Do Jamaicans support abortion in Jamaica?

Abortion ... let’s get rid of those ancient laws

By Dr Dayton Campbell:

Abortion ... let’s get rid of those ancient laws

THE World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that over 22,000 abortions are performed in Jamaica each year.

Complications arising from unsafe abortion are among the top 10 causes of maternal death in the island, especially among teenagers. Review of legislation governing abortion has been 30 years in the making. Efforts by various governments to address these concerns have been halted by conservative religious groups not sensitive to the reproductive rights and realities of women, girls, their families and partners.

In Jamaica, Sections 72 and 73 of the Offences Against the Persons Act (1861) reads:

* Criminalise women who chose to terminate a pregnancy, who, if convicted "shall be liable to be imprisoned for life with or without hard labour."

* Criminalise medical professionals who facilitate a woman's exercise of choice to have her pregnancy terminated, and the parents and guardians who facilitate termination of pregnancies of girls under the age of 18. If convicted, they "shall be liable to be imprisoned for a term not exceeding three years with or without hard labour."

Too often we enjoy the comfort of opinion without the discomfort of thought.

Think! Does the illegality of abortion prevent its practice?

Is pregnancy only unwanted because the woman has been sexually reckless?

The answer to these questions is NO. The current law frustrates THOUSANDS of Jamaican women, the poor especially, who are in desperate need of abortion services. Nearly half of all pregnancies -- 41 per cent -- are unplanned (2002 Reproductive Health Survey); only 50 per cent of pregnancies were planned (2008 Reproductive Health Survey) In 2009, some 7,612 live births occurred to mothers under the age of 20 - a decrease from the 7,680 recorded at the end of 2008 (data obtained from National Family Planning Board - NFPB).

Eighty-one per cent of recent births reported by women aged 15-19 were unplanned. Nearly all of these unintentional births were mistimed (occurred earlier than desired) as opposed to unwanted (no children or no more children desired). The information is also obtained from the NFPB.

Who is affected?

According to the WHO, "abortions and complications thereof are the eighth leading cause of maternal deaths in Jamaica, affecting adolescents primarily". Between March 1 and August 31, 2005, there were 641 patients at Ward 5, which deals exclusively with abortions at the Victoria Jubilee Hospital.

All patients were from inner city communities, single, and nearly half were Christians, while a third were teenagers. About 40 per cent admitted to having had a previous termination of pregnancy and 30 per cent had two or more previous abortions.

Do Jamaicans support abortion?

YES!!!!!! Many of us support efforts to make services for the termination of pregnancy legal, safe and affordable. A 2006 public opinion survey conducted by Hope Enterprise found about "60 per cent of respondents support the legalisation of termination of pregnancy" under "special conditions" such as "incest, endangerment of the woman's physical or mental health and/or life".

From the public health perspective, we need to address these women who burden the public health system after botched abortion attempts. Evidence in Italy, the Netherlands, Romania, South Korea, Guyana and Barbados shows that where abortion is legal, maternal morbidity and mortality rates fall. Rates may initially seem to rise because of the previous under-reporting.

For women in the middle and upper income groups, the law can be circumvented by access to financial resources to pay for private medical services to procure a safe abortion. The law is restrictive and unjust to women in the lower income groups who cannot afford private medical services and therefore resort to the illegal informal market. In both instances, the quality of the service that the woman receives is entirely determined by the ethics and integrity of the individual practitioner. There are no minimum standards and no norms. Legal provision of abortion by qualified practitioners in both the public and private health care systems as recommended will ensure that safe abortions can be accessed by all women thus protecting their lives and health.

While debates on when life begins and ends may persist along the continuous range of religious perspectives, the realities surrounding this public health matter which affects so many women will not disappear unless addressed based on existing, objective realities. It is a woman's right to have all the options available to her, to be provided with information that allows her to make an informed decision, and not be persecuted for this decision. The State has a responsibility to ensure that the rights of all its citizens are protected.

The current illegal status of abortion in all circumstances exposes women to stigma and discrimination when they are faced with this choice. Women should not be punished for what is a difficult decision about their body, life and future. It is a misuse of Government power to take that right from them. Denying women access to medical services that enable them to regulate their fertility or terminate an unwanted or dangerous pregnancy amounts to a refusal to provide health care that only women need. Women are consequently exposed to health risks not experienced by men. Repealing the prohibitive provisions under the Offences Against the Persons Act concerning abortion, as recommended by the Policy Review Group would restore this right to women and prevent further stigmatization and gender discrimination.

