Jamaican Diaspora Blog

SCHOOLS AND ‘THE RIOTS’ - Parents and Students Beware!

2012-01-02T14:02:00.004-06:00

At a meeting in Manchester on Wednesday 31 August 2011 and the following day at a meeting in Lewisham, I warned parents and students that when schools reopen their children would most likely be targeted either by teachers or by the resident police in those schools to find out where they were and what they were doing during the recent civil unrest, or/and who they knew that took to the streets and became involved. Parents needed to be prepared for that and guide their children as to how to respond, as I was sure that many schools would see it as their business to ‘help police shop rioters’ as a newspaper headline put it.

And all of this at a time when, with the active encouragement of the Government, courts were ‘naming and shaming’ juveniles for taking part in the disturbances on the streets or for receiving looted goods.

On Saturday, one of the young people who attended the Lewisham meeting sent me an email saying that his brother was given the following homework which was set for his entire year group:

Write an eye witness account, describing what you saw during the riots:

-the setting

-the people you saw

-what happened

Definition of eye witness: a person who actually sees some act, occurrence, or thing and can give a firsthand account of it.

While that might look like an attempt to test school students’ writing skills and their powers of recall, it is clearly inviting children to incriminate themselves and others. In order to be able to give a firsthand account, one must have been present and observing (taking pictures on your mobile phone, for example) or present and participating. In either case, the police would be interested in you. The school for its part would no doubt form a view about the fact that you were present on the streets at all.

So, what might present itself as a straightforward curriculum exercise could result in school students being excluded from school or being referred to the police as having information that could support a prosecution, theirs or those they name or are cajoled into naming in their ‘eye witness’ accounts.

Ever since 6 August 2011 when the disturbances started in Tottenham, the police have been stopping and searching school students indiscriminately and more often than not in an intimidating, humiliating and provocative manner. Now, the schools are using their equivalent of ‘Stop & Search’.

Guidance to Parents:

Be watchful!

Talk to your child about what s/he is being asked in school concerning ‘the riots’.

Tell your children that since they are not ‘rioters’ they should not be running off their mouths about what happened on the streets. Their teachers would have seen on television or read in the newspapers the same things that they saw.

If your child brings home homework of the sort described above, telephone or write to the school as follows:

My child has been asked to describe what s/he saw during ‘the riots’.

I take it that s/he could approach this as a creative writing exercise?

I have been having discussions with her/him about the ‘Arab Spring’ and the civil unrest in Egypt, Tunisia, Syria and Libya. Libya is especially interesting at the moment.

I want to make sure that my child will not be penalised for describing and commenting upon what s/he has been witnessing the citizens of those countries doing on their streets.

If the school insists that they want your child to write about ‘the recent riots in Britain’, tell them that your child is not a ‘rioter’ and cannot therefore give an account of what s/he saw during ‘the riots’.

Professor Gus John

Interim Chair: Parents and Students Empowerment

London England

Marcus Garvey 2011

2011-12-01T12:08:00.001-06:00

Written byGeoffrey Philip

“Nationhood isthe only means by which modern civilization can completely protect itself.Independence of nationality, independence of government, is the means ofprotecting not only the individual, but the group. Nationhood is the highestideal of all peoples”

The Philosophyand Opinions of Marcus Garvey, Or, Africa for Africans. Compiled by Amy Jacques Garvey.Dover: Majority Press, 1986.

Thesewords of Marcus Mosiah Garvey are still true, and it is no wonder that Garveyis Jamaica’s first national hero. Marcus Mosiah Garvey was a man ofdetermination, and he believed in the principle of success. As Garvey saidin a speech in Halifax, Nova Scotia, in 1937, “At my age I have learnt nobetter lesson than that which I am going to impart to you to make man what heought to be—a success in life. There are two classes on men in the world, thosewho succeed and those who do not succeed” (Marcus Garvey: Life andLessons, xxv). So, on this day of the celebration ofour nationhood, what does Garvey’s life mean to Jamaica in the face of beheadings,political corruption,and a seeming loss of faith thatwe may be heading toward being defined as a“failed state”?

No doubt,many Jamaicans will be going to church tomorrow and they will listen to variousspeeches about this and that, platitudes that balm a cancer. Commentators willhave answers to every question under our beautiful sun. But the real questionsthat we should be asking ourselves are ones that I pose to the characters in myfictions: Who are you? What do you want? How will you get what you want?

I neverbegin a first draft until these questions are answered, Then, I make a roughoutline of the plot with an inciting incident, lock-in, first culmination,main culmination, and what I think will be the third act twist, where the heromakes a discovery–which surprises the audience and the hero–orsomething/someone reminds the hero of who she really is. Whether she has thecourage to act on what she knows, means that that I will be writing (in thebroadest sense of the terms) a tragedy (she fails to achieve her goal) or acomedy (she achieves her goal). Once I know these elements, I beginwriting. I never begin writing before I know how the story will end.

As far asthe short [her]story of Jamaica goes, we’ve been through the inciting incidentsof resistance, lock-in of Independence, first culmination in the exodus of the70s, and main culmination in the recognition of the Diaspora. I don’t know whatthe third act twist will be. If our story will be a tragedy.

But we dohave the wisdom from our heroes and a wealth of courage in our people But howwill we answer the question: Who are you?

When the“right time comes,”–which is always now– I hope as Brother Bob says, “when thepreaching and talking is done, ” we will “live up/ Cause the Father’s time hascome” (“Survival’).

Surpriseme, Jamaica

Garvey, AmyJacques. The Philosophy and Opinions of Marcus Garvey, Or, Africa forAfricans. Dover: Majority Press, 1986.

Obama’s Advisors Should Respect Marcus Garvey

2011-11-01T11:44:00.003-05:00

Written By George Graham

I never knew Marcus Garvey. He died when I was 6 years old. But my mother heard him speak when he visited Guy’s Hill back in her childhood. And, if my information is correct, my granduncle, the Rev. William Graham, advised and encouraged him.

To my mother, Garvey seemed rather strange. In those days black men did not command the kind of respect they did in later years – after Jamaica achieved independence from England. Today, black leaders occupy the highest positions of power and privilege in Jamaica, which is only to be expected as the country’s population is overwhelmingly black.

Back in the Twenties and Thirties, Garvey’s ideas were considered – to say the least – unusual. If my memory is accurate, he was among the first, for example, to claim that Jesus was not a white man. He urged the black Diaspora to return to Africa and called on black people everywhere to join forces and reclaim their dignity. “Our union must know no clime, boundary, or nationality… let us hold together under all climes and in every country,” he said.

To Americans like FBI czar J. Edgar Hoover, his ideas were seditious. Hoover is suspected of framing Garvey and having him put in jail. The Jamaican-born agitator was convicted of mail fraud in 1923 and was deported after spending two years and nine months in an Atlanta prison.

Now, nine decades later, Jamaicans want Garvey pardoned. The American conviction is a blemish on the legacy of a native son who is revered in the island today. He was the first person to be proclaimed a National Hero when Jamaica became independent. And to Rastafarians, Garvey is a prophet.

The Jamaica Observer reports:

Florida-based Jamaican-born attorney Donovan Parker has been writing to president Obama every week since January requesting a posthumous pardon for Garvey, who many believe was set up by the J Edgar Hoover-led Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI), fearful of his widening popularity among downtrodden US blacks.

In a shocking response – shocking to Jamaicans like me, anyway – the Obama Administration has refused. The Observer reports:

In a tersely worded reply to Parker’s request, White House Pardon Attorney, Ronald Rodgers said such a move would be a waste of time and resources since Garvey had been dead for ages.

“It is the general policy of the Department of Justice that requests for posthumous pardons for federal offences not be processed for adjudication. The policy is grounded in the belief that the time of the officials involved in the clemency process is better spent on pardon and commutation requests of living persons.

“Many posthumous pardon requests would likely be based on a claim of manifest injustice, and given that decades have passed since the event and the historical record would have to be scoured to objectively and comprehensively investigate such applications, it is the Department’s position that the limited resources which are available to process requests for Presidential clemency — now being submitted in record numbers — are best dedicated to requests submitted by persons who can truly benefit from a grant of the request,” Rodgers replied on behalf of Obama, who is the first black president in the history of the United States.

This might seem like quite a reasonable argument. But it is an unfortunate one.

Respect is important in the Jamaican culture. And, to me, this shows disrespect not only for Garvey’s memory but also for the sovereign nation of Jamaica.

I see this as one more example of the Obama Administration’s deplorable tone deafness. Hundreds of thousands of Jamaicans now live in the United States – one small city, Miramar, has about 50,000 residents from the island. And many of us have become citizens. President Obama has enjoyed enthusiastic support from the Jamaican Diaspora. We expect him to be more sensitive to our feelings.

I certainly do not think the president is personally to blame, but I wonder at his administration’s political insensitivity. The elements in American society who elected Obama have been poorly treated. Black unemployment, for example, is more than twice the national average. The anti-war movement and other progressives are ignored and derided. Organized labor is so disenchanted that the AFL-CIO has threatened to withhold financial support in next year’s elections.

To me, this is a poor re-election strategy for the nation’s first black president.

Black Woman! Love Thy Hair & Skin!

2011-10-01T15:18:00.003-05:00

Miss Angola Leila Lopes has won Miss Universe 2011

Carol Carter aka Ripuree wrote this.

Black African daughters of Jamaica or wherever

Mothers of all skin shades and textures of hair.

Carrier of prototype human material

Yet promoting only lighter shades with straight hair?

Yes; there was a time when we could do no better

When our bodies, mind or space we could not control

When we were raped anywhere, anytime before loved ones

Thus we and our men, are still challenged to connect.

It wasn’t possible to experience that degree of self negation for centuries

And not end up wanting to portray any image, but our own

Thus, too few Negro men admire Negro women’s beauty

While we encourage our sons to continue such ways.

Still, it matters not what we did yesterday, yesteryear or the last moment

All that matters is who we decide to become from now on.

We couldn’t do better, when we didn’t know better

Or when we were mentally blindfolded, with our limbs cut off.

So daughter of Africa and mothers of mankind

What causes will we make to correct our plight?

What future do we want for successive generations of our children

In the world of tomorrow and beyond?

Sisters, we’re sensuous and we’re gorgeous

We’re the mothers of the human race.

But we’re retarding our own growth, plus that of all others

Mindlessly making causes; not considering future effects.

Critically examine our views of God and Allah

Can they unite and inoculate our minds from self hate?

And can we stop being so Heavenly focused for a moment

To honor other Negroes, with whom we share earth space?

Should we still shout black love, unity and power

When our most Negroid features, we so strongly detest?

Should we expect anyone else to accept us color-blindly

When we cannot accept ourselves “as is”?

Do the blackest children have a chance in Jamaica

When the Bible and Western culture tell us that black is sinful and bad?

Can we refuse such self-defeating nonsense

And choose uplifting self descriptions instead?

Today we know that verbal and physical traumas

Can negatively impact us for life.

While self-love produces healthy self image,

So why accept degrading meanings of ourselves?

Why do our children still ingest fear-filled Bible notions?

Which are: violent, unjust, irrational and ungodly

As much as, or more than censored T.V. show.

How are such things wise for compromised minds?

Sisters, many of us sow negativity further

Encouraging fathers to not support children they had when we met.

But what lessons are we teaching by such actions?

And would we want our daughters, to meet same fate?

Can we not think more lofty than lower animals

Who ensure that only the best are reproduced.

By looking for others already with good character

Not their weakness to manipulate?

Can we cultivate and elevate a new default mindset,

That considers what is ultimately best for the whole

Not just a Chosen Few

As when only a few prosper, they must fear everyone else.

Sisters, men have ruled the world in Wars and economic businesses,

but we’re the molders of the character of those Men.

So when our wealthier men mostly choose Caucasian

It’s our words and ways, they replicate.

Yes; we do have the power to uplift or demote

And we’re truly stagnating our collective progress

By refusing to acknowledge that we hate our own color;

Thus the reason others disrespect us, where we’re most.

Our men we must respect and cherish

Because without them, we’re only half.

Plus, they’re products of our uterus,

And were nourished to grow from our breasts.

We first taught them to be men

But whatever we’ve been teaching has been flawed

So now it’s our maternal right and responsibility

To teach anew, from our authentic images and selves.

Selfishness, greed and stupidity, were the life- conditions prevailing

When some Negro Africans profited from the Slave Trade.

And those vibes have now expanded exponentially

Since worldwide, we seem most against ourselves.

Many of us (self included) have acted dishonourably.

But we needn’t remain marinating in guilt and shame.

All that matter is who we’re committed to becoming

With every thought we think, and action we take.

Negro women of the world

No matter what any Teacher, Bible or Society tell us

Let’s know; that before us there were no others

And after us, none shall remain.

As first humans we have great responsibilities

Overtime, and by dilution Negroes produced all others

While no other two, can produce Negroes overtime

Prototypical Negro state must therefore be protected, respected, and not despised.

Black is not less important than white, nor equal to sin as the Bible imply.

And darkness is not obliterated by light

Therefore; rethink all the nonsense we’ve been taught

By the Bible, and all else that inform our minds.

Negro daughters of Africa, and mothers of all human

It’s our duty, in Jamaica and worldwide

To honour our selves in ways that make it impossible

To be scorned and denied, where we’re the most.

Can the UK looting be justified?

2011-09-01T12:50:00.001-05:00

Written by Myrna Loy

Can the looting be justified? This of course depends on whose perspective you are looking at. The teenagers will say it is justified because they are getting back at the police for killing Mark Duggan, a mixed-race 29 year old who was shot in the back of his head while in a taxi going home. They will say that they are getting back at PM David Cameron for making their parents lose their jobs, putting their family below the poverty line; they will say that because their parents can’t buy them the things they deem necessary, they have a right to take them if the opportunity presents itself. They say there are no jobs; no opportunities, it is time to take something back. “We pay taxes, said one female looter, so we are entitled!”. For those suffering the impact of the recession, it became payback time! Opportunism and greed fanned the flames in Tottenham and around 26 different cities in the UK

From what I have read and heard, the family carried a banner which said “Justice for Duggan” and marched to Tottenham Police Station to get answers. What started off as a peaceful demonstration to ascertain why the police shot Mark Duggan, turned into another Broadwater Farm riot after a female member of the Duggan family was bludgeoned by a police officer outside the station when imploring for an explanation. That was the straw that broke the camel’s back: the demonstration spiraled out of control, fuelled by an angry, frustrated members of the Tottenham community.

The first Broadwater Farm riot occurred on 6 October 1985, when Cynthia Jarrett, a black woman died from stroke after a police raid in her home; exacerbated by another black woman being shot during a police search a week earlier. What followed culminated in the death of Police Constable Blacklock. It is ironic that yet another death in Tottenham has resulted in mass rioting, not only in the area where it happened but in other cities around the country.

According to sources, 1.4m are living below the poverty line; 1.3m are living with substance abuse parents. 1 in 5 young Britons are out of work - 1 in 2 black people are unemployed but we are told by politicians that a lack of values was the cause of the riots, and that social networks, like Facebook, twitter and the Blackberry BBN, enabled the way the riots were organized. They seem to forget that values come from enjoying a stable upbringing; earning a living; feeling respected and proud – but with 1 out of 2 black people denied the right to have their basic needs satisfied, it is no wonder that the riots involving them, are the outcome. It is surprising that the sensibility of what seemed like senseless, uncontrolled rioting ceased as quickly as it started when they realized their irresponsibility resulted in the death of three innocent traders who were trying to protect their property.

Now the government is now seeking to give parents back the right to discipline their children (after the horse has bolted!); and they are planning to give teachers that right too. Too little too late!

3,000 perpetrators have been arrested, meaning there will be even more unemployable black people. Employers will not employ someone with a prison record – so the unemployment statistics go up, and the downward spiral and vicious cycle continues.

*********

Different perspectives

The perspective of those who lost their homes, lost their cars, and other property: why did they suffer the impact of Mark Duggan’s death? Many left homeless – they feel should not have lost everything to fire. They could understand if the rioters had burned down police stations, but they didn’t, they burned down innocent people’s homes and left people jumping from buildings for their lives.

From the perspective of the deceased’s family: Mark Duggan was a family man, a father of four, living with is fiancé of 12 years, with plans to move out of Tottenham and get married. “He always avoided confrontation and would not have fired at police”

From the perspective of the police watchdog: “There is no evidence Mark Duggan opened fire at police before being shot dead by a firearms officer, the Independent Police Complaints Commission has said. The police watchdog said ballistic tests showed "no evidence that the handgun found at the scene was fired".

BBC News understands firearms officers discharged their weapons in the belief there was a threat to human life. Their guidelines allow them to open fire in such circumstances”

The David Starkey, politician said that white people were acting black, and that Jamaican patois and black culture fuelled the riots, while Prime Minister David Cameron said that it is not a race issue but a crime issue and that we live amongst a broken and sick society.

Compare my generation to the new generation when we were respectful to our elders; we couldn’t back chat; we opened up doors, gave up our seats; didn’t speak unless we were spoken to – and did do any harm? No! These days you will find that while there are always exceptions to the rule, the majority of young people in the UK are arrogant, disrespectful to their parents and/or authority.

According to Angela Bajaican – “we must look for solutions to the crisis. … the backlash from the riots is: 'Bring in Robo-cop', 'Stolen bottled water - first offence - six months in prison'; 'white is the new black', 'Gas all the coons' - there is no question which community is in the firing line, despite the facts that illustrate many races were involved, the blame is on the black people as being the instigators, so the challenge for the Black community therefore has never been greater.

Back Home In Jamaica

2011-08-01T09:06:00.000-05:00

Written By Carol Lawton

I am coming close to my year 5 of being home in Jamaica. Do I miss the streets of America, I would say yes. Do I miss less stress I would say yes. Do I miss less aggression , I would also say yes. But with all the stuff I miss I would say it was worth it. I now have a better understanding of my Jamaica. I was a bum( aimless visitor) just partying and eating food then I worked as a lawn boy, NYS camp manager, consultant, an environmental activist, fish monger, a farmer, a juice manufacturer, gas attendant, a liason on a bridge and now find myself in remittances. Why so much jobs. Just did not know what to do and wanted the experience. My Jamaica is just that an exciting place with negative and positives. It’s not the same for every Jamaican, its mine.

There’s nothing like the restaurants of Kingston, and Fiction, The beaches of the island, going into the hills or mountain, The walks through the market or a simple local bar, the garrisons and uptown, customers and the high cost of living. My Jamaica is not a perfect place. Here I saw more deaths than I should have in such a short time with most being very personal. The reason for this is to be poor here is looked upon as being nothing so the poor die without a second thought and this lesson of the garrison I hold near. Yet most who consider themselves not living in the garrison is less than one generation from poverty. An important thing to look at because if the world recession had hit harder many without their jobs would return to the lot. Lesson two of this culture, Guns are as easy to get as bread and butter yet the law abiding citizen can carry a knife. Conflict resolution is nil here so its fight or flight and think fast if your action can not back your mouth.

Waste is the order of the day and its with everything. Waste of ideas, waste of food, waste of water, waste of talent, Waste of money, waste of time and the very expense waste of energy. SUVs and the biggest appliances. Forget solar its all oil yet they complain about the bill. Cant buy food or send kids to school but money for party , weed and hair. Just used the rent money for car gas cause cant be seen taking the bus . So many become beggars with polite words about how the pay check short. Long line to get to the teller wondering what’s happening here don’t mention the ATM. Here few recycle but the scrap thief will destroy new to sell for old and wonder why no water coming to his house. Red tape linger like a mummy on business and government process.

Here in Jamaica, we kill for work yet sit around doing nothing expecting the work so extortion must be the end result. In a worst case the expext politics to come to their gate and give it to them and sad to say some people get work only that way. Government projects are prone for this as the people expect corruption and plan for corruption and to go around the corruption even if there is no corruption. In the belly has taught me much that it’s a hostile environment that contractors operating in and too many factions that think they have a right to work and no skills to complete the task but because of fear the contractors give in. Imagine having to pay the RATS! When they do not work but are a sunk cost in how business is done in the construction industry. Sometimes a gun is a paycheck in our Jamaica so why wonder many youths first ambition is a gun vs education. Most major project will see death and corruption and its not the politician, it’s the people.

They want more than what exist thus creating a system of revolving work which really only revolves poverty and frustration. Can you imagine get a job think 5-6 months finally some work and then after 2 paycheck get laid off to see someone doing the same work with the same people. The money finish and now there is 2 more in the rotation and two on the side who know decide to threaten to eat someone “food “to show power just to get a $1500 a day job. JIC rates are a wonder now. That’s something I learn and will use as a standard guide for all work even on the farm. Can you imagine having border where you can and cannot work in Jamaica. The garrison is strong and alive in ways that many cannot even imagine and in place that seem nice and quite as well

Here weed smoke and oxygen is one in the same as in every 20 feet walk and you smell a next grade. Young men here have a serious hand cupping and rubbing problem that need attention and not jail time. Time to decriminalize weed and set up laws like Dutch! In my Jamaica, young women know sexual exploitation and harassment and sad to say some young men are changing their sexual lifestyle to get a job. Some have to sleep with the interviewer to get to the interview table and still don’t get the job. Here even so call up town girls are as cheap as a bottle of Moet because its all hype to say who they slept with or which club/hotel they just came from. That’s just the life.

Race and class is still an issue. So much bleaching that maybe one day they will need body bubbles to protect them from skin cancer. Speaking properly makes you a weak person so middle and upper class are sometimes bullied or believed to be from another country if they are not black Jamaicans. The poor are blocked from jobs as many are darker. Everyone looking a browning so pose with as a sign of success and this is both males and females. There is the idea that the upper class and middle class did not work for anything and that it was given so nothing wrong is taking from them. For all the changes nothing have really changes from when I was young. I still remember “Black is beauty and red is corruption” but its crazy to see black person lighter than me and sisters.

My Jamaica does not value the environment . Parks are few and respect is nil. Nothing worse that walking along a sidewalk with the high ammonia smell of sun baked piss. Here bags juice bags litter the place as plastic cover everything include a certain beach in Rockfort. A person once laugh Jamaica land of garbage and litter bugs. Sewage is everywhere yet the bills are sky high. But cant blame all on people as are receptacles at times but why put in if the bottom is rotten and not there. Here you can build anywhere even in the water sheds of the mountains. Coal burning is still in full swing as forest run away.

Farmers rush to farm with limited knowledge of new technology and they prove that they can farm. Here the farmer is looked down on even though they smile in your face in the Banks. . Farm labour is at nil but farm product thief is at a all time high. Here Banks give you negative returns on your savings as the interest given is below inflation. But lately their loan packages are not so bad the interest is tolerable and trending down. You better not dear go to a mirco loan company because the hussle the poor with over 120% APR on their loans yet usury laws are in place. Here technology is at a finger tip yet few use it to develop opportunity for economic development.

Our universities are producing mindless graduates who equate education to more money yet they have no experience. They are unwilling to work their way up but expect executive pay. The country educate them it seems to become educated lumpens. They stand for nothing yet expect everything. Some read Garvey, Che, Mao and think that makes them a militant yet none have any new idea to change things as they will not stand out in a crowd. None have the backbone to move against a system.

Investigative Journalism is dead here. The media waits for things to happen then repeats it over and over. Columnist write chatter on things that mean very little most time. Thank God for the Cartoonists in the paper. So much talk and insight into world affairs on America, Libya, Israel and Arab Spring as many rush to show that they have intellect but with only the research of CNN and AL Jazeera and yet very little on Jamaica and its root problems. In America, I clung to the media via the net here I cant tell when I watch the news. The gleaner when I buy it are for the classified ads and postings of opportunity. Everyone is an intellect because of position. All the high office and titles cannot buy intellects!

The middle class wonder how did it come to this. Personally I live in a community control with fear as to who live in the squatter community on the hills. The politician focus on them and they receive the spoils of the tax dollar. Cant blame them either as they come out to the polls while the middle class come out in a high 15% as the hide behind complaining about what is wrong and high walls. Both parties used to depend on the middle class now it has changed. So do not wonder what happened because we caused it by not being a part of the electoral system yet still have to foot the bill.

I do business in a town where more than 60% of the adult are illiterate. I do business in a parish that can not even come together to keep a chamber of commerce going. Customer service in business is hard here as the customers are agressive and do not xpect customer service and the people behind most of the counters do know how to deliver customer services so it always leads to frustration at some point. Mr. Vaswani was right when he told me that that will be my biggest headache after bills. Yet they wonder and complain about no growth when they are not ready for investment but ripe for plundering as outside see that we will buy anything. I get to look and watch the fact that socially Jamaicans treat each other with contempt, disrespect and rarely can work together for long periods. Strong men sit in buses while old women hang on stand with one hand to a bus rail as comfort is more important. Here I have become more aggressive to match the environment yet when confronted and I show that I am far more aggressive that thought, it look at as being wrong. Are we all sheep for the slaughter?

In my 5 year journey I did not drive, I walked and as I walked and reflect about what I saw each day. I started to look objectively at my Jamaica. Here the pretend and façade is high no matter where you go or the social circles as it all HYPE. A car is deem a part of success where it can make or break you or even exclude you out. People build larger and larger house with smaller and smaller families. There is total lack of self esteem that the material determine the person value or intellect. Its not always the case but the social cliques are strong here and the circles very small. In my Jamaica, it not about merit but the same old story different spin.

In my five years, I wanted to understand power and politics in Jamaica. One day I got called in a room to be told that I have year of politics left in me so go to the side lines and I am too aggressive and uncontrollable. In politics your friend is your enemy and your enemy your friend but don’t go across party lines at times. Politicians here die a million deaths it seem. I have gained a deep understand above and beyond the garrison. Its not as easy as most think. Democracy is just that. Politics is about system so you better can fight your own to get in and up the ladder in the party then fight the outside. Politics here is not for the weak or faint of heart. The politician gives up a lot in the pursuit and sometimes get lost in the mass and forget why they entered politics in the first place. Its not weakness but just how the system is. They don’t run the system, the people do and sad to say the people are the ones who support corruption and sometimes use the politician to implement and give it out as that’s how the spoil are had. At the end of the day, morals and ethics come to play and that’s where backbone comes in. Tons to do here in that regard but it’s the people not the office.

I wanted my right to vote in Jamaican when I was in America so I return because the Diaspora can not vote while overseas. I thought it ridiculous and still do but I understand better the issue now and why most should not vote who are citizens of other countries yet we find some in Parliament. I read my Constitution in grade 10 in America. Yes the Jamaica one as that was when I knew even the word and what it was good for. Most Jamaicans do not know their rights from their right hand so the courts are filled. The courts are a story to themselves and is best to avoid if possible. But the green card holder must be allowed to vote as they are still 100%. The issues of living here is far different from being in America or any other place, how can you vote on issue you don’t know anything of expect word of mouth especially after becoming a citizen of another country. Worries are abound since week about the Diaspora conference. My question is who cares. Who knows these people. Who elected them to represent the Diaspora. I certainly did not care when I was in America as my eyes and ears were here because of a simple thing and that was Jamaica is home and America was where I worked. Many times there are nothing new coming from the conference so its like beating an empty box and it made sound because there is noting in it but it does make headlines. What does it really matters as long as it just all talk coming from these people at the conference whose ideas and voices do not impact the ground and no action in a time when real action is needed.

In five years I met many deported and they have excellent ideas. There is nothing stupid about them but they have issues that will cause problems when they return home. Remember Marcus Garvey is a deportee most have forgetten this fact. The deportee return is not smooth to transition into this more aggressive and class driven culture and that is the first problem as the land here with no document or expired documents and no clue where to get them. They return with only the negative and fail to realize that they have an advantage to do good because of their experiences. Nothing dies faster than a deportee who forgets that this is not foreign but Jamaica. It’s cold but the truth.

