THE REPUBLIC OF BARBADOS AND A CASE FOR MORE JAMAICAN HEROES

 

On Monday, November 29, 2021, the island of Barbados celebrated its 55^th year as an Independent country by executing two decisions that will not only usher significant change in the political, social, and cultural front on the island but also provide a marker for the other territories that comprise the Caribbean archipelago. On that day, Barbados buried its ceremonial shackles to the British monarchy by removing the Queen as its Head of State. In disrobing from the accouterments of its 1966 Independence from England, Barbados commemorated its new status as a parliamentary Republic.   

The move from a constitutional monarchy to a parliamentary republic fulfilled a promise made by then Governor General Sandra Mason that it was time for Barbados “to fully leave  its colonial past behind and make a Barbadian person Head of State.”

Fittingly, the island’s first President is the said Sandra Mason, and Mia Mottley remains as the Head of the Barbados Government. Mason in her first presidential address to the nation stated, “Since Independence we have built an international reputation anchored on our characteristics, our national values, our stability, and our success, drawing on the lessons of those intervening years, possessing a clear sense of who we are and what we are capable of achieving.In the year 2021, we now turn our vessel’s bow towards the new republic, and we do this so that we may seize the full substance of our sovereignty.”

As the celebrations continued, Prime Minister, Mia Mottley then named Ambassador Robyn Rihanna Fenty as the nation’s 11^th National Hero. Rihanna has for years been Barbados’s most famous citizen and in 2018, she was appointed an official ambassador for culture and youth. She has never softened her Bajan accent, and her music, while tapping into pop, R&B, and dance music, has remained connected to her Caribbean heritage. Mottley said the superstar commanded, “the imagination of the world through the pursuit of excellence with her creativity, her discipline, and above all else, her extraordinary commitment to the land of her birth”.

The 33-year-old Rihanna was born in the parish of Saint Michael and raised in the capital, Bridgetown. She vaulted to fame after the American producer Evan Rogers recognized her talents. Her 2007 single Umbrella confirmed her as one of the world’s biggest pop stars, and in 2008 the then prime minister, David Thompson, announced an annual Rihanna Day. In addition to making music, Rihanna has enjoyed a highly successful business career with her Fenty group of companies. In August Forbes estimated she was worth $1.7bn (£1.3bn), about $1.4 bn of which comes from the value of her cosmetics company, Fenty Beauty, a partnership with the French fashion giant LVMH.

The Barbados announcements have set tongues wagging across the island archipelago, particularly in Jamaica, which was generally thought of as among the most socially and culturally progressive islands in the region. Many had imagined that Jamaica would have been the first to shed the Queen’s robe long before others, having fielded discussions over decades regarding taking such a plunge. Of course, we have only succeeded in demonstrating that we are long on talk but short of anything that requires taking action. Then there is the matter of naming another National Hero, in a country that isn’t short on iconic figures.

The decision by Barbados to accord Rihanna National Hero status has prompted a revisit of a long-running debate in Jamaica about naming additional National Heroes.  Long before Rihanna was even an idea there was the Honorable Robert Nesta Marley, OM, and even before him, the Honorable Louise Bennet-Coverley (Miss Lou), OM, OJ, MBE. Both individuals have distinguished themselves significantly in their individual fields. Though long deceased, both in their lifetime have laid down solid bodies of work which (to this day) brings joy and pride to Jamaicans at home and abroad.  The ground-breaking nature of their individual contribution to Jamaica’s culture serves today as eternal beacons in marketing the island around the globe. It is for these reasons that for years, many have advocated for the naming of both of as the 8^th and 9^th National Heroes of Jamaica.

One wonders why the hesitancy on the part of Jamaica in taking this step? A National Hero doe not have to be a paragon of virtue or someone of unblemished character. What is important is the contribution that such individual(s) make to the development of society, the admiration they bring to the country’s nationals, their outstanding achievements, and the extent to which their efforts enriches the lives of those who identify with them.  

