THE EDITOR, Sir:
PRIME MINISTER Patterson is rightly outraged at the recent murders of infants. Hopefully he is at least equally outraged at the culture of violence that takes the lives of hundreds of Jamaicans each year. Perhaps he may also consider outrage at those within his Cabinet who owe their seats to the garrison constituencies that arise and flourish in the culture of violence.Power in the garrison equates with holding the home community captive, and making the 'enemy' community feel powerless, unable to protect its men, women, or children. Rape or robbery within a garrison community can be punished severely, sometimes by death.
Murder outside the community can be justified as the 'natural' response of seeking vengeance for perceived disrespect. Reprisal killings therefore tend to be lauded or ignored or covered up.
Garrisons have worked effectively in the political domain. The garrison approach - power for 'us' at the expense of 'them'- therefore infects other institutions and contributes to disregard for human life in the wider community. Those who give information to 'them' about 'us' can put their lives at risk. Members of the public have mobbed police stations to demand the right to 'chop up' someone rumoured to be a wrongdoer.
Policemen can face severe disciplinary measures for infringements within the police force, but can kill alleged suspects with impunity. Violence by agents of the state has done little more than give acceptability to knee-jerk violent responses that now makes Jamaica a murder capital...
Murder rates have grown during the PNP's four terms from 425 (1989) to 1,138 (2001) to a number possibly exceeding 1,000 for 2002. Police killings, at about 150 annually, may periodically slow down, but do not abate.
Throwing weapons and squads at violent crime continue to leave citizens paralysed with fear and emotionally disposed toward revenge. The Prime Minister might be wise to focus his fourth-term government's energies on creating a justice system in which all citizens can trust. He would mark his place in history if he were to create a climate in which even the most powerful and well-connected could not enjoy the fruits of violence without being held accountable under law.
The Prime Minister owes it to the people to ensure that policies are based not on the state's power to answer violence with superior violence, but on the state's duty to build a society in which justice and peace bring rewards.
The recent murders of infants show that time is not on the Prime Minister's side, or on ours.
I am, etc.,
YVONNE MCCALLA SOBERS
asante@colis.com
Via Go-Jamaica
