book there. He actually shouted. It was quite invigorating.

Now, party politics – especially suspected internal upheavals – is always a major distraction. So, too, was another eulogy in the Lower House: this time for former Prime Minister PJ Patterson, who made a speech himself. They did “Uncle Eddie,“ and now it was PJ’s turn to have his afternoon of speechifying. Our current Prime Minister put on her brightest party colors for the occasion. This is all under the umbrella of Jamaica 50, one understands. No comment.

Didn’t I promise to be “positive” this week? Well, here goes: on the government side, there has been some movement. Couched in “anti-colonialism” terms, rather than with reference to Jamaicans’ human rights, the bills to abolish flogging were tabled in the Upper House last week. Also sitting on the Senate’s table is the Evidence (Special Measures) Act, designed to enable video evidence to be considered in court. This is an absolutely vital piece of legislation as the government continues to struggle with the deeply-embedded thorn in our side, the ubiquitous lotto scam. Good job, Justice Minister Mark Golding.

Minister of Justice Mark Golding

It’s important to reward young scientists and innovators; we need far more of them. The Jamaica Public Service Company recently sponsored a series of awards under the aegis of Minister of Science, Technology, Energy and Mining Phillip Paulwell. Many congratulations to the winners of the Innovation of the Year Award (worth a cool two million Jamaican Dollars) from UWI’s Natural Products Institute; and to Sunderland Primary School in St. James for their Youth Innovator Award – this for a remarkable pothole-patching compound. Much needed across the island, especially since Hurricane Sandy!

Speaking of technology, I attended the Caribbean Beta 2012 tech entrepreneurship conference in Kingston on Friday, and was deeply impressed by the caliber of the panelists; the excellent organization; and above all, the enthusiasm of the participants and the eighteen teams who competed in the afternoon in a “PitchFest” for their products – many of them mobile applications. Caribbean Beta is the brainchild of Ingrid Riley, supported by a young and energetic team at Connectimass.  Read more at caribbeanbeta.com and take a look at Ingrid’s excellent website at  www.siliconcaribe.com. More details in another blog post that I plan to write this week. Congratulations to all involved in this marvelous event – not just talk, but practical, learning stuff – a “boot camp” continued over the weekend for start-up companies.

And on the same theme, this year’s Jamaican Rhodes Scholar is UWI student Vincent Taylor, who is currently studying for an M.Phil in Computer Science. Runner-up is medical doctor and UWI graduate Katherine Innis, who will compete for the Commonwealth Caribbean Scholarship. Mr. Taylor, I hope you will enjoy and greatly benefit from study at my own alma mater!

I am personally so thrilled to hear that the St. Patrick’s Foundation, a faith-based NGO that does amazing work in inner-city areas of Kingston, has been receiving so much support from the friends of St. Luke’s Catholic Church in McLean, Virginia over the years – amounting to more than two million U.S. dollars! The contributions of overseas churches, universities, diaspora groups and volunteers of all ages to Jamaica are so great that it is almost impossible to quantify in monetary terms. And that does not even count all the goodwill engendered. What would we do without them all…

By the way, I am sorry I missed a very special art exhibition yesterday in downtown Kingston. 34-year-old Astro Saulter, who has cerebral palsy, uses the back of his head to paint digital pictures with a special device in his wheelchair. His first solo art exhibition was launched at Studio 174 downtown yesterday. Astro has two creative brothers, too – young Jamaican filmmakers Nile and Storm Saulter of New Caribbean Cinema. They have made a short film, “Astro, the Morning Star,” which will be screened at a special event tomorrow. Read more below… Congratulations Astro, and to your brothers for your loving support!

And finally, my deepest condolences to the family, colleagues and friends of police Corporal Robert Sortie, who was shot dead on a busy Kingston street last week. And to the loved ones of all those who have died violently in the past week. I should add that the families of those people (including many children) who are missing are also in my thoughts. I cannot imagine the fear and anxiety of having a loved one who has disappeared. I hope they all come home safely, and soon.

Astro Saulter talks to his brother Storm.

Jamaican Rhodes Scholar Vincent Taylor and runner-up Dr. Katherine Innis (Photo: Gladstone Taylor/Gleaner)

Youth Innovator Awardees, sponsors etc (Photo: Jamaica Observer)

Opposition Leader Andrew Holness at today’s JLP Conference, in full flight. (Photo: Norman Grindley/Gleaner)

University of the West Indies Medical School – looks “pretty” as Jamaicans would say. (Photo: Bryan Cummings/Jamaica Observer)

Killed by the police: Unidentified man, Mount Carey, St. James; Daniel Hayles, 18, Old Harbour, St. Catherine; Delroy Scott, August Town, St. Andrew

Sasia Johnson, 35, Little London, Westmoreland

Travis Welcome, 21, Jobs Lane, Spanish Town, St. Catherine

Unidentified man, Denham Town, Kingston

Corporal Robert Sortie, Constant Spring Road, Kingston

Shanique Pinnock, 27, Old Harbour, St. Catherine

Related articles:

http://dmarcuswilliams.blogspot.com/2012/11/public-defense-of-twisted-priorities.html?showComment=1353213315787#c5807704627188400409 (Public Defense of Twisted Priorities: Cogito Ergo Sum)

http://jamaica-gleaner.com/latest/article.php?id=41204 (Bunting decries Corporal’s killing: Jamaica Gleaner)

http://jamaica-gleaner.com/latest/article.php?id=41201 (Public Defender held up and robbed: Jamaica Gleaner)

http://jamaica-gleaner.com/gleaner/20121111/arts/arts2.html (Introducing Astro Saulter – digital painter mounts first exhibition: Jamaica Gleaner)

http://jamaica-gleaner.com/gleaner/20121116/cleisure/cleisure2.html (Freedom and restraint: Jamaica Gleaner/Peter Espeut op-ed)

http://jamaica-gleaner.com/gleaner/20121116/business/business2.html (Bank of Jamaica predicts fourth quarter contraction of Jamaican economy: Jamaica Gleaner)

http://jamaica-gleaner.com/gleaner/20121117/lead/lead1.html (Foul affair: Jamaica Gleaner)

http://jamaica-gleaner.com/gleaner/20121117/letters/letters4.html (All hail PJ Patterson! Jamaica Gleaner/Letter to the Editor)

http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/news/13-arrested-in-Lottery-scam-raid (Thirteen arrested in lottery scam raid: Jamaica Observer)

http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/news/Bills-to-abolish-flogging-tabled-in-Senate_13018187 (Bills to abolish flogging tabled in Senate: Jamaica Observer)

http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/news/No-more-H8_13009532 (No more H8: University students fight discrimination: Sunday Observer)

http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/news/JLP-in-turmoil_13025168 (JLP in turmoil: Sunday Observer)

http://jamaica-gleaner.com/latest/article.php?id=41221 (JLP leader outlines solutions to aid Jamaica’s poorest: Sunday Gleaner)

http://rjrnewsonline.com/local/new-pnpyo-president-elected (New PNPYO president elected: RJR)

http://jamaica-gleaner.com/gleaner/20121117/letters/letters4.html (All hail PJ Patterson! Letter to the Gleaner)

http://jamaica-gleaner.com/gleaner/20121118/focus/focus4.html (Thou shalt not preach…on JUTC buses: Sunday Gleaner op-ed by Orville Taylor)

http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/news/Public-Defender-tackles-ban-on-bus-preachers_13025007 (Public Defender tackles ban on bus preachers: Sunday Observer)

http://jamaica-gleaner.com/gleaner/20121003/cleisure/cleisure2.html (Earl Witter and the missing report: Gleaner editorial, October 3, 2012)

http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/news/Phillips–Shaw-s-claims-have-no-basis_13009361 (Phillips: Shaw’s claims have no basis: Jamaica Observer)

http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/news/Cop-shot-and-killed (Cop shot and killed: Jamaica Observer)

http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/NEWS/Big-contribution-to-St-Patrick-s-Foundation-from-Virginia_13007574 (Big contribution to St. Patrick’s Foundation from Virginia: Jamaica Observer)

http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/News/BoJ-projects-1-7–contraction-in-economy (Bank of Jamaica projects 1.7% contraction in economy: Jamaica Observer)

http://jamaica-gleaner.com/gleaner/20121111/arts/arts2.html (Introducing Astro Saulter – digital painter mounts first exhibition: Jamaica Gleaner)

Sunday Elephants: November 11, 2012 (petchary.wordpress.com)

Sunday After Sandy: October 28, 2012 (petchary.wordpress.com)

Jlp at War With Itself Again ? (commonsenseja.wordpress.com)

Radcliffe Lewis Tells Bus Preachers Their Practice Is … An Offence And A Crime (steppaz1961.wordpress.com)

The world of Information Technology is a “borderless world,” a sphere of endless and as yet unimagined possibilities. No horizons.

Perhaps for this reason, and despite my advancing years, I have had a fascination with technology for some time now – ever since I started using a computer. So I found myself last Friday ensconced at a Kingston hotel, with a diverse and passionate crowd of Jamaicans, for an event called “Caribbean Beta.”  The theme of the conference was “The Business of the Internet: Mobile, Social, Consumer Driven.”  The organizers of the event, ConnectiMass, assembled a strong group of sponsors – including the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA), the World Bank’s InfoDev and Keystone Augusta, a Florida-based investment firm headed by Kingston-born entrepreneur David Mullings. David writes an interesting column in the Sunday Observer, by the way. The government’s investment arm JAMPRO was in support. So was Digicel Jamaica, taking the opportunity to market its new 4G tablets and giving away some tremendous prizes.

You could not miss the Digicel booth at Caribbean Beta.

Caribbean Beta is the second annual event; Kingston Beta events take place bimonthly, bringing together the Jamaican tech community. In only four years, Kingston Beta has staged over 40 events, 2500 attendees and over 70 startup “pitches.”

And who are ConnectiMass? Well, you can read much more in the links below, but its founder is Ingrid Riley – a highly focused, down-to-earth Jamaican who describes herself on her LinkedIn profile as an “entrepreneur, digital marketing strategist, tech evangelist, tech blogger, and a Seth Godin, Steve Jobs and Oprah Winfrey fan girl.” She also edits SiliconCaribe, a very informative website/blog,(http://www.siliconcaribe.com). What can I say about Ingrid? She loves what she does, and it shows. And she is serious; she is highly motivated.

The day flew past. There was so much to say – and not only say, but do. The first panel discussion on the interface between government and technology was moderated by a young Jamaican currently working at the World Bank in Washington, DC, Matthew McNaughton (also a graduate of the wonderful College of Wooster in Ohio, in the same class as our son). Lorna Green is eighteen years an entrepreneur and the first and only woman to found and head an ICT firm in Jamaica, Digital Transtec. (My major concern, which grew as the day went on, was what appeared to be a dearth of young women entering the field). As chair of the Jamaican government’s e-government board, Ms. Green believes that Jamaican tech entrepreneurs must not hold their cards too close to their chest, living in virtual “silos.” Develop a strong lobby group, she urged; don’t allow government to stifle or over-regulate you; and avoid that territorial instinct that has historically been a feature of the IT sector (and government ministries).

So…Tech entrepreneurs, unite! In response to a question from Northern Caribbean University‘s (NCU) “Magic” team, Ms. Green pointed out that the government’s legal framework is moving too slowly – patent legislation, for example, is “antiquated”  – while entrepreneurs are forging ahead. It’s like a two-speed highway.

Jamaican IT pioneer Lorna Green (Photo: JIS)

Ms. Green also gave sound, practical advice to those seeking government partnerships. Head of the Fiscal Services Division of the Ministry of Finance Leroy Cooke pointed to the huge amount of data that the government sits on – much of it only available, it appeared, to those who requested it under the Access to Information Act. And Director of the Mona Geo-Informatics Unit Dr. Parris Lyew-Ayee talked about Singapore – a country the size of the parish of St. James in Jamaica – and its clear focus on the “high end effect” - Industrial Light and Magic has recently set up shop there. But then, Singapore’s government invested heavily in education. There is, of course, much more to be said about this – quite a lot has been said already. Note: Singapore is second after Switzerland in the 2012-13 World Economic Forum Global Competitiveness Report. Jamaica is ninety-seventh (but it has moved up ten places from last year, which is indeed hopeful).

Singapore is tiny – the size of the parish of St. James in Jamaica – but is huge in terms of Information Technology and the second most competitive country in the world…

Mobile, as we are all aware, is huge. Mobile penetration in the Caribbean is now at 120 per cent. There are over 243 million smartphone users in the United States alone. There are many opportunities here – and the afternoon “PitchFest” reflected that. The World Bank’s Toni Eliasz (InfoDev) pointed to startup communities that InfoDev has helped to develop in Kenya, South Africa and Pakistan at a very local level, using the wondrous mobile. In many communities globally, more people have access to mobile technology than to electricity or water. CEO of SMS Communications Stephen Spence noted that messaging is a growing market and that entrepreneurs could grab that opportunity. “Do what you love,” InfoDev’s Eliasz told entrepreneurs, “Whatever rocks your boat…”

“The only thing we have in Jamaica is our creative exports,” said a member of the vibrant panel on technology and the creative industries. It is now Jamaica’s “second largest profit industry,” it was asserted. Once again, panelists urged the government to move faster to facilitate entrepreneurs in the field; but there are different solutions for different areas of the arts. Film, for example, is complex and needs government support. Head of the Creative Industries Unit and Film Commissioner at JAMPRO (the Jamaican government’s investment arm) Kim-Marie Spence is fully aware of this; but one got the distinct impression that funds were very small. JAMPRO’s role might best be described as “facilitating” and fostering partnerships, rather than financial support; but that is useful, too.

JAMPRO Film Commissioner Kim-Marie Spence at the Calabash International Literary Festival earlier this year.

Founder of ReggaeTop40.com Lloyd Laing did not mince his words. The older generation won’t let go, he said. There is a bureaucratic paralysis; it’s a “generational, transitional issue.” His words resonated. Just create the right environment in which entrepreneurship can flourish, reduce the ridiculous amount of red tape, and let the entrepreneurs get on with it – to prosper or fail or break even. Many young Jamaicans who have qualified overseas return to their home country full of ideas and eager to make a contribution – only to be told, “This can’t work… No, you can’t do it this way.”  Oh yes. I have seen and heard of many examples of this. Quite often these bright young Jamaicans will pack their bags, sadly, and leave again, discouraged by their own countrymen/women. This should not be happening!

Lloyd Laing speaks at a Kingston Beta event.

Now, the money part. A private sector panel discussed the question, “Is Jamaica a startup ghetto?”  A California-based Jamaican, head of the startup accelerator firm Acceler8, said, “I want to work with people who don’t see limits.” Well fine, said Mark Croskery, CEO of Jamaica’s Stocks and Securities Limited; but the startup must have a business plan, working capital and good cash flow too. So, what must a small IT firm do to get serious, and attract investment? Have a strong management team (Jamaicans are not the best at teamwork, someone noted). Be relevant: have a great product that is needed. Be prepared to make sacrifices to build your business (and that doesn’t mean running a fancy office and car as soon as you have funds coming in – keep your budget low, and stay lean). Don’t spend a fortune on marketing but do get plenty of customer feedback.

Phew. All that happened in the morning, with many questions from the audience and mini-discussions on the side. “So Much Things to Say.” But definitely not talk for talk’s sake.

And then, after lunch, the young tech entrepreneurs gathered nervously, writing last-minute notes, tapping their toes, and waiting their turn. Eighteen groups competed in the “PitchFest” - and the air of expectation was palpable. Many of the projects put forward (they had just three minutes to make their pitch!) were mobile-related, and there was an extraordinary variety. One team, Unite, presented their translation and interpretation service for mobile phones. Another, Jam Commute, pitched their project to reduce customers’ waiting time on public transport. PPS2 offered an ambitious pothole locator and repair project, which created a lot of amusement (potholes are a feature of life in Jamaica). Inventive Learner has developed some great educational software. JustKat (the only woman entrepreneur participating) has a social media empowerment program to offer. Portal Orbits offers online marketing solutions for local businesses. And Ajure (based on Mandeville’s “Silicon Mountain,” as Northern Caribbean University likes to call itself) offers a mobile application for 3D photographs, which we all loved. The Negril-based Claja.com, headed by Donald Porter, kicked off the proceedings; they have a great Jamaica Classifieds app for mobile phones. And the winner was… The University of Technology’s (UTech) Team Hybrid, for its “Trivial” Jamaica History and Heritage Trivia Game, designed with Jamaica’s 50th Anniversary in mind. Congratulations to all those who participated – it takes some nerve to stand up on stage in front of a panel of judges and an audience of 200 or so and sell something that is you - that you have developed from scratch, your “baby” if you will…

Competitors from the University of the West Indies look just slightly nervous…

Donald Porter of Claja.com works on his presentation.

I greatly admired all these young people (I should say young men, as women were almost non-existent. I found this worrying, and don’t recall anyone commenting on it?) But then, there was the BootCamp, which took place on Saturday and Sunday and really put the budding IT entrepreneurs through their paces. This was the serious business. Thirty-five attendees from Jamaica, Trinidad and Barbados attended, and sweated it out, with the aim of “moving faster, further…along their startup journey.” A terrific idea, and one that will surely bear fruit.

So there you have it. It was an invigorating day with already established IT businesspeople, creatives and bloggers like myself, students from the University of the West Indies (UWI) as well as UTech and NCU (and not forgetting a lively and enthusiastic group from Excelsior Community College), and many others.

As Ingrid Riley noted at the beginning of the day, being an entrepreneur is like being on a roller coaster ride. One screams at times when going into apparent free fall; one laughs with relief; but there are “more positives than negatives.”  And of course, not everyone can be an entrepreneur; many people are, simply, workers. But there is so much more potential in Jamaica. I really feel it. And the government has to play its part in supporting entrepreneurs of all kinds, in every way that they can. While the bureaucrats drag their feet, our young IT entrepreneurs are already running – speeding up, in fact. They are budding Usain Bolts and Yohan Blakes and (hopefully) Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryces, too…

Come on, now! Not a moment to lose!

P.S. Talking of entrepreneurs, the Young Entrepreneurs Association of Jamaica is holding a two-day expo at the Jamaica Conference Centre in downtown Kingston tomorrow and Thursday (21st and 22nd November) from 9:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. Admission is free. Do go down and see what’s going on!

Young Entrepreneurs Association Expo 2012

Another P.S. A couple of things irritated me (as they always do, at such events): The event started soon after its scheduled time of 9:00 a.m. Registration was from 8:30 a.m., so one aims for that time, doesn’t one? Not for many. Large groups of people started turning up from 9:30 a.m. onwards. They talked loudly at the registration desk while those who arrived on time tried to focus on the opening remarks by Minister Julian Robinson (who did arrive early and prepared). And, of course, there was the usual talking through other people’s presentations. OK, if you want to share a thought with a neighbor, why not whisper? And if your conversation is more interesting than what the presenter is trying to tell you, why don’t you go outside and talk? No fault of the organizers, and an all-too-common feature of Jamaican public life. It’s called bad manners, and most disrespectful to whomever is speaking at the time.  OK, there’s my rant out of the way… Looking forward to your feedback, dear readers!

Julian Robinson, Minister of State in the Ministry of Science, Technology, Energy and Mining

Ingrid Riley, founder and CEO of ConnectiMass and Kingston Beta – a woman with a vision, and plenty of drive.