Let us consider cases where:

- Contraception was used but it failed and the woman is not in a position to go through with the pregnancy and adequately support a child.

- The pregnancy resulted from rape or an abusive relationship.

- The pregnancy places them at severe mental, emotional and/or physical risk.

- The compromised development and health of the foetus.

To abort or not to abort is an extremely difficult decision for any woman.

There is not only the financial cost to consider, but risk to her mental and physical health as well. Adequate access to appropriate counselling services to help her consider all the options, strengthening of sexual and reproductive education at all levels, and the strengthening of family planning services, help women make the best choices.

Regrettably, pregnancy is often not a question of choice for women, not only in cases of rape and incest, but also in the everyday dynamic of gender relations where many women are subject to domination and/or the threat of violence from men.

We as a nation need debate this issue and lay the facts bare without shrouding them in misconceptions, prejudice and religious absolutism. It is about time such an important issue be dealt with once and for all, the women of Jamaica deserve no less.

What of the bright young 16-year-old girl in the inner city who is getting ready to do CSEC examinations and who is the only option to lift that family out of the abyss of poverty, who is sent for by the "don" in the community, then abused and subsequently takes the morning after pill but still ends up missing her period and later diagnosed as pregnant? Should she be forced to carry that child? Or to seek abortion on the black market? As a man of faith, I humbly suggest that we allow common sense to prevail.

Let me make it abundantly clear that I am not proposing abortion as a means of contraception, nor am I suggesting that mere poverty should be a reason for it, as I stand as a true example that it is possible to break the changes of poverty and rise from poverty to prosperity.

Of paramount importance is also the need to revise our adoption laws so that we can provide this service to those persons who are in need. I anxiously await a vigorous debate on this matter, as we seek to establish a new paradigm: to dispel myth and to embrace a true sense of liberty and prosperity.

Dr Dayton Campbell, a medical doctor and lawyer, is member of parliament for St Ann North West. His views do not necessarily represent those of the government.

June 01, 2014

Jamaica Observer

Jamaica Ranks 25th in Prostitution Revenue Worldwide

Jamaica ranks 25th in earnings from prostitution -- website

KINGSTON, Jamaica – A website Havoscope.com, which provides data and information on black market activities around the world, ranks Jamaica 25th in Prostitution Revenue Worldwide.

According to the ranking posted March 2014, Jamaica earned US$58 million from the industry, falling behind the Czech Republic which earned US$200m.

The number one earner according to the Havoscope.com ranking is China, which it says hauled in US$73 billion in revenue from prostitution.

Spain ranked second with US$26.5 billion and Japan third with US$24 billion.

Other countries in the list were the United States with $14.6b in earnings, the United Kingdom with US$1b and Russia with US$540m.

There were 26 countries in total.

See full ranking here:
Prostitution revenue worldwide

April 10, 2014

Jamaica Observer

Jamaica: 100 years of black consciousness advocacy

By Louis MOYSTON

JAMAICA has had a rich history of creative resistance during slavery. Similarly, during the post-slavery era, many Jamaicans have played pioneering roles in the development and the advancement of the black consciousness idea and movement. This article seizes the opportunity of black history celebration to open a window into stories of some Jamaicans who have made their mark on the idea and movement. The article focuses on those to whom very little attention has been paid, such as John Brown Russwurm, Dr T E S Scholes and Una Marson. It is important to pay special attention to the quality of their contribution in order to ask, how well have we built on what they started? It is important for us to explore how some of these ideas may awaken the "years of lethargy" among black people in Jamaica.

Before and after 1776, Jamaica had an active trade relationship with North America. Port Antonio was one of those active trading ports; it was the setting in which John Brown Russwurm's father, a white American businessman, lived. Winston James (2010) in The Struggles of John Brown Russwurm, 1799 to 1851, writes about his birth to a black woman and his journey to the USA, with his father, where he attended school. The writer notes that, at the time of his graduation from Bowdoin College, he may have been the earliest or one of the earliest blacks to graduate from a tertiary institution in America. James notes that it was during his years in college that he began writing on black struggles. Inspired by the Haitian Revolution and the black Republic, he made it his duty to defend the young black regime against propaganda depicting the Haitian people as savages. He moved to New York after graduation. There he developed and published his ideas instilling greatness in racial pride and the back-to-Africa message. He emerged during the earlier period before another early pan-Africanist and back-to-Africa advocate Edward Wilmot Blyden (1823-1912).