I have come to a sobering conclusion based upon my experiences both good and bad since I have return. Even though I highlighted the negatives because they are so easy the difficult parts are the how to do more good. I am now a local again but the Diaspora is still in me. It is time for those who shout the loudest to shut up in the Diaspora and put up. Stop the bickering and decide to help with more than just money. Money here in Jamaica is worthless without hands and minds to put it to work. Start integrating Jamaica into your businesses in America so that our young people can get summer employment like the European student do to get exposed to new ideas and experiences. Come home and implement new businesses which are not here to offer services for local and international clients while providing employment . Come home and do some hands on charity or environmental work to change. Come together and build new schools or create scholarships to get the most talent out. Put your force and challenge the government to create new policies so you can invest in nation building such as low interest US based government bonds to do key development project and refinance debt.

I am not offering any solutions as too busy fixing what I have to fix to live here in Jamaica. Too much talk and no action. He who feels it knows it. I have heard so much things of why Jamaica is so bad and I have felt so much that if I was negative I would think cursed place. Jamaica is alright to live, work and raise a family in. Its not perfect and there is tons of work to do. I now find myself balancing farm, business and loans with a growing staff from 2 to 12 in less than 2 years and slated to expand more as casual labour is not included or business expansion. So yes the economy is growing as small business gear up to move. Was it solely government policy? I will tell you all no. It’s consumer confidence. The people must feel good about Jamaica for it to grow! The government can do better, the citizens must do better, the Diaspora must do better. Respect our land and environment, respect our people (out of Many One), respect for self goes along way.

KEEP THE FAITH

2011-07-01T02:42:00.000-05:00

Written by Carl Foster

In the current climate of world recessions, high cost of living and job cuts, fuel costs and house prices rising every year, you may feel like throwing in the towel and giving up on the good life. The idea of success seems like a distant dream and a distant memory. The temptation to follow the crowd and do what everyone else is doing may seem a desirable option. All though these may be challenging times, one thing is for sure there are still people winning in this world. The dreamer lives on. There is still room to dream. No matter how bad it gets you can still win. In the 1930's America suffered a great depression of which brought suffering and hardship onto millions of people. People lost their jobs and their lives. They saw no hope and no way out. It was inconceivable to even think of success in those conditions, but sure enough during the great depression there were still people winning, there was still people making money and living the dream. Such people as:

1) Henry Ford (Ford car motor company)

2) Luther Burbank (World famous scientist)

3) John D. Rockefeller (Inventor)

4) Andrew Carnegie (multimillionaire)

5) Napoleon Hill (author writer and philosopher) Napoleon Hill once “said anything the human mind can believe, the human mind can achieve“.

The power of faith. The dream was still alive just a little dusty, but the dream was still here. In life we live by the law of polarity: Polarity is a point of view and your level of awareness.

For example for every up there is a down, for every right there is a left. For every back there's a front. There are some people wining, there are some people lousing. There are some people living, there are some people dying, there are some people working, there are some people out of work. Rich or poor these are the laws of POLARITY. Depending on your mind set if ever positive or negative, this will determine which group you will fall into. POLARITY states that there is always opportunity no matter how bad it gets. It just depends on your level of awareness. If you have a prosperity consciousness you will see opportunity for success in all situations and if you have a poverty consciousness you will see lack of opportunity and limitations. The world will seem like a dark and empty place to you. The dynamics of prosperity are always there, which means the opportunity for happiness and success is all ways there too.

The great 18th century philosopher James Alan once said: Man is made or unmade by himself. As a beings of power and the masters of his thoughts. Man holds the key to every situation and contains within himself the transforming and regeneration agency by which he may make himself that he wills.

As human beings we are natural born survivors and creators. When one resource dries up we find new resources, new solutions and new opportunities. We have a mind that is so powerful it has the answers to all things possible. We need not worry as one thing is for sure, we will succeed and overcome our challenges and obstacles. In fact we will grow stronger than ever. We will think and create new ideas, new jobs, new inventions, new inventions, new technology and new ways of living. When one thing ends another is created that’s polarity. That’s the law. There are always positive conditions and negative conditions side by side. Despite the media and wide spread fear for loss of jobs. There are millions of people right now happy as ever and living out their dreams. They are enjoying their life as they see it.

The rich and famous hold dear to their dreams and never give up despite a forever changing world. In today’s current climate despite recession and job cuts there are many successful people enjoying great wealth and fulfilment such people as:

1) Richard Branson (Multi millionaire)

2) Allan Sugar (Multimillionaire)

3)Oprah Winfrey (Actress, talk show host and multimillionaire)

4) Simon Cowell ( Creator of X factor, reality show and multimillionaire)

5) Katie Price aka Jordan (Model and multimillionaire)

6) Donald Trump (Multimillionaire)

You need never give up on your dreams as you can win too. Your success is important to us all, as your success may be an idea that could change the world for the better. Your success could be the solution: Let’s take a look at the dreams of the past that came true and changed the world and made human life more comfortable for us: A house, the motor car, the phone, the aeroplane, the train, buildings, great cities, Sky scrapers, ships and boats, Radio, television, the phone, the computer, the internet, the mobile phone, all these dreams that came true and many more have changed the world for the better. These creations seemed impossible in the beginning but somebody was persistent and what is sure someone kept the faith. That’s why your success in life is important as your ideas, your goals and dreams may change the world for better too. You see it’s all connected success is important to us all in one way or another. Are you serious about your dreams? How serious are you? Do you want a happy and successful life? Freedom, love life, happiness, great health and wealth. It’s up to you. You hold the key to your new life. Your success is buried deep in your subconscious mind, with all the answers you need to succeed.

Earl Nightingale from Greatest Secret said: All you need is a purpose and FAITH.

Understand you hold the key to your dreams. KEEP THE FAITH. Your success begins now. You can win
Keep the faith written and created by author Carl Foster March 2011

Jamaica in my heart

2011-06-01T13:42:00.000-05:00

By George Graham

At this moment, somewhere in the Northern Hemisphere, a Jamaican expatriate is looking out the window at snowflakes drifting from a leaden sky, coating the limbs and trunks of trees, sculpting pristine mini-mountains and creating a postcard-perfect winter scene.

So, you might ask, is the Jamaican expatriate marveling at the beauty of winter?

Not on your life.

The Jamaican expatriate is thinking of sun-drenched beaches and misty-blue mountains, of island music and belly laughter. The Jamaican expatriate is dreaming of home.

That expatriate could be a powerful source of tourism revenue for Jamaica.

I am not talking only about the Jamaicans scattered across the face of the earth. Of course we all want to go home. We go home to visit and, increasingly, we go home to stay. Friends in Jamaica tell me that retiring members of the Jamaican Diaspora are coming home and buying up houses and land at such a rate that real estate prices have escalated.

But there’s more to it than that.

The members of the Diaspora have made friends and business associates in their adopted countries. They have made contacts in various fields. The Diaspora could be a powerful sales force for Jamaican tourism.

There are many organizations that could help marshal the force of the Diaspora. Across the world, groups of Jamaicans have come together to form clubs and associations. The Jamaican American Club (which publishes this newsletter) is a case in point. And in some areas, Jamaican groups are joining with other Caribbean organizations for social and political strength.

I recently met with radio host and actor Ron Bobb-Semple and teacher/actress Evie Larmond to discuss the launching of the Caribbean Coalition of Associations, Inc. in Tampa, Florida. Ron is from Guyana; Evie is from Jamaica. Ron is noted for his portrayal of Marcus Garvey. And you may have seen him in television commercials. He also hosts an Internet radio broadcast.

Evie is founder of Project Read Initiative, which sponsors seminars for Jamaican teachers of Grades One and Two. The four-day seminars held in Jamaica focus on teaching reading and comprehension. So far, 700 Jamaican teachers have attended the seminars.

The Caribbean Coalition’s launching was set for Jan. 12 at the Clarion Hotel on Fowler Avenue in Tampa. It was planned as “an evening of cultural diversity,” including stage presentations by students reflecting the folklore and traditions of the islands.

These are just a few of the organizations that I think the Jamaican government should recruit to help promote tourism.

George Graham is a Jamaican-born journalist and author who has worked as a reporter in the Caribbean and North America for more than half a century. He lives in Lakeland, Florida. His books, "Hill-an'-Gully Rider" and “Girlie: A Love Story,” are available at http://stores.lulu.com/georgeg.

Blog - http://blogs.jamaicans.com/gwgraeme

Web site - http://www.george-graham.i8.com

Economic Development, Biorefineries And The Carbohydrate Economy

2011-05-01T00:36:00.000-05:00

by Trevor Bogle

Change is scientific. Progress is ethical.
Bertrand Russell

Jamaica sits battered and hopeless at a crossroad at the beginning of the 21 century. Its current leaders tenaciously hold on to an economic model hopelessly mired in the paradigm of the last century .The ship of state meanwhile is relentlessly buffeted by geopolitical waves while narrowly avoiding the shoals of the unfurling energy crisis. This author has seen a glimpse of the future and like Prometheus the one who brings light, I seeks to bring the light of the new century to the people, a new paradigm and the beginning of a prosperous future for our nation. The nation’s leaders, fixated on the dying remnant of the 20 Th century; the hydrocarbon century are hardly recognizing the nascent birth of the Carbohydrate century and the promise it hold for the nation. The hydrocarbon century favored those nations who by luck of geography were endowed with the precious elixir, oil. The carbohydrate century favors all, for all are endowed with carbohydrate. All economies require an engine and fuel for growth. The preferred fuel that drove the worldwide engine and growth over the last century was inarguably oil, a hydrocarbon. Today it is consumed at an astounding and unsustainable rate of 1000 barrel per second, 80 million barrels per day, and 30 billion per year. Unsustainable in sheer quantity even without considering the deleterious environmental consequences now known as global warming and climate change. Jamaica, like all small island states, suffers all the physical , economic and social vulnerabilities, that severe climate change will and has wrought and must in its national interest as well as moral and ethical ones, move expeditiously and boldly into the carbohydrate century ; the carbohydrate economy.

What are carbohydrates and what is a carbohydrate economy? Plants takes carbon dioxide (CO2) from our atmosphere, water (H2O) from the soil and energy from the Sun and synthesize or bond them together in the presence of a cellular catalyst chlorophyll. The product CH2O is carbohydrate the cousin of hydrocarbons or CHn , Hydrocarbons are dead carriers of carbon and compact form of energy produced over millions of years in the earth’s crust, wherein the extreme heat and pressure have stripped the Oxygen away. Carbohydrates are living carbon and energy carriers. Carbohydrates are trees, plants, grasses, tubers, generically call biomass or living carriers of carbon and hence energy. While having much in common with their hydrocarbon cousin in that they can fuel our cars and trucks, our power plants and stoves, they are also feedstock for a chemical industry. They do so without significantly polluting our environment and most importantly are sustainable, renewable and indigenous. Carbohydrates democratize the world. All are endowed.

The key to the Carbohydrate Economy is the knowledge that every chemical and fuel produced from hydrocarbon can be produced from carbohydrates. Dow Chemical list at least 200 chemicals now produced from hydrocarbon that can be produced from carbohydrates. Fuels include Ethanol, Butanol, Methanol and Dimethyl- Ether or DME. DME and Butanol are touted as the fuels of the 21 century .DME, is a superior diesel fuel, cooking fuel and every manufacturer of gas turbines has endorsed its use in electricity generating power plants. Worldwide, current production is primarily from natural gas, a hydrocarbon. However, Sweden is pioneering the synthesis of DME from biomass, in particular from forest trees. Locally it can be produced from indigenous biomass sources such as sugar cane stalks, bagasse, guinea grass etc.http://www.vs.ag/ida/index_guete.htm via biomass gasification technologies being pioneered by Sweden. Butanol on the other hand is a superior fuel that can effectively replace gasoline. It has 1.5 times more energy per gal than ethanol. It is less volatile and thereby less hazardous to handle than either gasoline or ethanol. Moreover and most importantly it can be used in current automobile in high concentrations without costly engine modifications. While plant capital cost is significantly less than a similar capacity ethanol plant, in fact in the order of 35-50% cheaper.

In addition to fuels, carbohydrates are natural feedstock for plastics, polymers, paints, detergents, tinctures, gels and too numerous consumer products to mention all (including textiles and apparel; construction materials including hemp fiber reinforced limestone that is superior and cheaper than cement blocks and steel), pharmaceuticals and medicines, a virtually endless compendium of useful and exportable range of products made locally and from carbohydrate. Of the over 200 chemicals derived from sugars this author is recommending a pilot scale project to select a niche from which to launch a sugar based biotechnology industry in Jamaica. Foremost among these are the so called Polyol or sugar alcohols. Polyol can be recovered from molasses generated as a byproduct of sugar production. Polyols as non-nutritive sweeteners, find wide uses in low calories beverages, bake products and cosmetics. Polyols , although derived from sugars are not processed by the body like sugar and have many advantages such as reduced calories as compared to sugar; reduced insulin response; does not promote tooth decay and does not brown in bakery applications. Polyols can be produced from plant based sugars much more efficiently and cost effectively than from petroleum from which they are currently produced. Secondly furandicarbooxylic acid or FDCA from succinic acid derived from sugar cane to make biodegradable PET bottles a US$12 billion industry worldwide as container for beverages and juices. Thirdly, other sugar derived organic acids i.e. levulinic acid for deriving methyl tetra hydrofuran as fuel oxygenate and solvent and numerous other industrial and cosmetic products.

The carbohydrate economy represents the necessary paradigm shift to mobilize the entire Jamaican people and to revitalize the moribund Jamaican economy on a scale supplanting the 1950’s and 60’s, the period of greatest economic expansion in our history. It shifts focus from urban to rural; from primary production to value added; from low technology to high; from brawn to brain. The new economy conservatively has the potential to produce 200,000 direct, indirect and multiplier effect jobs. These are high skill and high value added enterprises. They will employ scientists of all disciplines (bio-physicist, bio-chemists, botanist, and agricultural sciences), engineers, technologist, technicians etc and last but by no means least farmers. The carbohydrate economy elevates our farmers and farming to a status unprecedented in their long service to humankind. The farm becomes the engine of growth and the hub around which biorefineries and biochemical laboratories revolve, regenerating rural economies and rural life, the bedrock of the Jamaica soul. These are not cottage industries in the common sense but advanced production units located close to their feedstock. The carbohydrate economy would usher in a revolutionary electric age in Jamaica wherein married to other indigenous electricity generating technologies such as photovoltaic, wind energy and ocean thermal energy conversion the cost of electricity generation can be reduced to US$0.06 per kw-hr instead of the currently prevailing US$0.23. With a cheap, renewable, sustainable and environmentally friendly energy base the Jamaican economy can at last provide for the well being of its entire people. The carbohydrate economy is not only scientific it is ethical. I humbly urge our decision makers to consider and dream.

WANTED IN JAMAICA: EMPATHY

2011-04-01T10:20:00.001-05:00

By Diana McCaulay

One of the most frequent questions I get asked about my novel Dog-Heart is this: How did you, an uptown woman, put yourself in the mind of a 12-year-old inner city boy? (I often think the sub-text is – how dare you? And please add the word “white” before woman and the word “black” before boy, although they are never actually uttered…)

I always say in response that I went through a period of very focused observation of children on the streets of Kingston, and then I thought about what I had seen, tried to imagine what the lives of the children were like, tried to feel what they might feel. So no, I tell my questioners, I didn’t research Dog-Heart, I empathized it.

Since May of last year, following what is now being euphemistically called the “Tivoli Incursion” where between 70 and 120 Jamaicans died in circumstances that have never been fully explained, I have been struck by the lack of empathy in the way in which we regard our fellow Jamaicans. This is not a new revelation; of course, we Jamaicans have always been fierce individualists. But as I continue to think about possible solutions to the apparently intractable problems of our society, I wonder if the answer is to be found in that simple word – empathy. What if we could put down the baggage we all carry – racism, classism, a host of categories by which we identify “us” and “them,” our perfectly justified hurt, rage and fear – and just ask ourselves: how would I feel if that were me?

I look at one of the photos on line of recently-apprehended Christopher Linton – I refuse to call him Dog Paw – and I see a thin young man, sitting on the floor, wearing only his briefs, his hands obviously handcuffed or tied. This is Jamaica’s most wanted man, a boy I knew, a child with a sweet character and a bright future, had he been born into other circumstances. And I ask myself – how does he feel, there on that floor? How does his mother feel, seeing that picture? I ask myself about his victims too – assuming he did commit the crimes he is accused of – and I can all too easily imagine their anger and pain and their wish for revenge. But suppose they were to put themselves in the place of a fifteen year old boy, out of school, no real programme for him to join, no one to champion or guide his life, his much loved older brother beaten to death while in the custody of the police? Might we be able to understand the hardening of his heart? At a more day to day level, might we be able to appreciate the driving of taxi drivers, if we understood the economics of their lives, might we marvel at the smiling faces of market vendors if we had taken their journey to market the night before and slept for a few hours on a piece of cardboard on the ground, might we support the railing against authority that is now being defined as a “personality disorder” if we appreciated the arbitrariness and incompetence of that authority when directed against those without friends in high places?

This morning, having made a song and dance about the outstanding performance of the security forces in apprehending Christopher Linton and his “lieutenant” Nicholas Nesbeth, we learn that somehow or other Nesbeth has simply walked out of police custody due to a “processing error”. I want someone to explain to me why that sort of authority is due our respect and deference.

Perhaps the best thing we could do for each other is merely to listen with our whole attention, to hear the true stories of each other’s lives, to say to each other: I understand. I see you, sister, I hear you, brother. We don’t like to do this in Jamaica, we call it washing our dirty linen in public and our leaders complain about the effects on tourism. We think empathy equates to softness on crime and call those who express it bleeding hearts. But if we empathized, all of us, concerning big things and small, we would not play our music so loudly as to keep school children and old people awake, we would yield to taxi drivers and pedestrians, we would give our time and our money to those organizations that try to help the young people on our streets. Empathy might just bring us a country worth living in.

The Black Woman I Am

2011-03-01T09:46:00.000-06:00

March is Woman History month

The Black Woman I Am

Written by Alicia Fleming www.ririjam.com

When they look at us black women,

They see the old-cotton-picking field hand, the old slave cook.

But that was a long time ago,

Now, the Black woman has arrived!

She has moved up from being a housewife to a

Business woman to a politician

She has taken charge!

Charge of her life, charge of her future

All the fears, all the reminiscing of the past,

The humiliation, are all behind her now.

When I look at the black woman of today, I see me.

I see my future, what I would like to be.

How I would like people to see me as a person, as a career woman

The black woman has combined fulfilling her role as a

mother and being a career woman

People look upon her and respect her.

The 80’s have brought new prospects for the black woman,

It has opened doors…

Open the outlook on careers and other opportunities

As a woman and …being Black

She has moved up from being an ordinary nurse to a

doctor, an engineer

People may try to put her down

They tell her that her place is in the kitchen!

Some even told her to go back to picking cotton

But, what does she care?

She is strong and determined to get ahead.

That’s the black woman I am.

A Brief Tirade On Insurgency And Government

2011-02-01T09:59:00.000-06:00

Written by Carol Lawton

In the timeline of history one thing holds true in regards to governments, liberation movements and paramilitary groups and that is they wrestling for power within the state. These struggles between the factions may be covert, overt or collaborative. But the end result is always the same as the formal structure now has to deal with the dynamics which will always lead to social unrest.

In the development of dictatorships, it is the state failure to control and maintain society because of the compromise given to the factions. Democracy is a scaring concept if the parties involve are not willing to safe guard it. Theocracy in of itself cannot be avoided as in any society one religion will be dominant but with this dominance it must allow all to seek their own enlightenment in the belief of a higher being. Socialism is an artificial state because of the availability of limit resources yet unlimited wants and the difference in talents and ability between people. Capitalism in its pure state is by far the best but pure capitalism without safeguards to protect the weakest of society will lead to corruption and social unrest hence no system is superior.

What is striking is the balance needed between them all. The strong arm of the state while give the citizen the choice to choose which opportunity to purse to build wealth while protecting the weakest to allow them to have access to the capital that they need to survive. Such a system is the ideal but where does the system begin or end.

To have seen democracies where there is none. Socialism in Capitalism is a paradox. The ism of government is an illusion as good governance is about making decisions based upon the need of the state. Hence to allow covert or overt groups to develop system above the platform of government will lead to strife and the eventual take over of government. In war torn region, it is the warlord who governs not the state, in inner city fiefdom it is the don through the collection of gains from transaction (unofficial tax), in war, the military rules the ground while the insurgency rules the night, and then the terrorists who rule by fear due to their ability to strike without regards for damage ; human or material.

The state of government can only exist in peace. Hence peace is the objective of all government in the end regardless of the form. So when a state foster insurgency groups or terrorists with agenda against another state. They have entered into a formal war under the veil that they are in the country as unknown participants. Functionaries of the state will always have access to the information hence it will always move information up the chain of command and the objective is the survival of the state and information is key. So when a country like Lebanon allows for Hezbollah to organize, finance, set support social systems and military logistics system it should not be surprise that if Hezbollah can not destroy its enemy, it will turn against its host like a parasite as it has already undermined the state in that an entity can wage war against a sovereign nation and undermine the state ability to protect its borders and deploy diplomatic policy that leads to peace. Woe be unto a state that believe that it can exist in peace while pseudo governments exist within.

Revolution Evolution and Devolution of Jamaica

2011-01-02T16:15:00.000-06:00

Written by Carol Lawton

Jamaica! What is it really to the people? We are in the time of Olympics and Independence where all eyes are glued to the track including myself and party out from last week. Have we evolved from the plantocracy or have we devolved into a mess of garbage that even we don’t know who we are, where we are going or where we are at. Many young speak of revolution but to what purpose whether it is social, economic or political what will it benefit us if we are unable to channel that energy to building a nation. All a revolution will due is adding more chaos to this volatile mix.

Here it is, bare face materialism with nothing tangible holding it together other than the fact that we are stuck on a rock in the sea. First world plans are just those plans, which will remain a myth to keep the population dreaming of a world to come when it is here. And while this may sound angry or aggressive, I would I would yes and no. I am not angry or am I aggressive in simple language I would say I am piss off has I am tired of this drawn out saga of words that lead to nothing. Why tell the youths about 2030 for First World. When up town or Mobay it’s at your fingertips. Why tell them 22 years for it when we can fly to it in less than a hour in Miami or Cayman? I will be 60 when that day arrives in Jamaica. I lived it, worked in it, and got educated by it as did many like myself. Why should we wait on this plan? This first world does not mean that you have to live abroad but the use of systems that make life easier. That’s first world!

But our system has failed us and is flatling on life support through loans for overseas and remittance. As a Trinidadian told me this week, do business in Jamaica is a foolish move just get a container of goods and market it, they will consume anything, that’s how you make money here. And he is right as even simple products are now imported into the country. Labor does not want to work because of the hustle paradigm of the black market and capital does not want to invest as the risks are too high. Our economy has evolved to nothingness as we have evolved to a nation of dependents live on remittances which is even figured into the GDP.

Public administration has failed us and that a fact as that is the only constant as government change but the civil administration remains the same. Its failure is placed at the feet of one man as a woman has not held that position has yet. Mr. Governor General it is you would is in charge of the Civil Service. You have the power to fire, hire and change. Get some political balls and do something as this figurehead deal is wearing thin on this generation. You don’t seem to be fulfilling the responsibilities that the constitution says. So either this guy works to help in the evolution and stop the devolution of the governing system so that aggressive elements do not respond with senseless revolution to leads to nothing as they have no common vision of what they want!

So to end this tirade by being brief, revolution in what, we are already killing each other as one just has to look at the murderer rate. We are killing each other by having so many functional illiterates in our mist. We are killing each other as there is no bond between country and self as symbols, folklore and history, constitution and rights are not known by masses. So where are we at in this process is the final question to you all that read this tirade as we have a 2030 plan that no one has ever seen, the masses don’t know where they fit into it, the middle class already living it and the rest want to fly a hour to it or live it through the cable TV. In order for Jamaica to evolve, devolve, or have a revolution, it has to have vision and our leaders can’t seem to relate that to us.

Tirade on Economies, Markets and Crime

2010-12-01T09:35:00.000-06:00

Written By Carol Lawton

Crime blooms where there is a vacuum in law and order. This space is filled by the informal organizations known as gangs. These gangs do not exist because of poverty but as a power structure to control resources. Poverty does not cause crime but the lack or law and order coupled with poor management of economies. Markets it must be noted can not be controlled due to the many variables that encompass it both internally and externally hence government can fix economies not markets. Thus with strong economies the pressures of the market can be statically forecasted which will lead to complex derivatives and commodities futures. Derivatives are really just complex futures as well.

These futures markets becoming planning tools that can change the policy of any nation hence the market control the policies, the policies control the economy and the economy is controlled by private and public sector. If a gap develops in this, entire population will be disenfranchised as is the case in inner cities around the world and especially here in Jamaica . As the flight of capital retreats from areas because the policy for these areas are not realistic for the development growth of formal markets, public and private sectors will also retreat as any investment must show a return on investment (ROI). This ROI can be tangible or intangible return but a positive return none the less.

As our garrisons in Jamaica has become disenfranchised the government past and present has allowed the financial sector to black list these areas. This is not a unique anomaly for Jamaica but the norm around the world especially third world where informal settlement ie squatting communities exist. Crime exists because the people here are at the bottom of Maslow’s pyramid. The social and economic fabric of communities are gone hence a battle for scarce resource which most times are controlled by political and criminal forces.

The government has the ability to end this blacklisting and informal settlement by using the full force of the state to enforce law and order. It has the ability to ensure that a titled property in the inner city is considered an asset vs a liability by banks, insurance companies and the owners of property themselves. It has the power to define clearly land ownership whereby a person can not be force out of their capital because of criminal elements as this is duress. The rule of law and not politics or fear should apply. If land owners consider these properties as valuable assets which the capital market recognizes as assets then a move to destroy the garrisons can begin. But when a free for all is allowed to operate with this basic resource informal organizations are cultivated as a means of self preservation hence the ultimate pariah for a government to control is born and that is the informal economy which policy cannot control or direct thus giving power to the informal organization as a revenue generator is in place to fund their activities with no regard to law and order.

A BRIEF ON INSURGENCY AND GOVERNMENT

2010-11-05T13:42:00.000-05:00

Written By Carol Lawton

In the timeline of history one thing holds true in regards to governments, liberation movements and paramilitary groups and that is they wrestling for power within the state. These struggles between the factions may be covert, overt or collaborative. But the end result is always the same as the formal structure now has to deal with the dynamics which will always lead to social unrest.

In the development of dictatorships, it is the state failure to control and maintain society because of the compromise given to the factions. Democracy is a scaring concept if the parties involve are not willing to safe guard it. Theocracy in of itself cannot be avoided as in any society one religion will be dominant but with this dominance it must allow all to seek their own enlightenment in the belief of a higher being. Socialism is an artificial state because of the availability of limit resources yet unlimited wants and the difference in talents and ability between people. Capitalism in its pure state is by far the best but pure capitalism without safeguards to protect the weakest of society will lead to corruption and social unrest hence no system is superior.

What is striking is the balance needed between them all. The strong arm of the state while give the citizen the choice to choose which opportunity to purse to build wealth while protecting the weakest to allow them to have access to the capital that they need to survive. Such a system is the ideal but where to the system begin or end.

To have seen democracies where there is none. Socialism in Capitalism is a paradox. The ism of government is an illusion as good governance is about making decisions based upon the need of the state. Hence to allow covert or overt groups to develop system above the platform of government will lead to strife and the eventual takeover of government. In war torn region, it is the warlord who governs not the state, in inner city fiefdom it is the don through the collection of gains from transaction (unofficial tax), in war, the military rules the ground while the insurgency rules the night, and then the terrorists who rule by fear due to their ability to strike without regards for damage human or material.

