Jamaican Society today – Page 4 – Here's What I Think…

Language (Music) versus Science

So the other day, en route to school and work, the conversation took a very interesting turn. The following question was posited: “We accept that the world today is a better place than it was during the era of the Cavemen. Is it this way because of scientific advances or because of the arts…use of language specifically?”

Little Master and Miss World offered their view points, but none of us was able to offer a definitive answer. I opened the discussion to the Circle of Truth. The Circle of Truth consists of my 5 siblings, my parents and depending on the topic, we’ll include my Cousin Robbie, an academic with a wicked sense of humour and very sharp political chops. Anyone makes a comment, asks a question, offers an opinion via email since we are all over the globe, and the Circle of Truth weighs in with the candor and wit that characterizes my beloved family. This particular topic didn’t stimulate a lot of chatter…only about 10 emails. Other topics have yielded up to 50 emails… sigh. I love them. But I kept pondering this question.

The other day H and I were discussing Obama and his performance in this second term. That’s a whole other post, and one that I feel ill-equipped to tackle, given my (lack of) proximity to where the action is at and my ignorance of The System in Washington, which has probably contributed to his sub par delivery on our expectations. The point though is this: Obama is a brilliant orator whose deliverables haven’t matched up to his words. So the question: Of what use eloquence and pretty language?

I remember the first time I heard Barak Obama. This young, black senator from Illinois was addressing some democratic convention or other. My TV was tuned to CNN and I was walking up and down tidying beds and folding laundry. I think the first thing that got my attention was his cadence…”That’s a black man!”, I thought to myself. I started to listen to his words. I found myself putting down the clothes and sitting on the edge of my bed. I was transfixed. He painted a vision so compelling, he articulated a point so eloquently that I, by the single act of merely listening to him, felt drawn into what he was saying. I remember declaring to H that evening when he came home that there was a young black Democratic senator from Illinois that we should keep our eye on. “He’s going places” I declared. The rest, as they say, is history.

So he sounded good. He got our attention. Fast forward to January 2009, Obama’s inauguration speech. The whole world was tuned in I would think. Here was the first black president of the USA, a country where not a generation earlier, blacks were relegated to the back of the bus. I was no different. I was in my office, huddled with a few colleagues and one consultant. There was silence as we hung on his every word. Every hair on my body stood on end as Obama approached the end of his speech and uttered the following:

So let us mark this day with remembrance, of who we are and how far we have traveled. In the year of America’s birth, in the coldest of months, a small band of patriots huddled by dying campfires on the shores of an icy river. The capital was abandoned. The enemy was advancing. The snow was stained with blood. At a moment when the outcome of our revolution was most in doubt, the father of our nation ordered these words be read to the people:

“Let it be told to the future world…that in the depth of winter, when nothing but hope and virtue could survive…that the city and the country, alarmed at one common danger, came forth to meet [it].”

America. In the face of our common dangers, in this winter of our hardship, let us remember these timeless words. With hope and virtue, let us brave once more the icy currents, and endure what storms may come. Let it be said by our children’s children that when we were tested we refused to let this journey end, that we did not turn back nor did we falter; and with eyes fixed on the horizon and God’s grace upon us, we carried forth that great gift of freedom and delivered it safely to future generations.

In that moment, Obama was talking to me. I was at one of the lowest points in my life. I felt as if I had nothing. But like Washington stated, hope and virtue, available from within, were the only resources I had at my disposal, and by God, I was NOT going to be defeated.

During his campaign, Obama ignited the hopes of millions with a simple phrase: “Yes we can.” Americans voted in record numbers because all of a sudden, possibility thinking took hold. And this started with words. With language. That he may not have delivered to date as we hoped has nothing to do with what he was able to do with his words. There are reasons, and we ought not to diminish the impact and utility of his language despite execution challenges.

Throughout the ages, words have inspired, have articulated, have illuminated, have challenged and expressed. Words are the medium by which we explain and wrangle new insights from the world around us. Without language, we perhaps would be unable to progress scientifically. There is nothing more beautiful to me that a well articulated thought. Words turn me on.

Which leads me to music. William Congreve, in The Mourning Bride, 1697 declared:

Musick has Charms to sooth a savage Breast,
To soften Rocks, or bend a knotted Oak.

We concur. Music has soothed me in troubled times…has stirred faith in uncertain times.. has energised me when I needed it…has expressed my deepest feelings when I’ve felt inarticulate…has given vent to violent emotions of anger and hurt. Music has also simply connected at a very soulish level and allowed me to simply derive absolute pleasure.

There were times when I sang this simple church chorus and got life…strength to progress to the next moment:

“You are not a God created by human hands….
You are God alone…”

There are moments when I feel the need to channel my inner gangster against The Man and in those instances Dr. Dre and Snoop Dogg’s “Ain’t Nuthin but a G Thang” becomes my anthem.

And there are songs that express my feelings of love and my need for physical satisfaction way more eloquently than I ever could: Let’s Stay Together, Sexual Healing, Would you Mind, Rock me Tonight….

Is it the lyrics? What role do the melody and the beat play?
One may argue that it is the lyrics (words) that are the agents of hope for tomorrow. Even if this is so, it is melody that provides a vehicle by which we internalise and take on these lyrics that take life within us. And I cannot ignore the rhythm. I am no musicologist, but I can certainly declare the effect on my emotions and feelings of certain rhythms, certain beats… the pulsating sexuality of Sexual Healing and Bump and Grind, the bounce of Show and Tell, the slow grind of That’s the Way Love Goes and the gotta-get-up and dance of Got to be real for example.

Melody, by and of itself, also gives life. Think. There is an almost acoustic version of the Taxi rhythm, with a dominant piano presence that forces me to stop and revel in the rhythmic beat and hypnotic riffs of what is arguably one of the baddest reggae rhythms in life. The first movement of the Sonata Pathetique by Beethoven, which I heard for the first time as as 13 year old doing piano lessons struck, impressed, impassioned me in such a visceral, organic way that I attempted to learn it…Beethoven remains my favourite classical composer. I sense turbulence and passion throbbing beneath his distinct, beautiful melodies that somehow connects with my own deep running undercurrents, almost invisible to passersby in the face of a seemingly together facade on the surface…

I am not qualified to dissect the impact of melody and rhythm and lyrics in the total construct that we define as music and quantify their relative impact. I can only share with you what music as a whole does for me.

