Profound Hopelessness: Jamaica's Most Vulnerable 50 years Later

This article came about after watching All Angles and a young professional panelist said "I'm feeling Profound Hopelessness for the next 50 years; if the past 50 was like what it was"  and the entire panel seemed against him both young and old made the point that we do have problems but we have made great strides all things considered (the usual Jamaican half-empty optimism). The young man was very forthright in his follow up response after everyone else dismantled his stance, saying "we need to take a good look at ourselves and be honest".

National Euphoria Notion

Liberally Speaking:There seems to be a notion (and lie) being pushed by the Traditionalist, most of the Post-Independence Generation and pseudo Patriots for patriotism sake (politicians, looking at you) that you are some how less 'Patriotic' or 'Jamaican' because you don't feel the urge to buy a Jamaica 50 souvenir or go to every event adorned by the 'official' Jamaica 50 logo, and sing praises to our (neo-con) political system for under-utilizing our political independence. 

This Idea that each Jamaican must divulge in the general mood of this period is just a 'coke' filled reality; constantly bombarded with consumerist ads tugging on our 'hidden' patriotism, beckoning for our monetary contributions, fed nefarious fabrications of unimaginable National Development from both sides of the political divide trying to out do each other in statistics from 62' to now concerning the matter; Traditionalist within the media spewing on airwaves the need for the rebirth of the 'Golden Days' yet sparing over which days were the "Golden Day".

Jamaica's Under Belly

According to the CIA World Fact Book Jamaica's poverty levels at the time of my birth in 1993 may have been 32% down from 34.2% the previous year, if you follow the line from '93 to '02 it was an agonizingly slow process down to 19.7% thats a drop of 13% (1.3% a year). Between '02-'03 there was remarkable drop of 4% from 19.7 to 14.8%, but unfortunately from '03 poverty has been on a steady and unflattering rise at the last report in 2010 poverty was at 17%. 
The American dream is the chance to own a home and if we were to transpose that crazy idea on Jamaica we would be having a nightmare (Jamaican Nightmare) because a decade after Independence  one third of the population are considered squatters (many build houses on illegally captured land).

Hoped you enjoyed that bit of factual journalism (don't get used to it). The understanding that should be drawn from these 'boogeyman' numbers are the same of Former PM. Hon. Edward Seaga whom in a article in the July 8 publication of the Observer titled: Ja has not progressed much in 50 years, says Seaga -like, no duh- he expressed  "that we made one step forward and taken one step backward," and also he said "the economy is worse off, the justice system is worse off, the education system is worse off".
If these are the words of a former Prime Minister, can you imagine those of the 17% of Jamaicans living in poverty, nonetheless we continue along the beaten path of selecting politicians who most certainly believe in trickle down effect of Capitalism.

The pure sadism of the moment is unbearably obvious because those pushing the "National Euphoria Notion" are those within the positions of power to employ individuals, create chances and shape futures through legislation but most won't act unless called out. We have left so many out in the raining cold and uncertain of a next meal far too long in this country, neglecting the responsibilities we have to each and stepping on toes without apology. The slums or ghettos aren't formed because of the low educational level of the people living in them or the material used to make a fence and house but by the persons who's shared  responsibilities it is to guide a community and its citizens on the path to "Independence". 

As a post-independent -1990s- baby with college level education, I grew up in a period of some economic stability (as low and slow, as it was) within downtown communities such as South-side, Eliston Road and Rae-town; where uneducated youth literally littered the streets their brains begging for early childhood education and stomach craving for PATHE paid nourishment that may have lasted half the day. The children of my time embraced the new and changing world that gave us the Internet and Mobile phones, we played with bullets and their handlers were our Robin Hoods. 

Its very unfortunate that our politicians should boast about 130,000 and increasing persons being allowed on PATHE, 2 simple reasons why: 

1. PATHE is a welfare program (needed) and is paid by Tax dollars and not contributions, so it burdens the economy.
2. PATHE is structurally flawed and is certainly in need of repairs considering the application process and delivery of funds through mail.  

Those communities have not changed alot since my departure some time ago, thankfully I had a mother with strong determination to rise with the best and earned her Masters but it wasn't easy going for the both of us; growing up, I only saw her on weekends and holidays but otherwise she was working and studying so my grandmother graciously took care of me. Yes, I grew conservatively but thought liberally and opened minded (thanks to television, kids).