It appears that none of our leaders in the last three or four decades sees such value in either, but would rather skirt the issue while our smaller neighbors demonstrate the ultimate confidence in the small gems that fall to their shores.

Congratulations Rihanna…very well done Barbados.

Thanks for taking the time to read our blog, please leave your thoughts in the comment section below, we appreciate your feedback. We also invite you to check Sunday Scoops our Jamaican music streaming and commentary program every Sunday from 2-4pm on yaawdmedia.com feel free to share with your friends.

THE STATE OF EMERGENCY DECLARATION AS A CRIME-FIGHTING TOOL IS A TOTAL FAILURE.

 

This past week, the Government of Jamaica failed in its bid to have the State of Emergency (SoE) declared a few weeks earlier by Prime Minister Andrew Holness for seven police divisions in the island, extended for an additional three months. This failure was the result of non-support by the Opposition Peoples National Party (PNP) members of the Senate who voted against the measure. Their decision drew derision from Senate Majority leader Tom Tavares Finson among other Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) members who openly questioned the loyalty to the country of those who opposed the measure, causing its defeat. No attempt has been made to assess the arguments, or the facts associated with the use of this measure and its overall impact on the country, generally, or its impact on crime specifically. 

I grew up in Jamaica in the period of the 1970s when the then Michael Manley administration introduced legislation in 1974 which created the draconian Suppression of Crimes Act of 1974. This measure introduced “hard-policing” measures including detentions, cordons and searches, and just a general disregard for the targeted population-youths (particularly Jamaican males in inner-city communities) aged 16-25. It led to the passage of the Gun-Court Act in the same year which dished out indefinite detention sentences after speedy trials (within 7 days of an arrest) for illegal possession of firearms and or ammunition. That the British Privy Council eventually declared the Gun Court unconstitutional, seems lost on a majority of Jamaicans, and any lesson value from attempting to use short-term fixes to address the island’s crime problems over the years becomes completely lost on most.

Jamaica suffers from a kind of socio-political miasma whenever opportunities arise to address hard issues, in particular the crime issue. It highlights the “two Jamaica’s” syndrome completely as at one end resides the poor and downtrodden who bear the brunt of the brutality dished out by the State in executing these Emergency declarations. Those who reside in gated communities or have their communities electronically surveilled and or patrolled by armed security officers are oblivious to the damage caused to sections of our population by virtue of the lack of, or under-investment in developing these communities. These critics are conveniently blind to the long-termed effect of the neglect of infrastructure, cutbacks in education resources, and the general lack of investment in supporting economic activities within too many of our communities. Worse, they are numb to the fact that a child who did not benefit from solid foundational educational grounding at the elementary and primary level, will most likely become a misfit in the secondary stage and not just a failure afterward, but a member of the unattached youth throng and a prime candidate for antisocial behaviors later on.

In a Gleaner newspaper interview published November 16, 2018, Ms. Alethea Fuller, head of the Policy and Commissioning Division for the Police and crime commissioner in West Midlands advised that “ hard security measures will have little impact on crime and violence if the authorities fail to address the needs of vulnerable teenagers, who are the primary gang recruitment pool in almost all jurisdictions.” Fuller went on to state that, “The voice of the youths is critical in any security strategy implemented by the Government. I don't think we can do this work without the community. We cannot go into a community and do work without them being involved. They are not going to want to know. They have got to come up with the solution."

Well-to-do Jamaicans seem to think that creating crack police squads and abrogating the rights of its more vulnerable citizens is the way to defeat the crime monster. I have lived through this for four decades and such a strategy has proven to be an abject failure. The fact is we have been doing this since 1976 and all we have to show for it is an increasing murder spiral and a society now completely divided between the better and the worse-class.  

According to a 2017 World Bank report, crime costs the country approximately five percent of its Gross Domestic Product (GDP) every year and this translates to over Ja.$68 billion. These numbers are by themselves significant. More significant though is the loss of Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) as a result of spiraling crime. How do you encourage people with capital to venture from their much safer shores to a place like Jamaica with a murder rate of nearly 50 murders per 100,000 of the population? How does one measure potential Return On Investment  (ROI) against the high chance of being one of the nearly 1,400 murder victims each year for the last 20-25 years?

