THE EDITOR, Sir:
PROFESSORS DON Robotham and Trevor Munroe's recent convergent thesis on possible solutions to our crime problems are dangerous propositions. The likely implications of those propositions will be extremely brutal on the vast majority of the poor, black population of our country. Particularly poor black males under thirty five years old.
These two eminent scholars who were a part of the Marxist-Leninist Workers Party outfit in the 1970s have gone full circle. These two eminent professors who were once viewed as the vanguard of the rights of the proletariat have advanced measures which are likely to increase the oppression and misery of the downtrodden. Given our tribal and divisive culture, they will be so divided and powerless to the extent that they will not have much to live for. With not much to live for and very little to live on, one will not value life too much. A recipe for disaster is being prepared. In a state of relative deprivation, only violence can wash away humiliation.
The fact that as part of the severe, extreme and resolute measures the government wanted to give police powers to the military is a signal of their intent. The military were designed for and trained to protect the country from external enemies and defend its territorial integrity. Training for this type of combat is significantly different from policing, crime detection, investigation and intelligence gathering. The only purpose the military could usefully serve is peace-keeping and that does not require police powers. Any government which calls out its army and turns it on its people must be viewed as tyrannical.
In all of this no attempts are being made to address state criminality. Corruption is rampant within the state regime. The mopping up should start here.
Where there is no justice there can be no peace. The mission statements of the courts promise to deliver justice in a timely manner. Justice must be speedy not timely. The man who was shot by an agent of the state at a phone booth at the Constant Spring Post Office in 1990 has waited for over 12 years on the justice system to right these wrongs.
The state endeavours to protect rights which are essentially property rights. The aim of the police is to protect life and property. Since everyone has life, when taken to the extreme, it strongly implies that the more property an individual has the more protection will be accorded. More importantly it is based on the premise that little or no property will require no protection.
I am, etc.,
MAURICE DRYSDALE
Lyssons P.O.
St. Thomas