So let’s go back to the original question: “We accept that the world today is a better place than it was during the era of the Cavemen. Is it this way because of scientific advances or because of the arts…use of language specifically?”

As I contemplated this question I chuckled to myself this afternoon as I made my way home. Last night we enjoyed the best of R&B music at the Soul in the Sun music festival in Montego Bay, Jamaica. Peabo Bryon, Jeffery Osbourne and Freddie Jackon stirred my soul. I was literally on my feet from 7pm until 2:30 am when we left. I was the designated driver who did the 3 hour commute back home, windows wide open, radio on to prevent me from falling asleep at the wheel. It was totally worth it. I grooved. I rocked. I felt. Why was it so important to me to rank art vs science? Isn’t it obvious that they both can and should co-exist as equals? That there is no science without art.. that none is better than the other… That as humans we are indeed multi-dimensional, housers of both the Scientist and the Artist. The Scientist cannot work without the Artist giving him a voice and inspiration. The Artist will not survive without the benefits emanating from the Scientist’s work.

Wanted: A viable, credible alternative to the PNP!

I will not spend too much time bemoaning our sad state of affairs as a nation. I opt not to launch off into any long winded narrative replete with statistics aimed a demonstrating our status as a “failed state”. Who cares about an exchange rate of 113 JD : 1 USD. The decline has slowed down! But that has had zero effect on our grocery bill. We have certainly become very innovative in our bid to continue feeding ourselves and our families. Good stuff! Now that we know the definition of employment (to be considered as employed you must have engaged in one hour of income generating activity in the week prior to the survey), who cares about the latest employment statistics that show that the employment rate has improved by 2.7% year on year in April 2014 to a whopping 86.4%! The fact that this administration claimed that Jamaica had 31 cases of Chik-V is great news…despite the fact that those of us in the productive sector are faced with very real manpower issues as our teams remain at home, reporting “Chik-V like symptoms”. Let’s not focus on that. The Prime Minister spent 70 minutes addressing Comrades and the wider public at the bashment that is the PNP Annual Conference. She listed her administration’s successes over the past 2 ½ years and insisted that the PNP continues to “pass the people’s tests.”

There has not been a whole lot fact checking with respect to her claims. The print and electronic media have simply by and large reported her statements. Poor job, Media Peeps. Two days after her speech, Nationwide Radio, having been chastened ion this regard by commentator Kevin O’Brien Chang, did a fact checking feature on PSMs speech. Better late than never I suppose. The youth arm of the Opposition JLP, G2K did something in this regard, although I would hardly term their efforts at fact checking “robust”:

“The organisation also noted the false portrayal of the PNP taking office in a period of 14 consecutive quarters of negative growth and would like to point out that in 2011, when the PNP took the reins of government; the country was on a growth path of over 1.5%.

Prime Minister Portia Simpson-Miller must remember that this sort of analysis destroys her credibility and makes it more difficult for her to unite Jamaica to lead it down a truly transformational path,” added G2K Vice president, Matthew Samuda.” (https://www.facebook.com/note.php?note_id=708914739157307).

The only official statement I could find from the Labour party proper on the Prime Minister’s speech, was a statement from Audley Gordon, Deputy General Secretary (https://www.facebook.com/AndrewHolnessJM/posts/875514722460380).

It felt like the obligatory, predictable response from a party in opposition that is expected to rebut:

“The Prime Minister’s presentation reflected a Party leader needing to ‘whip up’ her base but not a Prime Minister interested in the mandate of the people or the real issues affecting people. She dodged the issues of crime, the cost of electricity and even the current health epidemic! How can you then say you passed the peoples test?”

He went on to lament the impending JPS fee hike and inflation and its impact on families trying to cope in today’s Jamaica. All true, Mr. DGS, but hardly breaking news. We live it. We feel it. We see it. We live in Jamaica too, Mr. Gordon and the JLP, and we heard the Prime Minister. Trust me when I tell you that we were more than able to come to our own conclusions as to the credibility and relevance of her pronouncements.

Former PM Bruce Golding defended the JLP against PSMs accusation of 4 missing years . I’m all for setting the record straight, and I agree that PSM is entitled to her own opinions, but certainly not her own facts. But establishing fact is only the beginning.

We need more from the Opposition party. I suggest that they issue a specific mandate to the bright young resources of G2K to create a center for fact checking any and every claim made by the Party in Power. Create and maintain a data base in this regard. Very easy; very, very important. That’s the first step. But more importantly, we need for the JLP to move beyond this very basic (albeit important) task of keeping the facts straight. What Jamaica needs is a viable, credible alternative to what we now have. Repeating to us what we already know adds absolutely no value to the process and renders you irrelevant.

I believe that the PNP is the default setting for Jamaica. The JLP is the override button. One only hits the override button if something has gone drastically wrong. More often than not, we hit restart, opting to start again with the same settings. Think on these things, JLP. You have to present a compelling reason for Jamaica to choose you. That the PNP is not handling our business properly does not automatically mean that you’re it!

The JLP’s last press release as reflected on its website (http://www.jamaicalabourparty.com) is dated July 21, 2014. The home page has a statement attributed to Dr. Baugh about Chick-V dated Sept 6. There is an option to look at the JLP’s position on a number of issues of national importance. Again, comments where they do exist (there is nothing under “crime” for example) feel platitudinous at best. I looked for something along the lines of “The JLP’s Vision for Jamaica”. You see, I am in search of an alternative. A credible alternative does not merely pick holes in their opponent’s arguments. A credible alternative does not merely sit back and criticize the other party’s every move and misstep. We can and do do that already. A credible alternative is just that: an option that presents a better way forward. All I see on the JLP website by way of an articulated vision for our beloved country is a link to their 2007 manifesto and their 2012 local government manifesto. What is the JLP really offering Jamaica? How does Jamaica look and feel under a Labour Party administration? How will the quality of our lives change under the JLP? How will they do it? This is what we want to hear from the JLP.

In between rattling off the usual rhetoric to do with Jamaica being better off under the PNP and of course, the fact that the PNP will most certainly win the next local and general elections, Madam PM repeatedly referenced that fact that we had passed IMF tests. Yet 52 years post independence, I can’t help feeling let down that we monitor with such alacrity an agenda imposed on us. And yes, perhaps we are here because of how we have (mis)managed our own affairs. But monitoring our performance against an IMF agenda does not mean that we have to discard Vision 2030. Where does the Labour Party stand on Vision 2030?