The state of government can only exist in peace. Hence peace is the objective of all government in the end regardless of the form. So when a state foster insurgency groups or terrorists with agenda against another state. They have entered into a formal war under the veil that they are in the country as unknown participants. Functionaries of the state will always have access to the information hence it will always move information up the chain of command and the objective is the survival of the state and information is key. So when a country like Lebanon allows for Hezbollah to organize, finance, set support social systems and military logistics system it should not be surprise that if Hezbollah cannot destroy its enemy, it will turn against its host like a parasite as it has already undermined the state in that an entity can wage war against sovereign nation and undermine the state ability to protect its borders and deploy diplomatic policy that leads to peace. Woe be unto a state that believe that it can exist in peace while pseudo governments exist within.

TIRADE ON RIGHTS IN SMALL STATES AND GDP

2010-10-01T10:33:00.000-05:00

Written by Carol Lawton

Liberty is nothing less than willingness to compromise my rights for the rights of others. Hence for societies to be free there has to be boundaries of the state, the citizen, and the government. The long standing premise of rights has been long discussed as too the responsibility of states but much has not been discussed about the health of the economies. In the globalization of states in world economies where a tree falls in the jungle and it’s heard in the financial markets where do small states fit into this process.

Small States economies are barely the size of a small multinational but with the full responsibilities of sovereign states. The functions of these states must be dependent on the human capital to expand the reach of the state. The citizens’ development and ability to produce acts as a force multiplier which in the end impacts the taxes need to make a small state viable. We all want our countries but do the citizens know what is required to hold this sovereignty.

I believe that this answer is no as a balance is not there between the services offered by the state and the consideration rendered by the citizen. The state has become the mule on which the citizen depends yet many are unwilling to produce to enable the mule to survive. Jamaica is for Jamaica but given a chance most will migrate as it has become our prison as well. Governments are not machines but made up of the human element.

Countries are not land alone but people bounded by a common history, language and culture. Hence for productive government and countries to function the common factor is the people. In a sense the state is the creation of the people. Why then should we be puzzled by the state of Jamaica? The balance is what is missing. Money, Policy, Planning is for nothing if the mass is unwilling to offer the state their all thus expanding opportunities for development and the expansion of the gross domestic product.

Revolution Evolution and Devolution of Jamaica

2010-09-01T10:03:00.000-05:00

Written by Carol Lawton

Jamaica! What is it really to the people? We are in the time of Olympics and Independence where all eyes are glued to the track including myself and party out from last week. Have we evolved from the plantocracy or have we devolved into a mess of garbage that even we don’t know who we are, where we are going or where we are at. Many young speak of revolution but to what purpose whether it is social, economic or political what will it benefit us if we are unable to channel that energy to building a nation. All a revolution will due is adding more chaos to this volatile mix.

Here it is a bare face materialism with nothing tangible holding it together other than the fact that we are stuck on a rock in the sea. First world plans are just that plans, that will remain a myth to keep the population dreaming of a world to come when it is here. And while this may sound angry or aggressive, I would I would yes and no . I am not angry or am I aggressive in simple language I would say I am piss off has I am tired of this drawn out saga of words that lead to nothing. Why tell the youths about 2030 for First World . When up town or Mobay it’s at your fingertips. Why tell them 22 years for it when we can fly to it in less than a hour in Miami or Cayman? I will be 60 when that day arrives in Jamaica. I lived it, worked in it, and got educated by it as did many like myself. Why should we wait on this plan? This first world does not mean that you have to live abroad but the use of systems that make life easier. That’s first world!

But our system has failed us and is flatling on life support through loans for overseas and remittance. As a Trinidadian told me this week, do business in Jamaica is a foolish move just get a container of goods and market it, they will consume anything, that’s how you make money here. And he is right as even simple products are now imported into the country. Labor does not want to work because of the hustle paradigm of the black market and capital does not want to invest as the risks are too high. Our economy has devolved to nothingness as we have evolved to a nation of dependents live on remittances which is even figured into the GDP.

Public administration has failed us and that a fact as that is the only constant as government change but the civil administration remains the same. Its failure is placed at the feet of one man as a woman has not held that position has yet. Mr. Governor General it is you would is in charge of the Civil Service. You have the power to fire, hire and change. Get some political balls and do something as this figurehead deal is wearing thin on this generation. You don’t seem to be fulfilling the responsibilities that the constitution says. So either this guy works to help in the evolution and stop the devolution of the governing system so that aggressive elements do not respond with senseless revolution to leads to nothing as they have no common vision of what they want!

So to end this tirade by being brief, revolution in what, we are already killing each other as one just has to look at the murderer rate. We are killing each other by having so many functional illiterates in our mist. We are killing each other as there is no bond between country and self as symbols, folklore and history, constitution and rights are not known by masses. So where are we at in this process is the final question to you all that read this tirade as we have a 2030 plan that no one has ever seen, the masses don’t know where they fit into it, the middle class already living it and the rest want to fly a hour to it or live it through the cable TV. In order for Jamaica to evolve, devolve, or have a revolution, it has to have vision and our leaders can’t seem to relate that to us.

Capitalism, Socialism, and Development

2010-08-03T13:54:00.000-05:00

Written by Carol Lawton

The market is pure and the market will correct itself is a premise I adhere to. Now as it states you will say Capitalist and I will say no. The wealth of the nation cannot be held by a few but should be for the welfare of all stake holders in equity. Now you will say Socialist and I will say no. Development of the nation can be realized by objectively analyzing key sectors using statistics and other analysis tools. I will again say no, but why these entire no? Too long have we stuck to the idea of measuring the correct course as far as social equity, capital development and national development using philosophies of centuries pass without acknowledging how far the systems have evolved?

Let again be frank and wipe the slate clean. Most economies were developing because of human farming heritage. The rich and the poor have always existed and man have sought various ways to determine equity for each other based upon many factors such as race, .status(citizenship), class, skills, education. For this we will use the latter four as this is where the world is at now. Most nation states as we know them today are political creation of less than 200 years. I will say less than 200 years because of the wars that were fought to secure or give up land to form the borders. Hence the stake holder of a nation may share numerous borders as these borders secured by might and political decisions. So we created a mess.

We have always been a globalize world in vision as empires always though their empire was the world. Alexander the Great may have started the model we now use as he left in tack the ruling class of regions that fell to the Hellenist. The Romans would further push this as one could be a Roman but never see Rome thus the creation of a borderless citizen. With massive military machines, the works to support them became more complicated even utilizing many of the principle of Adam Smith to produce their stock piles. Let’s not forget a to thank China for the printing press which open the minds of people in Europe which lead to the Reformation and yes ‘paper money’. By the time the Union Jack came to fly at its might, the development of the isms had began with mercantilism being the word of the day. The French with their revolution would bring about the vision of all citizens being equal and the removal of heredity rights and the spread of the vote. It must be noted that it was the French who removed barriers of religion as a requirement of citizenship to assimilate their Jews and colonial residents. Liberty was then the word of the day which caused fear among its neighbors hence small nation states forge a national unity with other nation state (Germany) to counter the might of France and its new equalitarian government. The next great moves was the Industrial revolution and humans move to rethink how he fits into a capital model that was not dependent on land hence the isms to understand the ideals (Capitalism, socialism, Marxism). It was also the time of Max Weber and the development of bureaucracy. A model that most do not give much credit to but allowed all this to take place as it is the only model to create segmented with using skills and intellect as a capital element. But all this took place over 1000s of years and not in the timeline of 30 years, the internet changed all this. The world is one for Global in reach, local in action and global in response.

Capitalism and Socialism fought to see each fighter knocked out by their own might. When the USSR went down we all cheered of boo. Now the USA is in a mess with 42% of its debt held by other countries, its money value help up not by gold or silver as the pass but good faith hence invisible which allowed for the development of a credit system which created the world largest consumer nation. With a war on the field and the credit system see the extent of its ability to grow a country without production. It went against the very principle on which Wall St stand and that is management and the not so invisible hand. The riskiest would be the hedge funds and the derivatives. Basically Derivatives are simply fancy futures which can be as silly as there will be a hurricane in Montana where people bet, hedge, and conduct arbitrage with billions of dollars that belong to other people. Coupled with lending to people with low capital base to maintain a mortgage and a inflated real estate market the market had to correct itself as it has gone too far right. Now 700B to correct it is nothing for what most should look at is the connection of all world market, multinationals, national lending/borrowing and movement of goods and services. If the greatest capitalist state does not act like a socialist it will cause a global collapse of the system affecting food and other commodities, travel, “what is considered money”, social services, housing, and an increase in poverty as there will no doubt be a transfer of wealth to those who have from those who were merely grabbing for the dream.

The real winner here is China but they will have to decide the development worth it as the intangible cost of the environment will bear down on it. China a socialist country with a capitalist mind set is streaming along to develop but its cost will be the environment. But since I really hate long tirade I would like you to consider one point where all countries are trying to sort out as we speak. Is it worth it to be listed as developed when the price is the physical environment, the interpersonal relation of people vs. machine, eating organic vs. not, paying for H2O a price higher than gas or milk, increase materialism where life has no value. It is the intangible factors that will determine if countries like Jamaica is considered develop as well as balancing the need for the market to do its work with the need for the people to find equity and balance. Basically all this is about is work hard and be productive, expand markets, PAY YOUR TAXES TO SUPPORT THE SERVICES, protect the environment (JOB ONE) and be human beings who can empathize and sympathize with each other. That is the long and short of Capitalism, Socialism and Development.( how humans relate to each other and their environment). That my definition of development without the technical support systems diving into it.

HOW CAN WE ERIDICATE POVERTY AND INCREASE EDUCATION IN THE INNER-CITY COMMUNITIES?

2010-07-01T12:34:00.000-05:00

Written by David Chen

Jamaica - over the years - without a doubt is one of the most popular destinations worldwide...

Actively, VOICING FOR JAMAICA and other think tank lobby group have realized that the BRAND JAMAICA is larger and more IMPORTANT than we think.

Since this current journey to Jamaica - 99% of Jamaicans who we have lived with across the island - believe that more can be done to brand JAMAICA positively.

Our natural resources is one that is being "used and abused"

Have you visited St Thomas recently? If you are not familiar with the parish St Thomas - from a natural point of view - without the westernized hype - St Thomas and other Eastern parishes on the island - need major assistance as to where development is concerned.

THE ROADS ACROSS JAMAICA

Admit tingly - over the past 6 weeks - we have been experiencing serious rain - and the heavy water settling on the roads - this has made the driving conditions - even worse than it was - before the hurricane season kicked in.

The Jamaicans have even turn a bad think into a joke - where it is now being said that every Jamaica hold a PHD - ... in this PHD term - it means that every Jamaican is a POT HOLE DODGER...

THE YOUTH AND EDUCATION

It is sad to say that many youngsters between the age 7 - 14 - can expect to hear from their parents - "sorry, you can't go to school today - because I haven't got the money to send you this morning"

OPEN LANDS AND YOUTH/COMMUNITY CENTRES

If you are familiar with Jamaica - you will agree that there are many wasted land across the island - the question being asked at the moment - is "How wise is it to build more community centers across the island?"

HEALTH AND ELDERLY

This is an issue that needs attending to - with immediate effect!

SUMMARISE

The roads across the island is an eye sore with pot holes - at times - it takes the residents and local businesses to assist greatly with the repair of the roads...

See the website http://www.voicingforjamaica.com/
You can contact us directly on 001 876 505 9186 or 001 876 864 1113

Tirade On Youth Constitution And Rights

2010-06-01T10:46:00.000-05:00

Written by Carol Lawton

There are fundamental right that all human beings have that can not be intruded on except in cases of dire emergency of the state. Today I still see why we are backward in the respect of human rights. Call it whatever you will. Soft hearted, criminal hugging, fighting against authority but there are limits and when these limits are overstepped that is where the rule of law comes in with the highest being the constitution which govern the land.

Our children learn at an early age not to read. Yes not to read. Reading requires a yearning for knowledge and explanation in facts not word of mouth. The first thing a good citizen learns is what is the rights and responsibility of the individual to the state. Thesecond is state’s functions and accountability to the citizen. The first persons to feel this intrusion of their rights are not the upper class or the middle class who have the luxury of the legal profession to answer their calls and question and lash out like a morey at all who intrude, it is the poor. The Nazis did not start with the rich they started with the poor.

This tirade is based upon the role of school once the child is out of school in their uniform but it is just one of many where the state or private entities in Jamaica invade the constitutional rights of Jamaicans. To the best of my knowledge all Jamaican including teens have a right of freedom of movement. How is it then legal for a school to force children out of a supermarket because they are in their uniforms. The students come from the poorest areas. The supermarket offers the cheapest prices hence the large number who purchase from the supermarket. The supermarket did not even care until a “representative from the school “showed up forcing them out. If that was my business I too would sue them for loss of earning from potential customer based upon their directives. Can a school override the individual right of freedom of movement just by virtue of the student putting on their uniform or does the rules of the school end at the gate or does the constitution only cover those above a certain age or with enough money to care about intangible as rights. As old rules are applied to a new generation, they will rebel unless given compelling rational reasons that empower them to respect rules that are intrusive to their every day activities.

Frankly, most young are thinking that the law or rules don’t apply at this age hence the disorder we face in present Jamaica where the majority is under the age of 35. These are not the 60’s, 70’s or 80’s, even the meekest is aggressive now for a simple thing as their rights. The hardest part of the whole thing is to take the illogical argument that its for their own good to give up right to a higher group hence the aggression as the higher group usually does not have a good moral argument as to why only we said so.

Personally if they were my children, I would get it in writing and sue the school. I would not even follow to even have a discourse because as educators they should also be teaching the students what are their rights and responsibilities in order for them to become functional citizens of Jamaica . Defend your rights at all cost is how I was brought up. Some may term it aggressive; some may term it uncompromising or even rude. But the moment the door is open for the abuse of your rights it’s a slippery slope. We love to talk about caring for the children but personally its all talk. Build their minds to understand who they are, what they are, where at in the globalize world, how the rule of law exist to create equity between the rules of society and the constitutional and natural rights of the citizen of the state. Teach the constitution in High School as Mandatory.

ARE BLACK MEN TOO CONTROLLING

2010-05-01T09:45:00.000-05:00

by Fiona Whata

Like all young girls, I grew up fantasising about a Prince Charming coming to sweep me off my feet to a fairytale wedding and a happily-ever-after marriage. Now that I’m older I would like to believe that I have a more mature and realistic perspective of matrimony. However, not having yet entered into this institution, I can’t deny that I still retain a little of my girlhood idealism regarding marriage. I suppose it is this optimism that despite discouraging reviews from those within, ensures that so many young women eagerly apply for membership to join the marriage club.

Pretty much all of the reviews I hear about married life are negative. The only time I hear or read about anyone praising their partner and recommending marriage is in romance fiction books and in movies. In real life all I hear is complaints - the last one from a cousin of mine. “Do me a favour”, she sighed to me in exasperation, “don’t get married. It is hell”. She told me she often seriously contemplated hooking up with a white man instead. Her main grievance on this occasion was that she felt her husband was oppressing her, and refusing to regard her as an equal. This wasn’t an isolated incident either. Whenever I am around any gatherings of female relatives or just black women in general, this is a complaint that is reiterated the most and takes precedent over any other problems.

“My husband is too controlling”.

“My husband expects me to wait on him hand and foot”.

‘My husband wants me to show deference to him all the time.’

The opinion has slowly taken hold in my mind that black men tend to have a problem with viewing black women as their equals. To make it clear: I don’t think all black men are like this, just some. So why am I singling out black men? Well it’s just that I have noticed that there seems to be a greater number of black men who are in the ‘some’ category than men of other races. If you’re a black guy who treats your woman as an equal and does not seek to dominate her, there’s no need to feel attacked on reading this. For me, it’s ‘some’ black men I am referring to. I’ve had acquaintances with married white women and while they might moan about husbands being addicted to sports or not being romantic, I rarely, if ever, hear them complaining that their men deny them equality in their marriages. I’m not saying that there aren’t any non-black men who don’t treat their women as equals, but oppressiveness doesn’t appear to be a trait that afflicts them in the epidemical proportion evident among certain black men. I could be wrong, but it does appear to me that there are more black men than white who are threatened by sharing power in a relationship. I wonder why this is so and if it is possible to have a truly equal relationship in black partnerships, in terms of decision-making, responsibilities and power.

Coming from an African environment, I am acquainted with the traditional roles assigned to women. Wives are the homemakers; they tend to the housekeeping chores and look after the children. It is the husband who has a job, brings home the bacon and makes all the decisions which the wife complies with and plays no role in. Good wives submit to their husbands and serve them. This traditional role expected of women is not restricted to just Africans of course, but it appears to persist more in the African culture than it does in Western culture. While this master-servant like relationship is not a rule that is strictly adhered to the letter in this day and age because women have jobs and aren’t literally servants to their men; it is still a rule that however loosely applied, is expected to set the dynamics of partnerships. Normally husbands have no problem with their wives working and don’t treat them as slaves, it is only when they find themselves battling to overrule their wives regarding a decision or when she starts earning a salary equal or surpassing their own, that power and equality suddenly becomes an issue. “The trouble with women”, they’ll lament, “is that they don’t know their place”, or “the trouble with women of today is that they have become too westernised and want to be on an equal footing with men”. The number one reason these men give for refusing to treat their spouses as equals is that “..it is our African culture.’ Even in places away from Africa like the UK, some black men defend their stance similarly: “as black people this is our culture”. It is however, difficult to take these men’s comments seriously upon the observation that they don’t appear to be all that devoted to other aspects of African culture, like wearing traditional African clothing or worshipping the ancestors of their forebears. The culture card that is whipped out is, I suspect, simply an excuse and the real answer lies elsewhere.

So why do some black men who complain so much about the inequality and oppression their race has faced in the past, insist on inequality and oppressing their own women? One would have thought that being black, they, of all people, would be repulsed by the idea of oppressing anyone themselves. The only answer I can think of is one I base on logic. If a man is secure in himself, he doesn’t feel the need to go around constantly over asserting himself to show that he is a man. It is only an insecure man who seeks to dominate and control those around him to cover up his insecurity. In marriage, this would explain a man’s need to control and oppress his wife. It is only an insecure man whose ego is so fragile that he finds any notion of equality a threat to his masculinity and can only deal with women if he places them in an inferior position to him.

The men, who seem to bleat on the most about women ‘not knowing their place,’ are those from an older generation who grew up in times when racial discrimination was most rampant. Perhaps these men felt so oppressed and powerless in society that the only way they could feel like men, was to place themselves in a superior position to women by being controlling with their wives. And perhaps the black men of today that have problems sharing power in relationships have subconsciously picked up the idea from their fathers that the only way to be a real man is to suppress and rule over women. It would explain why there are more black men than white who are threatened by sharing power in marriages. All this is just speculation on my part of course, and I am aware that it is a flawed theory. The traditional role of the wife was in place long before the white man came to Africa, so fragile egos created under the oppression by white society cannot be the main reason why some black men today can only handle playing a superior role in marriage. It is however the only theory that makes the most sense to me at the moment. Perhaps I might have a better idea of the psychological motivations of these dominating men if I were to marry one of them.

From the viewpoint I have now, I can only conclude that it is insecurity, not dedication to culture, that drives some men to be so repulsed by women who challenge them as equals rather than meekly submitting to them. I am not criticising traditional partnership roles in general; there is nothing wrong with women being homemakers and men being the sole breadwinner, but it would be nice if women could play a role in making decisions if they wish without a fuss from their men.

Because not all black men deny equality to their wives, I would like to believe that my optimism in the institution of marriage is not misplaced. Hopefully there are a number of Prince Charmings’ out there who will respect their black wives enough to have an equal relationship with them.

WHAT IS THE REGGAE DANCE LAW

2010-04-01T12:33:00.000-05:00

(One Dance Won’t Do)

By Myrna Loy

He stood there against the wall, dressed in a silvery-grey suit, razor sharp seams, toes turned outwards; silk socks and crocodile shoes. He was standing in between his two bredren - one arm hugging his waist while supporting the elbow of his other arm so that his fingers could stroke the stubble on his chin. He was rocking his head to the music – a leather cap tilted precariously on one side of his head. From a distance it looked like he was sneering. He closed his eyes slightly, raised an eyebrow, and looked straight at me. I rolled my eyes but couldn’t help grinning. Just look at him I thought: “ ‘im tink him nice - who stands up like that these days? I said to myself, while another part of me was thinking... he’s too cute!

I saw him lean back his head as if he was saying something to one of his bredren. I knew his type - the type that had not evolved; the type who had not moved with the times; the type who probably had a 30 year old BMW or a Cortina outside that was his prize possession and had the nerve to say: ”me have a bimmer outta back.. you whan come ride wid me?” with every pun intended. Why did I always attract this type? And the weird thing is, something about them fascinated me against my will.

I wanted to choops, and look for someone ‘I could take home to mother’ but that wasn’t happening in this club, not now.. not tonight.

We had established eye contact and connected with a smile, which was a fatal combination in the dance arena. I knew he would be confident now to walk over - and true to form he does:

”W’appen baby?” he says, in a deep Barry White voice. My eyes scan him swiftly. Hmmm, diamond in left ear, clean hair cut, smooth skin, a goatie, big hands, clean nails - I can’t help smiling back. “Yuh waan rub a dub to dis chune yah?” His choice of words perturbs me a little, but I think, what the heck, it is only a dance!

Derrick Harriott was singing “some guys have all the luck” in the background, the treble is high, the base is low - a wicked chune. I would be a fool to let this dance pass me. I accept, praying he can ‘rub-a-dub’ so that I am not disappointed.

That is the thing about a dance – with the right partner and the right music, it has a magnetic effect. I mean, a dance should just be a social interaction between two people, however, in a rub-a-dub dance, integrate it with a the right song, the right riddim track and the right person, it becomes a fatal prescription for a love affair.

I wanted to dislike him because of his outdated stance, and unsightly gold chains around his neck, but he pulled me towards his hard frame and I am just the right height to rest the side of my head on his shoulder and that was it. His cologne mesmerised me - it should be a crime to smell so good! I wanted to find an excuse to dislike him. I found plenty but they weren’t enough to make me refuse him: he wasn’t articulate, my parents would not approve of his earring and gold tooth, but when he cupped my back with his strong hands; pressed his nose in my neck and breathed hot air down my chest throughout the dance - that was it - my knees went, literally.

Have you ever danced with a man (or if a man is reading this, have you ever danced with a woman) and your legs start to tremble uncontrollably? Well, that was me on the dance floor - and then it was not only my legs that were trembling uncontrollably, it was my body too, but in sync with the riddim, so hopefully no-one noticed, except him and me.

The man could dance - his body navigated mine with such expertise, it was as though he was teasing out sensations with his meandering. One dance led to another as the DJ selected one nostalgic chune after the other. I am sure we must have danced through 7 records without stopping.

“You know how fe move eeeh?” he whispered hotly in my ear. I winced at his accent combined with his choice of words, but smiled without meaning to. I didn’t approve of the sensations that were going through my body with just a dance, they were taking me down a road I had no intention of travelling.

“So what’s your name? “ he continued.

“Susan” I lied, “What’s yours?” [I always called myself Susan when someone asked my name at a dance, probably because I am expecting them to realise that it is not my real name] but they always fell for it..

“My name is Denton Walker”, he said with a wide grin; the light catching the gold tooth, causing it to sparkle.

Denton Walker?? You can’t get more black than that I thought.

“I used to know a Susan,” he continued.

“So what?” I felt like blurting out, “... as if I want to know all the Susan’s he’s slept with!”

“She beautiful jus like you.. she have a nice smile jus like you, and she dance nice jus like you..” All of a sudden, the dance didn’t feel so sweet again, I withdrew from him and told him I wanted to use the ladies’ room.

“Bloody cheek!” I thought as I reached the woman’s room, flushed and with no desire to pee. Fancy asking a woman to dance and then talking to her about another woman, as though I am supposed to be flattered or interested! But then I thought: “hole up.. hole up… you don’t even know the man so why you getting in a tizzy? It was true. Why was I getting so wound up about a man I hadn’t known for more than 30 minutes. Did the 7 consecutive dances licence me to be jealous or have a claim on him?

Yes, I guess in my mind they did. A man doesn’t dance with a woman 7 times and it don’t mean anything. Besides, rub-a-db dances could lead to love, long-term relationships and sometimes marriage. It was the reggae dance law that if you danced consecutively with someone 4-5 times, an implied contract was formed. It would be inappropriate for him to ask anyone else to dance and the woman would not dance with anyone else either - unless of course, you were fool enough to leave the man/woman to go to the bathroom before you secured the digits, and spent longer than 10 minutes in there like I did, then the impled contract was broken (although not irretrievably). If you were lucky, you might find your dance partner when you come back, that is if s/he hasn’t been whisked away by someone who can dance just as good as you

I realised that I was giving Denton permission to breach the Reggae Dance Law by staying away so long, so I eventually got myself together and wondered why I had reacted so possessively. I figured that even though I had only just met him, we had made a connection through the dance. The riddim spoke on our behalf and we consummated the relationship through the vibes. So, what had happened between Denton and myself was more than a dance - it sounds crazy, but I can’t think of any other explanation, can you?

I patted my nose with a powder puff, reapplied my lip gloss, puffed up the side of my hair which had been flattened by the dance, composed myself and went back into the dance hall. Denton was dancing with someone else.

“Well, it didn’t take him very long did it?” I said to myself angrily. I stood there trying not to look annoyed. I started dancing by myself to signify I didn’t care, although secretly I felt uncomfortable. I wished that someone would pull me for a dance so I wouldn’t feel so conspicuous. I wanted to be in a position where I could ignore him and I could do that if I was dancing with someone else.

I started looking for the two girls I had come in with. One of them was brukking her back with this tall guy. I don’t know how she wined like that. She was like a snake, and her protuberant bottom swished from side to side - it was very noticeable in the clingy fabric she was wearing. My other friend was engaged in conversation (while dancing), with some guy she had just met.

As I walked over towards them, one short, fat man with acne and large framed spectacles, pulled me for a dance. “Be careful what you wish for came to mind!” He had on one of those dogtooth jackets, a black shirt and a white tie and white trousers.

I eyes fell to the floor, he had cream shoes on. How the hell can you wear white trousers and cream shoes? His face was shiny too, which was probably why he had acne! If this was my knight in shining armour then I preferred to do without! Just as I was thinking of an excuse to decline the proposition, I felt someone tug my arm gently from the other side. When I looked up to see who was, it was Denton - gorgeous by comparison. So even though I wanted to be spiteful, refuse or at least give him a taste of his own medicine, I couldn’t. I saw the woman he had been dancing hovering around, with her lip hanging down, hair mash up where she too had rested it on his shoulder - looking as though she wanted him to dance with her again, so even though I didn’t want her left offs, I did not want to refuse just in case he danced with her again. I rationalised it by convincing myself that since he only danced with her once and had danced with me 7 times in a row, he obviously liked me better! Besides, the alternative was to dance with someone who was not only height-challenged, but unattractive. I allowed myself to be pulled into Denton’s confident arms, which seemed more forceful this time around!

Relationships, children, love and marriage have been initiated by a single dance. Audrey Hall definitely knew the meaning behind the song: “One Dance Won’t do”.

Colorism

2010-03-01T10:07:00.000-06:00

I was reading Deborah Gabriel’s book “Layers of Blackness” – Colourism in the African Diaspora, and the first thing that came to mind as I read, was does colourism really exist today?