Related articles and websites:

http://caribbeanbeta.com (Caribbean Beta website)

http://connectimass.com (ConnectiMass website)

http://www.keystoneaugusta.com (Keystone Augusta website)

http://www.infodev.org/en/Article.952.html (Jamaica Startup BootCamp opens support track to fledgling startups: World Bank/InfoDev)

http://caribbeanbeta.com/2012/11/17/caribbean-beta-pitchfest-2012-winners/ (Caribbean Beta 2012 PitchFest winners)

http://www.digitaltranstec.com (Digital Transtec website)

Sunday Whatever, November 18, 2012 (petchary.wordpress.com)

New Canadian initiatives to help promote Caribbean economic growth (caribbean360.com)

London to share its expertise with poorer nations (kaieteurnewsonline.com)

http://www.ict-pulse.com/2011/10/who-is-a-tech-entrepreneur-any-in-the-caribbean/ (Who is a tech entrepreneur? Any in the Caribbean? ict-pulse.com)

http://www.jamaicatradeandinvest.org/index.php?action=news&readnews=881 (Jamaica’s local film industry earns from America’s Top Model: JAMPRO)

http://www.infodev.org//en/Article.953.html (New study maps mobile tech use among Kenya’s poorest: InfoDev/World Bank)

http://www.jis.gov.jm/component/content/article/111-energy-mining/29672-paulwell-pledges-to-advance-ict (Paulwell pledges to advance ICT: Jamaica Information Service)

http://www.jis.gov.jm/component/content/article/111-energy-mining/32250-jamaica-4th-in-region-in-internet-use (Jamaica fourth in region in Internet use: Jamaica Information Service)

http://www3.weforum.org/docs/CSI/2012-13/GCR_Rankings_2012-13.pdf (World Economic Forum Global Competitiveness Index, 2012-13)

From the outside, the Petchary family’s yard looks calm. Trees sway gently in the beautiful “Christmas breeze.”  Our magnificent guango tree – almost untouched by Hurricane Sandy – stands tall and strong, draped with our purple-flowering vine. The sweet sounds of Sigur Ros (my favorite band – Icelandic post-rock), Caetano Veloso and others float from the windows on sunny afternoons.

Our stately guango tree, battered by several storms, retains its dignity – and beauty.

But under the surface, conflict stirs. All is not well, and a quiet, daily struggle goes on.

Well, not always so quiet. The crack of our mosquito zapper disturbs the calm November air (how beautiful the weather is at this time of year). And it is not just mosquitoes that are meeting their fate in the metal wires of this hideously-orange made-in-China object badminton racket contraption (We are still living in fear of dengue fever, as we are getting mixed messages from the Ministry of Health as to whether it is actually on the decline, or not. Mosquitoes – not a problem).

The Weapon of Mass Destruction.

No, it’s the bees that are the enemy, attacking us fiercely at the flank. And I know we shouldn’t kill them – I was brought up to believe you should never kill a bee – but we have actually used our weapon of choice against them in the last few days of this ongoing conflict. And it seems to have worked.

It all started with the apple tree. A friend’s mother gave the tree to us when we first moved in to this house, over twenty years ago now. It is rather symbolic of our arrival in Jamaica. It has flourished ever since, its thick green leaves harboring many birds. And then it flowers, and the entire tree comes to life with bees.It hums and vibrates with their presence. I love it.

Apples ripening on our tree.

Then the downside. We feed and nurture our hummingbirds, bananaquits (and in the winter months, our beautiful visiting warblers). The feeder hangs from a branch of the apple tree. Even our beautiful Jamaican Oriole (the “Banana Katie”) visits it regularly, although it’s a little too heavy and the feeder swings precariously. However, once the bees are on the tree, they soon discover another source of delicious sweetness besides the nectar of the tree’s sugar-pink flowers. Soon, both our bird feeders are besieged by bees – a few scouts first, then a growing cluster of furry brown bodies. The birds fly down and are immediately frightened off. Our favorite little Black-Throated Blue Warbler – a gorgeous and friendly little winter visitor – cannot feed.

One of our beloved Jamaican Orioles sorts out his feathers after a bath in our yard.

We sprayed them with water from the hose, but they returned within minutes. We tried knocking them off. We unhooked the feeders and shut them away in an old wardrobe in the yard. The bees flew around in desperate circles, searching for their food source that was suddenly gone. After a few days, we brought the feeders out again. Ah! Back came the bees. We waited for the apple tree to stop flowering – but the bees still remembered that lovely syrupy feeder (they are very smart little creatures) and returned to that spot.

So, we brought out our secret Chinese-made Weapon of Mass Destruction – and used it. I am ashamed and sorry to say that we dealt with the bees very effectively. After a brave, determined (and rather stupid) fight-back – yes, I did think bees were smart – they got the message, after a day or two. The bird feeder means instant death. The rearguard action seems to have failed and they seem to have retreated. Our warblers and quits are sipping the syrup that was always intended for them, and can move freely (some of the warblers are so tame that one actually sat down by my feet on the ground the other day and looked up at me).

I am not proud of the extreme force we used in battling the bees. It is a bit like the Israelis hitting back at rockets from Gaza; the firepower is disproportionate. But we were defending the birds’ territory. Sadly, there was some collateral damage; but such is the nature of war.

It doesn’t end there. We have also been fighting off an invasion of grackles. What are grackles, you may ask? The Greater Antillean Grackle, to be precise. Its name – and its Jamaican nickname, “Cling Cling“ - suggests that it makes a lot of noise. And so it does. The grackle forces, unlike the disciplined army of bees – are a bit like those “barbarian” armies depicted in films like “Braveheart“ - ragged, wild, and extremely noisy. If the grackles wore kilts, they would throw them over their heads and expose themselves. Yes, you remember that movie. Blue faces and all that.

Mel Gibson and his gang in “Braveheart.” There is an absolutely hilarious demolition job of this film and its historical accuracy in the “Guardian.” See link below if you want a good laugh.

Such is the fighting spirit of the grackles. Every day the hordes have descended, screeching, piping, croaking. They crouch on the mango tree branches. They flap their wings, throw their heads back and emit horrible, ear-piercing sounds. They push our doves off the water bowl in the front yard, and splash, making loud clucking noises. When I clap my hands at them, they cluck even louder, fly a short distance away and watch me. When I go back in the house, they start sneaking back. They are not only hoodlums, they are crafty hoodlums.

A group of the odd-looking Smooth-billed Anis having fun in our bird bath. They are so large that they usually manage to fend off the marauding Grackles.

Now (again, I am keeping my fingers crossed) the grackles may be in retreat. But only because all the red berries on our palm trees are finished. Gradually, our mockingbirds (nightingales) and doves are starting to sing and coo, and even the small birds can bathe in peace.

My favorite little winter visitor, the Black-throated Blue Warbler. This is the male and he is adorable. (Photo: Steven Pitts)

I mentioned that we feed the birds. We give them bird seed. This suddenly created another problem: a small squadron of mice arrived. Not rats (thank God). Our dogs love chasing them, so we have some fierce warriors on our side. I actually find mice rather cute, but my husband detests them. A line of mouse traps surrounds the bird table. One evening, I heard a loud snap. A mouse had just lost its head. my husband informed me (too much information, for me). Yes, war is gory, and messy.

So, it seems as if we are slowly winning the campaign. We have had to fight off several attacks from various small creatures on different fronts. We are just trying to restore our yard to its customary harmony, you understand. We are a bit like the United Nations peace-keepers, without the pale blue helmets – but unlike them, we have actually been forced to fire shots.

Spanish United Nations peacekeepers under severe pressure in Lebanon, 2007. (Photo: Militaryphotos.net)

There is a de-escalation of the conflict, now. Almost a ceasefire. But hostilities could flare up again, at any time.

If this occurs, in the words of the great Mozambican freedom fighter Samora Machel, “A luta continua.” 

The struggle continues.

Mozambican President Samora Machel (seen here in his revolutionary days) was killed in a mysterious plane crash in South Africa in 1986. (Photo: Samora Machel Documentation Centre)

Related articles

Don’t let their Hitchcockian manner scare you, grackles are just here to roost (victoriaadvocate.com)

Cape May sighting has birders atwitter (dispatch.com)

Gardens: bird feed (guardian.co.uk)

http://www.guardian.co.uk/film/2008/jul/30/3 (Braveheart: dancing peasants, gleaming teeth and a cameo from Fabio: Guardian UK review)

Following up on my recent post on the African Writers’ Series, I am still in literary vein. This very interesting article came up on in a tweet from Nigeria’s “Vanguard” newspaper, which I follow. There are several “African connections” for Jamaica here. The author of this article, Chimamanda Adichie, was born in Biafra (as it was called during the years of Nigeria’s tragic civil war). She was a special guest at Jamaica’s Calabash International Literary Festival in May of this year. And Chinua Achebe, a Nigerian writer from an older generation, is well known to Jamaicans; his novel “Things Fall Apart” was read in Jamaican schools for many years. Chinua Achebe turns 82  this week;  in this article Chimamanda Adichie  celebrates the renowned author (her “literary hero”) and adds her voice to the controversy in Nigeria over Achebe’s book, a memoir, ” There Was A Country: A Personal History of Biafra.”  N.B. “Jisie ike,” which Mr. Achebe said to her before she went on stage, means “Be strong” in the dialect of Nigeria’s Anambra State.

Albert Chinụalụmọgụ Achebe, an Igbo like Adichie, was a supporter of Biafran independence and became an ambassador for the new nation in 1967.

I have met Chinua Achebe only three times. The first, at the National Arts Club in Manhattan, I joined the admiring circle around him. A gentle-faced man in a wheelchair.

“Good evening, sir. I’m Chimamanda Adichie,” I said, and he replied, mildly,  “I thought you were running away from me.”

I mumbled, nervous, grateful for the crush of people around us. I had been running away from him. After my first novel was published, I received an email from his son. My dad has just read your novel and liked it very much. He wants you to call him at this number. I read it over and over, breathless with excitement. But I never called. A few years later, my editor sent Achebe a manuscript of my second novel. She did not tell me, because she wanted to shield me from the possibility of disappointment. One afternoon, she called.  “Chimamanda, are you sitting down? I have wonderful news.” She read me the blurb Achebe had just sent her. We do not usually associate wisdom with beginners, but here is a new writer endowed with the gift of ancient storytellers. Adichie knows what is at stake, and what to do about it. She is fearless or she would not have taken on the intimidating horror of Nigeria’s civil war. Adichie came almost fully made. Afterwards, I held on to the phone and wept. I have memorized those words. In my mind, they glimmer still, the validation of a writer whose work had validated me.

I grew up writing imitative stories. Of characters eating food I had never seen and having conversations I had never heard. They might have been good or bad, those stories, but they were emotionally false, they were not mine. Then came a glorious awakening: Chinua Achebe’s fiction. Here were familiar characters who felt true; here was language that captured my two worlds; here was a writer writing not what he felt he should write but what he wanted to write. His work was free of anxiety, wore its own skin effortlessly. It emboldened me, not to find my voice, but to speak in the voice I already had. And so, when that e-mail came from his son, I knew, overly-thrilled as I was, that I would not call. His work had done more than enough. In an odd way, I was so awed, so grateful, that I did not want to meet him. I wanted some distance between my literary hero and me.

Chinua Achebe and I have never had a proper conversation. The second time I saw him, at a luncheon in his honor hosted by the British House of Lords, I sat across from him and avoided his eye. (“Chinua Achebe is the only person I have seen you shy with,” a friend said). The third, at a New York event celebrating fifty years of THINGS FALL APART, we crowded around him backstage, Edwidge Danticat and I, Ha Jin and Toni Morrison, Colum McCann and Chris Abani. We seemed, magically, bound together in a warm web, all of us affected by his work. Achebe looked pleased, but also vaguely puzzled by all the attention. He spoke softly, the volume of his entire being turned to ‘low.’ I wanted to tell him how much I admired his integrity, his speaking out about the disastrous leadership in my home state of Anambra, but I did not. Before I went on stage, he told me, “Jisie ike.” I wondered if he fully grasped, if indeed it was possible to, how much his work meant to so many.

History and civics, as school subjects, function not merely to teach facts but to transmit more subtle things, like pride and dignity. My Nigerian education taught me much, but left gaping holes. I had not been taught to imagine my pre-colonial past with any accuracy, or pride, or complexity. And so Achebe’s work, for me, transcended literature. It became personal. ARROW OF GOD, my favorite, was not just about the British government’s creation of warrant chiefs and the linked destinies of two men, it became the life my grandfather might have lived. THINGS FALL APART is the African novel most read – and arguably most loved – by Africans, a novel published when ‘African novel’ meant European accounts of ‘native’ life. Achebe was an unapologetic member of the generation of African writers who were ‘writing back,’ challenging the stock Western images of their homeland, but his work was not burdened by its intent. It is much-loved not because Achebe wrote back, but because he wrote back well. His work was wise, humorous, human. For many Africans, THINGS FALL APART remains a gesture of returned dignity, a literary and an emotional experience; Mandela called Achebe the writer in whose presence the prison walls came down.

Achebe’s latest work: There was a country

There Was a Country: A personal history of Biafra, by Chinua Achebe

Achebe’s most recent book, his long-awaited memoir of the Nigerian-Biafra war, is both sad and angry, a book by a writer looking back and mourning Nigeria’s failures. I wish THERE WAS A COUNTRY had been better edited and more rigorously detailed in its account of the war. But these flaws do not make it any less seminal: an account of the most important event in Nigeria’s history by Nigeria’s most important storyteller.

An excerpt from the book has ignited great controversy among Nigerians. In it, Achebe, indignant about the millions of people who starved to death in Biafra, holds Obafemi Awolowo, Nigerian Finance Minister during the war, responsible for the policy of blockading Biafra. He quote’s Awolowo’s own words on the blockade – ‘all is fair in war and starvation is one of the weapons of war. I don’t see why we should feed our enemies fat in order for them to fight harder’ and then argues that Awolowo’s support of the blockade was ‘driven by an overriding ambition for power for himself in particular and for the advancement of his Yoruba people in general.’

Chief Jeremiah Obafemi Awolowo (“Awo”) also called The Sage, was one of Nigeria’s founding fathers.

I have been startled and saddened by the responses to this excerpt. Many are blindingly ethnic, lacking in empathy and, most disturbing of all, lacking in knowledge. We can argue about how we interpret the facts of our shared history, but we cannot, surely, argue about the facts themselves. Awolowo, as de facto ‘number two man’ on the Nigerian side, was a central architect of the blockade on Biafra. During and after the war, Awolowo publicly defended the blockade. Without the blockade, the massive starvation in Biafra would not have occurred. These are the facts.

Some Nigerians, in responding to Achebe, have argued that the blockade was fair, as all is fair in war. The blockade was, in my opinion, inhumane and immoral. And it was unnecessary – Nigeria would have won anyway, it was the much-better-armed side in a war that Wole Soyinka called a shabby unequal conflict. The policy of starving a civilian population into surrender does not merely go against the Geneva conventions, but in this case, a war between siblings, people who were formerly fellow country men and women now suddenly on opposite sides, it seems more chilling. All is not fair in war. Especially not in a fratricidal war. But I do not believe the blockade was a calculated power grab by Awolowo for himself and his ethnic group; I think of it, instead, as one of the many dehumanizing acts that war, by its nature, brings about.

Awolowo was undoubtedly a great political leader.  He was also – rare for Nigerian leaders – a great intellectual. No Nigerian leader has, arguably, articulated a political vision as people-centered as Awolowo’s. For Nigerians from the west, he was the architect of free primary education, of progressive ideas. But for Nigerians from the east, he was a different man. I grew up hearing, from adults, versions of Achebe’s words about Awolowo. He was the man who prevented an Igbo man from leading the Western House of Assembly in the famous ‘carpet crossing’ incident of 1952. He was the man who betrayed Igbo people when he failed on his alleged promise to follow Biafra’s lead and pull the Western region out of Nigeria. He was the man who, in the words of my uncle, “made Igbo people poor because he never liked us.”

At the end of the war, every Igbo person who had a bank account in Nigeria was given twenty pounds, no matter how much they had in their accounts before the war. I have always thought this a livid injustice. I know a man who worked in a multinational company in 1965. He was, like Achebe, one of the many Igbo who just could not believe that their lives were in danger in Lagos and so he fled in a hurry, at the last minute, leaving thousands of pounds in his account. After the war, his account had twenty pounds. To many Igbo, this policy was uncommonly punitive, and went against the idea of ‘no victor, no vanquished.’ Then came the indigenization decree, which moved industrial and corporate power from foreign to Nigerian hands. It made many Nigerians wealthy; much of the great wealth in Nigeria today has its roots in this decree. But the Igbo could not participate; they were broke.

I do not agree, as Achebe writes, that one of the main reasons for Nigeria’s present backwardness is the failure to fully reintegrate the Igbo. I think Nigeria would be just as backward even if the Igbo had been fully integrated – institutional and leadership failures run across all ethnic lines. But the larger point Achebe makes is true, which is that the Igbo presence in Nigerian positions of power has been much reduced since the war. Before the war, many of Nigeria’s positions of power were occupied by Igbo people, in the military, politics, academia, business. Perhaps because the Igbo were very receptive to Western education, often at the expense of their own traditions, and had both a striving individualism and a communal ethic. This led to what, in history books, is often called a ‘fear of Igbo domination’ in the rest of Nigeria. The Igbo themselves were insensitive to this resentment, the bombast and brashness that is part of Igbo culture only exacerbated it. And so leading Igbo families entered the war as Nigeria’s privileged elite but emerged from it penniless, stripped and bitter.

Today, ‘marginalization’ is a popular word in Igboland. Many Igbo feel marginalized in Nigeria, a feeling based partly on experience and partly on the psychology of a defeated people. (Another consequence of this psychology, perhaps, is the loss of the communal ethic of the Igbo, much resented sixty years ago. It is almost non-existent today, or as my cousin eloquently put it: Igbo people don’t even send each other.)

Map of Nigeria showing linguistic groups: the “Ibo” to the south is Achebe’s and Adichie’s homeland.

Some responses to Achebe have had a ‘blame the victim’ undertone, suggesting that Biafrians started the war and therefore deserved what they got. But Biafrians did not ‘start the war.’ Nobody with a basic knowledge of the facts can make that case.

Biafran secession was inevitable, after the federal government’s failure to implement the agreements reached at Aburi, itself prompted by the massacre of Igbo in the North.  The cause of the massacres was arguably the first coup of 1966. Many believed it to be an ‘Igbo’ coup, which was not an unreasonable belief, Nigeria was already mired in ethnic resentments, the premiers of the West and North were murdered while the Eastern premier was not, and the coup plotters were Igbo. Except for Adewale Ademoyega, a Yoruba, who has argued that it was not an ethnic coup. I don’t believe it was. It seems, from most accounts, to have been an idealistic and poorly-planned nationalist exercise aimed at ridding Nigeria of a corrupt government. It was, also, horrendously, inexcusably violent. I wish the coup had never happened. I wish the premiers and other casualties had been arrested and imprisoned, rather than murdered. But the truth that glares above all else is that the thousands of Igbo people murdered in their homes and in the streets had nothing to do with the coup.