Let us reframe the narrative around our politics. Success must be defined as more than one girl from the country now sitting in Jamaica house. Success must be considered as more than simply winning power. We know success when we see it and feel it, and we aren’t doing either right now. I invite the labour party go beyond their present modus operandi , the ethos of which is summed up in Dr. St. Aubyn Bartlet’s very telling tweet in response to an entirely reasonable plea from a citizen on Sept 21 2014 :

@tonispencer: PSM, where is the opportunity for the average Jamaican? Those of us NOT in politics???? #PNPConference #Leadership #JLP

@drstab56: @tonispencer @fayvalwilliams ask the PNP #MAMMA P

Dr. St. Aubyn Bartlett is a former Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) member of parliament for Eastern St Andrew, and he is reportedly seeking to represent the party in a Manchester constituency in the next parliamentary elections. Dr. Bartlett and the JLP: We heard what Mama had to say. We feel and live under the conditions resulting from her administration of our country’s affairs. We want to know what the JLP is offering. You, Sir, passed up an opportunity to convince us that the JLP is a credible alternative.

Jamaica needs a credible alternative. But the JLP obviously loves being in opposition.

The Next Willing Nigger.

Let me definitively state from the outset: I am going to use the word “nigger” throughout this piece. I know it offends the sensibilities of some. Oprah for one has banned the use of “nigger” for understandable reasons: “You can’t be my friend and use the N word.” Fair enough. That’s her choice. Let me also state that I am deliberately using “nigger” and not “nigga”. Recently Rachel Jeantel, of the Trayvon Martin murder case fame, took Don Lemon of CNN to school with respect to the use of the work “nigger” vs “nigga”. Jeantel clarifies that “nigga” is an affectionate greeting between black youth, rather like “dawg” and is acceptable in today’s culture. “Nigger” remains a slur word, most offensive when used by anyone other than a black person. I am using “nigger” today as a descriptor of an attitude, a mental and emotional stance that some black people adopt as they navigate life. In my definition, it is not in any way a complimentary descriptor…without apology. A la Chris Rock (from Rock This) I am seeking to differentiate between black people and niggers. Rock sees “niggers” as a subset of the black community, a group he opines that glorifies ignorance and sloth and brags about fulfilling any minor responsibility.

Now please turn your mind to the character of Stephen, in Quentin Tarantino’s Django Unchained. The movie is not without controversy, and again, understandably so. Full disclosure: I enjoyed it immensely! I laughed at all the politically incorrect moments (remember the Klan portrayal with the pillow cases that had the eyes misaligned so the wretches couldn’t see properly?) and left the cinema having been thoroughly entertained. But the character that stood out for me wasn’t Django, that fantasy composite of avenging negro, whipping the white slavers into submission. It wasn’t the Oscar winning Dr. King Shultz. It wasn’t Kerry Washington’s Broomhilda, trembling lower lip and all. Stephen, the house slave, played brilliantly by Samuel L. Jackson stayed with me long after the movie ended. I despised him from start to finish. His instant resentment of the free black man Django was the prelude to exploration of his craven and yes, niggardly character so perfectly portrayed by Jackson.

Stephen was the house slave who had served the senior slaver, Mr. Candie and was now head cook and bottle washer on the plantation run by the junior Mr. Candie. He managed to maintain a servile posture (limp and shuffle intact) while exerting his seniority, even as a slave, by summoning Mr. Candie to the library to discuss his doubts as to the true intent of Django and Dr. King Shultz. He freely expressed his dismay when Monsieur Candie communicated his intent to have the free black man, Django sleep in the Great House:

Calvin Candie: Well, good. They’re spending the night. Go open the guest bedrooms and get two ready.
Stephen: [mortified] He gawn stay in the Big House?
Calvin Candie: Stephen. He’s a slaver. It’s different.
Stephen: In the Big House?
Calvin Candie: Well, you got a problem with that?
Stephen: Aw, naw, naw. I ain’t got no problem with it. If you ain’t got no problem with burnin’ the bed, the sheets, the pillowcase, and everything else when this black-ass motherfucker’s gone!

It was Stephen, the Head Nigger in Charge who spotted the vulnerability in the situation when he sensed that Django knew Broomhilda, another female house slave and somehow knew that he was there to rescue her (in fact: Broomhilda was Django’s wife, and she was the reason why he came to Candie Land). Stephen sensed that weakness, if you will, and alerted Monsieur Candie and the script flipped from there. A free, independent black man somehow threatened the existence and identity of this Senior Slave and in order for this comfortable, albeit far from optimal, status quo to be maintained, the Head Nigger in Charge felt obliged to get rid of this affront to his own existence. You see, the primary objective of the Next Willing Nigger is for him to gain entry to the Great House, to be recognized by those in power, to be identified amongst those he perceives as important, to the exclusion of anyone else. His aim is not independence. Rather, his aim is to profile alongside those who rule.

Dr. King Shultz was killed and Django was captured, tortured for a bit by said HNIC, and sold off to work in mines forever and ever amen. Of course, you know how the story ends. Django escapes his captors, goes back and kills a couple white men, rescues his wife and naturally, confronts Stephen before ending his life on earth:

Stephen: [singing] In the sweet by and by, we shall meet on that beautiful shore. In the sweet by and by, we shall meet on that beautiful shore…
[continues signing]
Stephen: In the sweet…
Django: [Django appears and starts singing] By and by… Ohhhhhh!
[Stephen, Miss Lara and everybody else in the room jerks up to Django, who is standing on the top balcony lighting candles]
Django: Ya’ll gonna be together with Calvin in the “bye-and-bye…”
[Django pauses as Billy Crash walks up]
Django: … just a bit sooner than ya’ll was expecting!

When Stephen realizes that the jig is up, miraculously, his limp and shuffle disappear. He cusses Django out. He rails some more. Even when Django kneecaps him, in the midst of his pain and impaired state of being, that HNIC chooses to berate Django, evidence of his resentment of the free black man standing proud and undefeated before him.