Russwurm met Samuel Cornish, a fellow African-American, in New York during the 1820s. They established Freedom's Journal, the first newspaper to be owned and operated by Africans in the USA. According to James, the editors announced in their opening statement if the Journal that "we wish to plead our own cause, for too long have others spoken for us". Russwurm saw the paper as an "organising force" among unorganised blacks in America, aiming to "awaken African-Americans from the lethargy years". His writings advocated the role of family and the cultivation and growth of industry among blacks by way of education and training. He saw education as that driving force towards higher achievements in science. He guided black people in America along the path of race consciousness through which they could become useful and responsible citizens. He became disillusioned with America and went to live in Liberia, where he was established as a governor of that new Republic. A few years after his death, in 1851, and in one of the neighbouring parishes to Portland, the Paul Bogle movement advanced the black consciousness struggles in another context at Morant Bay, St Thomas.

During the 1850s the systematic programme of land deprivation among the black masses continued; the setting in St Thomas and Jamaica was characterised by high taxation, high unemployment, high prices for basic food stuff, and severe and oppressive injustice. Thee clarion call for "skin for skin", black unity was condensed into an assault against the agents of the planter/colonial power relations in that parish. This violent insurgency of 1865 may have inspired a new thrust of black consciousness among a few emerging black intellectuals: Dr Robert Love (a Bahamian who resided in Jamaica) and Dr T E S Scholes. Both thinkers noted the role of the colonial/planter society and its systematic deprivation of the black masses' access to land. They saw this as a deliberate strategy to keep blacks and the country underdeveloped. Gordon K Lewis (1968) in The Growth of the Modern West Indies, describes Dr Love as the publisher of the old Jamaican Advocate newspaper calling for black representation in the Legislative Council, as well as, his advocacy of black consciousness. According to the writer, he lived in Haiti, where he encountered 'negritude' and black political representation. In the book, The Jamaican People 1880-1902 Race, Class and Social Control, Patrick Bryan (2000) describes Dr Love, an Anglican pastor, as a secular-pragmatist; and Dr Scholes, a Baptist, as another secular intellectual, and that they expressed their concerns about the land for the ex-slaves of Jamaica. Bryan writes that Scholes placed the question of land tenure in the broader context of the imperial system of the appropriation of "native resources", and that it was a conspiracy by the British Empire to systematically deprive the black masses access to land in Jamaica. Noting the endless sources of labourers among the black masses, Bryan writes that Scholes spoke about the high rate of taxation, land hunger, and the ignorance of scientific agriculture as hindrances to the development of the black masses and the country. Scholes was a significant Jamaican scholar; his major works are: Sugar in the West Indies and The British Empire and Alliances. This tradition, especially the role of spirituality and religion in politics, continued at the level of the role of revivalist preacher, such as Alexander Bedward, his native Baptist tradition rooted in the race thinking of Paul Bogle.

Marcus Garvey, the most popular pan-Africanist, whose movement excelled in the USA, inherited the rich legacy from Bogle to Love and Scholes, among others. After Garvey was Leonard P Howell, who showed the black masses that there was no hope in the colonial/planter Jamaican society, called for a rejection of the dominant European values and the wrong doctrine advanced by the Church. He inspired a new awareness among that black lower class that in part ushered a new era of black unity, setting the foundation for the emergence of the powerful trade union movement. Una Marson emerged during the rise of this movement. She was an early pan-Africanist and one of the earliest black feminists of international proportion during the 1930s. She lived in England where she worked with the likes of other pan-Africanist such as George Padmore, Jomo Kenyatta, and C L R James among others. She was also secretary to His Imperial Majesty Haile Selassie, whom she accompanied to the League of Nations conference where the Emperor submitted his case on the Italian aggression and occupation of Ethiopia.

These persons have set the standard. It is important that we take note of their worth and refine and expand on their works. They are important sites for historical excavation by young scholars.

Louis E A Moyston
thearchives01@yahoo.com

February 12, 2014

Jamaica Observer

Colonialism and neocolonialism in Jamaica

By Maurice HAUGHTON:



It is now 51 years since Jamaica had to its Independence, however, it is like a baby whose umbilical cord was never severed at birth. The baby grows up, underdeveloped with limited mobility, still attached to its mother by an extended umbilical cord. This attachment restricts the baby's movement while giving an uncaring mother a great degree of control; she can impose her will, put unfair demands on the child, withhold food, and take from the child if the child does not conform to her wishes .This metaphor is a depiction of neocolonial control over Jamaica.

For many years colonialism milked Jamaica and other Caribbean countries by imposing a false identity on our people, diminishing resources that affected growth and development. In spite of the richness of these countries, they are still referred to as Third World and underdeveloped. All the post-colonial unrest and instability in the Caribbean has the footprints of traditional colonial entities. They usually come into the country, attach themselves to some factions, mostly opposition parties, then supply guns and ammunition, dangle the carrots, and influence elections. Their main objective is to prevent governments that would encourage self-reliance, equality and justice for the people. They rather keep the masses poor and needy so they can pass their breadbasket and their offering plate in which they drop a penny and take a pound .They come under false presence as human rights advocates, freedom fighters and stability agents, while instigating and spreading propaganda to create unrest among the people. They create artificial shortage of basic foods like bread, milk and flour so the poor cannot eat, all to undermine the Government. Given the circumstance, any baby would buckle under such pressure, while the mother undoubtedly grins as she gets her way, just like the old days of gestation when the baby must shuts its mouth and take whatever comes its way.

During colonialism, Jamaica had to blindly ingest the unsavory meals served up by colonial powers. They took our harvest and gave us slaves to create more harvest. It is true, "I and I build a cabin, I and I plant the corn. Now you look me with a scorn then you eat up all my corn".

Marcus Garvey spoke out against it and Michael Manley tried stopping it, but overpowering forces fought back, using everything from the IMF to big businesses and capitalist tactics. Neocolonial influence is all over the Jamaica today. After 300 years of Emancipation, and 51 years of "Independence", people are still talking about 'God Save The Queen'. When did the Queen ever say 'God Save Michael Manley, Portia Simpson' or any of those stuff shirts who claim to represent her. In 2009, England suspended part of the constitution of the Turks and Caicos Islands over allegations of corruption. Like a scolding mother, she usurped the democratically elected government and replaced elected officials with her own appointees. For those who wish Jamaica was still under British rule, is that what you want? Why not ask your fairy godmothers for a couple of slave masters and some backra massas too.

All elected officials in Jamaica must take the oath of allegiance to Her Majesty: "I will be faithful and bear true allegiance to Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, Her heirs and successors, according to law. I remember as a young man in Jamaica watching a parliamentary debate when Michael Manley stated that he could not mean it in his heart but he was obliged to so swear. He said, while he respects the Monarch, he did not think the people of Jamaica should have to take such an oath. I remember the opposition pushing back on the idea. Manley wanted true independence on all fronts and was not willing to be anybody's puppet. He was not afraid to associate himself with those the world hated; he had a mind of his own. Michael Manley put up a good fight against neo-colonial forces.

It's time to chase those self-serving bald heads out a town. It's time to stand up to neocolonial forces, throw away the wigs and gowns and pay allegiance to the people of Jamaica. Stop licking the back of Mrs Elizabeth's head on those stamps, how many Jamaicans are on British stamps? "Jamaica, Land We Love" what about Jamaica's people we love. Stop allowing the devaluation of the Jamaican dollar, stop the slave wages when people are paying an arm and leg for food. Trinidad recently gave a 12-14 per cent wage increase across the country, it's Jamaica's time.

God bless Jamaica, but it's time the parties come together and make it about the people and not politics.

Maurice Haughton is a freelance journalist living in Philadelphia, USA. Send comments to: haughton727@ymail.com

February 03, 2014

Jamaica Observer

Greek tragedy, Caricom, economic lessons for Jamaica

By Franklin Johnston



It is time for a mature discussion on Caricom and Jamaica and the EU/Greece crisis can guide us. Caricom is Jamaica's most costly overseas project. What do you know about it? Federation morphed into CARIFTA, now Caricom/CSME. I am "Carisceptic", as it hasn't delivered economic growth and I don't think it can. Jamaica is a global brand. Caricom is not, and for growth we must help our own first!