This years of "Culture Hugging"(formerly tree hugging), where we seem to put culture over our citizens rights and freedoms that tradition may be against, must be placed behind us ; their is such a thing as being over-protective of our Cultural Identity and Traditions, individuals must be allowed to break the chains of "Traditional Ideals" (not all old and bad) and progressively and actively be a member of society without the fear of prosecution and harm (touched on Gay Rights, there).


We should celebrate, reflect and give thanks but keep into consideration our fellow Jamaicans who have been living under substandard and unequal conditions for the 50 years (and more) and have lost faith in Jamaica, Land they used to love.      

PS *Reintroducing Civics (as matter of stepping on toes) as a subject in schools is an Idea that I will not put my foot on, because I simply see it as a 'Symbolic' gesture to the Traditionalist.

The Politics of Hope & Change: Jamaica Needs an Obama 08' Moment

by Mario Raphael Boothe

The World and the minds of its inhabitants were both at Peace and in Shambles after the elected President of The United States; Barack Hussein Obama, spoke his last words in his inauguration speech to the 2 million strong crowd that sun-filled Tuesday, January 20, 2009. 

This was no ordinary inauguration of the most powerful man on earth; the first time in almost 4 centuries the moment shared by 44 other American men would be seen, heard and felt worldwide as a moment of "Ancestral Justice", "History's Greatest Moment" and "The Second Coming" all rolled in one tall, Dark and 'd' for democrat body.

The Obama 08' campaign ran on "Hope and Change", (2 words discarded among Jamaicans) ensuring that the message invoked nothing less than the pure rage against the former President's Party (2 unpaid for Wars, Wall st. collapse, Housing bubble burst...yea..rage) and absolute euphoria over the then candidate Obama. The true test of his slogan and inspirational words that swept a nation of its feet would be on Nov. 2 election night, after the votes were counted Obama had received 69,456,897 in the popular vote: the highest for an American Presidential Candidate.

The main narrative the political heads in the USA were spinning  for Obama's tremendous win was his slogan: "Hope and Change". At a time when the American economy and way of life never looked worst - Pres. Obama was able to pull the hearts from the wreck and the heads from the gutters; uniting and linking the fading light of "Hope" with the need for drastic "Change" creating this unforgettable universal enthusiasm that literally moved the world as musicians, singers, dancers, etc using their creative genius went head first into Obama-phoria, he was simply Loved and Admired for his courage.

His legacy will be debated and people will say we exaggerated and place inhuman task on his shoulders but there is shame "Hoping".

Jamaicans tried tumultuously, to force this 'once in a blue politician' moment on themselves falling BELL over HEAD for the young buck from West Central St. Andrew, Former PM Andrew 'Twice Bitten' Holness who was 'placed' in power by his (much,much,more) senior colleagues in the Jamaica Labour Party after the extradition failings of Bruce 'Papa' Golding. The youth-phoria that followed his seize of power would return to haunt him during the 2011 elections, where his lack of experience came into play and the attention focus x squared on him and his 'youthfulness' completely (wi did tiad, fi si him face), coupled with over-saturating negative ad airplay - his hopes were dashed (then again in local Gov. elections)

but aside from Holness's lackluster performance as a pseudo Obama,  the Dec. 2011 elections was a great one for post-Independence politicians as the "youth-phoria" generated votes for young members on both sides of the Orange/Green divide. The problem issue arising from the election were the 'elitist heirs' forged by the loins of the same "Jurassic" politicians who occupy the House, one must wonder (with disdain) if the family scrolls and wisdom are being passed on -recreating the cycle.  But If this trend of younger and younger minds being allowed to represent and legislate continues without resistant from the monarchical masterminds.

One day in the distant future and not by forced will, Jamaica will have its Hope and Change Moment.

Capitalism on Parade: Digicel, LIME, Government, Consumers and Competition

By Mario Raphael Boothe

The recent events surrounding the Telecom sector involving the two remaining giants on the Island has brought flash the spotlight on the arguments concerning ‘Competition and its Benefits’ and ‘Governments involvement in the Private Sector”.

I’m sorry – not really – that I have to rain on ‘Big Business’ and Jamaica’s fledging capitalist population parade, but when the entire episode started I had a funny feeling that the Claro clowns would be bouncing around in the streets of New Kingston along with the fan fare associated with the respected camps of Digicel and LIME then it hit that Claro no longer operates within the confines of Jamaica – good times, competitive times.