Some have blamed the Biafran starvation on Ojukwu, Biafra’s leader, because he rejected an offer from the Nigerian government to bring in food through a land corridor. It was an ungenerous offer, one easy to refuse. A land corridor could also mean advancement of Nigerian troops. Ojukwu preferred airlifts, they were tactically safer, more strategic, and he could bring in much-needed arms as well. Ojukwu should have accepted the land offer, shabby as it was. Innocent lives would have been saved. I wish he had not insisted on a ceasefire, a condition which the Nigerian side would never have agreed to. But it is disingenuous to claim that Ojukwu’s rejection of this offer caused the starvation. Many Biafrians had already starved to death. And, more crucially, the Nigerian government had shown little regard for Biafra’s civilian population; it had, for a while, banned international relief agencies from importing food. Nigerian planes bombed markets and targeted hospitals in Biafra, and had even shot down an International Red Cross plane.

Ordinary Biafrians were steeped in distrust of the Nigerian side. They felt safe eating food flown in from Sao Tome, but many believed that food brought from Nigeria would be poisoned, just as they believed that, if the war ended in defeat, there would be mass killings of Igbo people. The Biafrian propaganda machine further drummed this in. But, before the propaganda, something else had sown the seed of hateful fear: the 1966 mass murders of Igbo in the North. The scars left were deep and abiding. Had the federal government not been unwilling or incapable of protecting their lives and property, Igbo people would not have so massively supported secession and intellectuals, like Achebe, would not have joined in the war effort.

I have always admired Ojukwu, especially for his early idealism, the choices he made as a young man to escape the shadow of his father’s great wealth, to serve his country. In Biafra, he was a flawed leader, his paranoia and inability to trust those close to him clouded his judgments about the execution of the war, but he was also a man of principle who spoke up forcefully about the preservation of the lives of Igbo people when the federal government seemed indifferent. He was, for many Igbo, a Churchillian figure, a hero who inspired them, whose oratory moved them to action and made them feel valued, especially in the early months of the war.

General Odumegwu Ojukwu, President of Biafra, in 1968. Educated at Oxford University, he returned to Nigeria in 1956. He died in London on November 26, 2011 and is buried in Nnewi, Anambra, in Nigeria. (Photo: Washington Post)

Other responses to Achebe have dismissed the war as something that happened ‘long ago.’ But some of the people who played major roles are alive today. We must confront our history, if only to begin to understand how we came to be where we are today. The Americans are still hashing out details of their civil war that ended in 1865; the Spanish have only just started, seventy years after theirs ended. Of course, discussing a history as contested and contentious as the Nigeria-Biafra war will not always be pleasant. But it is necessary. An Igbo saying goes: If a child does not ask what killed his father, that same thing will kill him.

What many of the responses to Achebe make clear, above all else, is that we remember differently. For some, Biafra is history, a series of events in a book, fodder for argument and analysis. For others, it is a loved one killed in a market bombing, it is hunger as a near-constant companion, it is the death of certainty. The war was fought on Biafrian soil. There are buildings in my hometown with bullet holes; as a child, playing outside, I would sometimes come across bits of rusty ammunition left behind from the war. My generation was born after 1970, but we know of property lost, of relatives who never ‘returned’ from the North, of shadows that hung heavily over family stories. We inherited memory. And we have the privilege of distance that Achebe does not have.

Achebe is a war survivor. He was a member of the generation of Nigerians who were supposed to lead a new nation, inchoate but full of optimism. It shocked him, how quickly Nigerian fell apart. In THERE WAS A COUNTRY he sounds unbelieving, still, about the federal government’s indifference while Igbo people were being massacred in Northern Nigeria in 1966. But shock-worthy events did not only happen in the North. Achebe himself was forced to leave Lagos, a place he had called home for many years, because his life was no longer safe. His crime was being Igbo. A Yoruba acquaintance once told me a story of how he was nearly lynched in Lagos at the height of the tensions before the war; he was light-skinned, and a small mob in a market assumed him to be ‘Igbo Yellow’ and attacked him. The Vice-Chancellor of the University of Lagos was forced to leave. So was the Vice-Chancellor of the University of Ibadan. Because they were Igbo.  For Achebe, all this was deeply personal, deeply painful. His house was bombed, his office was destroyed. He escaped death a few times. His best friend died in battle. To expect a dispassionate account from him is a remarkable failure of empathy. I wish more of the responses had acknowledged, a real acknowledgement and not merely a dismissive preface, the deep scars that experiences like Achebe’s must have left behind.

Ethnicity has become, in Nigeria, more political than cultural, less about philosophy and customs and values and more about which bank is a Yoruba or Hausa or Igbo bank, which political office is held by which ethnicity, which revered leader must be turned into a flawless saint. We cannot deny ethnicity. It matters. But our ethnic and national identities should not be spoken of as though they were mutually exclusive; I am as much Igbo as I am Nigerian. I have hope in the future of Nigeria, mostly because we have not yet made a real, conscious effort to begin creating a nation (We could start, for example, by not merely teaching Maths and English in primary schools, but also teaching idealism and citizenship.)

For some non-Igbo, confronting facts of the war is uncomfortable, even inconvenient. But we must hear one another’s stories. It is even more imperative for a subject like Biafra which, because of our different experiences, we remember differently. Biafrian minorities were distrusted by the Igbo majority, and some were unfairly attacked, blamed for being saboteurs. Nigerian minorities, particularly in the midwest, suffered at the hands of both Biafrian and Nigerian soldiers. ‘Abandoned property’ cases remain unresolved today in Port Harcourt, a city whose Igbo names were changed after the war, creating “Rumu” from “Umu.” Nigerian soldiers carried out a horrendous massacre in Asaba, murdering the males in a town which is today still alive with painful memories. Some Igbo families are still waiting, half-hoping, that a lost son, a lost daughter, will come home. All of these stories can sit alongside one another. The Nigerian stage is big enough. Chinua Achebe has told his story. This week, he turns 82. Long may he live.”

Related articles and websites:

http://petchary.wordpress.com/2012/07/27/3537/ (Inspirational Woman of the Day: Chimamanda Adichie/re-blogged)

http://petchary.wordpress.com/2012/11/11/african-postman-fifty-years-of-the-african-writers-series/ (African Postman: Fifty Years of the African Writers Series: petchary.wordpress.com)

http://brown.edu/Departments/Africana_Studies/people/achebe_chinua.html (Chinua Achebe’s website: Brown University)

http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2012/oct/05/chinua-achebe-there-was-a-country-review (There Was a Country: Review/Guardian UK)

The trouble with Achebe (vanguardngr.com)

Chinua Achebe reflects on Biafra, but for whom? (africasacountry.com)

Chinua Achebe’s Memoir ‘There Was a Country’ Bookends His Long Literary Career (atlantablackstar.com)

The Defeated Write History: Chinua Achebe’s There Was a Country (themillions.com)

Remembering Biafra (nytimes.com)

Achebe Administers a Sacrament For Biafra (A Review of There Was A Country) By Rudolf Ogoo Okonkwo (igbokwenuradio.wordpress.com)

Achebe publishes Biafran memoir (bbc.co.uk)

Adichie Ngozi Chimamanda reads at Calabash International Literary Festival in Jamaica, May 2012. (Photo: Andre Bagoo)

I am talking about potential “nine-day wonders,” a special feature of public life in Jamaica. A dramatic story hits the news; people throw up their hands in alarm; they call the radio talk shows, their voices shrill with concern; they write angry letters to the newspapers; and the opinion-makers begin to register the story on their radar and write their opinions. By the time our learned columnists and editors have done that, the story is already half-way through the door, bumping into another drama just coming in to replace it. Or it simply gets submerged in the mundane, washed away in the trivia.

Average life: approximately nine days.

A couple of stories surfaced virtually at the same time on Thursday. It was not a good day; the kind of day when your heart sinks just a little – or, when, in Jamaican social media lingo, you may write “kmt.“ These stories have not, as yet, been examined deeply enough by the media in my view, and there is still much more to be said – particularly in the print media. There were several newspaper editorials lat week about the wonderful relationship between Jamaica and China over the past forty years; why so many, I don’t know. But we want more details on these two stories to emerge, this week. Please.

Let’s deal with the two wonders first, before we talk about a couple of pachyderms – you know, the ones in the living room that take up so much space?

The two fine elephants in the room: Economy (left) and Crime (right)

Firstly, it emerged on Wednesday evening that in July our government spent a large sum of money on sixteen SUVs (Toyota Prados, to be precise) for the use of its ministers while they are serving the people. The sum of money quoted was around sixty-two Jamaican Dollars. Most of these vehicles were close to the US$30,000 upper limit (that’s quite an upper limit, isn’t it!)

This news followed hot on the heels of the Planning Institute of Jamaica’s revelation that Jamaica has just endured its third consecutive quarter of negative growth. This means that the Jamaican economy is officially in recession. (Hello! One of the elephants is waving its trunk, reminding us of its presence). The reaction from the Jamaican public was a combination of bitterness, cynicism, anger and weary shakes of the head. The Minister of Information Sandrea Falconer tried to explain the reasoning behind the purchase of these lovely vehicles; apparently most of those in the outgoing administration bought their vehicles before they left. The ministers needed to be comfortable, Minister Falconer explained in her “I am being very patient” voice to journalists at the post-Cabinet press briefing; they also needed to negotiate the rough rural roads that they have to travel. Minister Falconer went on to inform us, the struggling taxpayers, that our political leaders make great sacrifices. Life is not as easy for them as a politician as it was before they entered the public service, she informs us. I suppose that is why they fight so hard, using whatever means they have at their disposal, for political power – because they all want to make those sacrifices, just for us? Because elections are nothing if not very, very hard-fought. Well.

Minister of Information Sandrea Falconer (Photo: Jamaica Gleaner)

I am afraid that one stuck in my craw. (What is a craw exactly? But you know what I mean). I don’t think the words “Jamaican politician” and “sacrifice” can really be mentioned in the same breath.

Social activist and founder of the New National Coalition Betty Ann Blaine waxed sarcastic. “[Finance Minister] Peter Phillips told us the shop is empty,”  she reminded us. And what of the ordinary Jamaicans who have to drive on these rough rural roads every day. (Can they have Prados, too?) Minister Phillips himself drives the latest model Audi, by the way.

The Minister of Finance has been driving this lovely car since earlier this year.

The Toyota Prado 2012 in all its glory.

The last straw for me was a speech made by Prime Minister Portia Simpson Miller immediately after the Prado disclosure. In a “what is all the fuss about” tone, she told a Social Development Commission meeting that she doesn’t “travel econ” on her personal business when she travels abroad (and of course, not on taxpayers’ business, either); and that ministers should not be expected to do so. She then rambled on about the Secret Service (?!) and how the fact that she does not live at the Prime Minister’s official residence (Vale Royal) saves the country money (does it?). I held my head in my hands. She is just showing off about the air travel, my husband suggested. I despair – along with many other Jamaicans who feel hurt and offended by the somewhat defiant and “there’s nothing wrong with it, this is perfectly justified” response of the government. Meanwhile, middle class Jamaicans (almost a dying breed) struggle to pay their supermarket and utility bills (as the Jamaican dollar is slipping, so all our everyday costs go up) and dread another increase in petroleum prices (and most of us don’t have the ministers’ gas-guzzlers, air conditioning up high). And for the many Jamaicans living close to poverty – I don’t, simply don’t, understand how they manage. They must be going hungry, and they must be desperate. But then, as one of my fellow bloggers comments below, “Portia loves the poor.”  

There was a rash of memes on social media after this news broke. And by the way, if our leaders paid more attention to what is being said in the social media on such matters, they would have a major reality check. Not saying they would change their ways – but it might surprise them. The backlash is considerable.

The wonders of first class airline travel – of course, our government ministers fully deserve it… “They must be comfortable”….

On the matter of the first class travel, I can tell you an experience I had a few years ago: I was attending a conference in another Caribbean country, and was on the same plane going home as a number of Caribbean government ministers as well as their U.S. equivalent (a member of the U.S. cabinet). All the Caribbean ministers settled down in first class, laughing, slapping each other’s backs, enjoying nice food and drink, and socializing all the way. Their American counterpart sat in a bulkhead seat on economy class, so he had more space, quietly got out his laptop and papers, and worked for the entire journey in silence. I merely observed, and took note.

The second piece of news on Thursday was a tragic story. A sixteen-year-old girl who was being held in an adult prison, the Horizon Remand Centre in Kingston, committed suicide. Young Vanessa Wint was one of twenty girls housed in the adult prison; this is against Jamaican law and I believe international human rights norms. A security post to watch the cells is reportedly right opposite what was Vanessa’s cell, yet no one noticed anything; an investigation is under way. Her family is deeply traumatized and has hired a lawyer; the girl’s uncle has vowed to get to the bottom of the story. Meanwhile, as human rights lobby group Jamaicans for Justice has pointed out, all the government agencies responsible for children in the care of the State are to blame. This includes the Minister of Youth Lisa Hanna, the melodious-voiced former beauty queen – who has not had the decency to issue a statement of condolence to the family (I have not heard one anyway). Ms. Hanna is, in fact, the minister responsible. JFJ has been accused of “pointing fingers” - but it is a simple fact that, as so often happens, the government is breaking its own laws (the much-heralded Child Care and Protection Act). The child was behind bars for “uncontrollable behavior,” as well as possession of an offensive weapon – although her family denies any knowledge of the latter – but had not been charged. As she is a ward of the state, the State is responsible for her.

Our beautiful Minister responsible for youth, Ms. Lisa Hanna, M.P. Has she issued a statement of condolence or any comment on the death of a teenage girl in the care of her Ministry?

This is a heart-breaking story, and there will be more details to follow; so this might have a longer shelf life than nine days. But how many times have we revisited this subject? We agonized over the fire at the girls’ correctional centre in Armadale, when seven wards of state burnt to death in an over-crowded dorm, in 2010. Have successive governments really demonstrated that they care for the welfare of our children, especially those most at risk and in conflict with the law? Meanwhile, plans are afoot to transfer those girls being housed at the Fort Augusta adult women’s prison to another adult facility on South Camp Road in Kingston. Thank you, Minister Hanna, that will greatly solve the problem. Are we looking at, perhaps, root causes? And have all the children now been removed from the horrible police lock-ups?

Kingston’s South Camp Adult Correctional Centre – the site of the “Gun Court.” The government is seeking to “retrofit” the centre to accommodate girls.

The Fort Augusta women’s prison, where girls are currently incarcerated alongside adult women.

The much-respected Monsignor Gregory Ramkissoon, of the Mustard Seed Communities, linked the above two stories – pointing out the twisted and just-plain-wrong priorities. “Why do we have a children’s advocate or a Child Development Agency if we are still putting children in adult correctional centres? Why are we spending our money on SUVs rather than on children’s care?” he asks. Why, indeed.

Monsignor Gregory Ramkissoon (photo: Randy Economy’s blog)

Meanwhile we must be careful about inhaling deeply. After “noxious fumes” (a favorite journalistic term here) were emitted recently by the Petroleum Corporation of Jamaica, this week there was an ammonia leak on the Mandela Highway that connects Kingston and Spanish Town. A gas company was responsible for this. But don’t worry, all is well. The weather is getting dryer, though. Next will be the Riverton City dump, optimistically called a “landfill.” Time for it to catch fire again. But here I go, predicting doom and gloom again.

Director General of the Planning Institute of Jamaica Gladstone Hutchinson, who will be returning to his job in the United States in January 2013.

Talking about doom and gloom: It’s the economy, stupid (again). The Planning Institute of Jamaica revealed the bad news mid-week. I won’t bore you with all the depressing “minuses” but suffice it to say that in the nine months up to September 2012, real Gross Domestic Product (GDP) declined by 0.3 per cent; the biggest declines over that period were in the mining, construction and transport, storage and communication sectors. In the third quarter alone, the economy contracted 0.6 per cent. I can’t tell you what the answers are; but I feel that we are on a slippery slope, and that we are not able to dig our heels in to stop the sliding. I hope I am wrong. It’s just a feeling.

Meanwhile, commentator Dennis Chung has written a very good column on the subject of the recession-that-we-now-cannot-deny. He proposes three solutions for us to drag ourselves back out of the slide: working seriously on Jamaica’s energy issues, including alternative energy solutions, reducing the enormous cost of importing oil etc; reducing costly food imports; and tackling the law and order problem which continues to plague our society. I could not agree more. Minister Phillip Paulwell is now looking at alternative energy; one hopes this will bear some fruit, and that it will all result in action, not talk.

Has the Finance Minister commented on any of this? I am not sure. He has, however, conceded that the negotiations with the International Monetary Fund may not be concluded by the end of December, after all. It may be in January, but as the Information Minister said, “Let’s not quibble about it.” She loves that word!

Financial analyst Dennis Chung always injects plenty of common sense into his analysis, which is clear and unbiased.

Back to that other pachyderm, crime. In an excellent op-ed (link below), a former Fulbright Professor and criminologist, Bernard Headley observes that “a balanced development and nation-building strategy ought to include understanding, teaching and practicing the ways of peace – respect and tolerance, healing and restoration, love and justice. These are, in the final analysis, the ultimate ‘protective factors’ against crime and disorder.” We are told (and goodness knows we should be aware of this by now) that Jamaica is a “Christian country.” All these beautiful Christian principles should be built into the country’s infrastructure of governance. But, strange… how come there is so little of it “deh ’bout”?

There have been various reports of reductions in crime in specific parishes. However, murders are not going down, overall. I know that full well. If you compare the sad lists of names at the end of each of my weekly blog posts, I think you will agree that nothing has changed. The numbers are pretty consistent, don’t you think?

The police have been really busy. By my count, they have killed seven Jamaicans – one for each day of the past week. Four killed in one “alleged shootout” in St. Elizabeth were allegedly linked to the “guns for drugs” trade between Jamaica and Haiti. Residents allege that the police chased the four men and shot them. It’s funny how the accounts of residents differ so dramatically from those of the police, isn’t it? Do they ever agree on a story? In St. Elizabeth, there were apparently many witnesses; hopefully they will give statements to members of the over-worked Independent Commission of Investigations (INDECOM). In one of the incidents in Kingston, a policeman was injured.

I don’t like it: The all-too-frequent reports of robberies at schools – I think probably on average once a week these reports emerge. It is usually computers and electronic equipment (often donated by parents, past students or kind overseas organizations). But it’s all fair game. Let’s help ourselves to any cash that might have been saved for a school outing. And there’s food and drink in the kitchen! It truly distresses me to see the faces of stressed-out school principals, often fighting back tears, giving details of the theft, while the camera pans round a ransacked school office or computer lab. Who buys these computers? And what about the children?

Oh, please: The preachers-on-buses issue has lingered on. A “tweep” of mine commented that she had to endure “two hours of Christian music” on the privately-run Knutsford Express, which does longer-distance trips. Is there no escape? Meanwhile, the Public Defender… But no, I am not going to go there. Should I mention the words Tivoli Gardens in the same paragraph? Please read Jaevion Nelson’s article, below.

I like it: The Minister of Justice has also been busy, in a much more positive way I must say. The Senate finally passed a very important piece of legislation, the Evidence (Special Measures) Act 2012. The bill will allow “vulnerable witnesses” (such as children, and U.S.-based victims of the hateful lotto scam) to give evidence via video. As the head of the Jamaican Bar Association Ian Wilkinson noted this evening, however, the government should hurry up and pass the accompanying regulations, so that the law can be properly implemented.

A little baffling: The two security guards charged for the beating of an alleged gay student at the University of Technology have pleaded Not Guilty. Of course, it is their right. But they were picked out in an identity parade, and they should be pretty easy to identify from the YouTube video that went viral, too. But I am no lawyer. I am clearly missing something.

