By Raymond Forrest, ContributorTHE AUTHORITIES have finally removed the vendors blocking the Kingston Parish Church. But what are the likely odds that before November they will be back in full force at the very same spot? You see, the vendor blockage is symbolic of the general lack of social order and discipline that pervades so much of society.
It cannot be much comfort for Jamaican authorities to know that the same malaise has spread to other Caribbean countries, such as Guyana and Trinidad, which are also trying to cope with street vending in unauthorised areas (although there, it is not yet as blatant).
Street vending was tolerated by the authorities, with the Government of the day afraid to enforce its rules for fear of being labelled as 'fight down the poor', while knowing fully well that it cannot create enough formal jobs to satisfy the earning power of those who take to the streets. At the same time it has to fear an opposition that tactfully supports the vendors when out of power but reverses itself, when it acquires power. Ask the UNC or the PNM, for their reasons, in Port of Spain.
The vendors know that at periodic intervals, the authorities will act in response to big business and political interests, to move them from 'choice locations' and that they can use delaying tactics, or play a waiting game until these political interests turn to other areas under their agenda. So it's more musical chairs for the next few weeks and then a steady return to what, for any child less than ten years old born in Jamaica, must be the norm stalls and tarpaulins.
The political order, led by the Prime Minister, will react only when it passes close to them or when public opinion may raise some ire over it, but also know that with a general election looming, and voting likely to be close, there will be no sustained campaign to remove vendors from key street sides.
In the changing of economic fortunes, what is being done on the street is a replica of the changes taking place nationally, as the distribution of goods and services adjusts to new players and new forms. Globalisation has its impact worldwide and also internally so a decade in the future you may have new street plaza owners asking the authorities to act against the new usurpers to their 'pie'.
What should be most obvious to those who defend the vendors action, is that over the years while the distribution of goods (shoes, clothing, school-bags and other knick-knacks) moved in their favour, they should have been buying out the shops and plazas in front of which they plied their trade. Today, they have to rely on authorities to build markets to hold them and have to run 'up and down' from security personnel, instead of being the new owners, telling others they have to formalise themselves to stay.
They need to consider why Asian groups are buying out downtown spots!