The Circus came to town after The Office of Utilities Regulation (Governments regulatory right arm), on the command of Government, confirmed that the interim mobile termination rate will be five dollars per minute for incoming domestic and international telephone calls. This follows the amendments to the Telecommunications Act passed in Parliament earlier this year. Digicel - ever bashful on regulations – had some concerns with the OUR setting rates and stated that they had “grave concerns with the overarching powers which the Government is seeking to grant the OUR”. This comes after the ruckus with the Tax Administration.

LIME - been the true ringmaster - of the Jamaican telecom sector and along with the Minister Paulwell - patting himself on the back for job well done – were jumping in absolute Joy to the news of the OUR, this meant controlled competition and maybe a closer race, LIME reduced call charges on its network from $8 to $2.99 cents per minutes for prepaid, with post-paid ones being charged $1.99. A call from LIME to its competitor was 6.99, cheaper than the $8.99 Digicel charged for calls on its own network; LIME wasted no time in challenging its Competitor to drop its own rate for the good of the Jamaican consumer. LIME – playing the clown with egg on his face – trying to fight a lost battle.

Digicel refused to take on the challenge and walk the tight rope of balanced business, having to lower rates and still make a profit. After going behind closed doors and huddling its most paid executives and smartest financial gurus, Digicel took the path that many American Giant Corporations took before it, fight the Regulation instead of complying; shamelessly challenging the OUR in court for setting artificially low prices that wouldn’t have helped consumers in any way as the price would have been transferred elsewhere, after the companies begin losing too much to take on the cost. Digicel playing the sad clown

This was none more so true in Digicel’s, reply to LIME’s low rate after challenging the OUR , – let’s not be the bad guy, just look as the bad guy – with a dramatic cut to 2.89 with lesser benefits we all loved, including

Digicel's will now bill customers on a per minute basis bill customers on a per minute basis, which means The same call on the Digicel network will cost 5 dollars 78 cents, a full 29 cents more.

Digicel reduced the number of minutes customers get free. Customers would normally get 25 minutes free after the first 5 minutes on a call, but that has now been cut to just 10 minutes.

Those who would normally depend on free nights to talk after topping up with 200 dollars each day will find that the benefit has been reduced to one hour free at nights.

While has remained unchanged, continuing:

Billing on a per second basis; which for example will make a 1 and a half minute call on LIME's network cost 4 dollars 49 cents.

LIME customers talk after the first three minutes on the call gets 27 minutes free.

LIME customers are, after topping up with 100 dollars; talk free after 9pm until 

We will be expecting these to change in the near as the losses begin to rack up even more than the normal levels for LIME, in March LIME loss Ja. $20 billion.

The Jamaican population may not understand, Artificial Price setting, Price ceiling or capping, setting Maximum and Minimum Prices but what they should know is that due to lack of real competition within the market Digicel the highest supplier will soon shrink into non-existence after failed attempts to push around its expenses trying balance out its books and eventually leave the – Circus – market for good as a result of inability to supply the growing market and maintain low profits then we are back to the ‘Ringmaster” and a Circus with only a “Ringmaster” is Mono-tonous.

To end on a sarcastically unhappy note, what else does the Telecoms Act has under its- Big Tent of Contention- that might actually be helpful to competitions.

The Telecoms Act, gives power to the OUR and the Spectrum Management Authority ability to impose sanctions for breaches of the act. Technology Minister Phillip Paulwell said the agencies will be empowered to demand certain information from telecoms licensees. 

The legislation will now require mobile companies to share cell towers instead of the current practice of each having their own. Paulwell said this is aimed at bringing order to the system. 

The amendments could also see mobile phone users having the ability to switch networks while retaining their telephone number. 

The Party that cried "Poor”: Jamaican Politics in Poverty

As the fable goes the shepherd-boy, who watched a flock of sheep near a village, brought out the villagers three or four times by crying out, "Wolf! Wolf!" and when his neighbors came to help him, he laughed at them for their pains.  The Wolf, however, did truly come at last. The Shepherd-boy, now really alarmed, shouted in an agony of terror: "I Pray do come and help me; the Wolf is killing the sheep"; but no one paid any heed to his cries, nor rendered any assistance. The Wolf, having no cause of fear, at his leisure destroyed the whole flock.

The Opposition’s response to Peter Phillips Budget presentation seems to be taking on very similar characteristics to the story mentioned above the fairytale classic “The Boy Who Cried Wolf”. The Audley-Andrew team up seemed perfectly in synch and coordinated as they successfully attacked the Government on their Tax Proposal, “This Budget is not bitter medicine. It is poison." assured Holness; “what has been presented is not stimulus but potential toxic shocks to remaining sectors of the economy” voiced Shaw (Poison – Toxic, hmmm).