What a surprise: A review of the antiquated anti-buggery law, famously promised by Prime Minister Portia Simpson Miller during a debate, is not going to happen any time soon. But least one should be happy that, as Minister Falconer noted, the economy and crime are high priorities for the government. Oh! Perhaps some people have seen the two elephants pictured in this post…

Now on, to the good stuff: World AIDS Day is coming up (December 1) and the Caribbean has recorded a significant decrease in HIV infections – a decrease of 42 per cent since 2001. This is largely due to the increased availability of anti-retroviral drugs. I am sure we will be hearing more details on Jamaica in the next week or two. But I would like to take this opportunity to congratulate the dedicated, hard-working Jamaicans who have worked, and continue to work, towards “zero” new infections: the Ministry of Health, Jamaica AIDS Support for Life, the Jamaica Business Council on HIV/AIDS, Eve for Life, the parish AIDS committees, and other organizations that play their part.

Congratulations to Olivia McGilchrist, the winner of the Super Plus Under 40 Artist of the Year competition, an event at Kingston’s Mutual Gallery that has gained in prestige. Ms. McGilchrist explored issues of identity in her photographs (rather odd, though, that of the four finalists three were photographers. Can we have more painters or even sculptors in the future, if possible?)

I am very pleased to learn, also, that several key private sector companies have decided to engage in charitable activities throughout the Christmas season – which now seems to be upon us. Digicel, GraceKennedy and Stewart’s Automotive Group are among them; also, the RJR Group is now making a public appeal for the Annotto Bay Hospital in St. Mary, which was badly damaged during Hurricane Sandy – in particular the children’s and maternity wards. Do support all these activities in the spirit of Christmas.

Congratulations also to two pioneering surgeons, who have teamed up to perform the second minimally invasive surgery – laparoscopic prostatectomies, two long words there – at Cornwall Regional Hospital in Montego Bay. I am sure there is much more potential for this kind of amazing teamwork that can do so much for our often struggling health system. The UK’s Dr. Christopher Eden and Jamaica’s Dr. Roy McGregor are awesome. And they look so young, too!

I mentioned the recent, amazingly successful Caribbean Beta 2012 for young IT entrepreneurs, which I attended; see my blog post at http://petchary.wordpress.com/2012/11/20/its-getting-beta-young-tech-entrepreneurs-in-jamaica/. I was really happy to read a report about the founder of a locally-based call center in the small town of Junction, St. Elizabeth, Lincoln Gayle. A graduate of Northern Caribbean University (which is making strides in Information Technology), Gayle currently lives in the United States but is a native of the pretty town of Southfield.

A community of bloggers: It was wonderful to meet so many Jamaican bloggers (there were around fifty of us!) at the Jamaica Bloggers Meet-Up in the cozy courtyard of the Knutsford Court Hotel. UNICEF is sponsoring a special blog challenge for World AIDS Day, which many of us will be going for… The tempting prize of a Samsung Tablet is being dangled before our eyes! It was a great get-together. Congratulations to the organizers of the third Jamaica Blog Awards – the only such awards in the English-speaking Caribbean, I believe. The hot competition begins early next year!

Last but certainly not least: The list below is of Jamaicans who have lost their lives since my last blog post. My sincere condolences and love to all their families, friends and loved ones, who are mourning their loss. One day, I wish, there will be no such list at the end of my weekly blog posts. I live in hope.

Jamaican Bloggers Unite: Here we are in the lobby of the Knutsford Court Hotel!

Lincoln Gayle, of Innovative Outsourcing Company Limited.

Olivia McGilchrist: Red Dress #1

By the way, if you want to see some of the television news reports, you can look up evening and noon news broadcasts which are archived at http://news.cvmtv.com/index.php?news=watch at CVM Television, which tends to have more detailed reports, I find. But you can find a link to some of the Prime Minister’s comments below on TVJ. Both websites are useful. Radio Jamaica and Nationwide News Network also have live streaming of their programs.

A great team: Dr. Chris Eden and Dr. Roy McGregor before their first operation in Jamaica in 2011.

By the police: Oneil Green, 33, Kilmarnock, Westmoreland; Kenrick Bennett, New Town, St. Elizabeth; Rohan Barrett, New Town, St. Elizabeth;  Carlington Wallace, New Town, St. Elizabeth; Turline Wallace, New Town, St. Elizabeth;  unidentified man, Orange Street, Kingston; Unidentified man, Red Hills Road, Kingston

Cab driver Albert Gordon, one of the murder statistics

Albert Gordon, Richmond Park, Kingston

Unidentified woman, Bog Walk, St. Catherine

Unidentified man, Forest Hill Gardens, St. Andrew

Everald Singh, 30, Grey Ground, Manchester

Danny Broderick, 22, Hopeton District, Manchester

Valentine Reid, 47, Riverton City, Kingston

Jacquelyn Harriott, 40, Windsor Heights, St. Catherine

Richard McCalla, 33, Hellshire Heights, St. Catherine

Allan White, 63, Job Lane, Spanish Town, St. Catherine

Ernest Lumsden, 70, Bartons, St. Catherine

Courtney Mills, 34, Marlie Mount/Old Harbour, St. Catherine

http://news.cvmtv.com/index.php?news=watch (CVM Television news clips)

http://jamaica-gleaner.com/gleaner/20121122/lead/lead1.html (Government shells out $60 million for new vehicles: Jamaica Gleaner)

http://jamaica-gleaner.com/gleaner/20121124/lead/lead1.html (We deserve these cars: PM defends $60 million spent on ministers’ new vehicles: Gleaner)

http://www.televisionjamaica.com/Programmes/PrimeTimeNews.aspx/Videos/22437 (PM responds to vehicle purchase: TVJ)

http://jamaica-gleaner.com/gleaner/20120322/lead/lead91.html (Falconer clears air on vehicle purchases: MARCH 2012 Gleaner report)

http://jamaica-gleaner.com/gleaner/20121125/cleisure/cleisure3.html (Government succumbs to bling culture: Gary Spaulding op-ed/Sunday Gleaner)

http://jamaica-gleaner.com/gleaner/20121125/focus/focus2.html (Has everyone turned off the lights on growth? Martin Henry column/Sunday Gleaner)

http://jamaica-gleaner.com/gleaner/20121125/cleisure/cleisure5.html (Will Witter arise from slumber? Jaevion Nelson op-ed/Sunday Gleaner)

http://dmarcuswilliams.blogspot.com/2012/11/portia-loves-poor.html?showComment=1353699155063#c6788092347541038464 (Portia loves the poor: blog post by D. Marcus Williams)

http://jamaica-gleaner.com/gleaner/20121125/focus/focus5.html (It’s the Church that needs salvation: Gordon Robinson column/Sunday Gleaner)

http://www.jis.gov.jm/news/leads-117/32368 (Cabinet satisfied with pace of IMF negotiations: Jamaica Information Service)

http://jamaica-gleaner.com/gleaner/20121122/lead/lead9.html (Debt to international organizations could hurt Jamaica – government technocrat: Jamaica Gleaner)

http://jamaica-gleaner.com/gleaner/20121125/lead/lead1.html (Squander! Government spends more than $32 million to keep old, empty Jamintel building safe for pigeons: Sunday Gleaner)

http://rjrnewsonline.com/local/guards-implicated-in-utech-beating-appear-in-court (Guards implicated in UTech beating appear in court: RJR)

http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/news/Promised-buggery-review-put-on-back-burner_13056162 (Promised buggery law review put on back burner: Jamaica Observer)

http://jamaica-gleaner.com/gleaner/20121122/letters/letters4.html (The struggle for common people to get justice: Letter/Jamaica Gleaner)

http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/letters/Keeping-the-buggery-law-is-preposterous_13042100 (Keeping the buggery law is preposterous: Letter/Jamaica Observer)

http://jamaica-gleaner.com/latest/article.php?id=41318 (Senate passes Evidence Act: Jamaica Gleaner)

http://jamaica-gleaner.com/gleaner/20121123/lead/lead6.html (St. James murders down: Jamaica Gleaner)

http://jamaica-gleaner.com/latest/article.php?id=41355 (Murders down in south St. Catherine: Sunday Gleaner)

http://rjrnewsonline.com/local/indecom-to-probe-police-shooting-of-four-men (INDECOM to proble police shooting of four men: RJR)

http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/news/Dead-teen-was-tormented (Dead teen was tormented: Jamaica Observer)

http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/news/Remove-Prendergast- (Remove Prendergast: Relatives of Vanessa Wint label Commissioner of Corrections as uncaring: Jamaica Observer)

http://jamaica-gleaner.com/gleaner/20121125/lead/lead11.html (Who was watching the suicidal teen? Sunday Gleaner)

http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/news/Slipping-through-the-cracks_13075685 (Slipping through the cracks: Sunday Observer)

http://jamaica-gleaner.com/gleaner/20121125/lead/lead92.html (“You are all to blame”: Sunday Gleaner)

http://rjrnewsonline.com/local/policy-changes-in-the-making-for-handling-of-detainees (Policy changes in the making for handling of detainees: RJR)

http://jamaica-gleaner.com/gleaner/20121123/lead/lead7.html (Fewer cases of sex with minors reported: Jamaica Gleaner)

http://jamaica-gleaner.com/latest/article.php?id=41319 (Family wants Corrections Commissioner fired: Jamaica Gleaner)

http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/news/-Invoking-God-s-blessings-_13054007 (“Invoking God’s blessings”: Jamaica Observer)

http://jamaica-gleaner.com/gleaner/20121125/lead/lead91.html (Paulwell steps up bid for cheaper electricity: Sunday Gleaner)

http://jamaica-gleaner.com/gleaner/20121122/cleisure/cleisure3.html (Homosexual reparative therapy revisited: Rev. Clinton Chisholm op-ed/Jamaica Gleaner)

http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/columns/Good-move–Hardley-Lewin_13056130 (Good move, Hardley Lewin: Jamaica Observer/Mark Wignall column)

http://jamaica-gleaner.com/gleaner/20121123/lead/lead93.html (NEPA performs balancing act – agency provides residents with alternative livelihoods: Jamaica Gleaner)

http://www.jis.gov.jm/news/leads-104/32365 (Crime down, more qualified Jamaicans: Jamaica Information Service)

http://jamaica-gleaner.com/gleaner/20121121/letters/letters2.html (End victimization in S.W. St. Ann: Letter/Jamaica Gleaner)

http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/news/Family–colleagues-mourn-cabbie-s-killing_13053266 (Family, colleagues mourn cabbie’s killing: Jamaica Observer)

http://jamaica-gleaner.com/gleaner/20121125/lead/lead7.html (Let’s end this 50-year relationship with crime: Bernard Headley op-ed/Sunday Gleaner)

http://jamaica-gleaner.com/gleaner/20121122/news/news2.html (Manchester police find fleeing lotto scammers: Jamaica Gleaner)

http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/NEWS/One-dead–3-000-lbs-of-ganja-seized (One dead, 3,000 pounds of ganja seized: Jamaica Observer)

http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/NEWS/Caribbean-records-significant-decrease-in-HIV-infections (Caribbean records significant decrease in HIV infections: Jamaica Observer)

http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/news/School-feeding-woes—Only-6-of-46-milk-delivery-trucks-refrigerated_13056355 (School feeding woes: Jamaica Observer)

http://jamaica-gleaner.com/gleaner/20121121/cleisure/cleisure4.html (Reality check: would you invest in Jamaica? Dennie Quill column/Jamaica Gleaner)

http://jamaica-gleaner.com/gleaner/20121123/business/business6.html (Wehby rallies “growth creators”: Jamaica Gleaner)

http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/business/Why-is-Jamaica-back-in-recession- (Why is Jamaica back in recession? Dennis Chung column/Jamaica Observer)

http://jamaica-gleaner.com/gleaner/20121123/cleisure/cleisure4.html (Jamaica needs to produce: Letter from Metry Seaga to Jamaica Gleaner)

http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/news/-2-B-duty-Loss ($2 billion duty loss! Tax reversal drives down demand for new cars: Jamaica Observer)

http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/business/More-tax-from-consumption (More tax from consumption: Jamaica Observer)

http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/news/Phillips-puts-doubt-on-December-IMF-deal (Phillips puts doubt on December IMF deal: Jamaica Observer)

http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/columns/-Stop-waiting-on-the-IMF–_13017382 (“Stop waiting on the IMF”! Jamaica Observer/Jean Lowrie-Chin column)

http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/NEWS/JFJ-disappointed-at-delay-in-Tivoli-report (JFJ disappointed at delay in Tivoli report: Jamaica Observer)

http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/NEWS/Party-time–Holness-says-JLP-s-political-campaign-starts-now (Holness says JLP’s political campaign starts now: Jamaica Observer)

http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/editorial/Putting-our-JLP–PNP-houses-in-order_13035768 (Putting our JLP, PNP houses in order: Jamaica Observer editorial)

http://jamaica-gleaner.com/gleaner/20121121/cleisure/cleisure1.html (JLP must obey its constitution: Jamaica Gleaner editorial)

http://jamaica-gleaner.com/gleaner/20121121/business/business1.html (Back in recession – Jamaican economy contracts for third quarter: Jamaica Gleaner)

http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/business/Jamaica-goes-deeper-into-recession (Jamaica goes deeper into recession: Jamaica Observer)

http://jamaica-gleaner.com/gleaner/20121122/lead/lead95.html (Tax reform remains high on agenda: Jamaica Gleaner)

http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/NEWS/Customs-boss-to-meet-with-frustrated-exporters_13018303 (Customs boss to meet with frustrated exporters: Jamaica Observer)

http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/columns/Potty-training-and-nation-building_13052344 (Potty training and nation building: Jamaica Observer/Grace Virtue op-ed – very good!)

http://www.jis.gov.jm/news/leads/32370 (PAHO, WHO support a smoke-free environment: Jamaica Information Service)

http://jamaica-gleaner.com/gleaner/20121122/lead/lead2.html (NEPA, Petrojam at odds over explanation for odor: Jamaica Gleaner)

http://jamaica-gleaner.com/gleaner/20121122/lead/lead6.html (UDC set to embark on “Operation Restoration”: Jamaica Gleaner)

http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/news/Race-still-defines-relationships-in-America–says-French-journalist_13053322 (Race still defines relationships in America, says French journalist: Jamaica Observer)

http://jamaica-gleaner.com/gleaner/20121118/arts/arts5.html (Super Plus Under 40 Artist of the Year Competition excites: Jamaica Gleaner)

http://www.jis.gov.jm/news/leads/32361 (Protecting vulnerable crucial under IMF program – UNCTAD head: Jamaica Information Service)

http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/editorial/Developing-country-unity—what-unity-_13044444 (Developing country unity – what unity? Jamaica Observer editorial)

http://jamaica-gleaner.com/gleaner/20121122/news/news8.html (Corporate entities nice up the Christmas! Jamaica Gleaner)

http://jamaica-gleaner.com/gleaner/20121122/news/news4.html (Cornwall Regional team performs second minimally invasive surgery: Jamaica Gleaner)

http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/news/Renowned-astrophysicist-Neil-deGrasse-Tyson-to-visit (Renowned astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson to visit: Jamaica Observer)

http://jamaica-gleaner.com/gleaner/20121117/news/news7.html (African board game arrives in Jamaica: Gleaner)

http://jamaica-gleaner.com/gleaner/20121117/lead/lead4.html (Stepping from the shadows: Lincoln Gayle: Jamaica Gleaner)

http://www.rjrgroup.com/news/rjr-makes-public-appeal-help-restore-annotto-bay-hospital-after-damage-hurricane-sandy (RJR makes public appeal to help restore Annotto Bay Hospital after damage)

Sunday Elephants: November 11, 2012 (petchary.wordpress.com)

Sunday Whatever, November 18, 2012 (petchary.wordpress.com)

Last month, around the time of National Heroes Day in Jamaica, I was turning the concept of “heroes” around in my head. I had some conversations with a few young Jamaicans in the social media. Two things occurred to me: firstly, that Jamaica seems to be badly in need of heroes. And secondly, that a hero is not someone who has simply done well in his/her field of influence. Winning elections, or selling millions of records, is praiseworthy; but not heroic.

I also do believe, in an old-fashioned way, that a hero must have the following qualities: strength, resilience, vision, determination, courage, seeking always to do better in his/her life. This spills over into the lives of others. He/she inspires others. And that inspiration may come from someone who, at some point, seemed weak, helpless, a victim of fate. The most unlikely hero or SHEro.

So where do we find our 21st century (s)heroes, here in Jamaica? Why, they are all around us, living among us.

Keisha* never saw herself as a SHEro. She still doesn’t. But I think she is.

Keisha is 24 years old. She has two children, a five-year-old daughter and a son aged two years old. She is HIV-positive. Her children are not.

Keisha loved the father of her youngest child; but he did not disclose his HIV status to her. After she was diagnosed in 2009, she was shocked, depressed, stressed - and very angry. She felt betrayed, and also broken-hearted; she loved her son’s father. The hurt was unbearable. Her hopes of a stable home life and a happy and loving relationship broke into small pieces, like shards of glass. “I neglected myself,” says Keisha. Why should she care? A young woman in her twenties has powerful dreams of the future. But her own future had disappeared – she could not imagine it. Depression, by the way, is twice as common among people living with HIV as it is in the general public.

Keisha stumbled through life.“I was like a walking zombie,” she says. And she told no one about her status. She did not even tell her mother, who could not understand the dramatic change in her daughter. “She wanted to send me to Bellevue,” Keisha says with a wry laugh. (Bellevue is Kingston‘s hospital for the mentally ill).

And still Keisha fought on, alone, without telling anyone her status. Then,the clinic she attended after the birth of her son in 2010 referred her to a Kingston-based non-governmental organisation called Eve for Life.

You will find many smiling faces on the pages of Eve for Life’s website. No sob stories. And this was the point in our story where Keisha’s life began to return to love – that little thing that seemed to have gone from her young life. Talking to Keisha, you are struck by a sense that this was the beginning of her spiritual transformation. It started with the need to disclose her status, and her preparing to do so. This was the first step. “They told us what to say, how to respond,” Keisha tells me. “We used role play for this.” With her mother, the revelation came in stages. “First of all, I told her my boyfriend ‘did something bad,’” she said. Her mother responded, “Did he hit you?” No, she said, but it was something very, very bad. In the end, she told her mother everything. She understood. “She has been very supportive up to this day,” says Keisha.

Keisha is not someone who goes to church every Sunday, but she does go. And she knows the power of forgiveness. She has forgiven her boyfriend. She still loves him, but she has let go. “Life does go on,” she says. Forgiving was a very important part of her healing. And it takes great courage to forgive, to release that bitterness.

And so, Keisha’s positive status has not condemned her to a life of despair; in fact, it has opened up possibilities that she never knew existed. Her diagnosis was “not the end of the world”; far from it. Attending an event at the U.S. Embassy in Kingston was an extraordinary experience for her. And so is her ongoing and growing involvement with Eve for Life. She is now a trainee facilitator and peer educator for newly diagnosed HIV-positive mothers. She is giving of herself to other young Jamaican women who are struggling to overcome her challenges. She is helping to lift them up out of that dark despair she herself once felt.

Keisha sees something now evolving from her weakness: it is strength, it is empowerment. “Everything happens for a reason… Down the line you will see a purpose,” she observes quietly. She now believes that her HIV status has turned her life around in the most unexpected way: “It has given me opportunities…The opportunity to help others.”