Deborah Gabriel, apart from being the author of ‘Layers of Blackness’ is a teaching professional and a journalist. The book was inspired by a feature Deborah wrote about skin bleaching in 2005, which followed a documentary about skin bleaching by a black female filmmaker and by the failure of mainstream writers to discuss the psychological and historical factors associated with skin bleaching. The primary aim of her book, despite its connotations of shades of colour is, she says: “to unite, not divide people of African descent”.

The thing is, from my perspective, the word ‘colourism’ is a divisive word. For those of you who are unfamiliar with the term, it is, in blunt terms, when someone says “no badda tawk to him – him too black” or, “don’t go out into the sun my dear, you will get too dark!” Colourism (according to Wikipedia) is a form of discrimination in which human beings are afforded differing social treatment based on skin colour. The preference often gets translated into economic status because of opportunities at work. Colourism can be found across the world and the term is generally used for the phenomenon of non-white people discriminating within their own ethnic group!

Yes, in plain talking it means blacks discriminating against blacks because of their colour, which is why many of the darker-skinned people have opted for bleaching creams to make their complexions lighter. I read on the website that in India, Fair & Lovely, which is a bleaching cream, have cornered 70% of the bleaching cream market! And there is a video on the internet made in Egypt which claims “if you want to be successful and attractive, bleach your skin white”. It is this kind of misrepresentation that gave rise to many tragic mulattos in the early 1900s. How many of you saw “Imitation of Life” by Fredi Washington who played Peola, a tortured self-hating bi-racial girl who said to her Negro mother: “Don’t come for me. If you see me in the street, don’t speak to me. From this moment on I am white, not coloured. You have to give me up!” Wanting to live as white because she was tired of being treated as a second class citizen ‘that is being treated like a 1930s black American’. She passed as white and begged her mother to understand, which along with the 20th century advert cited above, implies that success comes with skin colour. So in answer to my initial question, does colourism still exist today – yes, sadly it seems that it does!

In order to understand the present, we need to refer to the past, so let’s have a look at the possible reasons for colourism. Most of us know that light skinned Negroes were the ones kept in the house, while dark skinned Negroes were made to work in the fields. Did this imply that the light-skinned slaves were more superior to the dark-skinned or was it because the mulattos (as mixed-race were called back then) were the product of rape and therefore the slave masters felt some paternal loyalty to their offspring? Did the perceived preferential treatment adversely affect dark-skinned female slaves, or could it be that because the light-skinned slaves were remnants of their offspring,, they were happy to see them being given an opportunity to enjoy a marginally better lifestyle? We will never know. All we know is how it has been translated to us through the centuries, that lighter is brighter and blacker is slacker – but is that true?

There is an argument in the United States that on average, African-Americans score 7 to 15 points lower than European-Americans on IQ tests. Many conservatives believe this is because blacks are genetically inferior to whites. But liberals believe that the IQ gap is the result of nearly three centuries of slavery and yet another 130 years of segregation and institutionalized racism.

Hume, Krieger, Sidney & Coakley and many others have tried to state that the lighter you are, the higher your IQ level. Have you ever heard such a load of tosh!? If that is the case, why is Professor Geoffrey Palmer, DSc, OBE whose skin tone is dark, one of three people in the UK who has a Doctor of Science? A Doctor of Science (DSc) for those of you who do not know, is conferred on a member of the university who has a proven record of internationally recognised scholarship. Professor Geoffrey Palmer OBE is such a member and as such, was required to submit a selection of his publications on Grain Science, to the board of his faculty, which decided that he merited this accolade, along with Dame Jocelyn Bell Burnell, a white Scientist and radio astronomer who discovered what turned out to be neutron stars, also called pulsars.

When I interviewed Professor Geoffrey Palmer who is the author of “The Enlightened Abolished” on my radio show in March of this year, he told me that the reason he accepted the OBE the day before his mother died (apart from his mother telling him he should) was to show that he was as competent and as intelligent as anyone else on the planet, and that is of course regardless of colour (shade or otherwise)!

So let’s put this colourism to bed and end it with the famous words of Marcus Garvey:

The appeal I now make is: "For God's sake, you men and women who have been keeping yourselves away from the people of your own African race, cease the ignorance; unite your hands and hearts with the people Africa, and let us reach out to the highest idealism that there is in living, thereby demonstrating to others, not of our race, that we are ambitious, virtuous, noble, and proud of the classification of race.

FORGOTTEN BRANCH OF BLACK COMMUNITY PERSEVERES

2010-02-01T12:29:00.000-06:00

By Charles R. Saunders

In the eastern Canadian province of Nova Scotia, an unsung branch of the black diaspora persists. The history of the black Nova Scotian community is a singular story of survival that is all-too-often overlooked. It shouldn’t be; it involves not only one small province, but also two continents.

People of African descent have been part of Nova Scotia’s history since the beginning of European exploration and colonization – and, perhaps, before that. A black man named Mathieu Da Costa was part of a 1608 French expedition. Da Costa served as an interpreter between the French and local Mi’kmaq people. His knowledge of the Mi’kmaqs’ language suggests that he had prior experience among them.

The first major presence of blacks in the region came in the wake of the American Revolution. Lord Dunmore, royal governor of Virginia, offered freedom to African slaves who joined the British in their battle to suppress the rebellious American colonists. Blacks were faced with a choice between rebels who desired freedom for themselves but not their slaves; and a colonial power that promised freedom for the slaves.

Many blacks chose to join the British before the Americans belatedly promised freedom to slaves who fought for the rebellion. After the British lost the war in 1783, they resettled most of the blacks who had fought for their cause in Nova Scotia – which had opted out of the revolution. About 3,500 Black Loyalists, as they were called, migrated northward – along with 1,200 slaves held by Loyalist whites who had also fled the newborn United States.

Like the whites, the free blacks were promised land and provisions as a reward for their loyalty to the Crown. Unlike the whites, the blacks received less than they were promised – and sometimes nothing at all. Even so, a group of Black Loyalists founded Birchtown, the first free black settlement in North America. Angered by the lower wages the blacks were forced to accept, whites from neighboring Shelburne stormed Birchtown in North America’s first race riot.

In 1791, John Clarkson, a British agent for the settlement of freed slaves in the West African colony of Sierra Leone, came to Nova Scotia to recruit Black Loyalists for a “back-to-Africa” migration. The blacks’ experience in Nova Scotia had been far from idyllic. Racism was making a mockery of their freedom. Thus, about half of the Black Loyalist population set sail for Sierra Leone in 1792. The half who decided to stick it out in Nova Scotia – along with another group of freed African-American slaves who arrived after the War of 1812 – formed the ancestral core of the province’s black community.

That community remained small and scattered. Some blacks lived in Halifax and other cities and towns; others in isolated rural communities built on those early land grants. African Nova Scotians have struggled against the same racism that besets blacks throughout the diaspora. Within the context of that struggle, some black individuals from the province have made their mark in the wider world. Here are some examples:

William Hall, son of freed slaves, was the first black person and first Nova Scotian to earn the Victoria Cross, in service with the Royal Navy during the Indian Mutiny of 1857.

George Dixon became the first black boxer to win a world championship when he took the bantamweight title in 1890.

Sam Langford, a 5-foot-7 pugilist who started his career as a lightweight and ultimately competed successfully at heavyweight during the early 1900s, was so feared that no champion – not even the great Jack Johnson – was willing to give him a title shot.

Portia White was an opera and concert singer of the mid-20th century whose voice was favorably compared with that of the legendary Marian Anderson.

Daurene Lewis became the first black woman mayor in North America when she was elected in Annapolis Royal in 1984.

More recently, poet George Elliott Clarke won the Governor General’s Award in 2001, for his book Execution Songs. Kirk Johnson fought for a world heavyweight title in 2002. And in 2006, Mayann Francis was appointed Lieutenant-Governor of Nova Scotia.

Over the centuries since 1783, the core black community has been augmented by newcomers from other parts of Canada, as well as migrants from the United States, the Caribbean, other parts of the diaspora and Africa itself. But the population remains small, and black people continue to face racism in the education, economic and justice systems.

Still, the community perseveres and progresses, keeping alive the heritage of ancestors who took a chance on a hope for freedom during a time of slavery.

By Charles R. Saunders is the author of the Imaro novels.

To learn more about his work, visit www.charlessaunderswriter.com

RELIGION: AN AID OR HINDRANCE TO SPIRITUAL FULFILMENT?

2010-01-04T11:49:00.000-06:00

By Fiona Whata

Whoever we are, we are all the same. We all want the same things in life: happiness, fulfilment, not just in our lives, but also within ourselves. What makes us happy, what motivates us? As no two people are alike, the desires and goals of people are varied. Yet, through whatever walk of life, through whichever era, some common themes tend to emerge of what drives us through our lives: who are we? Why are we here?
Spiritual wholeness is an eternal quest for the human race. The two most common pathways to this goal are religion, which I define as an organised system that believes in the spirit world and adheres to a specific set of practices designed to bring them closer to God, and what I call spiritualism, which has the same goal as religion but without its structural aspect. Attending church regularly would fall under the category of religious, while I would regard reading tarot cards and exploring one’s psychic potential as spiritualism. The aims of the two are the same, yet there is a curiously uneasy relationship between the two. In trying to understand why this is the case, we may understand ourselves better.

Christianity’s hostile attitude towards all things psychic is well acknowledged. The King James version of the Bible states in Leviticus, ‘A man also or woman that hath a familiar spirit, or that is a wizard, shall surely be put to death: they shall stone them with stones: their blood shall be upon them.’ Deuteronomy further elaborates,
‘There shall not be found among you….anyone who practices divination or tells fortunes or interprets omens, or a sorcerer or a charmer or a medium or a necromancer or one who inquires of the dead, for whoever does these things is an abomination to the LORD.’

However, what the Christian faith has failed to acknowledge is that the construction of its own religion appears to heavily rely on psychics, and that the chronicles of its saviour reveals him to have been, perhaps, the greatest psychic who ever lived. The Bible, in particular the Old Testament, is full of prophets. An online dictionary defines a prophet as an authoritative person who divines the future. In modern day parlance, this would be a psychic. Holy men such as Moses, Isaiah, Samuel and Daniel either spoke with God, saw visions, predicted the future, or all three. The psychic gifts of clairaudience, clairvoyance and fortune telling are clearly at work here, and the display of psychic activity become more abundant when Jesus makes his appearance in the New Testament.

The Black British Experience through the Eyes of a Jamaican

2009-12-01T09:48:00.000-06:00

By Winston Walker

I have always thought that coming from a colony has probably made a lot of us culturally richer than we care to believe and the economical racism that many of us face from a visible minority today, can be traced right back to the attitude and ideals of our old colonial masters. When we were in our own country we were made to feel very much like second class citizens so why should we be made to feel any different in the country of our masters? My grandmother was a very God-fearing woman who went to church from a very early age and thought it was very important to hold on to her religious beliefs when she moved to England.

My Grandmother had worked in nursing in Jamaica and went to church every Sunday, a tradition for most people from the Caribbean that they have tried to maintain. So what a joy when she discovered that there was a church just down the road from the room that she had rented. She put on her best clothes and made sure that she had money for the collection. While in the service she felt that she stood out as she was the only black face in the congregation, but she did enjoy fact she was still holding onto the values that she had in Jamaica. The service only lasted an hour and when it finished she sat down, hoping that someone would come and talk to her as she was still feeling very isolated and was in urgent need of making friends. Suddenly she heard a voice behind her saying, “hello, we have never seen you here before”, she also sensed a little intimidation in the voice. She looked behind her and noticed it was the priest who had been giving the sermon, she felt reassured by this and the sight of the man in the black robe made her feel very comfortable, but all that was to change.

The priest asked if he could sit down and have a chat with her and she said that was fine. “Thank you for coming”, the priest said, “but my parishioners are not comfortable in the presence of black people, so if you don’t mind please don’t come back to this church.” At that moment she just wanted to get on a plane and go back to Jamaica. My Grandmother would never express her views vocally and she would not have done so on this occasion, but this would be a story she would tell myself and the rest of our friends and family many times. This experience was also to make her a very bitter woman, but she would not be the only one who would have these experiences, and in years to come there would be a generation who would not tolerate these prejudices and many would lose there lives or find themselves imprisoned fighting for the right to be treated the same as their fellow human beings.

We often confine stories like my Grandmothers to Bible belt America or Apartheid South Africa, although racism was not as harsh in Britain as it was in these places for a lot of people from visible minorities. In Britain a lot of these people would embrace the ideals of such black leaders Nelson Mandela, Malcolm X and Martin Luther King. Although I do believe in non-violence, I would have believed in the Ideals of Malcolm X as I believe that we all have a right to defend ourselves by any means necessary. I do not believe in the saying that we should turn the other cheek, it does not make sense.

When I was 16 I began taking an interest in these people and also the general history of the many black people who were born in the Western world and I came to discover that we are a people who have no name, no religion no culture and no identity. I remember talking to a Rastafarian friend many years ago and him asking me my name and replying “Winston Walker” “No” he said, “that is your masters’ name”. I didn’t understand it then, but I would get to know what he was talking about in years to come and would embrace these values as I tried to find something I could identify with in life.

Although I would deny that I am racist, I do believe that racism has dictated the lives of many black people in Britain, whether it be through housing, education, social welfare, judicial issues or employment etc. I have always asked myself, why is it that when we - people of a visible minority want anything to maintain that certain level of integrity within our cultures - we always seem to find ourselves going to areas that look like they have not been developed since the second world war?

The area I grew up in reflects the economical racism that many of us experienced and are still experiencing today. A few years ago I looked on the internet and was looking at the area that I grew up in Birmingham. I was to discover that many years before, people of a visible minority were invited over here to live. These areas were very suburban, exclusive areas, so why, when these people moved to these areas, were they never developed? I think it would be fair to say the same about many places where people of these minorities decided to settle in Britain.

Throughout the 70s and early 80s these problems were highlighted only through frustration that led to riots in many British inner cities where people were getting a little sick and tired of living in these atrocious conditions and also by the way many were being treated by the law and the judicial system. If you were black you were more likely to have some form of social stigma attached to you, whether it be a criminal record or mental illness, or there was always that expectation that if you were black you were expected to have some form of negativity attached to you, you could be a drug dealer, mugger or thief etc. There are certain elements of people within white middle class Britain, who will always find it hard to accept that all black people are not drug dealers or robbers or thieves, and these people, I do feel, need educating.

At the beginning of my story, I referred to myself coming from a colony. I do think there is a lot of ignorance from the nations who ran these colonies, as being the servant we knew everything about our masters, but at the same time our masters knew nothing about their servants, in that sense the servants have become richer than their masters. Whereas in our home countries we were taught everything about the British Empire it also amazes me that we were never taught anything about our cultures. Whatever I learned was taught by my parents, so does this mean that although we live in multi-cultural society that one culture is more important than the other? I say that we need to embrace each other’s cultures and learn something from each other.

While living in Scotland I often saw a lot of weariness when it comes to the English, but that same weariness, I would say, is the same weariness that people of a visible minority have experienced with whites for many years, hence referring back to the story of my grandmother. I personally am not looking for sympathy or pity, but understanding and to be able to share what I have to offer. Am I happy with race relations in Britain? The answered would have to be yes, but there is always room for improvement. Things have changed since my Grandmother came to Britain, but I also think that these situations must never be forgotten, so that they cannot be repeated.

Within the United Kingdom there are four different countries, England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales. I always ask myself in which category do we people of a visible minority fit in. I personally do not want anything to do with any of these, to be part of one would be separatism, but I would prefer to be part of something that is British as I see a whole multitude of people included in the term of being British. We have Scottish, Welsh, Irish and English and I would also include people from the Caribbean, Africa, Asia, etc. In my eyes that’s what makes Britain great.

CAN WHITE FOSTER PARENTS EQUIP THEIR BLACK CHILDREN TO DEAL WITH RACISM?

2009-11-02T10:30:00.000-06:00

by Winston Walker

Whilst out shopping in my local supermarket, my eye was captivated, by a young black girl being rather unruly, this girl in my opinion could only been aged around 5 or 6, however what struck me even more was that she was addressing the adults who were with her as mother and father, but what was unique was the fact that the people she was addressing as mother and father were also white, I assumed they were her foster or her adoptive parents.

I never really thought much about it, until I spoke to a friend from the city in which I grew up, this friend like myself is black, however he was also adopted by a white family, although he praised the way he was brought up he would often confide to me the problems he would have in adult life in relating to other black people and also believing the stereotypes and labels that are often attributed quite unfairly to many of us.

Although I do not want to undermine the credibility of people being parents, I think I can identify the issues and the backbone to his problems; we need to look at ourselves as black people and the issue of the lack of black people coming forward to be adoptive or foster parents.As stated in the previous paragraph we must not underestimate the credibility of people being responsible parents, however, what I must question is how these children are developing within a modern British Society, however we must start looking at ourselves and how we are failing our own.
All too often is the case is many people who choose to foster or adopt youngsters are often from white middle class suburban Britain, and often is the case, that these communities do not interact with multi-cultural Britain and in the process leaving these children with the lack of identity that is needed.
A question I often ask myself, who prepares these youngsters for the racism that exists within not only the society we live in, but also the world at large?, who will understand these children when they confront issues such as racial abuse or exclusion or often the isolation we feel, in some segments of the society that we live in, who teaches these children of the history of black people? as I am confident that they will not be taught these issues in schools.

I having been born in Jamaica and raised in Britain I never came across a situation in which I was taught about black culture in school or college, or heard of where black culture is a part of the education curriculum in modern British society.
An issue, that caused controversy in our media most recently was pop idol, Madonna, adopting a child from Malawi, however although we have to commend her for the courage in doing this, we must ask certain questions, such as, how many black people does Madonna have coming to her house?, how can she prepare these children for the issues that they will have to face as they develop into adulthood, and as stated in a previous paragraph, how does she explain when these children will come across issues of racial abuse and prejudices that sadly still exist.

Myself can relate to issues of stereotyping and labelling, having being educated in boarding schools, due to difficulties in childhood, although spending time with family of a weekend and holidays, my problems arose when I left school at the tender age of 16, and generally not being able to relate to certain situations not only in the white community, but also in the black community, and was often left with a sense of not belonging anywhere, however I do not criticize the way I was educated, as I have often thought that it has left me culturally diverse, with an understanding of two cultures.

As for black people fostering or adopting white children, I am confident in saying that we are well equipped to do that, and this can be put down to the long history of colonialism that many of us have come from, and as I often say in many debates that I have had, many of us are culturally richer than we care to think, as not only us, people throughout the world will know everything there is too know about Britain, however we often find that native Britain does not understand or in some instances will not want to make the effort too understand the people who live amongst them, however in our own countries we are forced to understand these societies just to survive.

The problem lays with us, whatever reasons our children are being put in these situations, we have a responsibility to our own so that our identity and integrity can be maintained within our culture, we are a caring people, no matter what we have come from, and it is important that we find more people from our background to take on the roles of foster or adoptive parents, we need to start caring about each other and not just our own biological children, but all our children.We also need to be educating our youth on the practice of safe sex and contraception, as we do have a very long history of teenage pregnancies and in some cases creating an unwanted generation, who will find themselves, lacking in identity and culture.

The problems that come from many people coming forward to do these kind of work or deeds, may come from weariness, of being investigated and the procedures that now all people who choose to foster or adopt will have to endure, however I must I have to agree with a lot of these procedures, as anybody who is put in a position where they have to be cared for, must also be protected and we as a society must always protect our vulnerable, however we has people who come a long history of colonialism also have a duty to maintain the integrity and standards that we have maintained within our culture for so long, and that must start with our young people.

Is Journalling the way to improve the learning experience?

2009-10-01T10:02:00.000-05:00

EDITORIAL by Myrna Loy

“Learning journals provide a framework to support the process of reflective learning in individual courses and in the portfolio process as a whole. Their use not only documents the developmental process of the portfolios - making it more than just a presentation of selected work - but supports the self-assessment of processes and their documentation. It 'keeps records', encourages metacognition, ownership and control, and provides guidance” [University of Oldenburg and UMUC]

I have recently changed my career towards teaching – well when I say teaching, I should say I have a teaching qualification which I intend to use to support my inspirational mentoring service. I have also been developing counselling skills as a part of my continuous professional development. Why counselling? Counselling skills develop not only listening skills, but empathetic, cognitive, behavioural and social skills as well - all of which should be a prerequisite to the effective teaching and learning experience.

In pursuing my PTLLS Award and BTEC in Counselling this year, I noticed that Learning/Reflective Journals seem to be a mandatory part of the portfolio development process and not a recommended tool of support. Both Teachers and Learners are now required to produce learning or reflective journals as a form of evidencing their work and documenting the impact of the way they learn/teach. It seems to me, that the current school of thought is that documenting thought processes while learning (i.e. thinking about the way they learn and/or teach, and writing it down) will improve the learning and teaching experience.

According to the University of Worcester’s Study Skills Advice Sheet: “a learning journal helps you to be reflective about your learning, this means that your learning journal should not be a purely descriptive account of what you did etc but an opportunity to communicate your thinking process: how and why you did what you did, and what you now think about what you did”.

I am not sure about other learners, but I found that by thinking about how I was learning, and trying to track and record that process by writing it down, very inhibiting. I found that thinking about the way I was learning prevented me from absorbing information being given both verbally and visually. Another part of the reflective process is to observe what was happening in the classroom, how was I reacting to colleagues, was their questions/interruptions conducive to my learning experience; and were the learning techniques of the teacher effective and if so how. Can you imagine trying to think about all of that while trying to absorb new information?

Many teachers have complained about the journaling process and I can’t say I blame them! They are saying that they cannot concentrate on their lesson plans or schemes of work because their brain is thinking about how they are teaching as opposed to achieving their objective, in order to be able to document it after the class is finished.

According to Laurence E Morehouse, Author of ‘Maximum Performance’, he states that “When you start thinking about what you are doing, you try to reorganise and/or add extra motions. Your motions become uncoordinated, and because you are tracking almost counting your movements, you inevitably slow them down.” He further goes on to say that: “If we were to try to read or write or think word by word, the mind simply couldn’t carry all those details. So the words have to be simplified into a single thought. We focus on a central theme....” “.... The object in a performance is to shut off your thinking which you do by shifting your focus from the details of the action to the goal of the action...”

“... Even in that instant during a sharp exchange of volleys at the net you have predetermined where you are going to hit the ball. Two things are accomplished in the process. First, you have established a strategy. Second, by committing your thought to your objective, you have pre-empted the time; you are only thinking about getting there, not how you are to get there. The first is important, but the second is crucial.”

What these extracts tell me is that journaling is actually inhibiting teaching effectiveness and performance. It is not natural for the brain to analyse every process it takes to learn something! We all know that if we start concentrating on how we are doing something – even something as simple as walking, our steps become awkward and unnatural.

Journalling may have benefits in therapeutic or emotional situations where the client is stressed or has been abused and needs to revisit the causes, but in a learning environment, I am not convinced that reflective journalling is an effective or efficient way to improve the teaching and learning experience.

Our Diaspora is a “softie'' Jamaica no problem the mantra of complacency

2009-09-01T09:42:00.000-05:00

Written by Franklin Johnston
franklinjohnston@hotmail.com

Black history month revealed hunger for history of Africa and Jamaica, but it has a downside in the repeat racist hate mail I get from people who breach the ICANN and ISP codes. These cowards vomit personal abuse but have no facts to share. In the Old World, black is the icon for Sub-Saharans but the New World used a palette from black to octoroon (1/8th white) to designate and divide us. In Africa, Europe and Asia, the discriminators are language, tribe, nation, place and culture. There is no white history in the UK and no black history in Kenya. The descriptors are British, Welsh, etc; Kenyan, Kikuyu, Luo etc, and color have no place.
We are no angels. Sir Willard White our global bass-baritone sings Faust as no one else can, yet we call him the pejorative name, "coconut". Our capacity for self-harm and self-hate is strong. We say we don't know our history but no one is hiding it. Books on Songhai, Kanem, Mali exist. If you are under 55 and can't read, it's your fault; literacy classes are all over. By some intellectual recidivism, our scholars do not decant African texts. Learn to read and they may write some for you.
Last year, a lynch mob attacked me in cyberspace. They didn't know Ethiopian history; that Rameses and Persian Emperors were "King of Kings" before Bible days, or birth of Christ or Selassie, and this angered them. We should make African history top of the syllabus in school and focus the Jamaica Library Service's book buying for 2010 on Africa. We must write more Jamaican and Diaspora history as lies are all about.
Neither the African, nor the Jamaican Diaspora is uniform. Fewer than seven per cent of all transatlantic slaves went to America, a fraction of ours. Yet they innovate most (black Americans hold most patents and IP, and the African Diaspora more than Africa itself) and define global black success. The African Diaspora is over 100 million; they run nations and were uplifted from Africa in three waves: The first African aliyah was overland slavery. Some 20 million Africans were uplifted to the Old World, and over millennia merged into native populations, a total whitewash. The footprint of the old Roman Empire is replete with their genetic material and only DNA tests, not appearance, confirm the bloodlines of this first Diaspora. The ethno-biology histories need to be done, but modern Africa and our Diaspora show no interest.
The second African aliyah was by oceanic slavery. This uplift of 18 million peopled the New World from Alaska to Antartica. Unlike the first Diaspora, their scions are a majority in some nations. The "browning", started by white men on black women 400 years ago, continues - the future is brown. No Diaspora went back to Africa. Why? The scion of the second Diaspora is creative, but insecure and conflicted. Do we seek revenge or forgive, cause or ease suffering, go back to Africa or stay, be great or be idle? The third Diaspora has none of these conflicts, their goal is prosperity.
The third African aliyah was voluntary, started 60 years ago and gained momentum after African independence. Africans studied in the UK, France, USSR, USA, etc, and stayed. Later, refugees, men of business, politics and ex-dictators with Swiss bank accounts came. Most are educated, they don't "do" labor and regard few - of any race, as their equals. In 2008, Ghanaians alone had 50 mainstream UK top jobs in TV, radio, film, business, academia, etc. This third African Diaspora is slick suits and brain-led, into global scams, not yardie street crime. Your computer, credit card and internet gateway are never safe. Last week the UK justice secretary's email was hacked by Nigerians and his contacts asked to send money to him, supposedly stranded in Africa - twisted genius! The African Diaspora Alliance is focused on this group and on Africa. One million of their kin die of malaria alone each year; slavery and the egos of black Americans or West Indians aren’t on their agenda. African friends tell me "the past is past, you Jamaicans, get over it and live". The first and third Diaspora lived in sync with their life-roles; the second lives conflicted. Jamaicans are scion of the second African Diaspora. Those in USA, Canada and the UK do well and we who run nations struggle. We expect more of them but they continue to disappoint.
The Jamaican Diaspora needs to find a niche. They can't be a social club, or a servant of Cabinet, they have a unique, higher calling. They must hold our state to account to embed justice, liberty and rights in all areas; to change the nepotism, victimization and the life-and-death contest we call elections. They have a sacred trust to ensure that the freedoms they enjoy abroad come here too. Support for basic schools, etc, is the least, as we waste more money than they give. The IMF gave us less FX than the Diaspora. It said jump and Cabinet jumped. The Diaspora has leverage too but is afraid to use it. We here are too vulnerable to reform our politics alone; the Diaspora is untouchable and must lead.
I was in the USA to give a speech one August 6 and political placards were on my host's and many houses. The banquet was black tie, the same old Diaspora "rundown and rum talk", far from the reality I left in Kingston. In my speech, I said that freedom at home was flawed, as no one would dare put a "politics poster" on his home or business. Di peeple dem almos' nyam me. They said I "show them up" before the mayor and TV in Dallas. They agreed with me, but said, "Yuh nuh know how dem stey a yaad, dem wi mash up peeple house ef a nuh fi dem colour pon de placard." They are happy to live the lie and after a few shots of single malt, I too went "curry goat" and lived the lie. The Diaspora likes to be liked. Sending money is no help if they do nothing to secure our freedoms.
Years ago I voted for Harold Wilson in the UK. Labour and Tory, we went to the pub to argue our case; never here. The English do not understand why we fight for those we elect to serve us. They fight for a soccer team as they live with the local team, win, lose or draw. The Diaspora sends money, not to us but to their families and we welcome it, but there is a higher calling and they are not listening. The Diaspora is a force without a vision; a house cat that needs stroking, but we need a tiger. Returning residents' privileges must be no more than our taxpayers get; we go to their countries and get no favors and we must not buy their loyalty. They made their life choices and we made ours: A plague on their fancy balls and banquets. I pray they see the light. Selah!
Dr Franklin Johnston is an international project manager with Teape-Johnston
Consultants, currently on assignment in the UK.

