Peter EspeutIT IS said that a people get the government they deserve, but is this true? If it is, then in addition to the incessant criticism of politicians, we the people should take a good long look at ourselves.
I believe that, to a large extent, we the Jamaican people have brought upon ourselves the vast majority of the political problems we face in Jamaica today. And I am not excluding any class of Jamaicans from blame.
Take, for example, the matter of electoral fraud. Over the years it has not been foreigners who have stuffed ballot boxes, and who have manned polling stations where votes are cast in other people's names, and where the votes counted have totalled more than the number of voters. Some of us supported bogus voting by doing it; and the rest of us looked on, and most of us supported bogus voting by saying nothing.
Take, for example, the matter of armed political gangs. For the first few decades, it was not foreigners who gave out guns to political activists, but Jamaicans (politicians). And the money to buy the guns did not come from foreigners, but from upstanding Jamaican businessmen who make contributions to (sometimes both) Jamaican political parties. Some of us supported political gunmanship by accepting to carry a gun for a politician; and some of us supported political gunmanship by providing money for the politicians to buy the guns; and the rest of us looked on, and most of us supported political gunmanship by saying nothing.
Take, for example, the matter of political garrisons. The creation of politically homogeneous tribal housing estates could not be done by politicians alone. Jamaican architects, engineers and contractors getting political contracts had to draw up the plans and build the houses; and Jamaican civil servants had to administer the system of giving out the contracts to political partisans, and selecting the residents along party lines. And Jamaican party supporters lobbied to get the houses, and for those in the opposite party not to get any.
Some of us supported the creation of political garrisons by designing them and building them; and some of us supported political garrisons by agreeing to live in them; and the rest of us looked on, and most of us supported the creation of political garrisons by saying nothing.
Take, for example, the matter of police brutality and the violation of the civil and human rights of poor, black Jamaicans like Agana Barrett and Michael Gayle. The policemen beating up black Jamaicans are themselves black Jamaicans; and the mothers and fathers and sisters and brothers and wives of the policemen who commit brutality are Jamaicans and know what their relatives are doing; and family members sometimes enlist the aid of their police relatives to intimidate and even brutalise others for their benefit. And the wealthy and powerful observe the brutality of the poor by the police from a distance, and as long as the police do not brutalise uptown people or infringe their rights, the status quo is not challenged. Some of us support police brutality by doing it, and some of us support police brutality by encouraging it; and the rest of us look on, and most of us support police brutality by saying nothing.
There are many stakeholders in our corrupt political system; the number of those who personally and directly benefit is large, and spread out across all sectors of the society. The politicians are up front, and take most of the criticism and the vilification; but there are many others who deserve much more blame than they are getting.
I believe that we Jamaicans have got the government we deserve, either because of our support of what they do or because of our silence. Some will say that this is how it should be in a democracy: the government must give the people what they want, and if the people want corruption, then all the politicians are doing is responding to the cry of the people.
I believe that this government responds to pressure from the people. If a large enough segment of the population called for free and fair elections, we would have them. If Jamaicans refuse to put up with police brutality and the violation of human rights, it would stop. If enough people wanted an end to corruption and bribery and nepotism, at least it would become less blatant. But the truth is, there are still too many people who know that they would not be in their job if it wasn't for the party, or they wouldn't get the contract if it wasn't for the party, or they wouldn't get the house if it wasn't for the party.
New decade, new century, new millennium. I think the government and the politics would improve if enough of us wanted them to and said so. In a real way, the future of Jamaica is in our hands and in our mouths.
Peter Espeut is a sociologist and is Executive Director of an Environment and Development NGO.