Here we are, 52 years after independence from Britain. And things are not good. The IMF is now our economic master. We glory in “passing their tests” because to fail will mean that New Massa won’t dispense money and we won’t be able to handle our affairs. We have set aside our own vision for ourselves, our Vision 2030 and all attention is placed on our performance with respect to New Massa’s agenda. We are smack dab in the middle of an environmental crisis. Raw sewage in our streets and in our seas. gullies chock full of plastic waste, uncollected solid waste is a reality in communities across the island. One may argue that our national debt, high crime, high unemployment, widespread poverty, the decline in our public education and health systems is as a result of poor leadership. Dig deeper. What does poor leadership really mean? Why do we have it? We took charge of this island in 1962 with basic infrastructure and systems of governance in place. Fast forward to 2014. Stop and think. “It pap dung” would be a fair assessment. But to simply explain our failure away by “poor leadership” doesn’t offer a precise enough diagnosis. “Political corruption” as an answer gets us closer to a more accurate diagnosis. But what is the motivation that drives our leadership to make decisions that enrich them at the expense of Jamaica’s development? That motivation is, simply put, part of the Next Willing Nigger construct.

Think of that promising young politician who comes to prominence on a ticket of change. He promises to operate differently, to emphasise education and empowerment of the next generation and comes up smack dab against “The Way We Do Things Around Here.” The Old Guard puts him in his place, and because his desire to be part of the Great House establishment supercedes his articulated desire for change, he becomes the Next Willing Nigger and plays ball with the Old Guard. Empowerment of the next generation dies as he charts a certain course towards the Great House.

Think of how decisions are made in this country, a nation in the throes of economic hardship. Brand new SUVs are procured for representatives of the political hierarchy, while schools lack water tanks, fire engines are absent in key areas, pit latrines are the status quo in many rural schools and the elevators in the KPH remain in need of repair. The Next Willing Niggers are all standing in line to enrobe themselves in the trappings of the Master en route to the Great House.

Think about this some more: we see Stephens everywhere on this island, every day of life.

Think of that co-worker who refuses to be guided by principle and instead chooses how he dispenses discipline, the final decision depending on who the subject is. That over-riding dimension of “loyalty” instead of “principle” informs every single decision. The result is a promotion of mediocrity in an effort to remain in the good books of the perceived power brokers in the organisation. That Next Willing Nigger now rests easy in the C-suite. Well done.

Prominent dailies are grabbed up and even that day’s headlines play second fiddle as readers turn eagerly to see the Beautiful People captured on page 2, living The Dream. Oppressive car loans allow the Next Willing Nigger to sport the latest luxury model, even though he parks it in a rented house, simply keeping up the appearances that he is certain will take him into the Great House.

As long as the Next Willing Nigger exists, as long as a system which rewards the Next Willing Nigger exists, those who operate on Principle will forever be marginalized, and Jamaica will never realize its full potential.

Vision 2030 what’s the latest?

LETTER PUBLISHED IN TODAY’S OBSERVER
http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/letters/What-has-become-of-Vision-2030-_17571027

Dear Editor,

I encourage Jamaicans everywhere to have a look at Vision 2030. It is easily accessed online at http://www.vision2030.gov.jm/.

Vision 2030 has as its central aim, the vision of “making Jamaica the place of choice to live, work, raise families, and do business”. Vision 2030 is the result of true consensus across political divides and various civil interest groups and, to my mind, is truly something that all Jamaicans everywhere can embrace. It is for and about Jamaica and Jamaicans.

Making Jamaica the place of choice to live, work and raise families is defined via a series of easy-to-understand goals. We are able to know if goals are being realised by more detailed outcomes that are assigned to each goal. And the document goes even further than merely listing goals and outcomes. It goes into some detail on how these goals will be achieved by assigning what I would call “to-dos”, specific initiatives, which, if implemented, will result in the stated outcomes.

Vision 2030 was launched in 2009. The same online link mentioned earlier points us to how we are tracking against the goals. Here’s the issue: The progress tracker takes us only as far as 2011. How have we been doing since 2011? Is Vision 2030 regarded by the present Administration as the national plan for moving us towards developed country status by 2030?

Richard Byles and the Economic Programme Oversight Committee have been doing a great job of monitoring Jamaica’s performance against International Monetary Fund (IMF) targets. Madame Lagarde said as much in her recent visit to the island. No doubt the IMF intervention in our affairs, at our behest, has been inevitable. Yet, 52 years post-Independence, I can’t help feeling let down that we monitor with such alacrity an agenda imposed on us, and we are here because of how we have (mis)managed our own affairs.

But monitoring our performance against an IMF agenda does not mean that we should discard Vision 2030. I would like to hear from the present Administration if Vision 2030 informs our sectoral strategies. I would like to hear from the PIOJ how we have been tracking in terms of the Vision 2030 goals since 2011.

Kelly McIntosh

kkmac218@gmail.com

can’t have a clean country without the state playing its role!!!

LETTER OF THE DAY PUBLISHED IN THE GLEANER SEPT 12 2014
http://jamaica-gleaner.com/gleaner/20140912/letters/letters1.html

THE EDITOR, Sir: The garbage that is piling up, certainly around Kingston and St Andrew, is most certainly contributing to the heavy mosquito infestation we are currently experiencing and the spread of what is suspected to be the chikungunya virus.

Although not being reported by the authorities, and although not definitively confirmed by blood tests (these tests are done in Trinidad and the results are available after three weeks), there is strong anecdotal evidence of many persons coming down with chikungunya-like symptoms, including several of my own co-workers and their children.

No doubt, we as people have poor solid-waste management habits. We see people throwing plastic bottles out of car windows and people stopping along lonely suburban roads in the hills of St Andrew to dump full bags of garbage. Check out the roads and sidewalks the morning after any community dance: full of litter.

After a good shower of rain, our gullies become a raging torrent of muddy water with waves of garbage, the indisputable evidence of our careless and nasty solid-waste management practices and our wanton disregard for the environment.

Some say a public-education campaign is in order right now to change this nasty paradigm. There are calls for citizens to take personal responsibility as far as their own practices in this regard are concerned. But these efforts cannot and will not succeed without the active participation of the State.

What happens when garbage goes uncollected for more than a week? The householder has sorted and bagged and stocked his waste in receptacles for the NSWMA truck to pick up and dispose of. After a week, these receptacles become full and animals get at it. Rodents have a field day in it. It rains (hallelujah!) and water settles in the heaps that are forming. More days pass and no collection occurs. More waste is generated.