T&T is right to favour its industry and not give away its LNG. If we give away our bauxite, so be it. We need to chart our own growth path as they do. The Cabinet, PSOJ, UWI, Opposition must come clean. If Caricom is a device to draw down EU and other benefits, fine, but we need more to grow. Caricom has no traction here; most don't know it, the new HQ in Guyana does not affect us and as we are all "British" it is culture neutral.

Caricom is secretive. Where are its accounts? We work, sell and go on vacation north, so an oil spill off Louisiana concerns us, not in the Eastern Caribbean (EC). Caricom is of the cognoscenti; an elite club, those who make up the glitterati at its cocktail parties and banquets; workers have no part in it.

We need an independent inquiry. What can Caricom do for our economy? It went from common market to "single economy". What does this mean? Cabinet must publish full Caricom accounts, staff, expenditure, source of funds, etc. It cost us "a bag" since 1968 - for what? Now, with the shift from regionalisation to globalisation and WTO, is it relevant to our economic growth? No more speculation, we need answers!

What does Greece/EU teach us about Jamaica/CSME? We love Britain and our ex-slave, ex-colonial English-speaking brethren, but Caricom cannot just idolise "Britishness". The EC is not a destination of choice for us and the hostility at Air Jamaica's sale to T&T speaks volumes! Love at long distance is doomed as we are intimate with those close by! Notice, even our men go to Cuba, not the EC, to find wives and mistresses? Very French!

Caricom is our intergenerational project, but it does not work for us. The reason?

The preconditions to economic union are not met in our case. Consider the following:

*The EC is far from us and thousands of sea miles form a barrier to trade, travel, intimacy as they did for the Caribs and Columbus. English heritage is our only link with the EC.

*The union of several small, poor, distant island states with no major natural resource or intellectual property base cannot benefit our economy. CSME is politics, not economics!

*Our large population relative to the size of Caricom (ours is equal to the combined islands), our chronic poverty and failure to be sustainable in our heyday of bauxite and export preferences give our partners no confidence, and though rich, they are too small to support us. Let's now compare some common EU and CSME goals:

*Free movement for work, play and study. This works for Greece but not for us. Greeks can travel in the EU cheaply by air, car or on foot. Only UWI, government officials and the rich can travel in Caricom. Workers from poor members go to rich EU states to find jobs. Our workers are not allowed into the EC to seek employment.

*Common currency. If CSME had a common "cari" our debt would hurt all members. The euro is inflexible, so Greece can't devalue to help itself as it would hurt the eurozone. But the EU has mobilised US$1 trillion to help it. What does Caricom do to help us? Nada! One euro buys little in the north, but a lot in the south, so UK citizens live or work in Greece for the good weather and cheap living. Life is cheaper in the EC but we are not allowed to live there. Britain is not in the euro, but gives billions of pounds to save it as Greece's demand keeps UK factories open. Does T&T, our "trade gorgon", do this for us? No siree!

*Free trade. Caricom trade just makes us owe the EC more. Greece gets subsidy for farms and industry from the EU. In our distress do we get Caricom subsidy? No!

*Integration, fiscal, monetary discipline. The EU rides its members hard. They have to be prudent and balance their budgets. In the EU crackdown on Greece, they require cuts in spending, wages; higher taxes and oversight - it's done; budgets may soon be sent to the EU for approval and banks to pay a levy to fund bailouts. Germans cuss Greece as "lazy freeloaders" and Greeks cuss the EU and Germany as "Nazi", but Greece submits as the subsidies are good! Would we send our budget to Guyana for approval? No way!

The non-economic benefits of Caricom are modest and not unique. Check this:

*Our knowledge-based goals as CCJ can be had without union, some from "English" Canada, or India. We can get weather, legal services etc, based on treaty or payment.

*We all need new friends. EU masons, waiters, etc, work in Greece, the UK, and make friends - this is not so in Caricom. Only our officials and the rich have friends in Caricom!

*Our neighbours offer richer cultures than Anglocentric Caricom. Why not embrace all - French, British and Spanish? Let's unite with our close neighbours and enjoy their opera and ballet, then save up for that costly once-in-a-lifetime trip to T&T carnival!

*We share an ocean, geology, tectonic, climatic, security and air space with Haiti, DR, Puerto Rico, Cuba and our growth, environment and security future is with them. Will Caricom protect us from thousands of miles away? UWI has the EC and UTech must build joint campuses in Cuba, Haiti, DR; exchange students; train multilingual technologists, professionals, managers for job opportunities in the global economy.

