THE MANY problems that Jamaica is undergoing at this time have prompted many to call for wholesale foreign assistance to solve these problems.
Foreign assistance is always welcome, especially if it's objective and offers a higher level of technical support but, in the final analysis, it is what Jamaicans themselves do that will determine the quality of life for the future and not what others offer.
When one looks around the world to Haiti or Iraq or Afghanistan or even Israel and Palestine, one can easily confirm that it is the internal actors on the stage of daily life who determine the progress or retrogression that is made.
In Haiti despite the armed intervention of the United States, Canada, and France plus United Nations troops, Haiti remains rudderless. Now rebuilding electoral trust and simple infrastructure can be difficult and sometimes take decades, but one cannot start until the vast majority of Haitians themselves are committed to the process. To create the institutional changes necessary will, therefore, take a long time but I am not convinced that this will happen in Haiti, for a long time to come.
In Iraq the latest casualty counts put a figure of over 39,000 Iraqis killed, between the March 2003 U.S.-led invasion and the end of June 2005. Of this number an estimated 22,000 to 25,000 are civilian casualties. The U.S.-led coalition forces have suffered almost 2000 casualties by contrast. The numbers are even more horrific when one realises that there is no accurate tracking of Iraqi deaths, so the numbers are likely much higher.
In Israel the Palestinian issue continues to simmer uncertainly, one rocket attack on a settlement or one suicide bomb blast away from shattering a tentative peace accord. Only if both sides were to become fully committed to the resolving of what are many difficult issues, will there be any prolonged peace, despite the extremists on each side.
In Jamaica our major worry must be the large number of homicides taking place in such a small country, in relatively few areas. Unfortunately, after the killings and the reprisals there is very little likelihood of reducing this extraordinary murder rate unless the vast majority of persons in each area sees the futility of it. So we can bring in overseas police for help; we can ask for judicial help; we can go and get the latest technology, but the killing will only be cut when most of us make a conscious effort to reduce it.
That is the challenge that faces us over the next five years as we cannot wait until the number doubles again while we scratch our heads and wonder why we are such a violent nation.