What are the options?

What is this well-informed citizen to do now? What is this responsible, not-inherently nasty taxpayer to do now? Carry the garbage in her car to where? To the dangerous Riverton City dump? What if she doesn’t drive? What then are our options in the face of uncollected garbage? Incur the expense to pay a private service, this after paying our taxes on our income and on our expenditure?

We need published garbage collection schedules for every community, that are actually adhered to. Where garbage collection cannot be done at least once per week, the NSWMA must go back to providing public skips where citizens can dispose of their waste. This is where public-education campaigns can be useful in terms of guiding the efficient, proper use of public dumping sites.

The citizens cannot do this alone. The State MUST prioritise good solid-waste management or face the inevitable outcomes of a nasty country and pay the price of rodent infestations and mosquito-borne diseases.

KELLY MCINTOSH

kkmac218@gmail.com

Productivity in Jamaica…we aren’t inherently lazy.

PUBLISHED IN THE GLEANER SEPT 14 2014

http://jamaica-gleaner.com/gleaner/20140914/focus/focus6.html

Kelly McIntosh, Guest Columnist

“Hard work they had left behind with slavery.” These were the words of no less a person than former Singapore Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew, the man credited with transforming the fortunes and future of tiny Singapore. He made this observation about us as a people, during a visit to our island back in 1975.

We have heard time and again that Jamaica’s problem is low productivity, a sentiment underscored by a now well-known statement made popular on talk radio some years ago: “One Chiney can do five smaddy wuk.”

Productivity is defined as the effective and efficient use of resources (labour, capital, material, energy) in the production and supply of quality goods or services. So essentially, productivity measures how well we convert our resources into goods or services.

The Jamaica Productivity Summary Report 1972-2007 paints a damning picture of productivity in Jamaica. Apparently, labour productivity in Jamaica has been declining at an average annual rate of 1.3 per cent over the period 1973-2007. This is made worse by the reality that during 2003-2007, the decline increased to 1.8 per cent per year.

When we compare our situation to our Caribbean neighbours, it gets even worse. Over the same period, Trinidad & Tobago saw its labour productivity increase by an average of 1.5 per cent per year. By 2007, the productivity of a St Lucian worker was 1.6 times that of a Jamaican worker. The report ended with a very gloomy forecast of decreasing productivity going forward in Jamaica.

So was Lee Kuan Yew right? Did the talk-show caller speak truth? And what do the labour-productivity numbers really mean? Consider some other numbers as we seek to wrap our heads around this issue of productivity. The Economic and Social Survey of Jamaica 2013 shows that the number of reported industrial disputes increased in 2012 by 33 per cent. In 2012, the manufacturing sector reported the greatest number of man days lost because of industrial disputes relative to other sectors.

Turn your attention now to remittances. Gross remittance inflows in April 2014 were US$183.3 million, the highest on record. To further put the importance of remittances into perspective, consider that in 2011 they contributed 15 per cent to GDP, compared to tourism, which contributed under 10 per cent to GDP. These remittances, by and large, come from Jamaicans working overseas, especially in the USA.

So far, I’ve cited declined productivity numbers, drawn attention to our industrial relations climate, and cited the importance of money, which is generated outside of Jamaica, by Jamaicans and sent back to the island – three seemingly disparate issues. I now turn my mind to some personal observations that I will seek to link to productivity statistics, industrial relations climate and remittance inflows.

THE HANDCART LADY ON CHRISTMAS EVE

I remember one Christmas Eve I was making my way home in heavy traffic with my children. It was after 7 p.m. The light had just changed to green. Slowly making her way across the road, preventing me from moving on was a woman pushing a heavily laden cart with produce. She strained and pushed wearily, obviously heading home from selling all day. I wonder what conclusions we can draw about productivity in this instance.

CLEANING UP WINNIFRED BEACH

We were at Winnifred Beach in Portland two weeks ago. It was a Tuesday and very few people were there. We drove up and cautiously exited the vehicle. No one rushed to us, trying to hustle us for money. We walked from food stall to food stall, with no one harassing us, eventually made our dining decision and went to wait on the beach itself. A man and a woman were silently working, raking up seaweed, boxing it, and disposing of it some metres away. They were sweating in the Portland sun.

I knew that this was a public beach, not yet controlled by UDC, and I could stand it no longer. I went up to the man and asked him: “Who is paying you to clean up the beach?” He replied with quiet dignity: “We make our living on this beach, and it is therefore our responsibility to keep it clean.” I wonder what conclusions we can draw about productivity in this instance.

BOWDEN PEN FARMERS’ ASSOCIATION

We’re still in the parish of Portland. But now we’ve ascended into the interior of the parish, up in the John Crow Mountains. There is an eco-tourism outfit called Ambasabeth Cabins. Ambasabeth is 100 per cent powered by the sun, and watered from nearby rivers. Income is supplemented from farming, mostly ginger. The association is a community group, a cooperative that is largely run by women, complete with a mission and vision, supported with a 10-year plan. Formal management meetings are held, books are maintained, plans are formulated, implemented and reviewed. What conclusions can we draw about productivity in this instance?

LINKING IT ALL TO PRODUCTIVITY

The numbers indicate that productivity in Jamaica is indeed low. Yet Jamaicans are able to, in another context, generate income, live overseas from that income, and still send part of that income back to Jamaica, such that these inflows sent from overseas are the single largest contributor to our GDP. Why is that?

There are examples of small groups of people and select individuals in the island who exhibit a strong work ethic and who make a living. What makes these people different from their brothers and sisters who operate in a more formal, corporate or production setting in terms of their attitude and output?

Perhaps there is something about our Jamaican context that does not encourage productivity. Perhaps the ways that we have chosen to reward and incentivise labour, and manage labour relations in industry, do not encourage productivity. It is not coincidental that as labour productivity in Jamaica declined, so too did the real wage of workers in Jamaica (it fell by 1.2% between 1973 and 2007).

Basing the success of any enterprise on the inherent goodness and morality of the individual is not as sensible as basing success on sound and robust policies, systems and procedures. So in formal work settings where the worker knows that employers will find it difficult to sanction for lateness, absenteeism and so on, how will overall productivity be affected? What is the incentive for the worker to turn up and show up on any given day?