Now she is training for a diploma in Practical Nursing at the Garmex HEART Academy. She has two more tests this week. It is a challenge, but she is determined to see it through.  She will graduate in 2014, and she has already obtained high marks in her core subject as well as in Language and Communications. The only tricky one is Mathematics, but she is confident she will pass that too. While she is studying, her mother looks after her children.

Keisha believes – she knows – she will be a better mother. She looks forward to her children growing up. She wants them to be anything they want to be – a doctor, a lawyer. She has hope, she has plans for them. A good education, university. “I will guide them,” she says. She will talk to them in a way that her mother never spoke to her – about relationships, about sex, about love, about life. She will hide nothing from them. She hopes to be a grandmother, one day. She giggles. 

How does Keisha see her own future? “It gets better and better each day,” she says. She and her peer group at Eve for Life have their “ups and downs,” like any family. And they are family to her. They encourage and motivate each other, and help each other solve “everyday life problems.”

Because that is what it is all about. Heroism is not just about the limelight, the dramatic gesture, the applause, the awards. Our Jamaican SHEroes are here, with us. They are HIV positive; they get up and they carry on, every day.

And they are looking to the future, and to creating a stronger, more resilient, AIDS-free generation.

The future looks bright.

* not her real name

Members of Eve for Life join their voices to a call for children’s rights during a Child Month demonstration in Kingston, Jamaica in May of this year.

This blog post is dedicated to little Hope Divine. She is four years old, she is feisty, she has loving adoptive parents, she is going to school.

Last week, we celebrated a birthday. The child is just one year old, a mere infant. But she is growing up fast.

“She” is the 51% Coalition – a coalition of “Women in Partnership for Development and Empowerment Through Equity.”  The Coalition is very much an action-oriented group, committed to these goals. It has a businesslike approach to its mission of bringing women to the table – to make a strong contribution to Jamaica’s development. To quote its press release: “Over the past year the 51% Coalition has been working to redress the gender imbalance in decision-making. Its thrust is to achieve a ‘balance’ of not more than 60% and not less than 40% of either sex on public boards and bodies.”

At a celebratory breakfast in Kingston last Wednesday, Chairperson of the Women’s Resource and Outreach Centre (WROC) Linnette Vassell spoke of “many gaps.”  These are the empty spaces we need to fill, to ensure that Jamaican women enjoy their full representative rights as productive members of society. WROC was a co-sponsor of the birthday party, along with the Friedrich Ebert Stiftung (FES) office in Jamaica.

Getting down to work: (l-r) Coalition members Nadeen Spence, Linnette Vassell (Partnership for Transformation representative) and Marcia Forbes focus at last week’s breakfast (Photo: 51% Coalition)

Over the past half-century since Independence, Jamaica has not done as well as it could have, for its women. Some may disagree with this statement, but this is my view. Perhaps one could say that Jamaican women have not done enough for themselves. In the year of “Jamaica 50,” for example, women are still barely visible on the political scene, despite the fact that we currently have a woman Prime Minister. Only 12.7 per cent of Jamaican parliamentarians, and seventeen per cent of local government councilors are women.

At the breakfast, Ms. Vassell presented a report card on the 51% Coalition’s activities and achievements over the past year. Of course, this is all work that the Coalition has to continuously build on to achieve longer-term goals. We are not talking instant results, here. However, in the amazing way that women have, the Coalition has already established meaningful partnerships: a support network that will stand it in good stead over the coming years. The influential Private Sector Organisation of Jamaica is seeking to bridge one of the “gaps” by encouraging more women to join private boards. It has provided “train the trainers” instruction in corporate governance. And after twenty years of setting up its Hall of Fame, it has eventually inducted a woman – Ms. Lorna Myers. In a very promising partnership with the Jamaica Stock Exchange (JSE, headed by Marlene Street-Forrest) the Coalition has addressed company CEOs and circulated a list of 54 women that it recommends for board membership. Collaboration with the JSE is ongoing.

The Jamaica Stock Exchange Building on Harbour Stree, Kingston. (Photo: Jamaica Stock Exchange)

And what of the Government? Well, there are interesting linkages here. The Bureau of Women’s Affairs, led by the dedicated Ms. Faith Webster, is a government agency which falls under the Women’s Affairs portfolio. Prime Minister Portia Simpson Miller has, by the way, held this portfolio for most of the past twenty years or so; during this time, the picture for Jamaican women in public life has been mixed, as noted above. The public-private sector Partnership for Transformation is a key vehicle to enable the 51% Coalition to integrate equity issues into the national dialogue. The previous political administration had committed to an independent seat for a woman in its manifesto, and this will become a reality, which the Coalition welcomes.

Faith Webster, Executive Director of the Bureau of Women’s Affairs (Photo: Jamaica Gleaner)

The National Policy for Gender Equality is of key importance. The Coalition looks forward to monitoring the debate on this topic and to ensuring that the policy provides a workable and blueprint for the future.

And the politicians? They are the important gatekeepers, standing by the gate that opens to women’s full citizenship; full citizenship meaning full participation and equal representation. The 51% Coalition felt it should and must engage both political parties, as they each tackle new challenges in the wake of the December 2011 general elections. Members have already met with the Opposition Jamaica Labour Party (JLP), which is re-thinking and evaluating its internal structure and strategies, in order to make sure that women’s empowerment and gender issues are firmly on the table. We shall see what comes out of that. (Incidentally, the JLP fielded a record number of female candidates in the 2011 parliamentary elections – thirteen, most of them new to representational politics – but only three seasoned women contenders were successful. Five out of the People’s National Party‘s six candidates won or retained their seats).

The Coalition has also set up a political and constitutional reform working group, with two specific aims in mind. Firstly, the group seeks to ensure that gender issues are addressed in the reform of electoral laws; a meeting with the Electoral Office of Jamaica was scheduled for this week. Recommendations on gender issues have also been made to the Electoral Commission of Jamaica, for inclusion in its 2013-15 agenda.

Prime Minister of Jamaica Portia Simpson Miller is also responsible for Women’s Affairs (Photo: Chris Jackson/Getty Images)

Let us return, for a moment, to the Prime Minister who is also responsible for Women’s Affairs, Portia Simpson Miller. The 51% Coalition is still waiting for a meeting to discuss with her its key objectives and plans for the way ahead; this should take place soon. Specifically, the Coalition would like to press upon the Prime Minister the importance of  adopting and implementing the Corporate Governance Framework for Public Bodies in Jamaica, which her predecessors had adopted.

For example let us take a look at the Urban Development Corporation (UDC). Chaired by government Senator K.D. Knight, the UDC is a major government agency which falls under the Prime Minister’s portfolio. An Auditor General’s report pointed to its huge indebtedness and its major operating losses of close to J$500 million. The Coalition’s Ms. Vassell called this state of affairs “truly alarming,” pointing to the need for a Public Accountability Act and other legal measures to deal poor corporate governance in the public sector. (By the way, there are five women on the UDC’s 22-member board). In this respect, the Coalition has made specific proposals for specific competent women to be included on the board of this and other government agencies (the National Water Commission‘s nine-member board, for example, includes just one woman; this agency has come under fire just this week for its billions of dollars of losses; and only 32 per cent of the water it supplies is actually paid for).

Urban Development Corporation

Up to April 2012, at least seventy per cent of public sector boards were chaired by men; and more than half had less than 20 per cent women board members. A few years ago, the picture was very much the same – very little progress. Don’t you think that if more women were appointed to their boards they would have a new dimension to offer to these struggling government agencies? In seeking to address this, the 51% Coalition has conducted a series of public consultations in Kingston, Mandeville and Ocho Rios with women appointed to public boards; these were attended by 186 women and a few men, and the response was highly positive. Some women are ready to go out and advocate.

Other issues that the 51% Coalition looks forward to discussing with the Prime Minister include possible collaboration with her Office on the agenda of priorities established by the UN Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW); as well as the approach to gender-based violence, a critical issue for Jamaica.

What is in the future for the Coalition then? There are many plans ahead, including forging on with the issues above. A media and publicity campaign to stimulate discussion around these issues will be stepped up (listen out for some thought-provoking PSAs early in 2013!) The Coalition will build on partnerships already established with women’s groups and tap into the growing interest in the private sector; it will expand and diversify its recommendations for board representation by women; it will continue to facilitate training and support for female board members through mentoring.

The South African High Commissioner to Jamaica Mathu Joyini commended the 51% Coalition, which now includes eleven organisations. Seated at the table are (left) Ms. Judith Wedderburn (Friedrich Ebert Stiftung) and Ms. Dorothy Whyte (Women’s Resource and Outreach Centre).

Most of all, the Coalition wants to see growing activism and hands-on work among its members. It would like more women (and men) to speak on these issues at service clubs, churches, community meetings and so on. Get the dialogue going. Help is needed with the mobilization of all kinds of resources. Moreover, women need to look inside themselves; they need to support each other, at every opportunity. “We need to overcome the barriers within ourselves,” as Ms. Vassell noted.

So, there is much work ahead. The Coalition has more growing up to do, and much to get its teeth into. Its voice is growing louder, and will continue to grow in the next year of its existence. Its objectives are clear; its vision is sharply focused. It intends to make things happen.

Ms. Arlene Harrison Henry of the Jamaican Bar Association makes comments, while Carol Narcisse (Jamaica Civil Society Coalition) and Dorothy Whyte (Women’s Resource Outreach Centre) listen.

Happy birthday again! And here is a quote from a pioneer of women’s rights, Eleanor Roosevelt:

We women are callow fledglings as compared with the wise old birds who manipulate the political machinery, and we still hesitate to believe that a woman can fill certain positions in public life as competently and adequately as a man.

But the times are a-changing… And in the words of President Barack Obama, the 51% Coalition’s vibrant membership is “fired up, ready to go!” And no reason to hesitate.

51% Coalition members Nadeen Spence, Marcia Forbes, Linnette Vassell and Taitu Heron are all smiles at the birthday breakfast.

For further information, please contact the 51 % Coalition Secretariat:

http://www.caribjournal.com/2012/11/27/forbes-jamaicas-womens-coalition-marks-first-anniversary/ (Jamaica’s Women’s Coalition Marks First Anniversary: Carib Journal)

http://www.marciaforbes.com/content/women-performed-well-jamaica’s-2011-elections (Women performed well in Jamaica’s 2011 elections: MarciaForbes.com)

http://petchary.wordpress.com/2012/06/22/madam-director-madam-chair/ (Madam Director, Madam Chair: petchary.wordpress.com)

http://petchary.wordpress.com/2012/08/01/we-are-the-51-per-cent/ (We Are the 51 Per Cent: petchary.wordpress.com)

http://www.eclac.org/mujer/noticias/paginas/6/38906/Jamaica.pdf (Report from Jamaica to the Regional Conference on Women in Latin America and the Caribbean/ECLAC)

http://www.un.org/womenwatch/daw/cedaw/ (UN Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women)

http://wrocjamaica.org/womens-leadership/51-coalition-additional-resources/npge-ja/view (National Policy on Gender Equality: pdf document on WROC website)

http://www.wrocjamaica.org (Women’s Resource and Outreach Centre website)

http://www.fesdc.org (Friedrich Ebert Stiftung Washington website)

http://www.psoj.org (Private Sector Organisation of Jamaica website)

http://www.bwa-jamaica.gov.jm (Bureau of Women’s Affairs website)

http://www.jamstockex.com/index.php (Jamaica Stock Exchange website)

http://jamaica-gleaner.com/latest/article.php?id=36675 (K.D. Knight new UDC Chairman: Jamaica Gleaner)

http://www.udcja.com (Urban Development Corporation website)

http://jamaica-gleaner.com/gleaner/20121011/lead/lead7.html (Under-utilized facilities put huge hole in UDC finances: Jamaica Gleaner)

http://jamaica-gleaner.com/gleaner/20120729/lead/lead2.html ($400 million shame in the city: Jamaica Gleaner)

http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/editorial/No-to-a-tariff-increase-for-the-NWC_13116803 (No to a tariff increase for the NWC: Jamaica Observer editorial)

On May 24, 2010, Jamaican security forces entered the inner-city community of Tivoli Gardens in West Kingston in search of fugitive Christopher “Dudus” Coke and his supporters. During the operation, 74 civilians were killed and over 50 injured. 28 members of the security forces were injured. Six guns were found. Mr. Coke was not found. During the two-month long State of Emergency that followed, thousands of Jamaicans were detained, mostly without charge. I have posted some links below, in case we need to remind ourselves of the tragic details. On May 27, security forces visited the comfortable, “upscale” neighborhood of Upper Kirkland Heights in search of Mr. Coke, fired on the home of 63-year-old accountant Keith Clarke and shot him twenty times. Three soldiers have been charged with his murder.

To date – over two and a half years later – Jamaica’s Public Defender has not produced the expected interim report on the Tivoli Gardens “incursion,” as it is euphemistically called by local media. Several deadlines have been missed – some of them self-imposed by the Public Defender, who says he is seriously under-staffed.

Recently, our esteemed local poet Tanya Shirley read this poem at an event I attended. It served as a timely reminder. A reminder, too, of the strange, confused reaction of uptown Jamaica.

I only remember the fear.

The People are Deading

and we are laughing

at this sound byte played over sweet bass

spliced and digitized for YouTube consumption

But when the people were deading

we were hiding under king size beds

panic buttons strapped to our chests

just in case, someone got the wrong address

the police or the bad men or the bad men

or the police. In that bullet-ridden dark

even teeth looked like dried blood

and you couldn’t see anybody’s soul

in the slant of seedy eyes.

No one was dying or crossing over

passing or walking into the light;

no one had the benefit of a benediction.

The people were deading

Like language ripped from a tongue

leaving clots of dry vowels in underground tunnels.

The people were deading

in a plague of fire bombs and a deluge of bullets

in uniformed arbitrary tactics

boys who were chased from birth

by the shadow of death, held hostage

by blind dollar bills and pot-bellied politicians,

were being blown out of their bodies

and only a woman like this one trapped

in a computer screen and a catchy rhythm

dares to look out at us and shatter

our silence and indifference, our stupid laughter

with her humble burial rites.

© Tanya Shirley

Tanya Shirley is the author of a collection of poetry, “She Who Sleeps with Bones.” The book is available at Bookland and Bookophilia in Kingston, and in pharmacies island-wide. It is also available on amazon.com at http://www.amazon.com/She-Sleeps-Bones-Tanya-Shirley/dp/1845230876. Thank you, Tanya for allowing me to reproduce this here.

Tivoli Gardens resident Majorie Williams holds up photographs of her two sons, who were killed. (Photo: AP/Daily Mail)

Related articles:

http://jamaica-gleaner.com/gleaner/20121125/cleisure/cleisure5.html (Will Witter rise from his slumber? Jaevion Nelson op-ed/Jamaica Gleaner)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vIQZVOgejoc (The people dem are deading: TVJ/YouTube)

http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2011/12/12/111212fa_fact_schwartz (A Massacre in Jamaica: New Yorker article/Mattathias Schwartz, December 2010)

http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/columns/Something-went-horribly-wrong-in-Tivoli-Gardens_7657608 (Something went horribly wrong in Tivoli Gardens: Mark Wignall column/Jamaica Observer, May 2010)

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/may/27/jamaican-army-tivoli-gardens (Jamaican army accused of murdering civilians in Tivoli Gardens: Guardian UK report, May 2010)

http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/news/Security-forces-move-on-Tivoli-Gardens (Security forces move on Tivoli Gardens: Jamaica Observer report, May 24, 2010)

http://www.amnesty.org.uk/news_details.asp?NewsID=19466 (Jamaica – Tivoli Gardens killings: No justice for 74 killed: Amnesty International, May 24, 2011)

http://jamaica-gleaner.com/gleaner/20120524/lead/lead4.html (The death of Keith Clarke: Two years of unimaginable grief and trauma: Jamaica Gleaner)

http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/news/INDECOM-wants-weapons-in-Keith-Clarke-killing-retested_12651538 (INDECOM wants weapons in Keith Clarke killing retested: Jamaica Observer)

http://www.amnesty.org/en/library/asset/AMR38/002/2011/en/d452da6f-50b9-4553-919c-0ce0ccedc9d8/amr380022011en.pdf (Human Rights Violations Under the State of Emergency: Amnesty Int. report)

Sunday Wonders: November 25, 2012 (petchary.wordpress.com)

http://petchary.wordpress.com/2010/06/01/storm/  (Storm: petchary.wordpress.com, June 2010)

The great thinker and human rights activist Eleanor Roosevelt once said:

Great minds discuss ideas; Average minds discuss events; Small minds discuss people.

I am afraid to say that our Prime Minister spent quite some time this past week discussing people – namely, Opposition Leader Andrew Holness. Admittedly, Mr. Holness’ comments were far from inspiring. They may even have included the kind of chicanery that we have come to recognize in the utterances of our political leaders, of whatever stripe. Trying to fool us with words. However, our Prime Minister’s heavy-handed response (delivered in a somewhat raucous tone, including a strange and startling shriek, at one point) seemed like overreaction, to say the least. As one caller to a talk show pointed out, could she perhaps talk about national issues of importance to Jamaicans, instead? Perhaps she could discuss ideas, or even recent events or issues? Those two elephants in our living room, perhaps?

I do feel that we need vision, inspiration, encouragement – and yes, kind words from our Prime Minister, at this time. A leader should be buoying us up, not engaging in a “tracing match” with another politician. She is “Mama P,” who loves us. Just my thoughts.

The “Jamaica Observer” editorial cartoon by Clovis on November 28 said it all.

Our Prime Minister then went away for a few days. Where, or for what reason, was not immediately clear. Rather odd for a head of State, one would think. But it later emerged that she had gone on vacation somewhere and needed rest. Certainly, she has looked very tired recently and rumors have circulated of illness, etc. I am not quite sure if this is of any significance whatsoever; just thought I would mention it.

Meanwhile, the two big news items of the previous week – namely, the sixteen Prados (plus other luxury cars) and the apparent suicide of a teenager in an adult prison, continued to linger like a bad taste in the mouth, for the whole of last week. The Prado issue, in particular, continues to rankle. A caller to Radio Jamaica’s “Hot Line” radio call-in show that “the most important thing in politics is perception.” Whether it is entirely “fair” or not, this is by and large true. The Jamaicans have a saying: “If it nuh go so, it nearly go so” (in other words, if it isn’t exactly so, it’s close enough to it). While some radio talk show hosts have been prevaricating and justifying and talking all round the vehicle issue, the average Jamaica is really angry – and not only those who are so poor that they have no possibility of owning any kind of car. In her Jamaica Observer column and on radio, Barbara Gloudon’s contention is, among other things, that the government did not communicate properly on the issue. That is certainly a part of it; they mishandled it terribly with the press, and have allowed the thing to fester. The Prime Minister’s defiant speech defending the Prados (during which she added, quite gratuitously, that government ministers are entitled to fly first class at all times when traveling) certainly did not help. The ministers now in receipt of the Prados have remained quite silent, so far as I know. The resentment rumbles on. Not only in the media, but in everyday conversations, the Prados are brought up and discussed.

And there is bitterness. The cost of living is soaring; there are no jobs. The pending agreement with the International Monetary Fund is still pending – possibly until early next year. It’s unlikely to be by the end of December, as the Finance Minister had predicted earlier. Even so, it is obviously not going to fix our problems, just like that. And the country’s infrastructure is sinking further into the mire (literally – we have had more rains which have created more problems for rural areas that were already devastated during Hurricane Sandy. Some drains in Port Maria are still blocked, despite the entire town being under water just a few weeks ago. It is pouring with rain in those areas again today…) Mr. Gordon Robinson and Ms. Carol Narcisse in the Sunday Gleaner came out swinging on the topic; links to their columns are below. And the Jamaica Observer’s cartoonist Clovis didn’t pull any punches either...

The politician, the public, and their cars. This is Clovis again (November 26, Jamaica Observer)

And even my good friend Jean Lowrie-Chin, who always looks on the bright side in her weekly column, seemed to have lost patience with it all last week, calling the government “uncaring and unresponsive” in the case of sixteen-year-old Vanessa Wint’s alleged suicide at the Horizon Adult Remand Centre in Kingston on the night of November 21. One paragraph in her column (link below) especially resonates:

“Those of us who have worked hard to reach to a certain level of comfort in life deserve to enjoy the fruits of our labour. But we have duped ourselves into thinking that enjoyment is driving around in locked cars, living behind burglar bars and watching our very shadows. Let us be very aware that the quality of life of each Jamaican affects every Jamaican.”

Yes, as I have said to myself many times – we uptown, middle-class Jamaicans are living in a bubble. When will it burst?

An autopsy on Vanessa should take place this week. Her uncle Javette Nixon says he wants transparency in the process and the family has hired an overseas-based pathologist to oversee the procedure.

Another sad and ironic twist: Vanessa ran away from home in 2009 and was locked up in the Armadale Correctional Centre for girls in St. Ann. She survived the fire there in which seven wards of State died.

Meanwhile, still no public words of condolence or regret from either the Minister for Youth Lisa Hanna or the Prime Minister Portia Simpson Miller (responsible for Women’s Affairs) on the tragic death of a young Jamaican woman in the care of the State? But there was an offer from the head of Mustard Seed Communities, the marvelous Msgr. Gregory Ramkissoon. He has offered to take the twenty girls - girls - in the adult prison and shelter them. Oh, what a good idea, responds Minister Hanna calmly. She is to discuss this possibility with him, this week. Meanwhile so far as I know plans are still going ahead to move the girls from one adult prison to another, the “Gun Court” prison in South Camp Road.

One little question: Are there still any children in police lock-ups? At one point last year, I believe, there were around 100. They were all supposed to have been moved. Any confirmation that there are now no children in these horrible “black holes”?

Another question: What is the status on an enquiry into the Armadale fire? Was anyone held accountable? I must do a little research on this.

Father Gregory Ramkissoon and Minister Lisa Hanna will be holding talks this week.

I am not generally a huge fan of Jamaica’s church leaders. They often don’t have much to say apart from condemning casino gambling, racing on Sundays and other crucial matters. But another “church man” I do have a lot of time for is the Anglican Bishop of Jamaica and the Cayman Islands, Howard Gregory. He has been writing a column in the Sunday Observer for some time, and this time decided to tackle the issue of “preachers on buses” - pointing to an element of intrusiveness, and aggression, in the approach of these so-called Christians. He says he has even seen examples of very sick people being dragged from their hospital beds to be baptized by immersion. Bishop Gregory points to a “spiraling level of invasiveness” by self-appointed preachers in our public hospitals. Then, of course, for some time urban and rural residents have had to endure the amplified bellowing of preachers at all hours of day, often drowning out the screeching of so-called dancehall deejays. There is a time and place for everything! Once and for all, our much-touted religious freedom does not mean screaming and shouting at people, and haranguing fellow-citizens loudly and in public if they do not agree with your beliefs. That is religious tyranny.

OK. Got that one off our chests, I think. I wish all our religious leaders were as compassionate as Father Ramkissoon, and as sensible as Bishop Gregory…

Vanessa Wint had a lovely smile.

During last week, Mr. Ronald Mason (one of my favorite talk show hosts) raised a very important economic matter: that of the expansion of the Panama Canal and Jamaica’s plans to establish a major transportation and logistics hub in Kingston. We are, after all, perfectly positioned geographically for such a hub. Minister of Industry, Investment and Commerce Anthony Hylton recently returned from a long trip to China and Singapore, where he was seeking investment in this huge $8-9 billion project. I thought he was to give a press briefing on the topic, but I don’t see any word on the Jamaica Information Service website. What was the outcome of those two weeks, Minister Hylton?

Industry, Investment and Commerce Minister Anthony Hylton.

James Moss-Solomon spoke to Mr. Mason last week, pointing out that he himself had made a presentation on the opportunities presented by the Panama Canal expansion at a conference in 2002 – a full decade ago. “It has been staring us in the face for the past ten years,” he told Ronald Mason. “I am not accepting the excuse that it has come upon us in a rush.” Some dredging was done, for a different purpose, but “we did know that this was happening,”  the respected businessman and former GraceKennedy CEO asserted firmly. And it’s already late. Very late.

Any word, Minister Hylton?

And I am amazed that the government’s information arm has the nerve to publish yet another article entitled “Untapped Opportunities under CBI” (that is, the U.S. government’s Caribbean Basin Initiative). Once again, a U.S. Ambassador to Jamaica has reminded Jamaica of this long-standing trade facility. She has offered the U.S. government’s ongoing support in what she hopes will be “an economic renaissance in Jamaica.”  What is stopping the Jamaican government from taking advantage of this, and why has this been a repeated refrain? I know I have seen this headline before – last year, the year before, the year before that…

Meanwhile, the government has launched the “C-Fish Initiative” with funding from the UK government’s Department for International Development (DIFID). This is a sustainable fisheries project, providing funding for several fish sanctuaries. I know that the excellent environmental NGO, the Caribbean Coastal Area Management Foundation (C-CAM) is in the process of setting up fish sanctuaries in the Portland Bight area of Jamaica’s south coast. This is marvelous. But after an online conversation with a Facebook friend, who is a great lover of the sea and who has been kayaking around Kingston Harbour for many years, I wonder if this is also too late. My friend told me, after diving around the harbor’s outlying cays recently, there are basically no fish left, except for a few very small ones. No reef, but interestingly he did see a turtle. Over-fishing is the main culprit, he says.

The charming Minister responsible for entertainment, Damion Crawford.

Oh, please… Meanwhile, as if we don’t have more pressing topics to address, our charmingly dreadlocked Minister of State in the Ministry of Tourism and Entertainment Damion Crawford has been talking about “reviewing” the Noise Abatement Act. He seems to be ruling out the idea of “entertainment zones,” - but there may be “test zones.” Kingston residents like me must be hoping and praying that they don’t find themselves within or anywhere near these zones, where all hell will presumably break loose! But as it is, the police rarely respond to complaints from residents besieged with noise – yes, noise - at 3:00 a.m., as it is. So maybe this is all talk, and pandering to the “masses” while trying to reassure those who suffer and don’t “depend” on noise-making events for their income.

Puleeezzz… And then there’s the US$350,000 Patois Bible, which will be launched in Kingston on December 9 by the Bible Society of the West Indies, a UK-based organization that obviously thinks this a vital necessity for the poor people of Jamaica. Very well-meaning, I am sure. But when it was shown to Jamaicans on the street, they struggled to read it. In fact, the comments were very funny; one Jamaican said it gave him a headache. Oh by the way, it’s only the New Testament in patois; the Old Testament would be a complete nightmare, I am sure, and they haven’t decided whether to translate that.

To flog or not to flog? And then up popped the question of beating our children, again; what one caller to a talk show amusingly called “capital punishment in schools.”  The Sunday Observer’s front page reported that one leading state-run primary school still gives its children a “slap” every now and then, to enforce “discipline” (oh, how Jamaicans love that word…) We had the usual arguments: “Well, I was beaten as a child, and it didn’t do me any harm” (yes, it did, now you beat your own children – and possibly others). The fact is that corporal punishment in schools is no longer a government policy. Of course, students still fight each other, and teachers; parents hit teachers; parents beat their children; and so on. Violence is the preferred method. It seems to come naturally, does it not?

My favorites of the week…

Auditor General Pamela Monroe Ellis (Photo: Norman Grindley/Gleaner)

The Auditor General, Pamela Monroe Ellis. One newspaper describes her rather oddly as a “gentle giant,” but she is actually quite normal in size. I am also not sure if “gentle“ is the right word, either: she is sharp, puts her finger right on the issues. She is highly professional, performing her duties “without fear or favor,” as the saying goes. Her recent report, now being mulled over by parliamentary committees, revealed the Prados. She then moved on to the appalling losses at the National Water Commission (who, in the same breath, requested a rate hike). Ms. Monroe Ellis is puzzled, though. Despite what she considers a strong regulatory environment – the rules are there – there is a strong “culture of non-compliance” in the public sector, she notes. In other words, rules are there to be broken. Or, in an oft-quoted comment attributed to Minister Peter Phillips, “He who plays by the rules gets shafted.” OK, moving on…

The Contractor General, Greg Christie, finally stepped down on November 30, much to the dismay of many Jamaicans. Although his methods were at times a little harsh and his tone occasionally a little shrill, Mr. Christie has been held up (and rightly so) as a champion of integrity, honesty and incorruptibility. Because combating corruption was of course the name of his game. Not universally loved by politicians and other public servants, Mr. Christie doggedly pursued his goals, and once he had the bit between his teeth it was hard to shake him off. He is a very hard act to follow, too… Good luck to his successor.

Greg Christie, Contractor General, who stepped down last week. (Photo: Gleaner)

The 51% Coalition, a growing partnership of women and organizations focused on amplifying women’s voices in society – especially on public and private sector boards – celebrated its first birthday last week. Please see my blog post here for more on the Coalition’s achievements in just one year.

Jamaican bloggers - what an awesome crowd! Almost all considerably younger than myself, this dynamic crowd met up recently at Kingston’s Knutsford Court Hotel, ahead of the Jamaica Blog Awards. I think this gets under way in January, and congratulations to the organizers for this concept. But in many ways the important thing is not the awards. However, the competition does encourage the growing community of local bloggers, which has blossomed over the last two or three years in Jamaica – and what they have to offer. There are fashion bloggers, food bloggers, very serious political bloggers, social commentary bloggers, entertainment bloggers and more. Big ups to them all, and let 2013 be a record blogging year for Jamaica!

Jamaican bloggers unite! The happy group poses in the lobby of the Knutsford Court Hotel.

UNICEF Jamaica, which has devised a great blogging venture for World AIDS Day (last Saturday). You can read more details of #HashCon2012 at their Facebook page. The theme of the competition is the “SHEroes” in the fight against HIV/AIDS. You can read my entry (“Everyday Courage”) on this blog, and you can vote for it at the Jamaica Blog Awards website from December 8-14. Jamaican bloggers, send in your entries now! And not later than midnight on December 7! Good luck to all…

#HashCon2012 – UNICEF Jamaica’s blog competition focuses on women in the fight against HIV/AIDS.

Last but not least, I must point you to a new and incredibly useful online resource: diGJamaica.com, a great project of the Gleaner Company. It is not only fascinating to browse through; it has all kinds of relevant information on aspects of Jamaican life and society, focusing on different sectors. It includes all kinds of valuable data, a calendar of events, directories, government resources and many other items – all attractively presented with interactive slideshows etc. An excellent research tool. Kudos to Deika Morrison and her team! (And comments/suggestions are welcome).

DiGJamaica is a Gleaner project that really fills a great need for reliable and relevant information.

One final question for our Public Defender: When can we expect to see the Interim Report on the deaths of over seventy Jamaican citizens in Tivoli Gardens, Kingston on May 24, 2010? I believe another deadline was missed, last week. Any word?

The following Jamaicans were murdered in the past week. My thoughts are with their grieving families at this time…

Kurtis Bucker, Waltham Park Road, Kingston

Wilbert Gayle, 48, Haughton, St. Elizabeth

Lily May Burton-Anderson, Farm Pen/Gayle, St. Mary

Winston Brown, Farm Pen/Gayle, St. Mary

Dane Peart, 40, Norwood, St. James

Unidentified man, Mineral Heights/May Pen, Clarendon

Marlon McKenzie, August Town, St. Andrew

Related articles:

http://www.digjamaica.com (DiGJamaica.com)

http://rjrnewsonline.com/local/mustard-seed-offers-to-care-for-females-wards-of-the-state (Mustard Seed offers to care for female wards of state: RJR)

http://jamaica-gleaner.com/gleaner/20121202/cleisure/cleisure3.html (Something’s broken in the state of governance: Carol Narcisse op-ed, Sunday Gleaner)

http://jamaica-gleaner.com/gleaner/20121202/focus/focus1.html (State-sponsored rape – re: Prados: Gordon Robinson column, Sunday Gleaner)

http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/news/Patois-Bible-took-four-years-of-research–cost-US-350-000_13096136 (Patois Bible took four years of research, cost US$350,000: Jamaica Observer)

http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/news/Patois-Bible-not-a-retrograde-step_13096374 (Patois Bible not a retrograde step: Jamaica Observer)

http://rjrnewsonline.com/local/westmoreland-fishermen-protest-plundering-from-honduran-pirates (Westmoreland fishermen protest plundering from Honduran “pirates”: RJR)

http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/columns/Is-the-shop-really-empty-_13094128 (Is the shop really empty? Betty-Ann Blaine column/Jamaica Observer)

http://www.televisionjamaica.com/Programmes/PrimeTimeNews.aspx/Videos/22555 (Recipients of the sixteen Prados are… RJR)

http://www.og.nr/rbt/10248-manager-of-dunn-s-river-falls-shot-and-injured.html (Manager of Dunn’s River Falls shot and injured: On the Ground News Reports)

http://jamaica-gleaner.com/gleaner/20121202/lead/lead21.html (Transport tycoon dead: Sunday Gleaner)

http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/columns/Diaspora-engagement-and-its-possibilities_13055481 (Diaspora engagement and its possibilities: Terrol Graham op-ed/Jamaica Observer)

http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/news/Cops-bracing-for-Jungle-12-violence (Cops bracing for Jungle 12 violence: Jamaica Observer)

http://www.televisionjamaica.com/Programmes/PrimeTimeNews.aspx/Videos/22480 (Simpson Miller tackles Holness: TVJ Prime Time News)

http://jamaica-gleaner.com/gleaner/20121202/lead/lead3.html (The gentle giant: Pamela Monroe Ellis: Sunday Gleaner)

http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/columns/Vanessa-s-death-must-be-a-turning-point_13073768 (Vanessa’s death must be a turning point: Jean Lowrie-Chin column/Jamaica Observer)

http://seemydeath.com/suicides/4172-vanessa-wint-16-hung-herself-with-a-sheet-out-of-pure-fear-from-being-molested.html#axzz2E14uGxyf (Vanessa Wint, 16, hung herself with a sheet out of pure fear of being molested: Online Tragic Deaths)

http://jamaica-gleaner.com/latest/article.php?id=41403 (Foreign forensic expert for ward’s autopsy: Jamaica Gleaner)

http://jamaica-gleaner.com/gleaner/20121127/lead/lead5.html (Hanover bleeds: murders surge in western parish: Jamaica Gleaner)

http://jamaica-gleaner.com/gleaner/20121127/lead/lead3.html (Major crimes down island-wide: 49 fewer murders in St. Catherine North: Jamaica Gleaner)

http://jamaica-gleaner.com/gleaner/20121127/lead/lead6.html (Work for idle hands: Simpson Miller says construction boom ahead: Jamaica Gleaner)

http://www.jis.gov.jm/news/list/32449 (Untapped opportunities under CBI: Jamaica Information Service)

http://jamaica-gleaner.com/gleaner/20121127/letters/letters2.html (Who are we to believe? Letter to Jamaica Gleaner)

http://jamaica-gleaner.com/gleaner/20121126/business/business2.html (Caribbean ports rushing to meet challenges of Panama Canal expansion: Gleaner)

http://www.jis.gov.jm/news/leads/32380 (Growth Inducement Strategy available online: Jamaica Information Service)

http://www.televisionjamaica.com/Programmes/SmileJamaica.aspx/Videos/22497 (Opposition Finance Spokesman speaks on TVJ)

http://www.jis.gov.jm/news/leads-111/32428 (Mining Minister confident Alpart will be open soon: Jamaica Information Service)

http://jamaica-gleaner.com/gleaner/20121128/ent/ent1.html#.ULbpLei7TYA.facebook (“Cyaa lock off di dance” – Ministers mull over noise abatement and keeping vibrant entertainment going: Gleaner)

http://www.televisionjamaica.com/Programmes/SmileJamaica.aspx/Videos/22544 (Toys for Tots: TVJ)

http://rjrnewsonline.com/local/brazen-gunmen (Brazen gunmen: RJR)

http://www.jis.gov.jm/news/leads-103/32432 (Initiative launched for sustainability of the fisheries sector: Jamaica Information Service)

http://rjrnewsonline.com/local/senate-passes-public-debt-management-bill (Senate passes public debt management bill: RJR)

http://www.og.nr/rbt/10284-mexico-lifts-visa-requirements-for-jamaicans.html (Mexico lifts visa requirements for Jamaicans: On The Ground News Reports)

http://jamaica-gleaner.com/gleaner/20121202/lead/lead31.html (“They don’t care about the rules”: Auditor General: Jamaica Gleaner)

http://jamaica-gleaner.com/gleaner/20121202/lead/lead42.html (Jamaican marries lesbian lover: Sunday Gleaner)

November 25 is the United Nations’ International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women. As such, it is always recognized by the Jamaican Government with a major event, hosted by the Bureau of Women’s Affairs. For many reasons, this is a topic very close to my heart; and it is an area of such burning importance for Jamaica that one cannot ignore it for one minute. We need to keep discussing the issues and seeking solutions throughout the year, not just on the appointed day. That should go without saying.

25 November 2010. El Fasher: Activities in El Negaa Stadium in El Fasher (North Darfur) to launch the 2010 Commemoration of the 16 Days of Activism Against Gender-Based Violence. The theme for Darfur in 2010 “Together for the Protection of Women from Violence”. The event started with a march of solidarity, from the School of Midwives to the Stadium, and was joined by women and men from communities and IDP camps as well as representatives from state government institutions, civil society, medical institutions, traditional and religious leaders, school children, and GoS police and military together with UNAMID staff and contingents. Photo by Albert Gonzalez Farran / UNAMID

So I made my way on a lovely afternoon to the event at the Terra Nova Hotel in Kingston. The large tent in which it took place backed onto the busy Waterloo Road, and so everyone spoke with the continuous noise of rush-hour traffic in the background. Nevertheless, the tent was full of women (and two or three men, only) and we were warmly received and duly pinned with purple ribbons. The audience seemed to consist of government officials, representatives of non-governmental and community-based organizations, and a small group of high school students. I sat down next to representatives of the Victim Support Unit, a very important but little-recognized section of the Ministry of National Security; it does great work in counseling and supporting those affected by all kinds of crime. The seats were very narrow; on the other side sat a lady in Afrocentric dress, who did not respond to my greeting. I guess some sistren are more equal than others…

Sixteen Days of Activism.