I do not envy Prime Minister Holness (whose prediction on the campaign trail of 2015) has come back to haunt him insidiously. The fact though, is that he is now in charge and the crime monster will neither be wished away nor solved by the continuous declarations of States of Emergencies. It is time to make hard long-termed decisions to address crime in Jamaica. It is time that Andrew Holness as Prime Minister, provides the leadership necessary by bringing all Jamaicans to the discussion table to hammer out solutions that will be to the benefit of all of Jamaica, however long that will take.

Thanks for taking the time to read our blog, please leave your thoughts in the comment section below, we appreciate your feedback. We also invite you to check Sunday Scoops our Jamaican music streaming and commentary program every Sunday from 2-4pm on yaawdmedia.com feel free to share with your friends.

JLP'S NEWEST POLITICAL FOOTBALL- OUR CHILDRENS EDUCATION

 

This week the Jamaican Government through its Ministry of Education, announced the expansion of the secondary schooling period from five to seven years. This to take effect immediately and effectively slapping a permanent ban on graduation at the end of fifth form or grade 11 years.

Let me hasten to point out that I am no expert on Jamaica's education policy but having done my time in the system and by virtue of my contact with my past student association, I do have some ideas of the function or dysfunctions inherent in our education system. Such involvement tells me that this JLP Administration is playing politics with the lives of our children by forcing an unworkable education policy on the population. It appears that such a policy has benefitted from very little thinking and even less participation from the stakeholders in education, namely, parents, educators and principals, and the students themselves.   

My own assessment is that there is a building critical mass that is approaching as unemployment numbers are on the rise, especially at the youth level. This has not been helped by the Covid-19 pandemic which has ravaged the economy for the better part of the last two years, shrinking the economy by more than 30 percent and while contributing to a ballooning of the unemployment numbers. Add to that is the galloping crime numbers with murders for the third year running set to top 1400 per year. Security Minister Chang is on record ascribing increased crime statistics to increased gang numbers swelled (his arguments) by rising numbers of unattached youths.

Each year, the secondary school system disgorges some 35,000 youth onto the streets, two-third of whom will have no more than one or two CSEC subject passes at a grade 3 or 4 level. This means that these young adults are qualified for nothing at all. Let me not mention the 15 percent of secondary schools whose school population are barely functionally literate at the end of five years.  

To suggest that keeping these kids in school compulsorily over two additional years will solve the problem is a dog that will not bark. Jamaica has had a dysfunctional education system prior to Independence and all that has happened over the last 60 years amounts to tinkering without addressing the real problems. This additional two year extended stay in school is a direct attempt at stifling the unemployment numbers and adding to the unattached population. What will happen when, after these initial two years we are still in the same position? What the government is attempting to do is to buy some time.

A country's education policy must align with its social and economic development policy. After all, it is not bauxite and tourism that are our best resources, it is our people. In the circumstances, a sound educational development policy starts with elementary and primary education. That is the foundation on which the education of our people has to be built. If the kids are inadequately prepared at this stage they will carry this malformation into their secondary years and will be just as useless by the end of secondary school as they were when they left primary school.

From where I sit, the proposed policy begs a number of other questions. Firstly, how will the school system accommodate holding 35,000 to 70, 000 additional kids over the next two years? These seats cannot magically be created overnight without some investment in expanding physical capacity. How will this be funded.

Secondly, what curricula will be pursued in these institutions at this additional grade levels? Certainly, this retained quadrant will not all be pursuing Cape, as already, most are incapable of matriculating into that level of pedagogy given the existing academic deficiencies. Has that curriculum been agreed, and if so, who is going to teach it?

Thirdly, there is the question of teachers. Where will the additional numbers come from and how will they be paid. This is not helped when teachers currently on the roll are yet to receive pay for September 2021. Where will the monies come from?