In private enterprise, when incentive schemes do not exist, and where they do exist on paper, do not in reality incentivise performance, how will this affect productivity?

We all know that the same worker that was repeatedly late for one job here in Jamaica will go overseas and show up on time for not one, but two and sometimes three jobs! The context overseas does not tolerate lateness and the worker knows this and conforms.

The citizens on Winnifred Beach have concluded that they benefit directly from having a clean beach. Patrons enjoying a clean beach environment will hang out there and more than likely buy food and drinks from them. There is an incentive that redounds directly to them if they keep the beach clean.

The Bowden Pen Farmers’ Association has discovered the dignity and independence that comes with owning and controlling the means of their subsistence. Largely independent of the system and the largesse of politicians, these farming folk plan and produce because they have discovered that their prosperity is directly proportional to the effort they put in.

The driving motivation behind Jamaicans generating money overseas, behind the workers on Winnifred Beach and behind the members of the Bowden Pen association is an inherent belief in the value of work, illustrated by the woman pushing the handcart on Christmas Eve.

Perhaps we could change the productivity metrics by changing the Jamaican context to one that leverages our natural propensity for work by incentivising and rewarding labour, while making no excuse for indiscipline. Shifting the paradigm in Jamaica to one which rewards productivity and sanctions indiscipline can happen, but this comes through effective leadership having a vision of what a productive Jamaica actually looks like, modelling the appropriate behaviours, and implementing sound public policy in support of this vision of a new Jamaica.

Kelly McIntosh is operations manager of a major food-export company. Email feedback to columns@gleanerjm.com and kkmac218@gmail.com. Follow Kelly’s blog at kellykatharin.blogspot.com.

Principle of Legitimacy and Crime Fighting in Jamaica

PUBLISHED IN THE GLEANER AUG 17 2014
http://jamaica-gleaner.com/gleaner/20140817/cleisure/cleisure2.html

Kelly McIntosh, Contributor

We have been doing the same thing as it relates to ‘the fight against crime’ and expecting a different result for a few decades now. The latest iteration, the latest variation on the same tired theme, is a rehash of a unit formed in 2012 to ‘fight crime’.

The new MOCA is now a merger of the Jamaica Constabulary Force’s Anti-Corruption Branch and the former Major Organised Crime and Anti-Corruption Task Force. Yawn. We’ve seen this movie before and we know how it ends. Successive administrations have resorted to the time-worn tactic of creating/renaming a ‘special task force’ or creating/renaming a new ‘squad’ when their backs are against the wall for their abject failure to create a safe environment for the citizens of Jamaica.

Let’s go back just a little, shall we. We have had Echo Squad (1976), Ranger Squad (1980), Eradication Squad (1980), Area Four Task Force (1986), Operation Ardent (1992), ACID, shortly renamed SACTF (1993), Operation Justice (1995), Operation Dovetail (1997), Organised Crime Unit (1998), Operation Intrepid (1999), Crime Management Unit (2000), Organised Crime Investigation Division (2003), Operation Kingfish (2004) and Operation Resilience (2013).

At the beginning of 2014, National Security Minister Peter Bunting announced his plans for adding resources to this ‘fight against crime’: more boots on the ground, more vehicles, and new legislation to ‘get the bad guys’. I’m stifling yet another yawn. But try as I might, I cannot continue to merely exist, seeking to protect my psyche from the constant bombardment of warmed-up dishes of yesterday and grand announcements.

Has it not occurred to those tasked with the responsibility of leading us, of protecting us, of serving us that they have failed? That this ‘strategy’ of announcements and task forces and squads has yielded nothing? Have they not stopped to consider that perhaps their philosophical framework needs to be challenged at the very least and most likely discarded?

How successful has this approach of ‘getting tough on crime’ by way of a bigger, better squad/task force been? Look at the murder statistics! In spite of more than one dozen task forces/squads since the 1970s, this little island at the end of 2013 was declared in a UNODC report as having the sixth highest homicide rate in the world.

But let’s go back again, shall we, to track our progress on the road to this dubious honour: 1972: 152 murders, 1980: 899 murders, 1990: 543 murders, 2000: 887 murders, 2010: 1,428 murders, 2013: 1,200 murders. The 2013 murders represented a nine per cent increase over 2012 murders. Yes, the minister has been quick to point out that at the end of 2013, shooting was down by one per cent, rape was down by 16 per cent, and aggravated assault by 14 per cent. Only that persistent, niggling little metric, murders, was up.

Principle of legitimacy

So I return to the need for a new philosophical framework. In his most recent book (David and Goliath: Underdogs, Misfits and the Art of Battling Giants), Malcolm Gladwell outlines the ‘principle of legitimacy’ and how it applies to effectively dealing with crime and insurgency. He speaks about the three-decade-long unrest in Northern Ireland, despite more and more force being added to quell the situation there. He speaks of the tome Rebellion and Authority by Leites and Wolf (1970), which has served as the template for many governments and administrations, essentially recommending the addition of resources and coming down hard and with evident power and authority against those who dare to flout the so called rule of law. Leites and Wolf’s philosophy served as the template for the terms of engagement of the USA in Vietnam. We know how that worked for them.

The principle of legitimacy may seem counterintuitive at first glance, as its focus is not ‘how can I clamp down’ in the face of rebellion and antisocial activity. Gladwell states that when people in authority want the rest of us to behave, it matters first and foremost how they behave. Jamaica has been seeking to fight crime per the tenets of Leites and Wolf: more resources, more force, and more show of force.

It simply has not worked. It makes sense, therefore, to consider changing the philosophy that guides strategy. This theoretical framework, the principle of legitimacy, holds that desired behaviours will result when three conditions are met. First, the people who are asked to obey authority have to feel like they have a voice. Second, the law has to be predictable; consequences must be the same today, yesterday and forever despite who the lawbreaker is. And last, authority has to be fair – one group cannot be treated differently from another.

Think about your own effort as a parent to instill order in the home: chaos will reign if you punish the same infraction one way today, and ignore it tomorrow. Chaos will reign if you punish Child 1 but turn a blind eye to Child 2 who disobeys. And chaos will certainly reign if the children feel as if they don’t have a voice. The minute you turn your back, they will seek to give vent to any and every desire they have, like watching a forbidden show, or sneaking candy when they know they’re not to, or hiding to go online in spite of your instructions to the contrary.