One crisis, one age, one family (aka the human race) – and a new President!

2009-08-01T13:58:00.001-05:00

Written by COB, Luton

I was disturbed when Myrna (editor of BB) told me that her conversations with under 35's (and I expect that included lots of under 25's!) about their perception of those of us over 50 (which I am – a full two years older than Myrna!) included references to people who "sit on the sofa", "watch the news" and "have white hair" – to which I say "what's wrong with any of that!".

It's about as relevant as saying that under 35's (OK – mainly under 25's) wear (in the case of boys and young men) clothes that clearly do not fit, amble around shopping centres as if they don't have a job and have no intention of getting one and wish everybody within a thirty yard radius to hear all about the latest girlfriend – or in the case of the girls, their latest boyfriend ("he's got an Audi – cool man").

Having got all that off my chest, let's get down to some key issues – it looks like western economies are shrinking (that's less jobs for all, young and old), the population is ageing (that's a problem for you under 35's – you have to pay for the 50 plus generation as we age) and the UK, the rest of Europe and the US (and the Caribbean!) need to establish what's important in life (note – it's not just money and having a good time).

So, let the generations (and the races and the classes/income groups) stop slagging each other off - not only is it "a good thing" to pull in the same direction – but we have no choice!

You may not agree – more rantings from some late 50's guy who has nothing better to do than send Myrna articles that she is too nice to throw in the waste bin!

However, I see inter-generational support in action a great deal – but would like to see more. Quite a number of people that I work with could not work if a parent, other relative or neighbour did not pick up their child from school and give them their tea until their mum or dad gets home from work – often on more or less a daily basis!

Similarly, most people in their 50's or 60's who have children in their late teens or in their twenties would love to be in a position to help their kids buy a flat or house when they are ready – and in other cases, where money is tighter, that help takes the form of a child (or sometimes partner) living with (and often partially at the expense of) a parent or parents because they can't afford to rent or buy their own place.

That brings us to Obama – how come? Anyway, he's only 47! And he is black and he is bright (Blackbright!).

It seems to me that he spans the generations – remember his visit to, and clear affinity with, his grandmother, who had brought him up and who died a few days before the election in November? Think of his responsibilities to the young men and women in the US military (which many young blacks join as one of the best (and sometimes only) way that they can get a college education or technical qualification) in overseas theatres of conflict? Think of the massive – forget that, potentially overwhelming – sense of duty that he owes to the generations of black Americans who have been denied rights and opportunities and who he now represents as a highly educated and highly sophisticated black man at the head of what is still the world's most powerful nation? He has to deliver education, jobs, healthcare – and a more peaceful world (not to mention some progress on climate change!).

If Obama has two terms in office, he will at the end be 55 – having worked around 16 hours a day for more or less 7 days a week for 8 years – and there are lots of other over 55's (most of them, actually!) working a full day whether in a shop, factory or office and then at home (keeping the house going, going to the supermarket, paying the bills, doing the DIY, keeping the house clean and functioning) – and (to all under 35's) that's what life is like, more or less until you drop!

So, we are all in it together – parents supporting children, the children become adults and support their own children and may also have to give a helping hand to their parents (as the 50+ become 60+ and 70+), grandparents helping out their working children (may be child minding, may be money or accommodation, may be all of these!).

I think that all of this is part of Obama's message (I hope that it is!) – forget age, forget class, forget money, forget race – see the big picture of mutual dependence and support because otherwise we are all the losers! OK, it is annoying when a 50+ person asks you to repeat something (at least my wife finds it annoying!) but so what – there are bigger issues.

I am a middle aged (nearing the end of my 50's actually) white man who is a big Obama fan and who hopes that he will deliver harmony and fairness and do a great deal to make the US (and the western world) more of a cohesive society where young and old, rich and poor and black and white get every encouragement and opportunity to develop themselves and thereby make a contribution to society!

I will now get off my soapbox.

Dutty Tuff Manifest

2009-07-01T09:33:00.000-05:00

Written by Rodney Brown

Call it the new Bolt initiative or we old Dutty tuff manifest cause as Jamaicans it is in our destiny to be the best so why wi nuh get a clue and put all this violence to rest show wi true colors and put our real abilities to the test our athletes did their thing, with all the medals they won now wha the rest a wi a do, whats our contribution what positive effect do we have on our nation I mean nobody naw ask wi fi run go tek up a sport we dont all have to be athletes to prove our worth all it tek is a little motivation a likkle change of heart and when it come to inspiration we couldn’t ask for a betta start you did hear wi national anthem? Sound sweet nuh true?

Well it stir something inside a mi nuh know bout you it mek mi ask miself, what more can I really do am I really doing enough or mi just a scrape through it go tek baby steps mi know but a the only way wi ago grow wi so rich wid talent it just a buss and overflow so why we deh hide wi roses and put our thorns pon show mi nuh know but dem say wha wi reap wi sow so the question beg fi ask. A wonder wha wi deh grow mek the only thing wi deh harvest is violence and blood flow with all wha deh gwaan right now I man want fi be positive but it seems everybody want fi tek and nobody nuh want give nobody nuh want do the wuk but everybody want fi live I mean unnu see wha deh tek place wi want fi claim the medals but wi nuh want fi run the race so while wi deh jump and cheer and wi own horn wi deh blow only some a wi realise say wi dirty underwear deh show and while the whole world see it and some wi keep dem mouth the more jealous ones among them will mek sure dem point it out.

What the whole world realise but the knowledge wi seem fi lack is that when it come to talent and potential,wi have a bumber crop and when dem a scrape the barrel bottom, we skimming off the top this is how we get by, and trust mi it need fi stop wi nuh seek wi full potential until we flat pon wi back so call it the bolt effect or anything you want fi inject fi jumpstart wi society and clean up this rotten mess mi know mi go do my part my conscience demands no less so until we talk again,walk good. Jah Bless!

Jamaica's economy playing out as expected

2009-06-01T10:08:00.000-05:00

Written by Dennis Chung
Dennis Chung is the author of "Charting Jamaica's Economic and Social Development - A much needed paradigm shift" and a founder of www.mindyuhbusiness.com. His blog is dcjottings.blogspot.com

When I listened to some of the reactions of surprise to the PIOJ's report January to March 2009 economic performance, I wonder if we are really serious. As far as I am concerned the economy is playing out as expected. Whenever I am asked about the 2.8 per cent downturn in the economy, during that period, as if it is unexpected, I refer to the article I wrote on July 18, 2009 titled "A perfect economic storm". At the time I started saying that "The next six to nine months will be one of, if not the most challenging, in the economic history of independent Jamaica".

For me it was obvious that if things continued the way they did and if leadership did not come together, we would be experiencing all we are today. In fact, it is worse than I expected, as the Lehman collapse made things much worse but the trend I expected is playing out. The extent to which we are feeling it today could have been avoided but too much time was spent in political diatribe and side arguments that distracted us from what we needed to do as a country.

Identifying the fundamental challenge

The consequence of the country not adequately projecting and preparing for the economic downturn has landed us in a situation that I believe will be hard to avoid now. I never expected such a sharp decline in the first quarter, which is going to be better than the second quarter in my estimation. What is happening also is that the economy is already like a runaway car, which is harder to stop once it gets going, and would have been easier to slow down prior to it starting to pick up speed. It is now going to take much more effort, and financial resources, to slow down the decline.

With all of this said, though, it is still possible to lessen the effects on the country, and I had written in my book about the real cause of the problem and gave an example of a five-year plan that could place us on the path to economic development. Some will not take what I say seriously, though, as I am just an accountant trying to talk about economic matters, but I will continue to be comforted by my own voice.

In order to determine how we can deal with the challenges we face, and which are worsening, we must first understand what the underlying problem is. This again I outlined in my book, which in summary is the fact that the country spends more foreign exchange than it earns. Unless this equation is changed we will always be caught in the downward spiral of economic stagnation/decline and debt. If we accept that this is the fundamental problem then it makes no sense addressing symptoms, which we have always been doing. Because of where we are today the measures to address the problem get more and more difficult the longer we wait.

The Age of People and Nations

2009-05-01T11:28:00.001-05:00

Written by Milton Maragh

The age of a person or country is generally associated in our minds with growth, development and progress.
Progress is measured by relative success or failure. The recent challenge by Dr Peter Phillips to Jamaican opposition leader Portia Simpson-Miller's leadership of the People's National party (PNP) brought the issue of age and national development to the fore.
The 59 year-old Phillips, from a strong political science background was pitted against 63 year-old Simpson-Miller, seen by many of her critics as a populist who was not exposed enough to academia. Both had supporters spread across youth and experience but the youth seemed to be more in the wings.
But if the 70 year-old party typifies more of the spirit of Jamaica for the number of years it has held government compared to the incumbent Jamaica Labour Party that led the island at independence from Britain in 1962, should not its vision embody and embolden youth or at least a younger leadership, many are asking.
Against this background, we looked at recent and contemporary leaders for any relationship between their age and their impact. There may be pattern when we look at the correlation between the age of our most powerful leaders and the time they either formed new organisations or assumed leadership of others already in existence.
Let's enumerate starting with - Marcus Garvey who was born in 1887 and formed the People's Progressive Party in 1929 at age 43;
• Norman Manley born 1893 and one of the founders of the PNP in 1938 at age 45;
• Alexander Bustamante (Clarke) born 1884 and formed JLP in 1943 at age 59;
• Hugh Shearer born 1923 and assumed JLP presidency and PM in 1967 at age of 44, on the sudden death of Donald Sangster, aged 56, after two months as prime minister;
• Michael Manley, born 1924 and became PNP president in 1969 at age of 45 and PM in 1972;
• Edward Seaga, born 1930 and successfully challenged Shearer for JLP leadership at age 44 in 1974, becoming PM in 1980;
• P.J. Patterson born 1933 succeeded Michale Manley as PNP leader and prime minister in 1992 at age 59 (with Simpson-Miller the loser at age 47);
• Simpson-Miller born 1945 won PNP presidency and became PM at age 61 in 2006;
• Bruce Golding, born 1947, left the JLP in 1994 at age 47 to form the National Democratic Movement (NDM) and returned at 58 to lead JLP in 2005 and became PM in 2007 at 60.
Phillips, who was born in 1949, lost in his first attempt to unseat Simpson-Miller in 2006 at age 57 and repeated his failure in 2008.
From the forgoing it would appear that those leaders in their 40s tend to have the fire in their bellies to fight for leadership. We can propose that leaders who came to power at about age 45 had roughly 20 years to provide strong and inspiring leadership; but those taking it on in their late 50s and 60s would have lost the fire and are not necessarily the best to lead countries like Jamaica as they tend to be nostalgic and too focused on the past rather than the future opportunities.
Bustamante first came to power in the first general election under universal adult suffrage in 1944, but lost to his cousin Norman Manley in 1955 and '59 before winning an election to lead into independence in 1962 and and held onto to power until 1967 at age 83, although because of Bustamante's incapacitation, Sangster acted as prime minister from 1964 until 1967 when he won his own mandate. Sangster did not fight for the leadership but inherited it from an enfeebled Bustamante.
It makes it easy to conclude that he Sangster was not a fighting leader at age 53 in 1964 when he began acting for Busta. If Bustamante had good leadership development skills he might have handed the reins of the JLP to Sangster in 1955 after the party was beaten by the PNP in that election. That would have given Sangster a clear 12 years to lead the JLP through his best years of his life.
This pattern of failed leadership development continued through both political parties as seen with Michael Manley who should have handed over to Patterson in 1980 after the loss to Seaga so he could have had a chance to stamp his image on the PNP and to yield to a younger leader in 2000/2002. The PNP should now be led by someone in their late 40s/early 50s and not early 60s. But since Patterson did challenge Manley in 1980 as Seaga did Shearer in 1974, that says something also about his desire to lead.
On the JLP side, Seaga held onto leadership far too long and killed the fire in Golding back in 1994. Now Golding is likely to repeat the same mistake because when he became PM at age 61 in 2007 he should have appointed a deputy PM in his/her 40s. Instead he selected Dr Ken Baugh at an age that seems elusive but cannot be younger than 60 years.
Golding should make the move to appoint an early 40s deputy PM to prepare the path for that person to assume leadership before 50 and Golding should walk away in 2012 regardless of the outcome of the polls due then. Simpson also needs deputy leaders in their 30s and 40s while using her grassroots popularity to lead the PNP into the next election (local or national) and step aside win or lose.
Leadership development is weak in every aspect of Jamaican society. It is this widespread failure in leadership that is causing widespread failures socially, economically and politically. And how does this age analysis relate to Jamaica's national development? We can delineate three successive stages of development. The first is cultural followed by political and then economic development. The ultimate goal of a nation is to become a prosperous, powerful people and first we have to become a united people in a similar manner to the United States' evolution from a people born out of many immigrants from Europe and elsewhere who have melded into an American culture.
While many see the period between the political and labor upheavals in the 1930s and independence in 1962 as a period of political advance, it may be seen as a period of cultural development that began with Marcus Garvey and culminated in 1992 with Patterson becoming PNP president and PM

Garvey and Michael Manley like Marley and Miss Lou may really be more cultural than political leaders. Over two generations they helped to shape the national identity and self confidence of Jamaicans as a people exemplified by an athlete like Usain Bolt, at 22 being so confident and proud on the track and media stage. We can now say we are a PEOPLE and now we need to become powerful before we can become prosperous.
In this analysis, Jamaica will continue to bear the pains of political development to maturity by the 2020s, where hopefully we will reach beyond the US$5000 per capita GDP mark when we will start to see rapid economic growth through to the 2050s and the stage of economic development, property and security.

The State Citizen and Morality

2009-03-25T13:18:00.000-05:00

Written by Carol Lawton

www.FinditJamaica.com

Ethics and Morals are debatable but at what point does it become objective. Each person has their own ethical and moral standards but is it defined by the State they live in as to what is acceptable. This tirade is based upon a conversation that I had in a shoe repair shop with a teacher today. It started out with a comment about a long time girl friend and who she ended up with vs who she used to date. My answer was that it’s life then I comment that our community was regressing and going backward from the original design. This is where the conversation took various turns.

My points for the regression of the community were as follows:

1. Sewage going straight into the sea. (We pay a sewage progress bill every month to NWC)

2. The top soil, garbage and sewage that comes out of the regularized (Operation Pride settle) in heavy flood waters off the hill to dig up the roads.

3. The smooth well built roads are down to the marl rocks which form the foundation of the roads.

4. The house are not numbered

5. Neighbors don’t know each other

6. Idlers and beggars on the corners

7. No more green spaces

I would list more but this is a shorten version. Long and short of it is this teacher said that the community was not regressing but that I was using a definition of development that does not fit Jamaica and that it was my type of thinking that reinforce the colonial model of development. All this statement is bull to me because if a well laid out community is forced to live alongside squatter who care little for the community they affect. A police force that does not follow the noise law or loitering laws, a government that care little for the environment and citizens who care for nothing but a roof over their heads and some food (money) then we must be a bunch of animals just living together because we a stuck on a rock. I remember the mongrel statement but this is just a tirade nothing personal.

He then went on to state that we are tropical people and throughout the topics this is how most countries are because of the customs of the people. Bull again. One thing that he did go on to talk about was values which I had to agree with him. The gist of the conversation on values boils down to at what point does the state step in when the family the basic structure of the state fails? Is it the laws of the state which have failed hence the control systems placed upon the citizens have regress to the chaos we have now where morals are bad and immorality is good. Where the good guy finish last and money and brute power are the key determinations of success and right? Are there multiple laws or one law for all in Jamaica for citizens, the rich, the poor and the civil servants? It is almost cave man like to think but he was right on the mark. The family is failing hence the state is failing as the family is the building block of the state. In AIDS torn countries, AIDS is the fear for state as it moves to destabilize entire families, villages and towns. In Jamaica, AIDS is a problem but more important are values, morals and ethics. Our population is very young and there is a disconnect with the last generation for some reason

The prime example is the music on the buses. An old lady commented that this was not the type of music to play while young people are on the bus to a conductor. The conductor said in a joking manner, it’s Irie Fm and laugh it off to the delight of the whole bus. Do we not have laws for this or is it that it’s everyone doing as they please. Is it that the State and the Teacher are of the same view that to enforce the law is to reinforce the standard of our past colonial history and let tropical people be tropical people and do as they please. Right around now I am very sarcastic because when I asked the teacher so where are they headed morally then since that is where the bankruptcy is? He drew a question sign in the air and says God knows!

Personally I think it is time the State apply the laws on the books. This application just as PC Lewin stated should go after the small things but it must be applied to the government as well. “Police wants insurance from public; their cars should meet the same standard”. If the State begins to act morally and ethical as it deals with the affairs of State the mirror effect will be the citizens will comply especially since the State is not just saying it they are doing it. The hard dry no feelings enforcement of the laws for all. When laws are not enforce then justice will cease and chaos will reign. Jamaica is at the brink of a failed state not by economics but moral and ethical failures and its toothless justice system.

THE FACTS OF HISTORY DOES NOT SUPPORT THE CLAIMS OF THE JAMAICAN ECONOMISTS

2009-03-02T13:10:00.000-06:00

Written by John Anthony

The fearmongering has led economists on radio in Jamaica and elsewhere to postulate that the recession in the US is the worst since the Great Depression. But these economists must know of the facts that anyone can read in any history text book or research on the internet and they must know that the facts undermine their claims. So what gives? Well what gives is most listenners are not digilent enough to do the research themselves and unfortunately so too is the Prime Minister who on no evidence whatsoever allowed the fearmongers to influence him. Here are the facts.

THE ECONOMIC DECEPTION EXPOSED!
Let us compare the present recession in the USA to the one in the 80s and see what were the remedies applied then. What a major difference Ronnie and Ralston? This is not a partisan chart too; it is from the FDIC!!

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The Jobless Rate Gap Comparing now to the 80s Recession
We've still got a long way to go Ronnie and Ralston.
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Jobless Claims As Percent of Payrolls Comparing 1980 to 2009

Mr. Prime Minister believe your eyes; not your ears. This is all US govt. data and charts.
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Who was the president that caused the recession in the 80s? Let us see:

________________________________________
39th President of the United States

January 20, 1977 – January 20,1981

Who succeeded Jimmy Carter and caused that dramatic fall in unemployment for 8 years? Let us see:

________________________________________
40th President of the United States

January 20, 1981 – January 20, 1989
What were the solutions Reagan used to stimulate the economy??
His supply-side economic policies, dubbed "Reaganomics,"
1. included deregulation and
2. substantial tax cuts implemented in 1981. No stimulus package was used; none whatsoever in what was according to the facts, not real business radio show, a far worse economy.

MORE CHARTS TELLING A DIFFERENT STORY THAN WHAT ONE HEARS ON REAL BUSINESS RADIO SHOW!

President Barack Obama has turned fearmongering into an art form. This fearmongering may be good politics, but it is bad history and bad economics. It is bad history because our current economic woes don't come close to those of the 1930s. Mr. Obama's analogies to the Great Depression are not only historically inaccurate, they're also dangerous.

At worst, a comparison to the 1981-82 recession might be appropriate. Consider the job losses that Mr. Obama always cites. In the last year, the U.S. economy shed 3.4 million jobs. That's a grim statistic for sure, but represents just 2.2% of the labor force. From November 1981 to October 1982, 2.4 million jobs were lost -- fewer in number than today, but the labor force was smaller. So 1981-82 job losses totaled 2.2% of the labor force, the same as now.

Job losses in the Great Depression were of an entirely different magnitude. In 1930, the economy shed 4.8% of the labor force. In 1931, 6.5%. And then in 1932, another 7.1%. Jobs were being lost at double or triple the rate of 2008-09 or 1981-82 (see chart above).

~Economist Bradley Schiller in yesterday's WSJ
_---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
By now, it's clear to everyone that we have inherited an economic crisis as deep and dire as any since the days of the Great Depression.
~President Barack Obama in today's Washington Post
MP: The chart above shows annual real GDP growth during the Great Depression I (1930-1932) and the 2007-2009 period, using the WSJ consensus forecast of -.30% for 2009 growth.

So then what is really going on?? How come all this fuss over what is not a serious crisis as in the 80s? Why the deception??

Tirade on the legalization of corruption

2009-02-01T14:44:00.000-06:00

Written by Carol Lawton

Let legalize corruption! Why? It makes complete sense! My first point is that its already institutionalizes in Jamaica . The second is the lack of respect for time. The third is poor customer service. It just makes sense and will be less stressful to do business.

Taxes will be gathered better because there is someone to cook the books and stamp it approved just like the government accounting. The formal economy will be equal to the informal economy in that it’s a free for all and the restriction of government is gone and information and connections in a lethargic civil service will prove of great value which the private sector can now move to without the microscope of government.

The government can then add a corruption fee to grease the wheel of this useless civil service. I speak of it this way because it is not here for the public but to ensure that they exist so let them hustle for it and the better hustler in the system win. They will set the price for doing business with the government for the service based on time. Each setting their own prices for moving things fast through the red tape. Out of each hustle the government will get a commission and will not have to pay their salaries as the hustle will be more than their take home.

The civil service will be based upon production pay. No work No production no pay! Cant deliver a document faster than another civil servant you lose the money to the other. Rude and indifferent to the public, you lose to the people person type who is able to build their network faster. Just think how much the few tax payer will save if they don’t have to pay the civil service. Essential service could be outsource to foreign companies who would always be on edge for the next bidding so they would provide a good service and know that if the don’t lay down in bed with corruption a next person may just get it. The citizen will get to decided who they want for a fire service, a security company as a police force, import doctors and nurses for medical, imported farm workers to replace what we have, This will free up Jamaican to be full time hustlers.

The government could do away with all the departments that monitor corruption as it will be an obstacle to a pure system of liaise faire capitalism which many think they can play. But take away the rules and lets play is what the private sector would like to say to the government and underground economy. Hustling could be a university degree as who really needs to spend time and money gathering knowledge and skill. We will then have a society of full tertiary educated people. Math skills would go out the roof as Montego Bay will become the financial capital of Jamaica due to the sophisticated hustling schools and operations. There will not need to be a dependent on tourism just a digital track to their bank account.

Contracts could be cleared easily and the work finish which could push the country faster to their first world status. The Ministry of foreign affairs can make it clear as well as the Ministry of commerce that we are really ready to use our full pool of well trained hustlers and the wheel are ready for greasing. We can revert back to the good old days of dog eat dog cut throat competition with no barrier to trade. No visas, no work permits just a global cesspool of the best corrupt people the world can offer now imagine the outsourcing that could go on with even that guy with that $50 billion Ponzi scheme. Even 10% of that if we had given him support could do the country well.

Why should we not think about it now that corruption can be a good thing since it is already there. It cost too much to get rid of. We already have a world rating for it. Lets be the best at it. It’s a thought for the coming 2009. A country whose GDP is based purely on the informal sector, non performing civil service and corruption vs the minuscule production of a dying private sector while improving the function of the public sector. Imagine full employment! Well have anyone ver propose it? Lets think about it. LOL

INSIDE THE MIND OF PRIME MINISTER GOLDING! NEVER BEFORE REVEALED SECRETS!

2009-01-02T11:13:00.000-06:00

Written by John Anthony

What kind of man is Prime Minister Bruce Golding? What drives him? What are his strengths and weaknesses? Here we reveal information never before read anywhere in annals of Jamaican history and politics.

SPEAK SOFTLY PRIME MINISTER

Bruce Golding is a honest and straightforward man. This straightforwardness gets him in trouble often especially when he gets emotional and strays from his written speeches. This man should rehearse and rehearse answers to potential questions or his straightforwardness will continue to get him in trouble. He needs a speech writer yesterday and should refrain from the temptation to stray from his written speeches. His straightforwardness makes him unwilling to acknowledge mistakes and change course even after it seems obvious that he is alone . Sometimes others care not so much about being correct as they care about being acknowledged. Negotiators with this man need to be aware of this trait and never tell him bluntly that he is wrong. When he speaks without anger or resentment his words compel attention and reformation and are extremely powerful.

He is apt to jump to conclusions without considering all the relevant factors and full consequences and difficulties.. This is a blunt and outspoken man often unwilling to wait for the proper times and seasons and desire to rush through every piece of work as soon as it presents itself. An unfinished task is almost like a disease to him and he often rushes ahead too quickly as in the case of the EPA agreement. He is right overall on the EPA in that we must learn to compete but he is wrong on not examining the fine details. The way to out-manoeuver this man in negotiations is to steers him away from his own insights to analysis and to get him to become emotional. The other strategy is to include ultra-fine details and clauses in contracts and agreements. When he becomes emotional he often makes wrong choices.

A PROPHET IN JAMAICA HOUSE?

Here is one of the greatest secrets of the Prime Minister. He has visions and hear things he is afraid of telling normal humans about. His mind reaches out far beyond the present and he has the ability to see the future by his understanding of current events. Of course, since he has never been trained in the art and science of divination he feels like a round man in a square hole!

The powers of intuition that lie latent within this man are enormous rivalling that of even so-called psychics.Intuition (knowledge) - understanding without apparent effort, quick and ready insight seemingly independent of previous experiences or empirical knowledge.

If he relied more on this great gift instead of on partisan emotions, and the influence of charitable endeavours,he would shock the nation with his uncanny gift at being correct. Frankly, his radio show is an attempt, unknowingly, to bring some of this much needed insight to the common man. Callers to this show should ask him what he feels, not what he knows!

He rarely makes mistakes when he follows his own inspirations but is sure to be led astray when he seeks the advice of yes men. This gift shockingly seems at odds with his outbursts and unscripted statements but these come not from inspiration but from angry partisan instincts. He is quick to foresee events and is sure he is correct. If he can differentiate between his inspirations and emotions he will make accurate decisions and changes never before made in the history of Jamaica. Great prophets learn to differentiate between their inspirations and their emotions.

A LUCKY SPIRITUAL GOOD MAN

To say that Golding is filled with energy is an understatement. He is a source of energy, outgoing and loves to be on the move. Actually he would much rather be hiking outdoors rather than sitting in the parliament. His carefree adventuresome nature can be refreshing. This is a man who loves to travel and l-ov-e-s to be on the move. For one who loves freedom so much, it seems odd that he would want to detain innocent persons, called crime suspects, for 60 days but his inability to bear to see others suffer will cause him to propose unwise actions. He should never make decisions under such duress. This man should watch his generosity and goodness as others will quickly take advantage of him. Emergencies bring out the best in him and he can become timid and afraid when there is no need for action or quick thought. He is a money generator too!

ONLY GOD HAS NO FAULTS

Bruce has the tendency to fly to pieces over even small matters, is quick to anger, combative and determined to have his own way. He can be unreasonable in his desire to help those he loves, zealous and over-sanguine in whatever he underrtakes. He also should watch the temptation to sacrifice health and good nature in his determination to finish what he initiates. The bluntless of this man is the cause of much unnecessary suffering to others and the truth of his words must not be used as an excuse to domineer others. He should learn to be gentle in speech and to give out the truth with discrimination. He should teach himself to forgive and forget. Bruce can expect too much of others, quick to observe, to plan and to do and make small allowance for those less gifted.