Back to this important day. In 1991, at a special event spearheaded by the Center for Women’s Global Leadership at Rutgers University in the United States, it was decided that “Sixteen Days of Activism” should follow. The sixteen days – from November 26 to December 10 – encompass World AIDS Day and Human Rights Day. (Those sixteen days are nearly over; I attended another event related to this same topic during this period, which I will get to in Part 2). As the Bureau of Women’s Affairs’ Executive Director Faith Webster noted, the aim is to emphasize that violence against women is “a fundamental violation of women’s rights.” And it is a crime. Not a cultural norm to be accepted, tolerated or excused; it is a crime.

This year, the Bureau decided on the theme: “The Impact of Public Images on Violence Against Women.” Before we reached this topic, Ms. Geeta Sethi, Director of the United Nations Population Fund‘s Sub-Regional Office for the Caribbean, pointed out an uncomfortable fact: Jamaica is one of three Caribbean countries with rates of domestic violence higher than the world average. The other two are the Bahamas and St. Vincent and the Grenadines. She noted something which is entirely obvious to us all in Jamaica: that violence in general has somehow become acceptable, woven into the fabric of our society and causing it to fray very badly. We must listen to our girls, said Ms. Sethi. Often their tormentors are under their own roof, or close by in their community. No. This is not acceptable.

Ms. Geeta Sethi, Director of the Sub-Regional Office of the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA)

Ms. Hermione McKenzie, who is President of the Association of Women’s Organizations of Jamaica (AWOJA) and a dedicated advocate for women, said with a note of urgency in her voice that we “must break the silence” and speak out as individuals. “What is the use of a chorus of angry, impotent voices?” she asked. We must take every opportunity to “make noise.” And indeed, she personally made a lot of noise when she was recently attacked by a gunman in her own back yard. Fortunately, she had fierce dogs. And her loud screams and shouts were so intense that the man was frightened off by it all. Her neighbors turned on their security lights; but no one came to help. A cautionary tale. Make noise, lots of it. Behave like a mad person, and the predator might run away. Don’t expect any help.

The smart and witty Dr. Blossom O’Meally-Nelson, who chaired the forum, added her note that it had been a “very bad year” for Jamaica in this area. There were several horrific and high-profile cases of rape and murder in 2012. Women are now targeted so frequently by criminals that Dr. O’Meally-Nelson says, for the first time, she has felt concerned for her own safety over the past year. It is all so “mindless,” she observed, adding: “You can’t plant bitter cassava and expect to reap sweet cassava.”  Indeed.

We all nodded, taking note.

Here is a quote from former United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan on International Women’s Day, 1999 which sums it up for me:

Violence against women is perhaps the most shameful human rights violation. And, it is perhaps the most pervasive. It knows no boundaries of geography, culture or wealth. As long as it continues, we cannot claim to be making real progress towards equality, development and peace.

Former Secretary General of the United Nations Kofi Annan is a member of The Elders.

Ms. Hyacinth Hayden, a representative of the Trelawny Parish Advisory Committee on Women’s Affairs, has been a dedicated worker in her rural community for the past 27 years. “We will not relent,” she said, to a rustle of approval. She showed no sign of relenting, at all. As Mr. Annan also said in his remarks, “It is up to all of us — in our homes, our communities, our nations, our global community — to create a world that is safe for women and girls, in which all women have full enjoyment of all human rights.”

So far, so good – as far as it went. The panel discussion began, and this was where I had, I confess, some moments of doubt. But let us proceed on the question of whether the media (art, music, reporting etc) exacerbates and encourages violence against women in the society. There was a comment on the infamous wood carving at the end of Fern Gully, a tourist attraction in Ocho Rios. There is more than one, now, and at least one of them has the tip of his huge, erect penis painted red, in case you should miss it. How do I personally feel about it? I find it offensive. It is crude. Moreover, it is a horrible stereotype of the black Jamaican man, ganja pipe in mouth, always ready to have sex.

Well, once the audience had all tut-tutted over that, on to the panel. We started with Dr. J. Walcott, a consultant psychiatrist at the University of the West Indies Hospital, on “The Psychological Impact of Public Images.” He pointed out that violence against women has always been around, even before the days of mass media; so is the media really to blame? Isn’t it more a question of our socialization? In an era dominated by a heavily patriarchal society, the famous psychologist Sigmund Freud believed that “hysteria”  was a product of a woman’s sexual abuse as a child, or sexual repression. Freud believed that, as the weaker sex, women did not have much to offer. No concern there for women’s rights, really. Nowadays, the term “psycho-trauma” is in vogue, leading to post-traumatic stress disorder, which we are familiar with. This is a common reaction to the trauma of violence, rape and sexual abuse.

Dr. Marcia Forbes is a dynamic author with a sharp media focus.

Communications specialist, media veteran, women’s activist and businesswoman Dr. Marcia Forbes pointed to some aspects of her research, outlined in her book “Music Media and Adolescent Sexuality in Jamaica.”  She emphasized the power of the Internet and its impact on our youth. Parents, she suggested, are not “getting it.” They do not recognize or understand the awesome influence of social media, and all the new media technologies that are constantly evolving. They are not engaged. Their children live in their own little world. The impact of dancehall music and its associated set of cultural manifestations – mostly revolving around sex and violence – cannot be ignored. “I am not bashing dancehall,” said Dr. Forbes – but we cannot pretend it is a sub-culture any more. It is mainstream popular music, whether we like it or not.

A “dancehall diva.” Quite modestly clothed, by dancehall standards…

Dr. Forbes contends that probably the most powerful and influential media of all is the music video. Yes, you know the kind. Huge bottoms winding in slow motion. Curvaceous girls in skimpy bikinis posing in or beside a pool, while the deejay/singer reclines like some kind of playboy, a girl on each arm. Some kind of simulated sex on satin sheets, possibly. And so on, ad nauseam. Almost three quarters of dancehall videos include sexual images, a diet that our teenagers are fed on. And, as we know, the lyrics as well as the images are unreservedly misogynistic. Sex and violence are often referred to in the same breath – for example, the “daggering” craze of a couple of years back. There are so many videos on YouTube and the social media… if you can stand it, browse a few. You will soon get the picture.

As Dr. Forbes offered examples of the ways in which teens interact in the social media, sharing photographs etc., there were more mutterings and expressions of shock. But do, please, get your hands on a copy of her book “Music Media and Adolescent Sexuality in Jamaica.” I have it on Kindle. Details are at the author’s website link below, and they can be purchased at local bookstores as well as on amazon.com. Remarkable research.

After that, the discussion seemed to lose its way. Ms. Pat Ramsay spoke about “Art as an Expression of Sexuality,” describing a day when a “boxful of clitorises” to be set up as an assemblage arrived at the art gallery that she managed. She sent them back. (At this point my first instinct was to laugh, but this would have been most inappropriate as the general air of disapproval was growing stronger by the minute). She did, however, point out that “my age group must take responsibility” for the rampant violence in society. I agree with her that it cannot be “what our ancestors fought for.” 

Talking of ancestors, we next had a contribution from Dr. Dalea Bean, an Assistant Lecturer at the Institute of Gender and Development Studies at the University of the West Indies/Mona. She gave us“a historical perspective on sexual violence against women” - and it did seem to be mostly sexual violence that was discussed, overall – prefaced by the question, “The shame of the past, the same for the future?”  She proceeded to give a detailed account of the slave master’s sexual domination of slave women, as pieces of property; and the stereotyping of black women as “animalistic,” while the Indian woman was seen as “sensual and loose.” More shudders of disgust and horror as she provided details. But what of the past fifty years, Dr. Bean? Perhaps we could have included in the historical perspective some post-slavery history? Has it been more of the same in the past 174 years, the objectification of women? Where is the slave master of the twenty-first century? Are we still blaming the present climate of violence on the horrors of slavery, which finally ended in Jamaica on August 1, 1838?

Governor General of Jamaica Lionel Smith reads out the proclamation of emancipation on the steps of Government House in Spanish Town, Jamaica (Print by Thomas Picken,Credit/copyright: © National Maritime Museum, Greenwich, UK)

The psychiatrist came in with a comment about “barbarians,” noting that “when an advanced culture meets a barbarian one, the barbarians always win” – the barbarians being the slave masters. OK. That got murmurs of strong approval from around the room. But I am not sure I agree with the premise: Do the barbarians really always win? And if that were the case in Jamaica, can we then conclude that the barbarians have been continuously gaining the upper hand since the abolition of slavery?

Who are the barbarians of the twenty-first century? Is the present as bleak for women as the recipients of violence as it was in the past? What of the future? And…solutions, anyone?

At this point, there was a flutter of excitement. Our Prime Minister with responsibility for Women’s Affairs (for many years) Portia Simpson Miller, entered with an entourage. She was resplendent in a red and black Chinese-influenced outfit which sparked much admiration among the ladies gathered. It transpired that she would have been celebrating fifty years of diplomatic relations between China and Jamaica that day – hence the lavish outfit.

Prime Minister Portia Simpson Miller (Photo: Jamaica Information Service)

Everyone jumped to their feet. I thought this honor was only accorded to the Governor General, but was told that this is the normal show of respect for the “head of State” (pardon me, but I thought the Governor General was still the head of State, for better or for worse). Oh, well.

Dr. Pierre Somse, Country Coordinator for Jamaica, Belize and the Bahamas, UNAIDS

By far the most powerful comments came from the director of UNAIDS in Jamaica, Dr. Pierre Somse. I have a lot of time for Dr. Somse, who is outspoken and intensely caring. He pointed out that where he served previously in the Democratic Republic of Congo, rape was (and still is) used as a weapon in civil conflicts. But as for Jamaica, we have to “step back,” he believes, and look for the root cause of violence against women – and violence in general. Ah! He suggested that there is “nothing to balance” the so-called “power” of music and media. Dr. Somse added that he “has not seen much leadership in the fight against violence against women.” (He was about two feet away from the Prime Minister when he said these words). The balance to this overwhelming power of the media should be education – and specifically, the streamlining of sex education in schools, he suggested.

Why did I come away feeling dissatisfied? Because I felt that I did not get any answers; just a re-hashing of information that I already had – another overview of the symptoms without discussing the cause; and without finding possible remedies. I did not want Sigmund Freud and slavery and the horrors of rock music (this evoked more shudders); those can’t help us in today’s dire situation. The speakers were eloquent, the audience attentive and the Bureau’s team of dedicated staff did a splendid job, as usual. I understand that the Prime Minister spoke about the need for parenting, and the Values and Attitudes Programme (which I thought was defunct). But, there was too much wringing of hands and beating of heads against the wall. What to do? We all seem so helpless.

Do I sound pessimistic?

Yes, I am.

I could not stay any longer, so missed the Prime Minister’s speech, and the presentation of awards to fifty women, men and organizations who have made significant contributions towards the elimination of gender-based violence. My warmest congratulations to all. 

The penis carving in Fern Gully and its proud creator. The member is detachable, surprisingly. You absolutely cannot miss it as you emerge from the Gully. Apparently he is nicknamed “Ready Freddy.” (Photo: Norman Grindley/Gleaner)

The purple ribbon to end violence against women. (This is used for other causes, too).

Related articles from around the world:

UN Raises Awareness of Violence Against Women (blogs.voanews.com)

http://www.un.org/en/events/endviolenceday/2012/sgmessage.shtml (UN Secretary General’s Message)

You: Ambassador Olson reaffirms US support to curb gender-based violence (nation.com.pk)

Silence over sexual violence: Arab women take stand on ‘absurd honor’ (cnn.com)

UN chief urges states to meet commitments to end violence against women, girls (nzweek.com)

Violence against women in South Africa transcends class (bikyamasr.com)

The Crucifixion of Kasandra Perkins:Victim Blaming, Black Maternal Homicide and Stupidity ” Cree7′s Blog (innerstandingisness.wordpress.com)

Just The Women: media portrayals of violence against women (sarah-graham.co.uk)

http://allafrica.com/stories/201212060856.html (Congo/Kinshasa: Sexual Violence not just a Weapon of War in DRC: allafrica.com

Women’s groups demand new watchdog to confront sexism in the media (guardian.co.uk)

https://www.facebook.com/16DaysCampaign (The Official 16 Days of Activism Against Gender Violence Campaign: Facebook)

http://16dayscwgl.rutgers.edu (Rutgers University 16 Days Campaign home page)

http://www.marciaforbes.com/ (Marcia Forbes blog)

http://www.jis.gov.jm/news/leads/32453 (Victim Support Unit fulfilling mandate: Jamaica Information Service)

http://www.jis.gov.jm/news/list/32413 (Laws to protect women and children coming: Prime Minister: Jamaica Information Service)

http://unaidscaribbean.org/node/300 (Homophobic violence fuels HIV- UNAIDS Caribbean)

http://theelders.org (The Elders: Independent global leaders working together for peace and human rights)

… due to visiting relatives and other complications (yes, Christmas approacheth!) my Sunday post will not appear this week. However, I will do a shorter interim post on Wednesday, December 12, all things being equal. Do tune in then. I might manage one or two other posts in between.

So much to write about, so little time!  Meanwhile, I leave you with this photo to ponder, and would welcome your thoughts. It’s a sign spotted by the Jamaica Observer outside a sidewalk hairdressing establishment in downtown Kingston. Translations – or interpretations – are welcome!

A hairdresser’s price list. (Photo: Jamaica Observer)

Today is World Human Rights Day 2012. I am proud to say that Jamaica’s own Usain Bolt speaks in the United Nations Human Rights Commission‘s special PSA in honor of the day. Well done, Usain.

I am very much less proud of the Jamaican government’s human rights records in many other areas. As you will see from my weekly blog posts, the number of extra-judicial killings by the police is far too high (I don’t think we have been given a figure for 2012, yet). Two and a half years after over seventy Jamaican citizens died, allegedly at the hands of state actors, in Tivoli Gardens, the “interim” report from the Public Defender is still not available. Despite the Prime Minister’s apparent support for the human rights of Jamaica’s LGBT community (on the basis of which she received a glitzy prize from Time magazine, which we all enjoyed) – gays (who are not protected under the new Jamaican Charter of Rights) continue to be persecuted, attacked, harassed and widely discriminated against. Moreover, as you will read in the press release below, the Jamaican Government recently voted AGAINST a United Nations Resolution urging the swift investigation of hate crimes. The PJ Patterson administration withdrew from the United Nations Second Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights in 1997. In August, 2011, the Government finally ratified the United Nations Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) on the Sale of Children, Child Prostitution and Child Pornography, nine years after signing it. A small step for children’s rights.

Can we do better? Surely we can. We are all citizens of Planet Earth. We are all human. What is wrong with kindness, tolerance, understanding and living in harmony? What is wrong with Love and Peace?

And the issue of children in state care remains high on the agenda. Because, despite the existence of various Government departments and individuals all responsible for the wellbeing of these unfortunate children, there has been very little improvement in this respect. As you can see from the flyer below produced by the energetic human rights lobby group Jamaicans for Justice (JFJ), there are still many children in lock-ups and adult prisons. Sixteen-year-old Vanessa Wint – a girl whose only crime appeared to be that she was “uncontrollable” - reportedly committed suicide at an adult prison in Kingston, just last month. Her family are calling for a transparent investigation of the circumstances of her tragic death.

Vanessa Wint’s lovely smile.

Tonight at 5:30 p.m., JFJ will host a public forum at the Knutsford Court Hotel in Kingston on “Accountability and Governance for Children in the Justice System.”  The focus will be on children in State care and their rights. The forum will explore the challenges facing children and the State and the actions needed to position the children for success. Guest panellists are: Mrs. Diahann Gordon Harrison, Children’s Advocate, Office of the Children’s Advocate; Lt. Col. Sean Prendergast, Commissioner of Corrections, Department of Correctional Services; Ms. Carla Giulotta, Executive Director, Stand Up for Jamaica; and  Ms. Sheila Mitchell, Chief Probation Officer, County of Santa Clara, California. Come and join the discussion. Our children are precious. And they have rights too.

Last, but not least… Happy anniversary to the Jamaica Forum for Lesbians, All-Sexuals and Gays (J-FLAG), which celebrates its fourteenth birthday today, World Human Rights Day. Please read J-FLAG’s press release below… Happy birthday J-FLAG and congratulations to you on your excellent work in these very difficult times!

Government Must Take Urgent Actions to Respect LGBT Jamaicans

J-FLAG Celebrates 14 Years Promoting Rights for LGBT Jamaicans on International Human Rights Day

We have noted progress, which demonstrates our ability as a people to respect our friends, families, classmates and coworkers, among other people who are lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender. This progress was reinforced by studies, which show that one in five Jamaicans now respects and/or accepts the rights of LGBT Jamaicans and would support an addendum to the Charter of Rights to include non-discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation.

Other notable progress includes:

• Minister of Health, Hon. Fenton Ferguson’s recent statement that Jamaica should repeal the buggery law
• A willingness by politicians from both political parties in the Upper and Lower Houses of Parliament to engage around issues affecting the LGBT community.
• Strengthened relationship with the police, including the Office of the Police Commissioner, which has led to an increase in LGBT persons reporting to the police and the inclusion of sexual orientation in the Police Ethics and Diversity Policy
• Public dialogue on homophobic bullying and human rights much of which has been through the media and several organisations
• Training among public health professionals from St. Ann, St. James and Kingston & St Andrew to improve service delivery that is respectful of the rights to health of LGBT persons
• More gay, bisexual and other men who have sex with men (MSM) are accessing health facilities for services related to HIV and other sexually transmitted infections (STIs)
• Proposed research through the Ministry of National Security to understand LGBT persons’ perception of insecurity and victimization

Notwithstanding this progress, much work remains to be done to ensure that all Jamaicans are treated equally and has equal access to services including education, health and justice.

“These successes speak to the progress we are making as a people in respecting the humanity, dignity and equality of LGBT persons,” said Dane Lewis, J-FLAG’s executive director. “However, given that we have a vibrant LGBT community, much more still needs to be done so we can more forward as a cohesive and just society that intends to become the place of choice to live, work, raise families and do business.”

In a regrettable departure from this progressive path, on November 21, 2012, Jamaica voted[1] against resolutionA/C.3/67/L.36 at the United Nations condemning extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions which urges States “to investigate promptly and thoroughly all killings, including… all killings committed for any discriminatory reason, including sexual orientation[2].” Additionally, recent incidents of vigilante attacks on perceived gay persons continue to undermine the achievements and call into question the national commitment to equality for persons of diverse sexual orientation.

The 2012 Boxill Survey shows that about one million Jamaicans believe the government is not doing enough to protect the LGBT community from violence and discrimination, we therefore remind the Prime Minister, Hon Portia Simpson Miller, of her commitment in December 2011 and urge her to take urgent action to protect and promote the rights of LGBT Jamaicans.

We encourage all Jamaicans to embrace our common humanity as a people. We implore Jamaicans to be respectful to everyone as we help make Jamaica a safe, cohesive and just society where we can live, work, raise families and do business. Together we can loosen the chains of prejudice, inequality, crime, violence and intolerance, which continue to stifle our country’s progress. Let us as a people help to build Jamaica so that we can realize the vision of a safe, cohesive and just society.

J-FLAG is willing to assist the government in its efforts to protect and promote the human rights of all Jamaicans, regardless of their socio-economic status, sexual orientation, health status, disability, work, and political and religious persuasions.

I comment regularly on ongoing human rights issues in my weekly Sunday blog posts. Yesterday’s did not appear, due to pressures of time. But it will be back…soon!

Related links:

http://jamaica-gleaner.com/gleaner/20071007/lead/lead8.html (Harding wants quick return to UN human rights protocol)

http://www.state.gov/j/drl/rls/hrrpt/humanrightsreport/index.htm#wrapper (

U.S. State Department Human Rights Report on Jamaica 2011)

http://www.jamaicansforjustice.org/nmcms.php?snippets=news&p=news_details&id=3856

 (Jamaicans for Justice press release on Vanessa Wint’s death)

http://petchary.wordpress.com/2012/12/01/tivoli-gardens-on-may-24-2010-the-people-were-deading/ (Tivoli Gardens: On May 24, 2010 The People Were Deading)

http://www.ocajamaica.gov.jm (

Office of the Children’s Advocate)

http://petchary.wordpress.com/2012/12/03/sunday-notes-december-2-2012/ (Sunday Notes: December 2, 2012)

http://petchary.wordpress.com/2012/11/26/sunday-wonders-november-25-2012/ (Sunday Wonders: November 25, 2012)

http://petchary.wordpress.com/2012/11/03/sticks-and-stones/ (Sticks and Stones)

http://petchary.wordpress.com/2012/10/16/we-are-family-on-blog-action-day-2012/ (We Are Family)

http://www.jflag.org/2012/12/j-flag-celebrates-14-years/ (

J-FLAG celebrates fourteen years)

http://dmarcuswilliams.blogspot.com/2012/12/haunted-homophobia-homelessness-in.html (Haunted: Homophobia and Homelessness in Jamaica: D. Marcus Williams blog)

Jamaicans for Justice flyer

L

Who feels it, knows it.

Although the Sixteen Days of Activism following the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women officially ended yesterday (Human Rights Day), I had to write this postscript to Jamaica’s official recognition of that day – a carefully structured but ultimately dissatisfying exercise. There was a catalog of woes; much hand-wringing; much talk of what we “must do”; what there “needs to be.” 

Well actually, this is much more than a postscript. This was an evening that addressed “root causes,” something that UNAIDS‘ Dr. Pierre Somse had urged the Bureau of Women’s Affairs to consider deeply at the earlier meeting. “We are always talking about the symptoms” of violence against women, observed Sherene, who works for Prana.

Who are Prana? They are a small communications and PR company that specializes in wellness and positive lifestyle brands. Prana has just opened a charming little store at Kingston’s Grosvenor Galley, which I visited over the weekend (see the flyer below). Prana partnered with Women’s Media Watch for an evening headlined “Inspired Living: Women, Sexual Violence and Empowerment,” last week. It was an evening of heavy rain, but this did not prevent us from gathering at JAMPRO’s comfortable and intimate Conference Room. Around the stage was the mantra: “Power. Courage. Forgiveness. Success. Purpose.” All words that floated into our consciousness during our discussion.

Women’s Media Watch and its focus.

We all received orange ribbons, this time (I already had the purple one pinned). This represented the UN’s regular “Orange Days,” part of the Secretary General’s anti-violence campaign. Unfortunately, Orange Day in Jamaica would have certain connotations, since orange is the color of one of our political “tribes.” But wearing a ribbon on the 25th of every month – including the important day in question – is a good awareness-raising concept, I think.

A Women’s Media Watch member plays a dramatized piece on domestic violence.

The moderator of the group (they were seated informally in armchairs rather than that very stiff “head table” that is so often preferred) introduced herself. Nadine McNeil calls herself a “global humanitarian.” She has worked for the United Nations in various capacities around the world. Her great love is also teaching and practicing yoga. A Jamaican who has lived most of her life overseas, Nadine has been back for a few months and has observed that in Jamaica there is “some kind of war on the psyche that’s now taking place.” She is currently involved with two transformational, female-led organizations in downtown Kingston – the arts collective Roktowa and the non-governmental organization that serves inner-city youth, RISE Life Management Services.

Superintendent Gladys Brown makes a point while her co-panelists listen.

Nadine McNeil introduces the panelists.

Superintendent Gladys Brown is the head (“Commander” is her official title) of the Centre for the Investigation of Sexual Offences and Child Abuse (CISOCA) – a high-profile unit of the Jamaica Constabulary Force. I admire Superintendent Brown enormously; she is, quite simply, a woman of courage. In 2003, Superintendent Brown fought back valiantly against a man who attempted to rob her in downtown Kingston; she was stabbed several times and was hospitalized. This was around the time of her graduation from law school. She is also writing a book about the entrenched patriarchy of Jamaica’s police force; she would like to see the “force” (this term alone was well-chosen by our leaders – not a service, a force) humanized. She wants her fellow officers, mostly men, to show more empathy and sensitivity towards Jamaican women who are victims of crime. 

Now, Superintendent Brown is a straight talker. She believes passionately in women’s empowerment. She believes that the “silence”  of female victims of violence helps to empower the men that abuse them; the women’s voices are smothered by the stigma and the shame. “Away with stigma!” cried Superintendent Brown. She says the silence must be broken – not just with words, but with actions. And Superintendent Brown had some tips for women: firstly, “dress the way you want.” Don’t buy into the argument that because you are wearing a fashionably tight top or short skirt you are inviting rape. This is “hogwash,” declared the Superintendent. (What a wonderful word that is). Secondly, Superintendent Brown says, we women “trust too much.” Many of the people who are abusing us – and our trust – are “in our own space”; they are close to us emotionally and physically. She told us the story of a policeman who, when visited by a woman who had just been raped to report the crime against her, decided he would avail himself of her also. He asked her if she would prefer him to rape her anally or orally (I told you, she is a straight talker). The Superintendent also warned us to be very careful when attending parties – the Christmas season is here. Drinks can be spiked with various rape drugs. Just beware, be strong, be smart, she said. And speak out. Most of these men are “cowards,” says Superintendent Brown. She personally confronted her own attacker – and women should fight back, in the same way. Shame them. (For why should women feel ashamed? They are not the perpetrators of violence. The men are the guilty ones).

Donna Duncan-Scott looking pensive.

Donna Duncan-Scott is a well-known and successful uptown businesswoman, from a middle class family. She also has her own brand of courage. Several years ago, she decided to “go public” about her own experience of sexual abuse – within the family. Since then, she has spoken on many occasions on the topic, and is not now afraid to do so. In fact, now she speaks publicly on the issue “to help others,” she says, “to remove the stigma.”  During her ordeal as a young girl – which lasted for years – Donna says she saw herself as “unworthy of a wholesome relationship.” There was an overwhelming guilt.

And there was the “Jezebel” syndrome. Who on earth is Jezebel, you may ask? When I first came across this expression I was quite disturbed by it. It is in many ways used (by women as well as men) to denigrate strong and assertive women in Jamaica. OK, Jezebel was a princess in the Hebrew Book of Kings in the Old Testament. She was very influential and associated with false prophets (and what could be worse than that). Moving away from the misogynistic, patriarchal culture of the Old Testament – which, sadly, is still embraced in some of its aspects in Jamaica today – to the equally male-dominated culture of today’s fundamentalist Christians, the image of a Jezebel morphed into a promiscuous woman, a “fallen” woman. (Are there “fallen men,” by the way?) This came from the story that, before her violent death at the hands of a pretender to the throne, Jezebel dressed in her finest clothes and jewelry and applied makeup to her face. What a wicked, wicked woman!

So, Donna – an intelligent and lovely woman who is now happily married, with a great career and a spiritually-centered life – was branded as a “Jezebel” by some of her family and friends – and saw herself as one. It has taken huge physical and moral courage to overcome that huge dark shadow on her youth. She has done it partly through her strong spiritual center, resulting in forgiveness. “People have problems,” she said when talking of the man who abused her: “It’s a human being thing, not a man/woman thing.” 

Dr. Veronica (Ronnie) Salter calls herself a “fusion therapist.” This warm, upbeat Irish-born woman, who has lived in Jamaica for many years, says that when counseling victims of violence, she has to “almost dig out the pain.” The emotions are “stored in our genes,” she says; the stories of pain and grief are “deeply buried” in the psyche. Some of the coping techniques women employ include “numbing out” - a kind of blocking, a ready-made brick wall that just will not allow those memories to resurface. Other psychological responses to violence, whether sexual or otherwise, include victims actually harming themselves, “so they can feel.” She says if you look into the eyes of a victim of abuse, you can see… “They’ve gone… They’re not there.” Some go so far as to effect some kind of “out of body” experience, so that they are actually watching themselves being abused. That’s the way they deal with it. There is denial, fear, and a sense of loss – almost like grief at the passing of a loved one.

Ronnie Salter never loses her sense of humor.

And what of our girls? Phrases like “sexually active since the age of eight” are a gross injustice, Ronnie noted. How can a girl be sexually active at that age? She has been sexually abused at that age! Another dreadful expression, “force ripe,” seems to me as sexist and demeaning as “Jezebel.” Ripe? Is a girl a piece of fruit, just hanging on a tree waiting to be picked? Is there a male equivalent of force ripe? No? I didn’t think so! When a child says he/she has been sexually abused, Ronnie urges us to believe them. “

“We have accepted rape as a way of punishing women,” she notes. “Rape is nothing to do with sex. It is about power.” It is about a violent expression of anger on the part of the rapist at some loss of power. It is an attempt to win that power back.

And, first and foremost, rape, sexual abuse and domestic violence are crimes. If you are the victim of a rape or another violent crime, sexual or otherwise, or if you know a child who is, go to CISOCA, where all your needs will be taken care of, including counseling and follow-up.

This is what I loved about this session: the focus was on self-help and empowerment. “Young people must know what action to take,” said Donna Duncan-Scott. Women should work on gaining and maintaining some level of financial independence. “It is hard for people to understand these things,” said Donna, reflecting on her own family experience. But she knows now that “the best thing to do is to say something right away.” Don’t suffer in that horrible silence that is born of fear, guilt and shame.

Although there were not many men in the group (again), they did ask questions and seek information. This was encouraging. The discussion ended on a positive note.

The audience needed more time to participate, I felt, and time was limited towards the end. But, overall, it was everything that the earlier exercise described in Part 1 was not: It reached out for personal solutions. The panelists were not only eloquent, knowledgeable and experts in their field. They also touched a nerve – which, though at times uncomfortable, resulted in a degree of healing. To make a comparison: I am currently having some physiotherapy for an irritating back problem, which involves an electric current being plugged into certain spots where there is the most pain. The effect is at one point painful and subsequently, healing.

In the same way, this discussion “hit the spot.” I am truly thankful to Prana and to Women’s Media Watch for creating this thoughtful but action-oriented and empowering response to the issue.

I cannot over-emphasize how difficult it is to speak out when you have yourself suffered from violence, whether it is domestic violence, sexual abuse, rape or incest. All these kinds of violence inflicted by man on woman are an assault on the core of your being: not just the physical core of your own femininity, but your spiritual and emotional core, also. And I speak from my own experience.

PS The title of this blog post does not refer to the well-known book by mystic Lucia René. Although that might be of interest, too.

Congratulations to the organizers… and panelists, you gave us so much.

Prana Lifestyle has a well-conceived and interesting philosophy of wellness. Visit them and talk to them at Grosvenor Gallery. Not just for women… men, too!

The purple and orange combined.

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• For Human Rights Day 2012; A Challenge, an Invitation, and an Anniversary (petchary.wordpress.com)

Violence Against Women, Part 1: How Much is the Media to Blame? (petchary.wordpress.com)

http://endviolence.un.org/orangeday.shtml (UNITE to end violence against women: UN Secretary General’s website)

http://womensmediawatch.org (Women’s Media Watch website)

http://www.pranalifestyle.com (Prana Lifestyle website)

http://go-jamaica.com/pressrelease/item.php?id=1553 (Event which focuses on violence against women to be held soon: Go-Jamaica.com)

http://petchary.wordpress.com/2012/08/31/youth-using-technology-to-combat-child-abuse/ (Youth using technology to combat child abuse: petchary.wordpress.com)

http://jamaica-gleaner.com/gleaner/20110824/lead/lead93.html (JCF announces new head of CISOCA: Jamaica Gleaner)

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Centre-for-Investigation-of-Sexual-Offences-and-Child-Abuse-CISOCA-/272027556207078 (CISOCA Facebook page)

http://www.jcf.gov.jm (Jamaica Constabulary Force website)

http://www.amnesty-caribbean.org/de/jm/reports/AMR380022006.html (Amnesty International report on sexual violence against women and girls in Jamaica)

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Well, the Jamaica Blog Awards are nearly upon us, and the “hype” is building! (Jamaicans love the word “hype” - it has become a slang word meaning “cool.”)

Jamaican bloggers unite! The happy group poses in the lobby of the Knutsford Court Hotel.

As a blogger with over 350 blog posts under my belt – it’s amazing how they add up – I have recognized the importance of research. Blogging is not about writing off the top of your head – unless you just want to vent. If you are going to write on a topic, for heaven’s sake make sure you get your facts right. Check, and double-check if need be. Make your blog readable and credible. As one radio station declares itself, “consistently credible.”

Now, sometimes it’s not as easy as you expect to find the information you need to enhance the quality of your blog. You Google back and forth, looking for the right information that will support your argument or add meat and substance to your article. You browse websites that are distressingly inadequate, out of date and user-unfriendly. It can be frustrating. But I recently came across one amazing online resource – mainly, but not entirely, for Jamaicans - managed by Deika Morrison under the aegis of the Gleaner. It is called DiGJamaica, and it replaces the print version “Handbook of Jamaica” formerly published by the Gleaner. 

Even the mighty Google can lead you into a dead end when searching for Jamaican information. Why not find it all on one website?

Fellow-bloggers, indulge me please. Take my hand, and let us stroll through this marvelous little website: http://digjamaica.com. Right at the top, there is the all-important search box. That’s a good start. Let the discovery begin…

I typed in “children’s homes” in the search box. A page similar to a Google results page came up, with links to DiGJamaica’s directory. Clicking on Mustard Seed Communities, for example, I found all their contact information clearly at the top of the page, followed by a description of the organization and listing of the services they offer. If you click on other buttons below, you will find the name of a contact person there (how useful is that! Having a name), opening hours, and “other useful information” – in this case, a note that Mustard Seed accepts donations and volunteers. Everything you need to know, concisely.

Mustard Seed Communities are one of the amazing non-governmental, faith-based and community-based organizations in Jamaica.

The directories are great, actually. You can search alphabetically for government entities, publicly traded companies, civil society organizations and international organizations in Jamaica. The civil society directory is beautifully laid out, with the logos for each organization. So nice to use. Sample page: http://www.digjamaica.com/directories/view/civil_society/kevoy_community_development_institute.

OK, let me backtrack a little… we should really have started with the Overview tab, which covers the broad categories: Land, People and Culture; Government and Economy; Parish Profiles; and a number of lovely slideshows on various topics. Here is a sample from the Arts and Culture page, a vibrant slideshow with good quality photos:  http://digjamaica.com/dance. And here is a beautiful slideshow of Jamaican Herbs: http://digjamaica.com/jamaican_herbs. There is also a lovely slideshow on our formerly-little-known-surprise-100 meters-bronze-medal-winner-in-the-London-Olympics, Warren Weir.

Warren Weir checking out his bronze medal. (Photo: Reuters)

There is a tab for events. You can add your own event using a simple form – whether it’s a fund-raiser, a party or a seminar. If you click on one, all the contact information, a flyer and a map are all there. Very neat indeed. Free advertising. You can just direct persons to the entry for your event, and you can save it on your iCalendar. Take a look at http://www.digjamaica.com/calendar.

Then there is the data section, divided into categories. DiGJamaica is gradually building these sections, but already you can track murders and major crimes per calendar year since 2009; access 30 different charts on budget issues – Gross Domestic Product, inflation rate, remittances and many others; and browse 40 charts showing aspects of government projects and a breakdown of Jamaica’s domestic and external debt; the 2011 Census results broken down into separate charts; and much more useful information. There is a wealth of economic data here to be explored (pardon the pun)… and of course, politics too!

Resources: well, all of this is one huge resource, but this section includes all kinds of useful stuff – lists of emergency services, the Ministry of Education’s approved textbooks, Justices of the Peace in each parish, and so on. There is a “how to” section… apply for a visa, clear a barrel, address a dignitary…

DiGJamaica is a Gleaner project that really fills a great need for reliable and relevant information.

Now to perhaps my favorite section of the website, “Our Past.” As the oldest company in Jamaica, the Gleaner has a reputation for its meticulous archives, chronicling the history of Jamaica pre- and post-Independence. There is “This Day in our Past” across the years, with several entries for today from the sixties, seventies and eighties. Did you know that on December 15, 1975 trading in the Jamaica Telephone Company’s shares was suspended in the Jamaica Stock Exchange? The government was moving towards nationalizing the company. See here: http://digjamaica.com/this_day_in_our_past/december_this_day_in_our_past/december_15. If you don’t have the book or want to look up one of Dr. Rebecca Tortello’s marvelous “Pieces of the Past,” you can find her beautifully detailed historical articles here. These were serialized in the Gleaner in 2003. There is also a fascinating timeline of key events from 1494 to the present.

The Festival Dance Competition, back in the day. (Photo: Pieces of the Past/Gleaner)

And this is just the basic stuff. Click on “New DiGs” and you will find the latest information on HIV in Jamaica, and Transparency International‘s Global Corruption Perception Index. There is an excellent page on Children’s Rights in Jamaica at http://digjamaica.com/childrens_rights. There is a detailed Job Seekers’ Guide with lots of practical advice.

The “Top DiGs” is a very useful little sidebar, which will take you to all kinds of places – an important article on how to protect yourself from identity theft, for example; and – a most invaluable resource for journalists and bloggers alike – a link to various Government papers recently tabled in Parliament, in a flip magazine format. For example, here’s the Public Debt Management Bill tabled on November 30: http://digjamaica.com/public_debt_management_bill.

And hey! DiGJamaica now has a blog. This includes “6 Things You Need to Know Today” – a daily review of the local news. For the season, there are items on “Three Places to buy ‘Made in Jamaica’ Christmas Gifts this Weekend”  – see http://digjamaica.com/blog/2012/12/14/3-places-to-buy-made-in-jamaica-christmas-gifts-this-weekend/; and “64 Easy Delicious Jamaican Christmas Recipes.” There is also a new Christmas series, starting with the article “Jonkunnu a Come!” (Do you know all the characters?) There is a new feature, “Five Facts Friday.”  The first of the blog’s “Monday Musings” this week was on Human Rights Day and what it means for Jamaica.

Can you identify these scary Jonkunnu characters?

A couple of other nice things: The moving charts are cool. Check them out for yourself. And the DiGTrivia online quiz is fun and not as easy as it looks (embarrassingly, I got the first question I tried wrong, at the “easy” level). How much do you know, or think you know, about Jamaica?

OK, who is this handsome gentleman, for example? (No, I am not going to tell you…)

DiGJamaica is, of course, properly plugged in to social media. You can find it on Facebook, Twitter and YouTube, and you can subscribe to its email newsletter. And they are open to suggestions. If there is information you would like to see included, just drop DiGJamaica a line on their website.

Like all such websites, DiGJamaica is a work in progress, and a project that requires a high degree of maintenance and very detailed work. I applaud Deika and her team for an astonishingly good product; the design and layout is clear, bright and attractive – not too many visuals on the home page, but plenty when you start to explore. The charts and graphs are well laid out and “at a glance.”  I can see all the new improvements and additions, and I can see that it will go far.

So bloggers, students, journalists, information junkies all… take a look at DiGJamaica’s website, and arm yourself with all the right information. It’s there at your fingertips!