Brooklyn example

Gladwell goes on to illustrate how using the principle of legitimacy to influence policing strategy in Brownsville, Brooklyn, resulted in a sustained fall in robberies in that town between 2003 and 2006. The police there recognised that they were seen as the enemy and deliberately set out to demonstrate in tangible ways that they were interested in the community (youth programmes, inserting themselves in family life, consistently and fairly applying sanctions) and not merely interested in simply laying down the law. Gladwell summed it up nicely: When the law is applied in the absence of legitimacy, it doesn’t produce obedience. It produces the opposite: backlash.

What have we to lose in considering this philosophical framework in the ‘fight against crime’? Do the Government and police force exhibit legitimacy? Does every Jamaican feel as if they have a voice? Scenes of poor, black people holding placards and blocking roads demanding justice keep looping in my mind – different district, always the same demographic, same plea.

Is the law predictable? Does every spliff smoker fear being arrested and jailed and possibly dying at the end of the day? It seems to me that laws are sometimes used as a tool of selective oppression, an instrument used to capture and condemn subjectively per the whim/agenda of the law enforcers. Are our authorities seen to be fair? Whether or not so-called police death squads really exist, it is a matter of record that extrajudicial killings in Jamaica are alarmingly high. In 2012, 219 Jamaicans were killed by the police, nine more than the 210 killed by the police in 2011. And in 2013, 245 Jamaicans were killed by police.

Police abuse

Think about reported beatings and verbal abuse at the hands of the police, and even death of persons in police custody. Hark back to the case of Agana Barrett in 1992 who died of suffocation in the Constant Spring lock-up after being crammed into a small cell with 16 other men. It took the State 11 years to award his mother $3.5m.

Fast-forward to 2014 where Mario Deane was arrested and taken into custody for possession of a ganja spliff. He died days later as a result of the beating he experienced while in the custody of the police. It took six days after Mario’s death for the personnel on duty to be interdicted. Can our authorities really be deemed legitimate?

I implore our Government and our police force to challenge their current assumptions about what it will take to fight crime in light of past actions and past results and this very compelling principle of legitimacy put forward by Gladwell. For if Mr Gladwell is indeed correct, continuing along the present trajectory of simply a greater show of force in the absence of an engaged citizenry, and fair and predictable law enforcement, will result in only one certain outcome.

Kelly McIntosh is operations manager of a major food-export company. Email feedback to columns@gleanerjm.com and kkmac218@gmail.com. Follow Kelly’s blog at kellykatharin.blogspot.com.

Rasta is still a problem in 2014 Jamaica?

Rasta is still a problem in Jamaica? In 2014? Really? Here’s why I ask this…

Two weeks ago I was with a small group of third graders at my church’s learning centre where I volunteer. We were doing reading comprehension. The passage under review was a story about a little girl who hated school because she had no friends. The story went on to recount how she found another little girl who looked lonely at play time and how she struck up the courage to make friends with her and they all lived happily ever after. Of course, we discussed the story and we had lively discussion, answering questions and rendering opinions about play time, friends and school. Much to their dismay, I then asked them to write a short story about what happens at their own schools at break time. There were groans and moans: “me cyan write no story, Miss”. “How much sentence mek up a story, Miss?” “Nutten nuh gwaan a fi mi school at breaktime, Miss”. I answered every single question: “Yes you can write a story”. “I will accept a 6 sentence story”. “Use your imagination. Write down what you would like to have happen at breaktime”. Once they started, they couldn’t stop! I helped with spelling and punctuation, but the ideas were all theirs.

There’s a little boy in the class who I fell in love with from Day 1. I will refer to him as Kimani. That’s not his real name. He is tiny for his age, has smooth black skin, and dread locks down to his shoulder. Sometimes he lets them out. Sometimes they’re in a neat ponytail. He can read well. He is lively. He dances like James Brown. Sometimes he looks sad though. Sometimes he gets real quiet and doesn’t talk. Sometimes he looks angry. He always asks quietly if there is any extra food that he can carry home for his mother and baby brother. I have always had a soft spot for Kimani.

So they completed their stories eventually (I had to set a cut-off point for them…they just wanted to go on and on once they got started!) and then each child read their story to the class. The first little girl, I shall call her Janelle, told of a boy in her class named Kimani that the children did not like because his hair was different. She didn’t even try to hide the name. The real Kimani said: “Yes, mi know dem nuh like mi. But ah nuh mi hair!”. She countered with certainty: “Yes, ah yuh hair! Mi ask Lisa and she tell me she she nuh like yuh hair! Mi ask Rashawn and him tell mi she ah yuh hair too! A yuh hair dem nuh like. Dem seh yuh a Rasta bwoy!” I was stunned. We discussed tolerance, empathy and that appearances ought never to be the basis of judgments. I tried to be calm and neutral and understanding. Then Kimani gave me his story to read. He refused to stand up and read it aloud. His story started off in the third person about a little boy who he didn’t name, but as his story went on, he slipped into the first person and named the boy Kimani. Kimani was a little boy who didn’t have friends because everybody “hated him”. It ended with Kimani feeling very alone and unloved.

After class ended I hugged Kimani and told him that his different-ness is what made him great. That he was to be proud of his family and his heritage and that he wasn’t to make anyone cause him to dim his light. I told him to flash his locks when the haters start up. I don’t know if this will make a difference.

I didn’t know that rasta was an issue in Jamaica today. Remember when Babylon used to hold rastas and trim dem? Used to lock dem up? When locks were infra dig in civilized Jamaican society? So many middle class women sport locks today! In my office, in my family, in senior government positions, women and men with multiple degrees, in traditional professions…so why is Kimani vilified for the same hairstyle? Are dreadlocks are acceptable within the educated middle classes, but scorned in the ghettos, the very roots of the religion that birthed this look? Is Kimani’s experience symptomatic of Jamaica’s bipolar society, so aptly portrayed daily on page 2 and page 5 in the papers? Is the scorn of Kimani’s hair style linked to bleaching practices in some way? And at the same time, why are locks de rigueur amongst the middle classes today? Is society confused? Are our identities split somehow, seeking to be what we really are not, to identify with something that we aspire to?

Why can’t I watch the Winter Olympics? Why is our murder rate so high?