He should cultivate calmness and purpose and think well and in silence, drawing on his inspirational giftings before making important decisions. Golding is not concerned with details and should not lead negotiations especially where contracts are involved. This makes him especially unsuited for the EPA negotiations and he will never understand the details therein.

GOD IS ON HIS SIDE

Call it luck if you want; but the universe is on the side of this man. The beneficient universe loves to send him help which often appears at the 11th hour and luck will even help him at winning games of chance and lotteries. especially when he is close to his last dollar.

A LONER HE MUST BE

Prime Minister Golding must have set times alone where he processes his intense feelings. He needs a space at home for himself to maintain his sense of self-control and must not be disturbed. His close circle of friends must be selected carefully; he has too many.

Tirade on the Market and Downtown Kingston and Street Wisdom

2008-12-02T12:18:00.000-06:00

Written by Carol Lawton from www.FinditJamaica.com

In the street you learn the streets, its alleys, its lanes, its corners and each person who travel through it. The market is a dynamic factor that when politician and administrators make a decision they do not see the ripple effects. An orderly downtown market is needed before any invest will flow into the area by outside. The city needs to look at creative finance and collection which I think is being looked at and not the central government.

The money that moves in that small area is crazy as good are exchanged and redistribute across the island. Even a simple decision as remove the ugly stall carries a ripple effect. Lets me show you how 2 garbage wood pallets are worth $36K per year. A wooden stall is rented for $100 per day hence $3K per month hence $36K per year. Now imagine when one man owns 100 of these stalls, 20 push carts (rent as well to cart men) to move them and goods around .The underground economy is huge just for him as when you see him you will have pity thinking he is not making money. The chaos ensures him making money. I could pull numerous works in downtown that are high paying but would be silly as we all know them. (Assumption on my part)

Hence to remove him would affect the haggler from country, the follow of goods across the market, and efficiency of the market. But a man like this making over $3M does not even have a high school diploma. When these people are making that amount of money how can we tell the young around them that education will make them money vs. hustling. The hustling is business so no pity for these people who make as much as the PM. I had though the present JLP would move rapidly to pull these people into the fold by changing the tool called the TRN from a money collection tool to a system development tool to close the informal economy which does not give it full share to the government and erodes the formal economy.

Frankly the city can afford to fix it now that it has made its collections more efficient at 70 percent up from 30 percent. Lets be frank as usual, the KSAC councilors have no excuse for the bull that they are pulling off about their party is not in power, the MP is not giving anything, the central government is not helping. Its all bull. If revenue is at $15billion that means the city now has almost US$200 million to invest into the city which can be expand further by grabbing the other 30%. This is recurring money since these fees and city taxes are due every year.

The collection of taxes from the citizens by the KSAC could even by government paper and be a part of the city portfolio. The sale of government paper would be sold to the KSAC as Samari bonds at rates that are variable and equal to the inflation rate of a hard currency on which the bonds could be pegged hence no 14% and higher rates but 2-3%. If it’s the welfare, you politicians are about these are the ideas that are out there. But a poor man’s wisdom is lost up high and the fool is praised for his/her inaction. Jamaica not land of wood and water but land of talk and talk. Stop the hustling of the people. Stop the informal economy as its not all drugs but its untaxable business activity that we all know.

Lets stop the garbage and put the taxpayer money to work on rebuilding the city vs. hiding behind falsity of inaction. The generation that is looking at you is very much analyzing the system making rational decision as to if the system is for them. The formal economy pays taxes but get no service, the informal pays nothing and gets no service. Yet the revenue is there to create an efficient system which is equitable to all. But hi this is just what this poor man learns from walking the street and listening to the corner talk.

PS: They are not all idlers and criminals on those corners

Obama's election

2008-10-31T12:31:00.000-05:00

Written by George Graham - www.geocities.com/gwgraeme

I have to confess that I never dreamed a person of color would become the President of the world’s most powerful nation in my lifetime. Yet it looks as if that is about to happen. When I was a boy, Jamaica was still a British colony. At Munro College, the teachers (whom we called “masters”) were all British, and they made no secret of the fact that the best we Jamaican students could hope to become was second-class Englishmen.

True, to those of us who were light-skinned (Jamaica white), our complexion was an asset. To be darker was to be even more disadvantaged. Belonging (like most Jamaicans) to a multiracial extended family, where some of us were blonde and blue-eyed and others were coffee-colored or darker, I regarded this prejudice with resentment.

My resentment grew when I immigrated to Canada during the 1950s to find that there, too, the English and their descendants were put on a pedestal.

I suppose this perception was a legacy of the colonial era when aggressive white races - with their slave ships, their merchant ships and their warships – roamed the earth and dominated the people they encountered. Whatever the reason, the presumption of European ethnic superiority has stuck in my craw all my life.

Despite all this, I won’t vote for Barack Obama just because he is African-American. I will also vote for him because he is incredibly gifted. He is poised, intelligent, humane and reasonable. A voracious reader, he has learned from many and diverse sources. His ability to listen, absorb, evaluate and select makes him an exceptional leader. And his ability to inspire presents a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to transform an increasingly ugly world.

Around the globe, people are killing each other over racial, philosophical and religious differences. The message today is, “Be like me and agree with me or I’ll blow you up!” That’s why Obama’s reasonable approach is so important. That’s why crowds of idealistic young people flock to his side, daring to hope for change.

Make no mistake; the fact that Obama is African-American is of very great importance – not just to Americans but to people around the world.

For one thing, I believe his election as President of the United States of America would enhance the credibility of all non-white people. Television commentator Dan Rather compared Obama to Tiger Woods. And I would compare him to Jackie Robinson, who broke the color barrier in baseball, and Jack Johnson, the first black heavyweight champion of the world.

But this is so much more important. Golf, baseball and boxing are sports. The leadership of the free world is a matter of life or death. Elect John McCain and Americans can look forward to wars and the horror of wars, the retreat of compassion and the rule of the law of the jungle, revered by financial bandits as “the free market.” (That kind of freedom could be translated as, “The powerful are free to plunder and ravage; the weak are free to go hungry and, if they get sick, to die.”)

I cannot conceive of a Jamaican expatriate voting for a Republican. When I listen to McCain and his running mate, Sarah Palin, I hear the echo of hooves at midnight and see the shadows of sheet-shrouded horsemen. I recall the indignities and injustices of Apartheid and the horrors of European colonization. And I cringe at the memory of terrifying tales I was told as a child about the slave ships and the slave masters.

Could the election of a person of color as the head of a predominantly white nation sweep away the memory of such atrocities? Maybe not. But it could pave the way for other historic breakthroughs. There would be hope for a dark-skinned Prime Minister in Canada, Britain or Australia, for example.

Martin Luther King’s dream might yet be realized, not only in America, but also around the world. People might actually be judged by their character and achievements, and not by the color of their skin or the birthplace of an ancient ancestor. Bob Marley’s evocative refrain might yet prove prophetic.

“One love, one heart. Let’s get together and feel all right.”

George Graham is a Jamaican-born journalist and author who has worked as a reporter in the Caribbean and North America for more than half a century. He lives in Lakeland, Florida. For information, see his web site at http://www.geocities.com/gwgraeme/.

A Presidential Choosing

2008-10-31T12:24:00.000-05:00

Written by Chirs Daley - www.yardgeniusnetwork.com

In choosing a presidential candidate, keen discernment, not giddy longing is
required. This is extremely difficult given the pied piper atmosphere that engulfs
us. The backdrop of war and recession just adds to the drama, tension, runaway
panic and thus limited objective thinking.

In addition, we are indeed in the super bowl season of trash talking. It is the
season of the herd mentality, where quiet, reason reflection is swept away by the
tsunami of change and hope. Remember, a dead fish can float downstream, but
it takes a live one to swim upstream. It takes more courage to express a
personal conviction that runs counter to the stream, and this is what I hope to
deliver.

Here we are a mosaic of people under the stress of political polemic peak-ness.
It is not only the difference in political outlook that is causing these gale force
winds, it is also the forced homogeneity that promises to strip one of individual
choice. Permit me to inject the rule of reason in the hope of informing one’s
objective sensibilities. Discernment requires critical thinking. Critical thinking is
not afraid to be wrong. It works with fairness, and respect. It is not hooked on the
consensus idea. It is not an undisciplined emotion that will give sway to the
current popularity wave, like a teenager at a jamming concert, but it does careful
analysis and evaluation for one’s self.

We come to this significant debate with the upfront acknowledgement that we are
shaped by our upbringing and conditioning, and thus monolithic conformity
disadvantage the group’s synergistic potential. There is no doubt that the
historical nature of the race has an enormous tug on the heart. Who wants to be
on the wrong side of history? I however, write this piece with a future grandchild
in mind. Should I be so privileged, I want to share the thinking and decisions that
guided my vote at this most historical moment. I would share that I used the timetested principle of paying more attention to the “marriage rather than the
courtship and wedding”.

So, let’s deal with the issue of race. If Dr. King could return, he would smile at
the progress that has been made. Yes, indeed America has made great strides in
living up to its constitutional creed. The enormous progress this country has
made in becoming a more perfect union should be trumpeted. Statements by
congressional leaders Murtha and Lewis discount this progress and attempt to
link the present with the dark past for political gain. Yes, there has been a surge
of racial harmony whose momentum is unstoppable. The major discrimination
initiatives have been to principally address race, gender, disability, and age. This
political season have provided us with candidates emphasizing all three
attributes. Surprisingly, the race element has received a significantly favorable
and very biased treatment, while vicious comments against Palin and McCain go
on without coverage and requisite outrage. The media that give us a information
window into these candidates have been most blatantly biased in this regard.
Given what folks have been through lately, the meltdown of the market driven by
government engineered failure, there is a reactive hunger for leadership. The
mantra of change and hope resonates within many hearts. The real question
needs to be what type of change is truly needed. Great leadership is not a casual
commodity, not an element endowed by a reaction to stress and fear.

Personally, I am looking for a leader with solid intellect, sound judgments, past
experience, and personal testing. That is my description of a transformational
leader. Nelson Mandela embodied the gold standard of a transformational leader.
Reverend Desmond Tutu is a recent book; “God has a Dream” shared his
insights regarding the recent political transformation of South Africa. One key
gem was his declaration that Mandela’s time in prison provided him with the
needed chiseling to convert his anger into purposeful political power. In addition,
folks have equated political power with socioeconomic progress. A careful study
of this history shows that that political power has not been a major engine to
move folks from poverty to prosperity. I invite you to examine the contrasting
history of the Irish and the Chinese for instance.

The Saddle Brook forum was a defining moment for me in discerning these
candidates against the definition supplied above. This was the only setting where
we gained insight into the candidates’ reflective maturity, and presidential
temperament. On the core issue of life, the response of this being above my pay
grade was an astounding quote to me. This is an internal value that cannot be
outsourced to an advisor.Writing two books, being rhetorically-gifted, and having an enviable marketinggame plan make for a promising draft choice, not the next leader of the free world. We are faced with huge challenges that will take seasoned leadership to shepherd us through these tough times. Can someone inform me of another time when a major leader was elected with such a lack of requisite seasoning?

Finally, when I construct a matrix of the compelling policy issues of the day that
drives my decision; positions on the economy, taxes, security, healthcare,
entitlement, energy, and education, finds me aligned with the McCain positions. It
supports the market-oriented, entrepreneurial spirit that fosters innovation, and
manage risk, which has been the under girding that has propelled the American
dream. McCain’s bipartisan’s record on major challenges is also telling as it gives
insight in how he will embrace differences.

I do agree it is time we practice the principle of Dr. King Jr. Let’s judge all
candidates by the content of their character, not the color of their skin, even if
that pigmentation is white. Then we will truly practice our motto of out of many,
one people.

THE 4th R PROJECT IS YOUR TICKET HOME

2008-10-01T13:17:00.000-05:00

Written by Hansen – www.Jamlink.com

Most Jamaicans that I have spoken with have a burning desire to go
back home. Nostalgia overtakes them sometimes to tears. Even the
hostile economic environment is no deterrent; but there is a
hesitation, and a fear caused by the rising violence in the country.
Those who migrated more than twenty years ago can't understand the
ravaging effects of criminal activities, whether they are drug
related, politically orchestrated or power driven. These times
bewilder them. These Jamaicans have stood fiercely proud of their
country. They have remained Jamaicans with culture in tact, amid new
peoples, climates, cultures and borne hardships the likes of which you
could never imagine. These give from the heart, sending approximately
US $2 billion in 2007 through the remittance pipeline to families in
need down a yard. To these stalwarts who desire a new Jamaica, I say,
"We have your ticket" in the 4th R Project. To those down a yard, I
say, "Wi have yu back!"

The 4th R is the re-introduction of Reverence into the skill-set of
Reading, 'Riting and 'Rithmetic. Those of us older than forty remember
a time in Jamaica when people were respectful to each other; when any
adult could correct a child on the street; when you shared a
breadfruit with your neighbor and got a dish of ackees in return and
you both had dinner as a result of the mutual exchange. That silent
4th R was a part of school, church and home. Children learned to be
respectful of each other and especially of their elders because they
were taught respect by their teachers, community members and parents.
They acted out exactly what they were taught.

Now we ask, who taught these new offenders to act with such uncaring
violence? And the answer is that we did, if even by default. We have
not paid attention to the things that really matter; the things that
create successful nations. What went wrong? Many things! The
splintering of the family; the political divide; the brain drain from
the country; gangs became family to many and aggressive video games
their mentors; violent movies took away any shred of remorse they
would have had and modeled the way for destructive behavior. Many of
our popular musicians continue to cement false values into the minds
of our youths through their lyrics and the wheels of this fierce
culture keep turning.

You don't need to be a PhD to figure it out. What is important however
is that we also have the solution in our hands. It is the 4th R
model. This model offers a new paradigm shift in education, which
places the highest value on our children and our people. The 4th R
skill-set is developed through playful exercises aimed at developing
conscious, productive and caring people. If children are nurtured
they will flourish and become functional adults. If children are
abused, they become cruel and violent adults. If children grow up with
criticism, they learn to hate themselves and others. These behaviors
are learned in the early years and become the brick and mortar, which
build or breakdown character later on in life.

Phase 1 of the 4th R project will begin on August 25th, 2008. Two
schools in the Rockfort community of Kingston have been identified as
pilot projects to plant the seeds of the 4th R; Rennock Lodge All Age
and Windward Road Primary and Junior High School. Approximately
eighty teachers from these schools will be trained and certified in
the 4th R methodology to begin the new September term. Additionally
community parenting sessions will be conducted for the Rockfort
community.

The model we speak of was introduced into the South Camp
Rehabilitation Center in 1995. The tangible result of that project
was a furlough and mentoring program, which was the final step in the
rehabilitation process. Teammates worked as highly focused groups in
the pursuit of specific activities in which they had interest. Teams
included for example – the Suns of God Gospel Choir, The
Transformational Unit, God Messengers, Righteous Reggae Vibrations,
Students Expressing Truth (SET), and the Council of Elders. Their
activities were directed at giving back to their community, and as
such they practiced within the closed community of the Center, and
most critical to their rehabilitation, returned to the outside
community to entertain, to mentor and to minister. By the third year
more than 89% of teammates at South Camp were voluntarily
participating in group programs. In addition, a formal request to the
Commissioner of Corrections was made by over three thousand inmates of
the other two maximum security correctional centers, for the program
to be implemented in their respective facilities. As a follow up, the
Reverence For Life (RFL) program, as it was then called, began an
extension of the program at both Tower Street and Spanish Town maximum
security institutions.

The Outcome - While the RFL program formed the dominant culture in
these institutions, violence in the prisons was almost non-existent.
For most teammates on the program, sentences were shortened and parole
granted at a faster rate than for prisoners not on the program.
During the period 1995 to 2000 when this program was active, the rate
of recidivism dropped from 90% to 30 %.

We are convinced that if such dramatic changes could be made in that
space of time within a community of men, many of whom were repeat
offenders, then the model can also be used to create a new Jamaica;
one that we can return to, to build our retirement homes and live in
peace or vacation with family without having to look over your
shoulders.

It is possible. It can happen if we all stand behind this project.
Like everything else it takes money to care. We will be initiating a
number of fund raising activities, membership drives and sponsorship
opportunities which we know will be of interest to you. One hundred
percent of the funds raised for this project will be ploughed back
into resource materials for teachers, 4th R books for children,
promotional 4th R materials, to compensate workshop and project
facilitators and to begin an island-wide marketing campaign.

In January, 2009 we begin the full island-wide roll out of the 4th R
project. Yes we can create a new Jamaica if we all pitch in to support
this project. Your support is vital! Our slogan…'Empowering Each
Child To Move Jamaica Forward.' Let us join hands, hearts and
resources, 'because Jamaica matters.'

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2008-09-09T10:57:00.001-05:00

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2008-09-09T10:56:00.001-05:00

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2008-09-09T10:34:00.001-05:00

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Tirade on systems

2008-08-31T13:37:00.000-05:00

Written by Carol Lawton

Policy is the domain of the technocrat who studied a field, thinks himself/ herself an expert and now hold a job in government either by the civil service or through political alliances. In policy development there lies a development process to implementation. These are define problems and solutions, funding, time, communication to the public, implementation, follow through by education,feedback and redevelopment of policy. Without policy no organization can exist as it is the blue print to the end game of an objective.

Normally most will start a discussion on policy based upon development but I will going backwards in regards to Jamaica . Lets stop trying to reinvent the wheel. There are numerous countries, we can study before push a policy so we can look at their blue print and the end result to see if the end result was as intended and why it worked or did not work thus putting in place controls to mitigate failures or enhance success of the system. As with all things foreign, we can just take theirs and not tailor it to our unique situations and culture which will lead to absolute failure. To live another countries tradition is a sure path to the destruction of a generation has it confuses the youth. Creolization of the first world system can be achieved without corrupting the system and making it an exercise in futility. Prime example is the TRN. The system would not be accepted in Jamaica with open arms therefore it should have targeted the soft spots to gain reach within the population instead the TRN system was made into a revenue collector and not a tool for policy. Systems make first world. Systems are tools for efficiency and decision making. It achieved few of its potential goals. Mr. Shaw in order for you to fix this mess you need to revisit the application of the TRN as current policy for a credit system will be ineffective without a change in the law and the system.

The Jamaica Labour Party Finance Minister is slated to launch a credit system. But the previous policy had flaws hence if he goes ahead without correcting the key field in this base system, he will created a retarded bastard. Its bad to bastardize a system but to further retard it will be a crime against the citizens considering we all know better. I am for the credit system , in fact wish it had come 10 years ago. This system if properly implement will merge Jamaica’s citizens into the financial capital system of a global economy thus diversifying the products and services offer in the financial sector. It is one of the last things to this first world plan which they say is so far away.

Due to the fact that this system and policy is already in place, we have feedback, we have follow through data to review before moving forward hence clean wiser decision can be made. All this may seem confusing but the end has to be the beginning of Mr. Shaw’s move to implement this new system as one government must build on the other and not start over from the block position as it is too expense to learn as we go. We have been here before lessons learn. Its costly to the tax payer.

The critical element here is will the soft targets be cleaned up in this existing TRN system to enable the more complex subsystem of a credit reporting system to be overlaid on it. All this may sound vague, confused and illogical but call a chicken a chicken and a duck a duck. If the unique key is correct through out the system and controls are in place in the place in the form of laws to protect identity then this credit system should be a 123 implementation if Mr. Shaws using the 3 major collectors of this data like Experian.

They already control North America, South America, Europe and Asia so lets not redevelop a system that can not be integrated into the global system. The development time to completion time would be months vs years. So first world status is not 20 years away its months if we make the decision to fix our policy systems vs making over and building on the mistakes of the past vs the success of the pass and the present. I will not say future because policy takes about 8 years to see the effects and fix it. That was the critical failure of the PNP. They failed to look at the feedback and fix the problems but kept adding to the system. Hopefully the JLP will look at these systems before they proceed to see where they fit into their plans as one failed base system will exponential cause critical failures across all subsystems.

CONTROLLING CRIME VERSUS LOSING ELECTION VOTES- IS THERE A CONNECTION?

2008-08-01T12:35:00.000-05:00

Written by John Anthony

We love to copy overseas programs even if there is no evidence to support their relevance to Jamaica. The Grameen Bank's unproven poverty reduction strategies is one current example. However, there seem to be a hesitancy to copy clearly relevant overseas programs when there is a hint that they may result in unknown or known results at the ballot box. Someone needs to explain to the nation how it can have reduced crime rates when we know the high rates of recidivism of criminals and when we know these criminals after receiving petty times behind bars will only wreak more havoc when they are released. Of course persons locked up for life do not vote or do they?

NUMBER OF U.S.A SENTENCED INMATES INCARCERATED UNDER STATE AND FEDERAL JURISDICTIONS PER 100,000 1980 T0 2006 VIOLENT CRIME LEVELS IN THE USA SINCE 1993 Do you see the conection here? When the hard core criminals are locked up permanently crime rates decrease. Simple. Is this something we should have tried forty years ago in Jamaica? Perhaps, but then the election results would have been different! So we are faced with a dilemna. Which is more important-winning elections or saving five year old Sarie from mass rape by men from August Town. Winning the seat in Spanish town or locking up the extortionists for 40 years considering extortion leads to murder, community mass rapes, arson and assassinations.We know the answer based on the actions of our political leaders.

WINNING ELECTIONS ARE FAR MORE IMPORTANT THAN ANY EFFECTIVE CRIME REDUCTION STRATEGIES ESPECIALLY WHEN SUCH STRATEGIES WILL IMPACT ELECTION RESULTS.
This is the real reason why we have talk, talk, token strategies and more talk. Listen I know you locally based journalists dare not write this kind of stuff. Your cell phones would be ringing off the hook with "bway..waachh yuh bak." or "yuh betta migraate..yuh days numbaad." So you should be dancing for joy that there is a voice willing to say what you dare not. If effective crime fighting was more important than winning elections we would have had twenty-four hour ,monitoring of the southcoast with a series of fast boats equipped with high powered cannon guns, loud speakers and power light beams forty years ago.At 200 miles long 12 such boats would be sufficient to create an impenetrable curtain operable around the clock and manned by a specially trained team. To make this even more effective every motor boat owner should be registered , the list posted on a web site, secured of course and boats monitored with identifiable markings visible from hundreds of yards away painted on both sides.

NOW SOMEONE NEEDS TO EXPLAIN TO ME WHY THIS HAS NOT YET BEEN DONE SINCE IT IS A SIMPLE IDEA WHICH REQUIRES NO GREAT BRAINS TO THINK UP ESPECIALLY SINCE WE KNOW THAT GUNS AND AMMUNITION HAVE BEEN COMING INTO THE ISLAND VIA THE SOUTH COAST FOR DECADES! I THINK WE NEED AN EXPLANATION FROM EVERY PAST COMMISSIONER OF POLICE AND MINISTER OF SECURITY.

Oh I forgot the reason is the election results would have been differrent.

JAMAICA WITH AN APPROXIMATELY 200 MILES OF SOUTH COAST 12 BOATS CAN EASILY PROVIDE A BLOCKADE. NOW HOW CAN HAVING A LARGE MASS OF INDISCIPLINED YOUNGSTERS BENT ON CRIME CONTRIBUTE TO WINNING ELECTIONS?

As I have written, we need a NATIONAL MENTORING PROGRAM to target the youth who lack strong parental influence. The charge that most criminals come from single parent homes is not debatable. Only dishonest or biased persons or those who have not read the research, dispute this.

THERE IS A VAST AMOUNT OF SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH WORLDWIDE WITH VOLUMINOUS DATA WHICH CLEARLY SHOWS THAT SINGLE PARENT CHILDREN LEADS IN ALMOST EVERY NEGATIVE CATEGORIES AND LAG IN THE POSITIVES VERSUS TWO PARENT CHILDREN.

If we think we can lower crime levels permanently without targetting the source we are living some pipe dream fantasy. But our politicians, many with PhDs all know this. So then why have they not even mentioned this? It is the election results dummy! They look at everything through the eyes of election results.. Instead the PM is talking about detaining innocent persons at will for undetermined periods? THAT IS STALIN'S RUSSIA AND DICTATORSHIP but i bet you persons so detained can still vote..eh?

INSTEAD what we have are persons always talking about social intervention programs. SOCIAL INTERVENTIONS ALONE WILL NEVER WORK. We have tried these for decades. What is wrong with us? We need to lock up the criminals, cut off their ammunition sources and target the children with social programs/better parenting. This is the only approach that will have any permanent reduction in crime and it is really distressing to see educated persons talking about strategies which have no documentation or scientific rationale to back them up.

At some point we need to cut the dialogue. I have divine that we seem fascinated with discussions and circular arguments because they serve as a salve for the conscience making us feel we are doing something even though the discussions keep us from facing root causes of problems as facing root causes will make us look at changes which will ultimately affect the widespread unrealistic standard of life expectations many of us feel has become a right we deserve.

THE TRUTH IS NO SACRIFICE-NO GAIN; NO DISCOMFORT NO RELIEF AND NO PHYSICAL EFFORT NO MOVEMENT FORWARD.

ADOLF HITLER, CASTRO, BRUCE GOLDING AND JAMAICA'S PATH TO DICTATORSHIP!

2008-07-01T11:45:00.000-05:00

Written By John Anthony

PREVENTIVE DETENTION OF INNOCENT PERSONS IS THE TOOL OF DICTATORS

Why would a righteous man, the Prime Minister of Jamaica, copy a major strategy used by the genocidal maniac Adolf Hitler? The strategy sounded good back then too but few persons really knew what the real plans of Hitler were and few persons today know what the real plans of the PM are. . It is very possible that the Prime Minister himself does not even know what is driving him, but I do not think so. You see power corrupts, absolute power corrupts absolutely more but the lust for power corrupts the soul greatest , and when one has tasted that power especially after being deprived of it, for what seems like ages, it is the hardest thing for one to relinquish.

HAVE WE SEEN GLIMPSES OF THIS LUST FOR POWER?

1. "I will not allow any one to sit in the parliament that was not elected by the will of the people.

"2. Remember the trade agreement with Europe..signing a document of which the country is still ignorant.

3. Wilfully stubbing the finger through the eye of the Jamaican Constitution by putting up for election candidates which were specifically inadmissible and then claiming innocence.

4.The recent Spanish Town raid is a direct replica of Hitler's Gestapo tactics right out of Goebels manifesto. Jamaicans are not very perceptive; even some pastors are blind, blind, blind. (Talk of Hitlerite propensities in the government are therefore not valid and are intended to extinguish fires where none is burning, Pastor Raulston Nembhard.) They cannot even perceive why our past and present governments did nothing but lip service to prevent the illegal importation of large amounts of guns and ammunition, going on for decades, into the island through the south coast line. And for some reason Jamaicans just refuse to ask themself the simple question--why would our government and police and army and security ministers turn a blind eye to the four-decade old importation of vast, vast quantities of fearsome guns and ammunition into Jamaica? Why money-counting forex prophets? Why Prime Minister Golding? Why attorney general Lightbourne? Why Ian Boyne? Why Ronnie Thwaites; why, why, why? One more simple question should make even the blind see clearly. Why is the Prime Minister and Minister of National Security leading the charge to detain innocent persons AND NOT INSTEAD FOCUSSING ON THE PERMANENT IMPRISONMENT OF CONVICTED CRIMINALS?

Let me open your third eye and give you a clue as to what is really going on.. THE PSYCHE OF A NATION IS PREPPED VIA FAKE TERRORIST ACTIONS AND REPREHENSIBLE MURDERS!"The End of America", by Naomi Wolf details how governments deceptively develops brutal dictatorships. One of the first thing they do is convince the people that they will feel safer when certain portions of the population is detained. They enlist the media in this campaign and we have seen that as journalists are writing articles aiming to brainwash the population to accept suspension of their rights for more safety. Then they pass laws legalizing actions that were unthinkable even a few years prior and we have seen the prepping of the Jamaican psyche for this.