We have Usain, Asafa and Bob but the EC states have Kim, Viv, Ato, Rihanna, Armatrading, some Nobel laureates and surpluses - Caricom works for them. Only growth and jobs can save us, so we need to do things differently. Do we focus on a distant market of 3m in Caricom or the 30m market of our close neighbours? A "no-brainer!" Stay conscious!

Alert: To raise standards, top UK universities may no longer admit students who resit A-levels and qualifying exams. One-one coco won't do, so if you got the subjects, but not at the first sitting, then apply to a second-rate university. UWI and UTech, please note!

Dr Franklin Johnston is an international project manager with Teape-Johnston Consultants, currently on assignment in the UK

franklinjohnston@hotmail.com

June 04, 2010

jamaicaobserver

Bahamas Blog International

Jamaica's business is the Caribbean's business

By Sir Ronald Sanders:


The widely publicised bloody clashes over the last few days between law enforcement agencies and armed gangs in Jamaica are as bad for the economic and social well-being of the people of Caribbean countries as they are for Jamaicans.

While the members of the Caribbean Community and Common Market (CARICOM) see themselves as a “Community of Independent Sovereign States”, most of the rest of the world regard them as one area. Only the most knowledgeable make a distinction between them. So, events in Jamaica impact all other CARICOM countries whether they like it or not.

In meaningful terms, therefore, Jamaica’s business is CARICOM’s business. Neither CARICOM governments nor the people of CARICOM can sit back and pretend that events in Jamaica in which criminals defy the authority of the State are not relevant to them. CARICOM countries are tied together and none can deny cross-border relationships in trade, investment and people.

Jamaica is the biggest of the CARICOM countries in population terms and it impresses and influences the world far more than other CARICOM countries. Of course, the impression and influence have been both beneficial and inimical to Jamaica and the wider region.

On the positive side, the vibrant music of Jamaica and its musicians, led by the iconic Bob Marley, have clearly given Jamaica global recognition. So too have its holiday resorts which are playgrounds for tourists from all over Europe and North America. Jamaican agricultural products, such as its Blue Mountain Coffee, and many of its manufactured goods have been able to penetrate foreign markets more deeply than those from other regional countries.

And, CARICOM’s negotiations with large countries and groups of countries would be much weaker and far less effective without the participation of Jamaica. Its relatively large population of close to three million people makes Jamaica a more attractive market than the majority of CARICOM countries which, with the exception of Trinidad and Tobago, each number less than a million people. Because of the size of its population, even with the limitations of educational opportunities, Jamaica also has more qualified technical people for bargaining internationally than its partner countries in CARICOM. Therefore, the participation of Jamaican negotiators in CARICOM teams is extremely valuable.

Jamaicans also constitute the largest number of the West Indian Diaspora in the United Kingdom, the United States and Canada. To the extent that the West Indian Diaspora is a group whose votes are wooed by political parties in these countries, much is owed to Jamaicans for the attention paid to Caribbean concerns.

On the negative side, Jamaica’s internal crime, and organised crime that its gangs have exported to Britain, Canada and the United States have created an unwholesome image for the country and severely damaged it economically. In the process, CARICOM has been weakened economically as well, for an economically weak Jamaica is unable to serve as a dynamo for economic activity and growth throughout the area.

Jamaica’s high crime level has been bad for business and bad for its economy. A 2003 study found that the total costs of crime came to J$12.4 billion which was 3.7% of GDP, and a 2007 UN report projected that if Jamaica could reduce violent crime to Costa Rica’s low level, the economy would grow by 5.4%. In a World Bank survey, 39% of Jamaica’s business managers said they were less likely to expand their businesses because of crime, and 37% reported that crime discourages investment that would have encouraged greater productivity.

Apart from scaring away investment, high crime in Jamaica has also caused many of its professionals and middle-class families to flee the country seeking safer environments abroad. More than 80 per cent of Jamaica’s tertiary educated people have migrated to the world’s industrialized nations.

It doesn’t take much imagination to work out how much more socially and economically developed Jamaica would have been today had it not been plagued by over 30 years of escalating crime and its debilitating consequences.

From time to time, outbursts of violent crime have affected the country’s tourism which contributes about 10 per cent of the country’s GDP. It is only because of expensive and extensive advertising and public relations campaigns in the main tourist markets that Jamaica has managed to keep its tourism arrivals by air fairly stable.