Have you ever had something denied to you that you knew was rightfully yours? Or have you ever been blamed for something that you never did? How did you feel? A tight knot of resentment right in the middle of your core, growing bigger with each passing second… If it had a colour it would be deep red…and the worst part about it is that there was nowhere for it to go… it just sits there getting hotter and redder and bigger with nowhere to go and you can’t even touch it or scratch it because your hands are tied tightly behind you… The rage. The indignation. The helplessness.

I wanted to watch Winter Olympics last week. I merrily turned to NBC only to see the increasingly familiar message from the cable provider: “no video” and a black screen. Kiss mi teet. It turns out that the only way I will get to watch the Sochi games is if I fork out more money to my cable provider and subscribe to SportsMax. Something feels so wrong about this arrangement. Something feels so unjust. I have paid for a service which ought to allow me the pleasure of watching the games. And some bodies here on this island have decided that they must make some money so I am denied what I have paid for and pay over monies to them to get what I already paid for.

I am not watching the games on my laptop. I don’t have a smart TV. I don’t have the cord that connects the laptop to my TV. I am not going to go through the trouble to block my IP address so I can find a good feed. I want to turn on my TV, switch to channel 104 and watch the freaking games, in my bed, or from my couch or wherever the hell I choose to watch them from. I want to see triple Lutzes, the luge, speed skating and ski jumping! I remember watching ski jumping as a teenager with some friends. One young man, today a famous entertainer in his own right (Hi, Terry!) summed up so articulately, so elegantly what I felt inside while I watched the intrepid gents soar off the ramp into the clear winter skies: “ Da bredda deh mus feel f*#! up just a sail tru di air wid him hand stiff a him side!!!”

Photo courtesy of National Geographic

So I pretend as if the games don’t exist and settle for another Law and Order or House Hunters marathon.

And if I feel this rage at this relative inconvenience, pause as I did, if even for one minute, and think about the MAJORITY of our Jamaican citizens who face injustice in even more real and frightful circumstances daily… the man who is in lock-up without being charged, without a “good lawyer” to get him out; without a family who can represent his case… the youth who is rounded up and herded with blows unto a truck by agents of the state, not nuh gunman or criminal doing this to him, but agents of the state, simply because he is in the wrong place at the wrong time… the woman who has to go to the Family Court and is verbally abused or at best treated with indifference because she feels, maybe she is, unable to articulate her case with poise and clarity…

Photo courtesy of the Daily Gleaner

I felt like stoning supn when I was denied a TV show that I had paid for. And we wonder why our murder rate is so high. And we wonder why our society has become so aggressive and brutish.

less than stellar Customer Experience at Lee’s Food Fair, Red Hills Road.

I had a most unpleasant experience this evening at Lee’s Food Fair Limited, Red Hills Road branch. I am a regular shopper there, have been for years. I also shop at their Washington Boulevard Branch from time to time. I find their prices to be reasonable, they have a nice enough fresh produce section and their meat offerings are fresh and competitively priced. But this evening…

I had picked up the children and needed to buy some groceries having just returned from an extended stay overseas. I had put in a full day at the office, the kids likewise had had a long day at school and we just wanted to get the grocery shopping chore out of the way and head home to deal with homework, have dinner and prepare for the coming day.

I left them in the car, and headed into the grocery store. I started at the left hand side of the store, where the fresh produce section is. I wound my way efficiently up and down the aisles, picking up just what I needed. I eventually made my way to the opposite end of the store, to pick up what were supposed to be the final items on my list: chilled meats…you know, boneless chicken thighs, perhaps and piece of beef pot roast, maybe some pork depending on price. The shelves were empty. Nothing. No meat. No sign. Nobody. I looked around in wonderment, tired, slightly confused and became aware of rising irritation levels. I inhaled deeply and then pushed my trolley to the door to the supermarket’s back-room. I asked if I could speak to someone from the meat department. I really needed boneless thighs. I had promised my son to make garlic chilli chicken for him after he hugged me on my return and told me that he really missed my cooking. After almost 5 minutes, a gentleman in a butcher’s apron sauntered out and informed me that “the fridge nah work”. Duh. So can I get two trays of boneless chicken thighs please? “Mek mi see…mi nuh tink we have none”. Waiting…waiting…waiting…while he disappeared behind the doors. Enough is enough. I headed to the check-out area. While the cashier rang up my items (sans boneless thighs), I requested to speak to the Manager. “They are all in a meeting”. Businesses in Jamaica keep forgetting that the Customer is the reason why they are in any meeting to begin with; if we don’t buy what you are selling, you have precious little to meet about. I refused to budge. I spoke with two customer service reps behind the front counter and explained that I needed to speak to the manager, please tell him/her that I am waiting, and will continue to wait. I was determined to speak to a manager.

After 10 minutes, a lady approached me having descended the stairs. I will spare you the details of my rant. I will spare you a replay of my emotions that were out in full force. I will summarise my issues as follows:

1. How dare Lee’s not demonstrate respect for the Customer by advising them that some core products will be unavailable by way of a simple sign at the entrance to the supermarket? Give us the option to shop or not. Do not treat us like a captive audience, taking our time, energy and money for granted.

2. Mrs. Lee (I asked her her name after I introduced myself…she did not think it necessary to introduce herself to me. Perhaps she thought she knew me? Or that I knew her? ) said that no one told her that the fridge had broken down. Top management has FAILED, if their Supervisors did not find it necessary to advise them accordingly. Top Management has further failed if not one supervisor could summon up initiative to get a sign in place.

3. Too often simple back-office fixes can result in a way more pleasant experience for Customers. There were other fridges/freezers functioning in the supermarket. All it would take is for someone with just a little energy to rearrange some of the items in these functioning freezers, and use freed up space to merchandise the now displaced offerings from the chill area, ensuring that signs in the malfunctioning zone pointed valuable customers to the new location, complete with an apology for the inconvenience.

Mrs. Lee apologized, but I feel strongly enough to take the time to document this entire episode. My time is very valuable. I felt taken for granted. I hope Lee’s finds out why their supervisory staff have demonstrated such a laissez faire attitude towards the business that pays their salaries. I hope the person in charge of operations is made to answer for the lack of a work-around to a very real problem that the business experienced today. The Customer has options.

So disappointed with what happened to me at Lee’s today.