IN HIS double role of Political Ombudsman and head of the Peace Management Initiative (PMI) Bishop Herro Blair has garnered insights into the darker side of politics.
Thus he was able to confirm at yesterday's Gleaner Editors Forum that the nexus between crime and politics still exists, though not as pronounced as in previous years. For, as some observers have noted, the former dependence on political hand-outs has been supplanted by self-sufficient gangs defending turf and drugs in criminal enterprise.
It is instructive that some of the territory the PMI head has had to cover has not seen their MPs for years. In that vacuum of political leadership, the kind of gang violence this newspaper has reported on periodically is categorised by Bishop Blair as motivated by the struggle for "bread and butter."
The more startling aspects are about the culture of 'community justice.' In some communities prevailing law is well understood as if it were written statute. Thus the most common penalty is 'public beating' for such infringements as stealing. The penalty for rape is death; which may explain some recent instances of bodies found stuffed in barrels.
The authority of the Area Leader or Don is unquestioned in matters such as his choice of a juvenile female companion for the weekend.
These vignettes of garrison culture have been disclosed by Bishop Blair in the context of explaining how the Peace Management Initiative has managed to keep a lid on potential pre-election violence. As he sees it, the PMI successes have been possible precisely because it operates without police escort; which is surely an indictment of the failure of legitimate law enforcement to win the confidence of ordinary people in depressed communities. But, as Bishop Blair sees it, resentment is directed at some policemen acting without finesse and diplomacy.
As we see it, the more fundamental flaw, however, is the absence of effective political representation. It is clearly a failure of representative politics that isolated pockets of autonomy and 'community justice' have survived as private fiefdoms of illegal power.
If nothing else Bishop Blair's tenure as Ombudsman and Peace Manager should bring to some closure these aberrations of law and order. We support his efforts as prime models of courage and exemplary citizenship.
THE OPINIONS ON THIS PAGE, EXCEPT FOR THE ABOVE, DO NOT NECESSARILY REFLECT THE VIEWS OF THE GLEANER.