This latest, globally-publicized, bloody confrontation between security forces and criminal gangs protecting a Drugs Don, Christopher “Dudus” Coke, from being served with an order for extradition to the United States and arrested, will damage the tourism industry harshly, and, again, once it is over, Jamaica will be forced to spend large sums repairing its image and assuring tourists of its safety.

Other CARICOM countries will not be immune from the Jamaica disturbances. On the basis that tourists see the Caribbean as one place, other Caribbean destinations will also have to spend more on promoting themselves.

The fact that “Dudus” could be protected by well-armed, criminal gangs who have neither respect for, nor fear of, Jamaica’s security forces or the authority of the State, is a direct consequence of governance gone badly wrong. From the mid-1970s the two main political parties in Jamaica, the Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) and the Peoples National Party (PNP) have formed alliances with gangs that have been well-armed and in many cases are involved in the drugs trade. Having taken that step that renders politicians beholden to criminals, the political hierarchy began an inexorable downward spiral to disaster.

In effect, part of the State has been captured by leaders of criminal gangs to whom political parties are obligated. Nothing else but this sense of obligation to “Dudus” Coke can explain why Jamaica’s Prime Minister Bruce Golding, as Leader of the JLP, would have intervened at party level to influence a law enforcement matter between his government and the government of the US.

The Jamaican government now has to assert the authority of the State over “Dudus” and his gang, and it must be done if Jamaica is to be freed from the captivity of criminal gangs.

And, when this particular confrontation is over, Jamaica must start the gruelling process of openly and transparently dismantling all party political connections with gangs, reasserting the supremacy of the State, and weeding out gangs that are the scourge of the society. Any alternative scenario is too terrifying to contemplate but it does include Jamaica being plunged into the status of a failed State.

This is why it behoves the current party political leaders to set to the task of recovering the State from the influence of criminals and establishing broad based institutions empowered by law to oversee public services and political practices. Jamaica will be economically stronger, socially better and politically more stable than it has been for decades and, as a consequence, CARICOM will benefit.

May 28, 2010

caribbeannetnews

Bahamas Blog International

Jamaica shares same earthquake faultline as Haiti

KINGSTON, Jamaica (JIS) -- Jamaica shares the same faultline (a crack or break in the earth's surface) with Haiti, which suffered a devastating 7.0 magnitude earthquake on January 11.

This was disclosed by the Head of the Earthquake Unit of the University of the West Indies (UWI), Dr Lyndon Brown, at a JIS Think Tank in Kingston on Wednesday.

"The fault that created the quake in Haiti runs right across the western end of the Dominican Republic, through Haiti, cuts across the Caribbean Sea into Jamaica and continues more or less into different fault lines across Jamaica: one continuous fault line runs across from Haiti to Jamaica," Dr Brown stated.

He added that the activities in the region, following the Haiti earthquake, are not unusual, at this time.

"A number of aftershocks have taken place, and this is quite natural. The aftershocks will be more continuous after the large earthquake, but then this will die down and become less frequent," he said.

Aftershocks, such as the magnitude 6.1 tremor that occurred in Haiti again on the Wednesday morning (January 20), can be large but will become less frequent over time.

He said, however, that the other earthquakes that have taken place in Guatemala, Venezuela, and El Salvador are happening on the Pacific Plate fault line, which is not the same one on which Haiti and Jamaica is located.

"Right now we do not see the association between the events," he added.

He said that while studies are being done by an American researcher, to see the relationships between the fault lines, none has so far been established, and what is happening is that stresses are being naturally released along respective fault lines.

"Earthquakes are very, very, common. If you look at a map of Jamaica you will see that last year we had about eight felt events (earthquakes) and about 200 that were weak but could just be picked up as earthquakes," he said.

He stated that, on average, there have been about16 earthquakes on an annual basis that are greater that magnitude 7.0 , about 120 around magnitude 6.0 and an innumerable amount at magnitude 5.0 and below.

"What is happening in the region is very interesting. Earthquakes are natural events that happen when stresses that have built up along fault lines are released, creating elastic waves that generate convolutions on the face of the earth," Dr Brown said.

He added that the destruction wrought by an earthquake is dependent on the location and strength of a building, as well as the strength of the earthquake.

January 22, 2010

caribbeannetnews

Bahamas Caribbean Blog International