How do you prep the consciousness of a nation? Listen, humans are so very easy to brainwash it is funny. Hitler knew this. All propagandists know it is so easy to brainwash humans..so very easy. "Is it so surprising that ordinary German citizens were willing to support their government’s suspension of civil liberties in response to the threat of terrorism, especially after the terrorist strike on the Reichstag"? Jacob Hornberger There is the clue.

YOU SHOCK THE CONSCIOUSNESS OF THE PEOPLE FIRST and have we seen this? Someone or some influence seems to be on target to create such fear and terror in the minds and hearts of the citizens so that they will embrace even the Cubanization or soft Hitlerization of Jamaica. Remember our governments looking the other way for decades while the guns were coming into the island? Now there seems to be a concerted campaign of gun crimes to shock and terrorize the minds of citizens.

WHEN A NATION IS UNDER TERROR A GOVERNMENT CAN CONVINCE THE NATION TO DO JUST ABOUT ANYTHING AND TO BELIEVE JUST ABOUT ANYTHING. Read the words of Herman Goring. Hermann Wilhelm Göring the Nazi

"voice or no voice, the people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders. That is easy. All you have to do is tell them they are being attacked and denounce the pacifists for lack of patriotism and exposing the country to danger. It works the same way in any country". Did you read that blind Pastor? All it needs is a little perception, not much and it will all become very clear. Can you now see clearly forex prophets? How about using some of your massive profits to buy the government a few patrol boats? THE REAL PURPOSE OF THE 9/11 ATTACKS!!No clearer example in modern times is more applicable than the 9/11 scenario. After the 9/11 attacks, many smart persons, MScs, MBAs, Ph.Ds, lawyers and scientists were easily convinced that the established laws of physics and chemistry had immediately become invalid and that burning jet fuel, which could not incinerate the woman we all saw waving for help from the burning floors of the Twin Towers, could in less than one hour, not only melt steel of the highest strength but cut massive steel columns hundreds of feet long into convenient pieces of similar length and that the clear sounds of numerous loud explosions heard by thousands, were cars exploding . I am still shocked that even years later, at the calibre of persons in Manhattan who still believe this nonsense.

HAS THIS SHOCK TREATMENT BEEN SUCCESSFUL ON THE MINDS OF JAMAICANS? Read here this quote from a Canadian-Jamaican, of which Adolf Hitler would cerrtainly have been proud. "I don't want to hear one iota about human rights groups! The crime situation in Jamaica must be solved uniquely. It is time that the powers-that-be including the police high Command begin to lockup ALL suspect.... Anyone in high places try to stop these actions should also be investigated and if needs be be locked up as well until there is absolutely no trace of such individuals group serving in a way that abbets crime!" Here is a quote I heard mysel from a Jamaican American, "dem fi bomb up de whole ah et (Tivoli Gardens). " Here is a quote from one of the most famous Gleaner columnists, "The bottom line - If it's good enough for America and Britain, it's good enough for Jamaica." Really Kevin? BRITISH ANTI-TERRORIST FORCE SHOOTS INNOCENT BRAZILLIAN MAN IN THE HEAD- !
Anti-terrorist police shot Charles de Menezes, suspecting he was a suicide bomber.

Tuesday, July 26, 2005.
Police shot Tube victim 8 times
A young Brazilian man killed by British anti-terrorist police in London last week was shot eight times in total, the country's Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) says. Britain's political and police leaders have apologised for the death. "We are all desperately sorry for the death of an innocent person and I understand the feelings of the young man's family," Prime Minister Tony Blair told a press conference. Reuters. Now do you see what this kind of unbridled power can lead to? Governments can kill innocent persons and then claim they made a mistake, but when we do so, we are charged with manslaughter? Blind pastor can you see this? How about you, money-eyed prophets?

http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/200507/s1422086.htm

HOW ABOUT THIS ONE FROM NEW YORK CITY DURING THE GIULIANI-TIME YEARS OF ABUSE OF POWER?

The many infractions of the NYPD invited the threats from Federal Judge Scheindlin to hold New York City in contempt of court because as she said, "Federal Court decisions in 1990 and 2005 are being ignored by the NYPD." Did you read that? A police force disobeying Federal law!

JAMAICAN MINISTER OF NATIONAL SECURITY SPEAKS LIKE ONE OF THE GREATEST DICTATORS IN HISTORY? GUESS WHICH ONE?
Trevor MacMillan. Rudolph Brown/ Photographer
Yesterday, Minister of National Security, Colonel Trevor MacMillan, said he was in full agreement with the proposal to increase the time the police can hold persons in detention before charging them. "The human rights of the greater majority are what is important to me," he told The Gleaner yesterday. Now read the words of one of history's greatest dictators:Adolf Hitler, declared war on terrorism and asked the German parliament (the Reichstag) to give him temporary emergency powers to fight the terrorists. Passionately claiming that such powers were necessary to protect the freedom and well-being of the German people, Hitler persuaded the German legislators to give him the emergency powers he needed to confront the terrorist crisis. What became known as the Enabling Act allowed Hitler to suspend civil liberties “temporarily.” Aye Trevor, the ghost of Adolf yet lives.

HISTORY WILL ALWAYS REPEAT ITSELF
Why? Because humans are sooooooo easy to brainwash. They never change. The power of government, when unchecked will and must lead to abuse of citizens and of that power; it must happen. Why..because humans are fundamentally selfish and competitive and governments are basically a number of selfish competitive individuals. If we give the JLP government the power to detain innocent persons we will have taken the first step to becoming Adolf Hitler's Germany and one thing is sure...that power will be abused. Hey they abused the power of governing for decades. Remember that they violated the Jamaican constitution for decades and have said nothing about what penalties should be applied for this.

NOW IF THEY VIOLATED THE CONSTITUTION WHEN THERE WAS NO LAW GIVING THEM THAT POWER, IMAGINE WHAT THEY WILL DO WHEN THEY GIVE THEMSELVES THE TOOLS OF DICTATORS?
Now it seems that the voices of opposition in Jamaica have been silenced! The partisan churches and leaders are afraid to criticize "our leader." The socialist churches are amused because "dis man nung sound like wan ah wi." The media cowers in fear and the citizenry is more concerned about the next dinner of cornmeal porridge than protecting their civil rights. The local prophets have gotten rich and are too busy counting their forex profits to hear the voice of freedom. Hard working MPs like Charles and Tufton really do not yet know what is going on and the lust for power is more important to ordinary partisans than their own countrymen and their freedom. Ahhhh, but there is one thing the conspiracists did not count on; a voice they cannot silence and a pen they cannot break.

FIGHTING THE PRIME MINISTER ALL THE WAY TO HELL!!
Freedom loving Jamaicans everywhere rise up. The legal fund needs to be established. I am willing to contirbute the first USD$1000! I, will not be silenced. Mr. Golding we will fight you all the way to the Privy Council and b-e-yo-n-d. We will fight you all the way to the United Nations and b-e-y-o-n-d. We will fight you all the way to Brussels and beyond. We will fight you all the way into the homes of tourists and beyond.

IF ALL THIS FAILS WE WILL FIGHT YOU ALL THE WAY TO THE GRAVES OF NANNY, BOGLE, GORDON, SHARPE AND GARVEY AND YES IF NEEDS BE WE WILL FIGHT YOU ALL THE WAY TO HELL AND BACK !!!

TIRADE ON RIGHTS IN SMALL STATES AND GDP

2008-06-09T12:40:00.000-05:00

Written by Carol Lawton

Liberty is nothing less than willingness to compromise my rights for the rights of others. Hence for societies to be free there has to be boundaries of the state, the citizen, and the government. The long standing premise of rights has been long discussed as too the responsibility of states but much has not been discussed about the health of the economies. In the globalization of states in world economies where a tree falls in the jungle and its heard in the financial markets where do small states fit into this process. Small States economies are barely the size of a small multinational but with the full responsibilities of sovereign states. The functions of these states must be dependent on the human capital to expand the reach of the state. The citizens’ development and ability to produce acts as a force multiplier which in the end impacts the taxes need to make a small state viable. We all want our countries but do the citizens know what is required to hold this sovereignty. I believe that this answer is no as a balance is not there between the services offered by the state and the consideration rendered by the citizen. The state has become the mule on which the citizen depends yet many are unwilling to produce to enable the mule to survive. Jamaica is for Jamaica but given a chance most will migrate as it has become our prison as well. Governments are not machines but made up of the human element. Countries are not land alone but people bounded by a common history, language and culture. Hence for productive government and countries to function the common factor is the people. In a sense the state is the creation of the people. Why then should we be puzzled by the state of Jamaica ? The balance is what is missing. Money, Policy, Planning is for nothing if the mass is unwilling to offer the state their all thus expanding opportunities for development and the expansion of the gross domestic product.

Tirade on Bureaucracy

2008-05-22T11:49:00.000-05:00

Written by Carol Lawton

The institution of government and the services rendered must be based upon a bureaucratic system. Bureaucracy in and of itself is by far the most efficient system for development and the delivery of goods and services as each segment, level, control element must be specialized to perform the task assigned. This specialization requires knowledge, skills, intellect and education. This education is for all hence the citizens must be educated to function properly in a modern bureaucratic government.

By its nature bureaucracy builds social hierarchy which some may term as a class structure. With class structures the base is always wide as the requirement to move up requires work. It is also the system with the highest capacity to create wealth based on intangibles as well as physical capital. A tradition of work also calls work ethics would be drilled into the young hence they develop this mindset which we do not have in Jamaica . Status is never guaranteed in a bureaucratic system as it is based upon objective goals hence a person is not guaranteed a stay because of traditional association such has family, friend or political association. Pure talent is the requirement as defined by the skills and education for the job.

As each division of the bureaucracy does its work assigned to its optimal operational design, they become subsystem of a larger organization, for brevity we will call it government. Note that what is stated is operational design and not planned or engineered design as political science is a discipline of hypotheses hence the best laid out plans may not work the way they are planned. Constant review and oversight is needed to keep the system in tact.

Jamaica inherited well defined institutions that historically were not for the native population but the principles behind them were sound principle to build a prosperous nation. Our fore parents fought for the rights to be the engineers of these institutions in order for their children to be enfranchised in it and prosper. What went wrong after independence may have many answers but I believe that a euphoric approach to right all wrongs at the expense of institutional stability is a cause. New plans, new ways, new models, new isms and not the reform of the system was the norm. It created special categories in unions, political parties, and the general population but did not improve the institutional laws and rules running the systems.

The bureaucratic system reverted back to the traditional model system which is tribal in nature. Hence the tribalism of the country and its politics to control these institution and systems which can deliver social mobility and wealth. Civil servants felt their positions are guaranteed, workers hinge themselves on the social laws such as the Redundancy Act backed by political unions which made survival of the worker more important than business which support the worker who support the union. The egg before the chicken, personal the chicken comes first. The general population was given the scraps as the spoils via work, food, housing and education while a new elite received contracts by association. Freeness became the goal and hustling to position to receive this freeness therefore hard working, education, and applying sound decision making technique took a back seat. Everything in the here and now. A system of conflict within itself will always explode from within given time as the disenfranchised are no longer involved and seek a new system. The other alternative we have seen in the 1980’s election when external forces pushing in and native forces pushing out can have dire consequences. A present example of a traditional model being affected by external forces is Iraq . The Americans made a simple mistake in that they did not understand the social traditional organization which governs traditional society. Sad to say, these traditional organizational models are that of Asia, Africa and Latin America .

The social tool of education to operate in the system becomes a privilege once again of the new middleclass. A conversation happen where a head of an agricultural agency could not understand education as the development of a person but only as a means to drive a big SUV and anyone who had the ability and education without this symbol was not a success. The social development by the institutional systems via the traditional model is replaced by material illusions of success. Norman Manley lost his property in the chase for this so call Jamaica hence to use this person definition would mean that he was not successful as he gain no economic objective from it.

Jamaica is now a country where educations by the males are of little value, brute force is the rule of the day both by citizens and the state. Opportunities can only be gain because of “association”, a BIG MAN must run things, alternative systems and economy are more efficient than that inherited bureaucracy. Over 40 years has past on this island, I have seen 34. From the stand point of my generation I would conclude that governing was not the reason for independence. If it was archaic laws which do not apply to the present would be updated, systems would be efficient, opportunity would be from the social and economic activities of the citizens and not the possible contracts and policies of the state, civil servants would not be seen as a special class, education and work would still be gauge for success not instant material gains through begging ( remittances, international loans ect) and crime. We have reduce our country and the legacy given to violent materialistic beggars on a rock in the sea. Without a return to the bureaucratic model from the traditional tribal model the development of Jamaica will never return as advancement will not be based upon work but on the spoils of the systems. Hence poor institutions, a malfunctioning internal control systems, an apathy for education over instant materialism and a Haitirization of the country.

A brief tirade on insurgency and government

2008-05-09T15:36:00.000-05:00

Written by Carol Lawton Jr.

In the timeline of history one thing holds true in regards to governments, liberation movements and paramilitary groups and that is they wrestling for power within the state. These struggles between the factions may be covert, overt or collaborative. But the end result is always the same as the formal structure now has to deal with the dynamics which will always lead to social unrest.

In the development of dictatorships it is the state failure to control and maintain society because of the compromise given to the factions. Democracy is a scaring concept if the parties involve are not willing to safe guard it. Theocracy in of itself cannot be avoided as in any society one religion will be dominant but with this dominance it must allow allows to seek the own enlightenment in the belief of a higher being. Socialism is an artificial state because of the availability of limit resources yet unlimited wants and the difference in talents and ability between people. Capitalism in its pure state is by far the best but pure capitalism without safeguards to protect the weakest of society will lead to corruption and social unrest hence no system is superior.

What is striking is balance is needed between them all. The strong arm of the state while give the citizen the choice to choose which opportunity to purse to build wealth while protecting the weakest to allow them to have access to the capital that they need to survive. Such a system is the ideal but where to the system begin or end.

To have seen democracies where there is none. Socialism in Capitalism is a paradox. The ism of government is illusion as good governance is about making decisions based upon the need of the state. Hence to allow covert or overt groups to develop system above the platform of government will lead to strife and the eventual take over of government. In war torn region, it is the warlord who governs not the state, in inner city fiefdom it is the don through the collection of gains from transaction (unofficial tax), in war, the military rules the ground, and then the terrorists who rule by fear due to their ability to strike.

The state of government can only exist in peace. Hence peace is the objective of all government in the end regardless of the form. So when a state foster insurgency groups or terrorists with agenda against another state they have entered into a formal war under the veil that they are in the country unknown. Functionaries of the state will always have access to the information hence it will always up the chain of command and the objective is the survival of the state and information is key. So when a country like Lebanon allows for Hezbollah to organize, finance, set support social systems and military logistics system it should not be surprise that if it can not destroy its enemy, it will turn against its host like a parasite as it has already undermined the state in that an entity can wage war against sovereign nation and undermine the state ability to protect its borders and deploy diplomatic policy that leads to peace. Woe be unto a state that believe that it can exist in peace while pseudo governments exist within.

Jamaican Diaspora movie trailers

2008-04-28T10:22:00.000-05:00

IS THE VIOLATION OF THE JAMAICAN CONSTITUTION A

2008-04-15T09:19:00.000-05:00

CAN ANYONE READ ENGLISH?

"Section 40 (2) of the Jamaican Constitution prohibits persons who have taken citizenship in another(non-Commonwealth ) country from being elected to the House of Representatives or being appointed a senator. Where the person takes an oath of allegiance to a non-Commonwealth country after being elected or appointed to the legislature, Section 41 (1) of the Constitution requires that the person's seat be made vacant."

Is this plain english or is it some foreign language? Why have those who love to point to the high level of crime in Jamaica now talking about how the Jamaican constitution must be amended and not talking about how the Jamaican constitution has been blatantly violated?Is this a land and people of law breakers?

THE QUESTIONS THAT THE JLP MUST ANSWER IS THIS: WERE THEY AWARE THAT SEVERAL OF THEIR CANDIDATES THAT THE YPUT FORWARD BEFORE THE VOTERS WERE US CITIZENS?

If they did and they still put them forward for office, then why is not this election fraud? This was a wilful attempt to stub their fingers right through the eye of the Jamaican Constitution saying in effect "we do not care what is written therein, we are bigger than the law, aka the law is not a shackle"!

Ignorance of the law is not and has never been accepted as a defence. Anyway, there is no way that they can claim ignorance, not with the battery oflawyers and Constitutional experts in their camp! This is election fraud pure and simple!

IGNORING "SMALL" CRIMINALITY HAS LED TO JAMAICA BECOMING A CORRUPTED CRIMINAL STATE!

The Jamaican Constitution, even if it is a plantation document, is the legal document governing Jamaica. No one says it does not need changes. But until those changes are made, violations of it should be prosecuted. This is the rule of law andminimizations of wanton illegality, however small, leads to larger issues of criminality and is one reason why our moral compass is worrisomely undesirable and gutterly reprehensible. No other nation in the world has a larger percentage of its citizens deported from the USA, Canada and the UK as does Jamaica because criminality looks normal to the masses!

We have historically minimized criminality so that certain criminality is being over looked or is being put aside because we say there are more important things that need attention and now the criminality consciousness has been fully embedded in then ational consciousness. This has lead to wide spread acceptance of corruption and we now have whole communities living off extorted gains some of which involved murders, arsons and thefts, while the country turns a blind eye. Jamaica is partly a criminal country period!

WHERE ARE THE THEOLOGIANS WHO WERE RAILING AGAINST HIGH LEVELS OF CRIME?

Be consistent theologians and call an illegal act what it is. There is no way to misinterpret common english here! The JLP purposely violated the Jamaican constitution. This must be some sort of crime and if it is not it should be! In any event it must be some kind of fraud. Partisan Jamaican courts may rule on their partisanship but the British Privy Council would certainly declare the victorious US citizensineligible to sit in the Jamaican parliament.

WE HAVE HAD SEVERAL ILLEGAL GOVERNMENTS; VAST NUMBER OF LAWSUITS COMING!

Those who think this is a partisan article have not read my other perceptive pieces. I am alleging that past governments have had illegal foreigners serving in the Parlianent and this holds serious consequences because the Parliaments were according to the constitution, illegal entities. It means that if past governments were illegal, then legislation they passed and actions and penalties they meted out were also illegal making them liable for damages from lawsuits from individuals and corporations who can claim harm!

WE WILL HAVE ANOTHER ELECTION; THERE IS NO OTHER SOLUTION! LAWSUIT BY CITIZEN TO BE FILED

If I can find a lawyer who is not afraid of the partisans, I would file a lawsuit alleging fraud and violation of the Jamaican Constitution, to have the election results thrown out! I guarantee that the Privy Council would rule in this favor because theyare not ruled by the disease of partisanship that hasrun rampant throughout the land!

IT IS TIME TO STAND UP FOR THE RULE OF LAW AND NOT THERULE OF HYPOCRISY?

Calling the constitution unfair is not the issue here.The issue is it was blantantly disrespected, ignored and violated! The violation of the Constitution must be a criminal offence punishable under Jamaican law!

FOREIGN LAWYERS SUPPORT VIOLATING THE JAMAICANCONSTITUTION?

Jamaican-born attorney-at-law in Florida, DahliaWalker-Huntington, said that Section 41(2) of the Constitution was unfair to Jamaicans living in thediaspora.

She pointed out that there was inequity in the Constitution as it allows a person who gains dualcitizenship through their parents, as a child, to beable to participate in representational politics, butat the same time bars another person who swears allegiance to another country from participating inrepresentational politics.

"It (the Constitution) is treating half of yourpopulation unfairly," she argued.

This is the same person who responded to my challenge that the Jamaican Diaspora Foundatioin was intended tobring the vote to Jamaican overseas by saying "There is no where in print or on tape where I have advocated Jamaicans in the Diaspora voting in Jamaican elections. So to brand me "an overseas votinh (sic)zealot" is blatantly incorrect." Dahlia Walker Huntington, 2006!

IF YOU ARE CONCERNED ABOUT THE RULE OF LAW- EMAIL THE PRIME MINISTER (Prime Minister Bruce Golding), AND LET HIM KNOW THAT THECONSTITUTION WAS VIOLATED AND JUSTICE IS CRYING OUTFOR RELIEF!!

Written by John Anthony

THE STRANGE CASE OF JAMAICA'S INEXPLICABLE SUPPORT FOR THE DEMOCRATIC PARTY OF THE USA!

2008-03-29T10:58:00.000-05:00

WHY DO THE MAJORITY OF JAMAICANS SEEM TO SUPPORT THE DEMOCRATIC PARTY OVER THE REPUBLICAN PARTY OF THE USA?

This is a question that needs serious examination touncover any existing factual basis for the"democrticpartization" of Jamaicans and to see ifthere is an explanation for our twisted method ofmaking choices and seeking affiliations. To begin hereare a few statements from some media giants.

" Still the sentimental pull of the long-standingpreference for a Hillary Clinton over any Republicancontender... " Why Hillary Clinton has turned me off - Geof Brown

"Mi glad yuh se", said Ronnie Thwaites as heexulted over the victory of the Democratic Party inthe congressional electionsm over the Republicansrecently.

"We must be proud of the Democratic Party".Congresswoman Yvette Clarke.

Evidence should be a vital piece of information thataffects decision-making in chosing affiliations butgreat salesmen know too that the ability to make thetarget person feel important by appealing to the ego,often outweighs an abundance of evidence which doesnot support the sale. Hence low self-esteem personsmake the best customers and we have clear evidence ofthis in Jamaica and Haiti where hundreds of thousandsof poor persons choose to buy cell phones (anego-affected decision) over saving their scarceresources to finance the education of their children(a far more important action supported by evidenceshowing that education is vital to breaking the cycleof poverty).

SO THEN IS THERE ANY EVIDENCE TO SUPPORT THE LOVE OFTHE DEMOCRATIC PARTY ALLUDED TO BY GEOF BROWN ANDRONNIE THWAITES, OR IS THEIR POSITION EGO-BASED?

Let us go to the evidence. In reviewing thehistorical and contemporary evidence the RepublicanParty has an unassailable and clear lead over theDemocratic Party in legislative actions that hasassisted Jamaica. We will also present information onthe African American experience.

EXPOSING THE HIDDEN FACTS; THE DEMOCRATS TALK ANDCREATE GOOD FEELINGS WHILE THE REPUBLICAN WALK!

In spite of the prevailing perception, the Democraticparty of the USA is not friendly towards Jamaica andthose Jamaicans who were exulting are simply theproduct of media brainwashing. Let us list some mostimportant issues that affected and still affects theCaribbean and the economies there.

1. The amnesty and immigration act of the 80s.This was an act which was supported and pushed byRepublican Ronald Reagan and signed into law by him.

In 1986, Congress passed the Immigration Reform andControl Act (IRCA) giving amnesty — legal forgiveness— to all illegal aliens who had successfully evadedjustice for four years or more or were illegallyworking in agriculture. As a result, 2.8 millionillegal aliens were admitted as legal immigrants tothe United States. In addition, they have so farbrought in an additional 142,000 dependents.

Various Amnesties of Illegal Aliens
IRCA (including dependents) 2,831,351
NACARA 405,000
Haitian Act 50,000
INA Section 249 (from 1987-1997) 69,670
TOTAL 3,356,021

Tens of thousands of Jamaicans (no one actually knowhow many)beneffitted from the single most importantissue forthem in their life up to that time.

2. THE CARIBBEAN BASIN INITIATIVEAlso supported and signed into law by TepublicanRonald Reagan, this bill is still benefitting theCaribbean in some form today and Jamaica directlyespecially in the form of ethanol exports.

3. THE HELMS BURTON ACTTo be truthful this legislation has Republican originsbut it was finally supported and signed into law byDemocratic president Bill Clinton after Cuban pilotsshot down two airplanes belonging to an Americangroup. This act directly impacts negatively onexpansion plans of Jamaican hotelliers seekinginvestments in Cuba.

4. THE DEMOCRATIC PARTY IS THE PARTY OF SLAVERYAnd why did not the democrats free the slaves? It wasthe southern democrats who were the majorityslaveholders and so it proves like Jamaica, as somesay African Americans love their bondage and are stillpart of one large modern slave plantation- theyreturned to their slave massas en masse when theyoffered them gifts and charity in Roosevelt's NewDeal!!

5. THE SOUTHERN DEMOCRATS DESTABILIZED THE AFRICANAMERICAN ECONOMYThe information on how southern Decocrats destroyedseveral thriving African American towns, has beenhidden for decades. Stunningly this has never beendiscussed in media the way the Iraq war has been. Twoincidents come to mind; Tulsa, Oklahoma and Rosewood,Florida, where decades ago Democratic mobs chased,killed African Americans and burned to the groundthriving African American business communities.

6. OVER 3000 KNOWN LYBCHINGS OF AFRICAN AMERICANSOf course most if not all of these lynchings were doneby Democrats of the south, the last one in 1960!Incidentally, many of the participants at theselynchings are still alive today and recognizable ineasily accessible photographs and makes one wonder whythey are not being prosecuted! See Democratic lynchmobs in action here:http://www.liu.edu/cwis/cwp/library/african/2000/lynching.htm

7. THE SHOCKING VOTING RESULTS OF THE CIVIL RIGHTSLEGISLATION OF THE 1960S.One often hears the argument that the reason whyAfrican Americans are all Democrats is because theDemocrats passed civil rights legislation. But hereare the actual voting results on that legislation.

By party and region

The original House version: For and Against.

Southern Democrats: 7-87 (7%-93%)
Southern Republicans: 0-10 (0%-100%)
Northern Democrats: 145-9 (94%-6%)
Northern Republicans: 138-24 (85%-15%)

The Senate version:

Southern Democrats: 1-20 (5%-95%) (only Senator Ralph Yarborough of Texas voted infavor)
Southern Republicans: 0-1 (0%-100%) (this was Senator John Tower of Texas)

Northern Democrats:
45-1 (98%-2%) (only Senator Robert Byrd of West Virginia opposed themeasure)

Northern Republicans:
27-5 (84%-16%) (Senators Bourke Hickenlooper of Iowa, Barry Goldwaterof Arizona, Edwin L. Mechem of New Mexico, Milward L.Simpson of Wyoming, and Norris H. Cotton of NewHampshire opposed the measure)

SHOCKING RESULTS HUH! Support from the Republicans wasextremely high and the Democrats which opposed similarlegislation from the 1860s, finally changed theirstance.

8. THE REPUBLICANS BROUGHT FREEDOM FROM SLAVERY; THEDEMOCRATS OPPOSED ITHistory clearly indicates that the Democratic Partyopposed the Civil Rights Act passed by the Republicansin the 1860s. Yes that's right, in the 18602! In factthe Democrats opposed such Civil Rights legislationfor decades

9. THE RACIST DEMOCRATIC SPINNING BRAINWASHING MACHINE

ONE question seeks an answer. Against the evidencepresented so far why do the African Americans andHispanics support the Democratic party considering thedevilish tyrannical history it is so proud of? Someclaim that both parties have reversed poles with theRepublicans taking on a racist mantra similar to the1865 Democrats. There are several problems with thisposition though.

Firstly, I was never taught in my two semesters of UShistory that the Democratic Party was historicallyracist and anti Civil Rights. The Democratic Party hasshocking racist history but this is not taughtanywhere and it is an acknowledged part of Americanhistory. When I challenged a noted history professorin California about this he huffed and puffed goingoff on a tangent about polarity.