My fourth question relates to the issue of choice. Are we saying that a government can arbitrarily insert itself into the decision-making process for parents and their children in determining when and how a child is educated as they approach adulthood? Not every child who leaves school at grade 11 needs a college education. We pretend to be a democracy and in such a situation there is the freedom to choose ones approach. I feel as if we are approaching a dystopian stage of existence as Jamaicans sit powerless as the train-wreck that this policy represents, unfolds in 'real time.'

 Thanks for taking the time to read our blog, please leave your thoughts in the comment section below, we appreciate your feedback. We also invite you to check Sunday Scoops our Jamaican music streaming and commentary program every Sunday from 2-4pm on yaawdmedia.com feel free to share with your friends.

 

JAMAICA, WE ARE FAR BETTER THAN WHAT WE ARE DOING TO OURSELVES

Late last month Netflix's new Western opened at select cinemas across America. It was made available as part of its streamed offering on November 3, 2021, and is already proving a treat to lovers of the genre. Titled "The Harder They Fall," the film features a crack All-Black leading cast and is based loosely around characters that actually existed in real life.

The film's title bears a close resemblance to that of the 1973 Jamaican film "The Harder They Come" written and directed by Perry Henzell with some writing contributions from Trevor Rhone (both Jamaicans) which opened that year to a disappointingly small audience in New York City. Over the next couple of months though, the flick began to grow on audiences and eventually gathered steam among the college audiences across most northern USA cities. It would quickly attract cult status and its soundtrack be attached with the responsibility for helping to make the much-needed breakthrough for Jamaican music in the USA markets. The Harder They Come (Trailer)

The Harder They Come would open to Jamaicans at home some months later, and played to sold-out houses for months after. In short, what started out as an inauspicious film grew into a resounding success, notwithstanding the fact that at the time of its making, the film's production was beset by myriads of problems.

In the first place, money was difficult to come by as the people who had the cash was not convinced that the project had any real chance of being successful. A large part of the initial funding came from Chris Blackwell of Island Records who saw the project as a marketing vehicle for moving Jamaican music into overseas markets. The shortage of funds though somewhat hampered the making of the film and as a result, filming was done whenever a little cash became available.

The script I am told, developed over time and when recording artiste Jimmy Cliff (its main star) had to go off on tour, filming stopped.

The production team had only one gun available to them (a starter's pistol) and had to be extremely creative when setting up shooting scenes especially scenes that involved exchanges of gunfire.

Be that as it may, on the wings of "The Harder They Come" rode the aspirations of Jamaicans interested in developing the island's film industry as it represented a continuation of the building of the island's reputation having scored a decade earlier with films like Ian Flemings' Dr. No and Goldfinger, among a few others.

The Harder They Come (as stated earlier) carried a large part of the hopes of Jamaica's music industry. In fact, Rolling Stones magazine rated the soundtrack for the film as one of the greatest ever put together for a movie.

Fifty years later and we have only succeeded in literally shooting ourselves- killing more than 1,300 annually for the last 25 years. Our music industry for all its promise has failed to develop the anticipated critical mass as only a handful of Jamaican recording artistes are keen enough to actually invest their monies in any kind of attempt to create a superstructure upon which the music can be better able to realize its real potential.

Watching Netflix's "The Harder They Fall" this week, took me all the way back to 1973. Call it "the magic of the movies" if you wish...and I so wished it were. For me, it was just great to hear the creations of Barrington Levy, Koffee, and the late Dennis Emmanuel Brown stitching pieces of a big movie together. Better late than never

As a country, we can and MUST do better than the negative image we continue to project across the globe. I believe that we are way better than "conning" and killing each other. I know that we are. Thanks for taking the time to read our blog, please leave your thoughts in the comment section below, we appreciate your feedback. We also invite you to check Sunday Scoops our Jamaican music streaming and commentary program every Sunday from 2-4pm on yaawdmedia.com feel free to share with your friends.