The perfect cohesion between the Rhetoric got my nose working and my mind soon to follow; I smelt betrayal in the air and I knew that this was not “Poor People Passion” (demonstrated wholesomely by Portia). Over the period of the Last Election cycle to now, we can definitely make the conclusion that the Peoples National Party led by Mama P most certainly said the word “Poor” and made mention to Poverty in Jamaica more times than their (Big Man Capitalist Counterparts) the Jamaica Labour Party. This is not a singular occurrence as the PNP as retained the ‘Poor People Party’ image since its socialist days under Manley.

In his Post Budget press conference on Friday, Andrew Holness was ‘animated’ (as one media house described it) with passion against the Tax on Basic Food Items, Books and Electricity. His words came forth but had nothing behind, they lacked substance, he ranted against distractions such as the CCJ, CARICOM and removal of the monarchy making absolutely sure that debt and poverty reduction should be atop of the government priorities. The intent of this Political strategy is clearly to get the one up on Portia while been a constructive opposition, but also ensuring that we remember her election promises and now see them fizzle as “barefaced deception”.

While I welcome such political fodder as it does have a place in a democracy, the inability of the JLP to look towards the future and provide us with an alternative budget (as practiced in many countries) showing us that they would do things differently instead of just saying “We would have done it different”, while refusing to present any alternative (tweaking the existing, is not an alternative), is the reason for my “crying wolf” conclusion. Pointing out the PNP and Portia’s failures doesn’t fix Jamaica’s.

The instantaneity of Jamaica Labour Party, to ride on the “Fear and Sensationalist” reaction to the budget by the Jamaican people, speaks volume about the evolution of politics (or lack of) in Jamaica. Even when they bash the Government on playing politics with the emotions of the people (referring to the Bitter Medicine/poison), they themselves get caught pulling the cats tail; to be fair, neither side can plead not guilty on the charge of political deception.  

Andrew Holness and his Labourite counterparts might actually be concerned about the “Poor”, and how the poor will be affected due to the tax package (giving the benefit of the doubt) but we can see that his Actions doesn’t match his rhetoric. Politics is meant to be a ‘rat race’ but not in the literal sense of the word “rat”.

There is no believing a liar, even when he speaks the truth.

We aren't a Christian Nation

By Mario Raphael Boothe

Jamaica's Conservative Christians  accepting the fact that 'we aren't a Christian nation' ruled by theocracy must happen this year of Jamaica's 50th Indepence, we cannot live under the delusion any longer. I know, coming from a christian it sounds weird but I'm compelled to allow common sense, discussion and love be the substitute for hate and bigotry. 

Not even The United States of America can claim the title of "Christian Nation". Their founding fathers of the nation were not Bible-believing Christians; they were deists. Deism was a philosophical belief that was widely accepted by the colonial intelligentsia at the time of the American Revolution. Its major tenets included belief in human reason as a reliable means of solving social and political problems and belief in a supreme deity who created the universe to operate solely by natural laws. The supreme God of the Deists removed himself entirely from the universe after creating it. They believed that he assumed no control over it, exerted no influence on natural phenomena, and gave no supernatural revelation to man. A necessary consequence of these beliefs was a rejection of many doctrines central to the Christian religion. Deists did not believe in the virgin birth, divinity, or resurrection of Jesus, the efficacy of prayer, the miracles of the Bible, or even the divine inspiration of the Bible.

Many people in the christian faith and other religions use their Theology as a defense to spread undesirable hatred around the world be it Anti-American Jihad-Muslims, Anti-Palestine Jews, or Anti-Gay, Anti-Abortion, Anti-Premarital Sex Christians.

We have to change the tone of the discussion from war to therapy or motivation for change (we don't war against flesh and blood but strongholds and principalities). If spiritual Christians really believe in 'Spiritual World' then they should not be attacking "Gay Demons" through the eyes and ears of man but through Prayer of the Holy Ghost. 

Christians (Liberal or Conservative) have not learnt from the teaching of Jesus or seen the mistakes of the past, when we burned people on crosses and torture them because they had sinned, if Christianity continue down this road of "out casting and rejecting:" sinners rather than receiving them and touching their lives and hearts in a meaningful way, we shall be cast back into the times of the Christian Crusades (hieght of religious intolerance for christians) of the 11th Century, in which millions of muslim followers died. Christianity must show that it too has grown not just the world.

And for those Christians that need biblical evidence, here it is:

Luke 19:10 reads, "For the Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost."