THE EDITOR, Sir:
WHILE I fully support the call by any organisation to protest/ demonstrate our dissatisfaction with the state of affairs of our country or the decline in living standards, we must be careful or very selective of the methods that we employ. As a people, and it is not easy admitting this, we believe that the more disruptive we are the better our point is enunciated.
I can still vividly recall one of the gas demonstrations in the mid-80s - advertised as a peaceful protest - I was forced to walk from Liguanea to Portmore in a four-inch high heeled court shoes in the mid-day sun; jumping through fires in Half-Way Tree, Three Miles, Marcus Garvey Drive in the vicinity of the train line and the causeway bridge. Because of the agony I went through, I get very apprehensive when there is mention of 'street protest'.
I really think that as a people we have been too docile as it relates to standing up for our rights and because of this successive governments have got away with too much. We need to change our stance. However, we need not wait on the politicians' call to register dissatisfaction about the erosion of our living standards or for that reason, anything pertinent to our well-being. As consumers we need to be able to band together, perhaps through a consumer affairs organisation, and speak as one voice.
We are all reeling under the pressure - a Memorandum of Understanding that restricts the level of wage increase granted to civil servants, even those who were not a party to the agreement; an Office of Utilities Regulation that is more often seen by the man in the streets as not representing the views of the consumer in its regulatory practices; the increase in transportation cost; increases in our electricity bills and further pending increases in the other utilities.
While we need to register loudly that we cannot take the suffering anymore, we must discipline ourselves or stay away from street protests especially those organised by the politicians. Because, while their intent may be good, there are usually elements working underground to ensure that that the anticipated objectives are not achieved.
I am, etc.,
PAT BIGNALL
wilbig@cwjamaica.com