Secondly, it is incorrect to try and subtly say thatthe Democrats of 1865 were the only racist democrats.In fact their overt racist tendencies continued fordecades and as far as I am concerned they still existtoday! Even in the Democrtic party's nominationelections the nation saw prominent African AmericansAndrew Young, Robert Johnson and Congressman Rangelssbockingly taking sides against African AmericanBarack Obama and in the case of Johnson makingcomments insinuating Obama was taking drugs when theClintons were contributing to the African Americancommunity! This is another version of the House Negroversus the Field Negro. I wonder what the RepublicanFrederick Douglas is doing in his grave?

Thirdly, the facts are that the actions of Republicanpresidents in signing legislation that contributedimmeasurably to African Americans, Hispanics andimmigrants refutes the commonly accpeted notion thatthe republican party is now racist and the democratsare not.

Many examples of the racist Democratic party arewaiting to be taught in history classes acrossAmerica, in Jamaica and in the Hispanic communitiesHere are a few:

John S. Rock, African-American Republican abolitionist

Dr. John S. Rock, was the first African-Americanlawyer admitted to practice before the U.S. SupremeCourt. Chief Justice Salmon Chase (R-OH) swore him inthis day in 1865.

Born a free man, Rock studied medicine and then becamea renowned abolititonist and Republican activist. In1858, he decided to seek medical treatment in France,but the Democrat Secretary of State, Lewis Cass, triedto stop him. Cass, the former Democrat presidentialnominee, ruled that African-Americans could not beissued U.S. passports. The Republican-controlledMassachusetts legislature then issued Dr. Rock atravel document which the French government accepted,enabling him to travel to France.

At Boston's Fanuel Hall, in 1858, he ridiculed racialprejudice: "If any man does not fancy my color, thatis his business, and I shall not meddle with it. Ishall give myself no trouble because he lacks goodtaste... Our friends can do what many of them arenobly doing, assist us to remove the obstacles whichprevent our elevation, and stimulate the worthy topersevere. The colored man who, by dint ofperseverance and industry, educates and elevateshimself, prepares the way for others, gives characterto the race, and hastens the day of generalemancipation."

the Republican Party's 15th AmendmentOn this day in 1870, after passing in the House ofRepresentatives with 98% Republican support and 97%Democrat opposition, the Republican Party's 15thAmendment was ratified by the states. It then becamepart of the Constitution, extending toAfrican-Americans the right to vote. Unfortunately,Democrats soon enacted poll taxes, literacy tests, andother scams to prevent African-Americans from votingin the South and other areas under their control.http://grandoldpartisan.typepad.com/

the Republican Party's 15th AmendmentOn this day in 1870, after passing in the House ofRepresentatives with 98% Republican support and 97%Democrat opposition, the Republican Party's 15thAmendment was ratified by the states. It then becamepart of the Constitution, extending toAfrican-Americans the right to vote. Unfortunately,Democrats soon enacted poll taxes, literacy tests, andother scams to prevent African-Americans from votingin the South and other areas under their control.http://grandoldpartisan.typepad.com/

10. THE DEMOCRATS SUPPORT HOMOSEXUALITY AND LESBIANISMWHILE THE REPUBLICANS DO NOT!Surprised aren't you? It is true indeed. This issuefor which Jamaica is branded as the most homophobiccountry in the world which the majority of Jamaicansfind so dastardly, the friendly Democrats are infavor of.

11. THE DOMOCRATIC PARTY IS MORE ANTI-GOD WHILE THEREPUBLICANS ARE PRO-GODWhat a shocker! A country like Jamaica and churchdeacons like Ronnie Thwaites would flock to theatheistic party! Jamaica still has religion in itsschools; the democrats get maddenningly angry when anyone suggests that there should be religion inAmerica's public schnools!

11. IRAQ HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH JAMAICAI heard some Jamaicans shouting about the war in Iraq,but what does it have to do with Jamaica? Were theyshouting when Saddam was killing his 300,000? Are theyshouting about the 1,500 deaths a day in Darfur? Hint;they are completely silent; they do not even know thatmore persons have died in Darfur than in Iraq! Themedia has convinced Jamaica that the war in Iraq ismore important than the genocide in Sudan and so theyhate George Bush for Iraq but love the Chinese eventhough the Chinese has financed the genocide of darkskinned Africans who more closely resemble them thanthe Iraqis! Oh the power of television!Most Jamaicans do not even look at the issues butfollow their prevailing brainwashed opinion! Too muchtelevision is bad for rationality and sound reasoning!

ARE ALL JAMAICANS AND AFRICAN AMERICANS BRAINWASHED?

Perhaps Congresswoman Yvette Clarke who said "We mustbe Proud of the Democratic Party", can provide anexplanation or may be Ronnie Thwaites and Geof Browncan collaborate on a psychological response.-

Oh yes be proud of the party that did not want to freethe slaves. Be proud of the party that enslaved andraped hundreds of thousands of women at will. Be proudof the deomcrats who lynched and burned...

Then here is more from Yvette Clarke: "I will work incongress to make sure that all of our citizens haveequal economic, civil and legal rights regardless ofsexuality, gender or gender preference." - YvetteClarke

Well here it is Jamaicans full support for the heinousacts of the gay community, which you all so hate anddespise. What a twisted state of affairs. Thegreaters haters of homosexuality showing love for aparty that shows great acceptance of the hatedlifestyle! That's why we are known as Ja(Hypocrisans)maicans.

Written By
John Anthony

PRIVATE JAMAICAN CITIZEN TO SUE EUROPEAN COMMISSIONER KROES OVER FARM SUBSIDIES WHILE JAMAICAN POLITICIANS CAPITULATES!

2008-02-07T09:40:00.000-06:00

"There are persons who believe that the preferences that we have enjoyed - this business where Europe paysyou twice as much for your sugar than they can buy it elsewhere - that those are things that must remain inperpetuity. It is a kind of mendicancy that we need topurge ourselves of." Prime Minister Bruce GoldingSure charity and remittances are destabilizing but it does seem as if Bruce Golding is completely unaware that this same Europe subsidizes its own farmers to the tune of EU$100 billion dollar per year.

This usidy clearly creates an unfair and uncompetitiveatmosphere for non-European farmers who export andsell farm produce to European markets. It was thissame Europe under Commissioner Neelie Kroes, , who sued and fined Microsoft hundreds of millions of EU dollars because it said, Microsoft had an unfair competiveadvamtage over other software competitors. Unless Commissioner Kroes can document otherwise, the Microsoft action does seem to parrallel the EU farmsubsidy programs and should be a sound basis for alawsuit filed on behalf of farmers worldwide.

Does the European farm subsidey create a similarcompetitive advantage for European farmers? I would not expect Bruce Golding to challenge the European over this; he is in a particularly weak position. But just like I did in the Trafiggura affair, while politicians were spinning their partisan tops, I wassending dozens of emails to the Dutch Police,prosecutors and the press urging prosecution of thePNP. In fact, I claim to have done more than the entire local JLP politicl machinery in thisregard and WILL TAKE UP THIS SUBSIDY MATTER WITH COMMISSIONER KROES MYSELF including a potential lawsuit to follow! The backbones of our leaders have been irreparablybroken. This is what happens when a country is financed by loans and charities.

Written by John Anthony

Jamaicans Living Overseas

2008-01-31T15:52:00.000-06:00

There are 2.7 million Jamaicans living at home and the official estimate is that, an equal number of Jamaicans also lives overseas. Last year, Jamaicans living abroad send home approximately US$2.6 billion. Just ahead of what the island earns from its major industry tourism, and ahead of what is brought in by the bauxite industry. Another significant figure is the estimated US$40 billion purchasing power of Jamaicans living abroad.

It should therefore come as no surprise that the Jamaican Government is actively pursuing this potentially rich source of investment capital and political influence.But for those of you wishing to effect changes in Jamaica, image an entrepreneurial approach devoid of politics and government; and with the prospect of harnessing the full potential of 2.7 million innovative and committed Jamaicans.This is the objective of Jamlink - to create an enterprise among Jamaican living overseas, and to monetize this partnership with the use of a single online media platform.

Incidentally work has already begun, as you can see in the first phase of our online platform at www.jamlink.com Jamlink’s framework will take into consideration the following two components:---- A for profit enterprise with complete adherence to entrepreneurship and personal gain; and- A non-for-profit arm to mobilize our efforts around some of the issues affecting Jamaica.The operation will be based in Florida, and will be appropriately named. And as such, all subsequent partnerships and stakeholder relationships will be mandated by both state and federal guidelines. As a matter of fact, the non-for-profit arm of Jamlink is already in place – for the past 3 years, Jamlink has been the trademark of “Vonergy” - a 501(c) (3) charitable organization established to promote cohesive advocacy throughout the Jamaica community abroad.

Working together---Several of you receiving this correspondence are already aware of these plans, and are expected to act according to your respective commitments. For those of you not yet familiar with Jamlink, you can learn more by contacting us. You may also want to sign-up at our website to receive updates on our progress.The initial funding for this start-up venture is being obtained from our fundraising campaigns, namely our:- Advertising programs- Third-party referral programs- Own a Virtual piece a Yawd Campaign Some of these online resources may benefit you personally and if so, we urge your support and participation as it will enable Jamlink’s continuous development.Jamlink’s online media platform remains a work in progress. And, a fully functional, and revenue generating Jamlink will create sustainable benefits for all those involved - a feat possible only by this creation of the largest online Jamaican-based network.

Regards,

Hansen 305-218-2878

HOW TO ELIMINATE POVERTY

2008-01-22T10:51:00.000-06:00

1. Teach the people the importance of sacrifice and delayed-self gratification. The minds of the poor are weak and hence they are prime prey for advertising programs. Their self worth is very low and so they do almost anything to raise their self-worth. Hence you see hundreds of thousands of Jamaicans wasting their money on cell phones when they should be saving for the college education of their children or for their retirement.

2. Teach the people the importance of saving. Instead of buying items to boost self-worth the poor should be saving their money.

3. Teach the people the importance of education. In today's competitive world education is a must to break the poverty cycle. Turn off the cable television and save the money for school fees!

4. The poor must be taught to give. You will never appreciate a thing to the highest level until you learn to give it away. Whatever one gives one keeps. This is philosophical stuff, which I will not get into here but it is a proven spiritual principle!

5. The poor must be taught that having children out of wedlock and or unprepared leads to poverty! Jamaica is obviously overpopulated and while no one wants to talk about it, the actions that lead to this overpopulation is devastating us!

6. The poor must be taught that crime leads to poverty; not that poverty leads to crime! Demonstrations, locking down school property because of dissatisfaction as parents like to do, destroying business property during strikes, confiscating government property by refusing to return salary overpayments as the JTA literally just did, and using strikes as a prime negotiating tool all lead to poverty!

7. Teach the poor that dysfunctional family structures perpetuate the cycle of poverty! The single greatest factor destabilizing us is our runaway libido which has lead to widespread dysfunctional family structures and a population greater than the job potential of our economy but NO one sees this as a problem. Listen foreign investors will never invest in Jamaica the way they have invested in Costa Rica or Ireland because they have persons advising them and these advisors know that the quality of a country's work force is directly related to the quality of the country's family life. So we are trying to put paste on a festering wound and wondering why it will not heal. We will never have lasting prosperity as long as we have widespread dysfunctional families.

8. Overpopulation leads directly to poverty especially when GNP growth does not parallel it.

John Antohony writes...

2008-01-17T09:22:00.000-06:00

John Anthony
New York
January 17, 2008

I am on record as saying, based on the historyof the JCF and the widespread corruption in the force,the incident in Tivoli Grdens this past week, resembles a wanton extra judicial killing. Many Jamaicans have never read the AmnestyInternational or Americas Watch reports on the JCF,but if they did unbiasedly, they would perhaps neverbelieve anything the police force reports on incidentslike this one! Here is an excerpt from the of war on human rights inJamaica:Police abuse has been documented by national andinternational organisations numerous times in the past30 years.

In 1986, an Americas Watch report, HumanRights in Jamaica, concluded that there existed inJamaica: ''a practice of summary executions by thepolice; a practice of unlawful detentions by thepolice at times accompanied by police assaults ondetainees; and a practice of confining detainees inpolice station lock-ups under squalid and degradingconditions.

''DOESN'T THIS SOUNDS LIKE HITLER'S GULAG TO YOU OR THEHUTU MASSACRE OR SADDAM HUSSEIN'S KILLING FIELDS?Go here for the rest!

http://www.amnesty.org/en/alfresco_asset/0c489705-a3c9-11dc-9d08-f145a8145d2b/amr380032001en.html

HOW TO STOP THE GUNS FROM COMING INTO JAMAICA! DO WE REALLY WANT TO THOUGH?

2007-12-31T13:50:00.000-06:00

Snippet:

We have for too long shied away from solutions thatbring parrallel inconvenience. Someone has convincedus that progress and development is not difficult and that they should not take us out of our comfort zonesof fantasy! Who hath brainwashed you Jamaica? Hence,solutions that require us to give up our fantasies areoften rejected. But if the flow of illegal guns is tocease a change of heart and mind is vital.

HOW ILLEGAL GUNS AND AMMUNITION ENTER JAMAICA

It is no mystery how the illegal guns and ammunitionenter Jamaica. Let us list the options which areavailable:1. Barrels shipped by means of shipping companies;2. Air freight cargo;3. In commercial goods and equipment;4. Mail parcels and packages;5. Luggage carried by airline passengers;6. Illegal boats and ganga airplanes;7. Clandestine security agencies of foreigngovernments.8. From rogue cops and soldiers who have infiltratedthe security forces.

STRATEGY NUMBER ONE; CUTTING OFF THE GUN RUNNING BOATSCREATE A WEB BASED COMPUTERIZED LIST OF ALL BOATS

First, if it has not been done already, allmotorized boat owners should be registered with amonitoring agency and placed where the list can beaccessed through a password secured procedure, bysecurity officers. A government web site would beideal.

USE A VISIBLE LETTER CODE PAINTED ON EVERY BOAT

These boats should be identified by a lettering ornumber code painted in large block letters on bothsides and visible from hundreds of feet away.

SOLDIERS AND POLICE TO MAN THE PATROL BOATS

We should deploy troops from Up Park Camp permanentlyto help monitor those parts of the coast line whichare susceptible to illegal intrusions from the sea.These troops would have at their disposal, sufficientmotorized boats capable of patrolling the entirecoastline, powerful binnoculars, walkie talkies forcommunication, loud speakers and should have localpolice officers on board so arrests can be made whennecessary. This would create an impenetrable curtainfor gun smugglers if we had one boat for every 20miles of coast line. This would take ten boats for thesouthcoast which is approximately 200 miles long.

A MOBILE LAND FORCE TO BACK UP THE PATROL BOATS

This would be necessary to interdict any smugglers whoescaped the patrol boats.

CONTACT ALL COMPANIES WHO SHIP GOODS TO JAMAICA

Identify all the companies who shipbarrels into the island and write them a letterdemanding to be educated on the steps they take toensure that barrels which they ship are free from gunsand ammunition and other illegal contraband. Can youimagine these companies know how drastic the crimesituation is on the island and they have no procedurein place to ensure that illegal goods are not packedin the barrels? Ridiculous!

SHIPPING COMPANIES SHOULD BE FINED WHEN ILLEGAL GOODSARE FOUND IN THEIR CONTAINERS.

Here are the addresses of some of the barrel companies:

Feurtado Shipping

112-37 Guy Brewer Blvd

Jamaica, NY 11433800

640-1463 or 718-523-5099 email info@jafship.com2.

Trans-Continental Shippers

118-40 Montauk Street

St. Albans, New York, 11412718-341-29003.

Laparkan

608 Nostrand, Brooklyn NY 11216718-493-7118

718-227-7357 or 718-847-69394

Deans Overseas Shipping

217-21 Merrick Blvd., Laurelton, NY 11423718-525-3375

800-525-33265

Parks International Shipping

3010 Eastchester Rd., Bronx, NY 10469718-671-20006

Dennis Shipping

1124-28 Utica Avenue, Brooklyn, NY 11203718-451-3617-9

or 800-416-4624 emaildennisship@aol.com

D & L Freight Systems

925 Market Street

Paterson NJ 07513

dlfreights@aol.com

973-720 96008

Reliable Overseas Shipping & Trading

239 - 241 Kingston Avenue

Brooklyn, NY 11213718-771-16009

Boston Shipping & Travel Enterprise Inc

506 Decatur Street, Brooklyn, NY 11233718

443 6400 or 877 362 802210

Tony Barrels

427A 10th Avenue

Paterson, NJ 07514973

925 1300 or 973 332 7738

Jamaican Diaspora Potential

2007-12-19T10:14:00.000-06:00

Miss Jamaica UK

2007-12-12T10:09:00.000-06:00

Miss Jamaica World 2007: Yendi Phillips

2007-12-12T09:57:00.000-06:00

Miss Jamaica Universe 2007 : Zahra Redwood

2007-12-12T09:55:00.001-06:00

Miss IL Caribbean - winner : Jamaica

2007-12-12T09:49:00.000-06:00

Something For Everyone

2007-12-12T09:45:00.000-06:00

Jamaican Diaspora Day June 16, 2007 Evanston, IL USA

2007-12-11T10:15:00.000-06:00

George Graham

2007-12-10T12:44:00.000-06:00

My brother, Bill, who lives in London, Ontario, remarked recently that whenever an athlete from Britain or Canada wins anything, he or she turns out to be Jamaican born or the child of Jamaicans. He was exaggerating, of course. But there's a lot of truth in his observation. Jamaicans have emigrated in droves and many achieve remarkable success in their adopted countries.General Colin Powell is perhaps the most famous example.

I'm sure you know his parents were from Jamaica, although he was born in the United States. But the most publicized successes are in sports. In track and field, for example, Jamaicans have excelled as long as I can remember. "Little Jamaica Beats the World" the headline proclaimed when a Jamaican relay team won the men's 4-by-400-meter event at the Helsinki Olympics in 1952. And "little Jamaica's" athletes have been beating the world ever since - even if they often wear some other country's colors.The island has produced too many cricket stars for me to count. And if you're a boxing fan, you know Jamaica has given many champions to that sport. Former world heavyweight champion Lenox Lewis had Jamaican parents. But did you know that Patrick Ewing, acclaimed as one of America's 50 best basketball players of all time, was born in Kingston? Even in baseball, which is rarely played in Jamaica, we can claim at least one star - Devon White, who was selected for three All Star teams. I could go on and on.

Hundreds of thousands of Jamaicans now live in the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom. The largest expatriate communities are in London, Miami-Dade, Atlanta, Philadelphia, New York, Los Angeles and Toronto. This "Jamaican Diaspora" - as it has come to be called - has enriched the destination countries. And it has impoverished Jamaica. You can see the effects reflected in our recent performances at cricket. And even in track, it's the Jamaican women who are left to carry the torch. But while sports may grab the headlines, the talent drain's impact may be more hurtful in other fields. Just think of the nurses the island has given to the world - for free. Jamaican taxpayers helped train them, yet many of them have taken their skills to other countries. In almost every walk of life, you will find the same kind of talent drain.There's little that Jamaica can do to stop the drain.

Jamaicans leave home because the grass is greener elsewhere. Even so, the island needs to do what little it can. Support for youth sports could be increased, for example. And attractive tax breaks could be provided for professions deemed vital to the island's prosperity. Other nations are not as generous as Jamaica. When the Boston Red Sox wanted to sign Japanese pitcher, Daisuke Matsuzaka, they had to pay about $50 million just to talk to him. The total cost of acquiring the baseball player topped $90 million. Now, Major League teams are recruiting talent in China. And it is costing them plenty. Perhaps some form of compensation could be worked out for exploitation of Jamaican talent. How about asking the United States, Canada and Britain to pay us what it cost Jamaican taxpayers to train a nurse who goes to live in those countries?

Having said that, my complaint is not so much against Jamaica as against the developed nations.These countries assume they are entitled to the riches of the world without argument. When the Statue of Liberty was erected, the proclamation inscribed on it called for other countries to send America their "poor, their huddled masses yearning to breathe free." Now, a more accurate inscription would be: "Send us your computer engineers, your rocket scientists, your doctors and nurses..." A furious debate rages in the United States over the influx of undocumented immigrants from Mexico. Employers in several industries benefit from these people who are willing to work for substandard wages, and their representatives in government are eager to keep the flow of cheap labor coming. But many Americans resent the Mexican "invasion" and protest that American jobs are threatened.

In all of the thousands (millions?) of words produced in this debate, no one has challenged America's right to accept only the cream of the world's crop. Official U.S. policy bars prospective immigrants who lack skills that the country wants. The same is true in Canada, where immigration officials use a scorecard to weed out less qualified applicants. This attitude seems to prevail throughout the developed world. But is this fair? What right does a rich country have to plunder the talent of a poor country while refusing to offer opportunity to that country's needy?The answer should be obvious. It is not fair. Indeed, it is downright immoral.George Graham is a Jamaican-born journalist and author who has worked as a reporter in the Caribbean and North America for more than half a century. He lives inLakeland, Florida.

His new book, "Hill-an'-Gully Rider," is available at http://stores.lulu.com/georgeg.

Midwest - West Region

2007-12-10T12:41:00.000-06:00

I bring greetings as the elected Jamaican Diaspora Advisory Board Member representing approximately 18 states located in the Midwest-West region of the United States. The word Diaspora means the scattering of a people from their homeland. The Jamaican Diaspora was established by the Country of Jamaica in 2004 to connect with its people living all over the world. The Jamaican Diaspora is a first attempt of the Jamaican government to coordinate efforts to seek assistance from its people living abroad. Currently, there are two other regions that represent Jamaicans living in the United States; they include the Eastern and Southern Regions of the U.S, with other Jamaican Diaspora locations established and located in the United Kingdom and Canada.

The Diaspora is meant to be inclusive of not only expatriates, but first, second and third generations of Jamaicans, of all ages, living aboard who want to give back. For the last five years, the theme of the Jamaican Diaspora has been titled, "Unleashing the Potential." The main goal of the Jamaican Diaspora is to mobilize Jamaicans living aboard to become part of the Jamaica Diaspora MOVEMENT. The intent of this movement is to establish a communication network to galvanize the resources of all Jamaicans to assist and to support the country of Jamaica in initiatives such as health, investment, business, education, trade, policy formation, faith-based, youth, social and cultural activities and programs for the improvement of the country and the empowerment of the people living in Jamaica. Now the significance of the Jamaican Diaspora MOVEMENT is the people who will play significant roles in strengthening Jamaica.

The Jamaican Diaspora MOVEMENT is a historic opportunity for everyone to make their impact on how Jamaica will be shaped in years to come. This movement will not be a one time or a short term process; it will be a movement that will continue until Jamaica is strengthen, well positioned and regarded as one of the leading nations in the world. Many individuals and organizations representing several states within our region have already come aboard to be part of what they feel is a historic opportunity to make a difference.

We therefore, invite you to join us in what will be remembered as a historic time in the history of the county of Jamaica. We need your involvement, expertise, resources and financial support. There are several committees' and projects developed and underway, that needs your assistance. The work before us requires thousand of individuals working together collectively to make a difference. So, come join us in this the Jamaican Diaspora MOVEMENT, "Unleashing the Potential" of all of us who have a deep love for Jamaica the country we love.

For additional information and how you can get involve call 773-721-1207

Jamaica Diaspora MWW

P.O. Box 81292

Chicago, Illinois 60681-0292

http://www.myjamaicausa.com/

The Jamaican Diaspora is counting on you to help us make a difference.

Best regards,

Valerie C. Beckley

Advisory Board Member

Ann-Marie Adams

2007-12-10T11:56:00.000-06:00

Ann-Marie Adams, an award-winning journalist. She is writing a book on school segregation and its impact on Caribbean immigrants. Email: annwritestuff@msn.com

Few people know about efforts to mobilize the Jamaican Diaspora. Even fewer know what the Jamaican Diaspora Movement is. That’s because there is a serious disconnect between the people who are leading this movement and the people who make up the Diaspora. What gives?Much to the unbelievable chagrin of certain individuals, I sought answers from pivotal sources. That meeting spurred two columns. Here’s the first of two: educating the Diaspora.For the uninitiated or the unenlightened, the dictionary’s definition of the word Diaspora is: the dispersion of people from their homeland. Jamaicans living in the United States, Canada, England and other countries constitute the Jamaican Diaspora, which parallels the Jewish situation. For example, more Jews live outside Israel than in Israel.

Similarly, more Jamaicans live off the island than on it.Using the Jewish situation as a blueprint, a group of Jamaicans are engaged in an effort to galvanize the Jamaican Diaspora. This effort mirrors the Jewish push to use political power harnessed from Jews who vote, hold political office or have influence in government and private sectors outside of Israel. This “movement” officially kicked off last June in Jamaica at a conference: “Unleashing the Potential.” A group of government officials and Jamaicans at home and oversees met in Kingston to discuss ways to engage more of the Diaspora in the island’s development. Several resolutions emerged from that conference; and since then Jamaicans in the US, Canada, the United Kingdom and the Caribbean have been busy with projects to fulfill Jamaica’s ultimate goal: to compete in a global market. But some observers are skeptical and want to know how this “movement” is relevant to average Jamaicans, and why the government is now interested in reaching out to the Diaspora. And who can blame them? So I sought answers.

Janet Madden, community liaison at the Jamaican Embassy in D.C., says the government has realized the importance of the Diaspora and its role in the development of the island, especially after the country’s $1.6 billion remittances have been streamlined. “We realize these Jamaicans have been playing a significant role in developing the country and their families,” Madden says. “It’s time we recognize these Jamaicans and try to engage them in the developing of our country.” Madden says her role is to coordinate such efforts by Jamaicans in the US. She says she has been working with various groups to reach out to what the embassy estimates to be more than 800,000 Jamaicans living in about 19 states in the US.

The hope, she says, is that more people attend the next Diaspora conference in June 2006 to partake in this far-reaching effort to help build the nation. Moreover, O’Neil Hamilton, information attaché for the Jamaican Embassy in D.C., says the government will help facilitate efforts by Jamaicans looking to invest on a large scale. This speaks to the role and relevance of the government: to put a system in place to make the process simple. And the arm of the government to ensure this, Hamilton says, is Jamaica Promotions Limited (JAMPRO). “JAMPRO has the knowledge and the resource to help facilitate that,” he says. “What we are focused on is robust investments that can provide employment for Jamaicans.” But some people are skeptical about the government’s coordinated efforts. “It’s a big gab fest. I don’t see much going on,” says Patrick Beckford, chairman of Friends of Trelawny Association. Others fear this “movement” might eclipse other groups, like the National Association of Jamaican and Supportive Organizations.

NAJASO is an umbrella organization that is supposed to facilitate efforts like these but instead has been languishing. Hamilton says an eclipse of such nature should not be a concern because the government is trying to make other organizations and NAJASO stronger so that it, too, can play a role in rebuilding the country. One way to strengthen organizations, it seems, is to send other organizations or individuals to help revitalized anemic ones. Another way of helping Jamaicans abroad is to facilitate philanthropic efforts. For example, Dr. Trevor Sewell, a professor and former dean at Temple University’s School of Education, heads the northeast Diaspora movement’s education team. He and his group adopted a high school in Jamaica. The government’s role is to partner them with the principals and other entities that can help facilitate this project to transform a low-performing, non traditional high school in St. James, Jamaica, Madden says.

Additionally, the embassy coordinated a health summit in August with 15 Jamaican cardiologists from the Association of Black Cardiologists to meet with noted healthcare leaders in Jamaica, she says. They discussed the prospect of health care and health care tourism in Jamaica. Embassy officials expect this summit to be a launch pad in developing business and commerce and to facilitate growth in the healthcare sector. These are a few ways the Diaspora movement is at work, Hamilton says. And he adds emphatically: “There’s nothing to be feared; everything to be gained.” Well, here’s what I say: only time will tell.