Peter Espeut
THE TRUTH is just the truth. Rear Admiral Hardly Lewin is quite right. Tivoli Gardens is the 'Mother of all Garrisons', and I an scandalised that the JLP and their cohort are taking such umbrage.
Tivoli is the 'Mother of all Garrisons' in two senses. Historically, its the first garrison, created from the ashes of Back O' Wall and the Dungle, by a highly underrated sociologist. The residents of the new high-rises were hand-picked, and few have paid any rent over the decades.
Up until the last time I checked, few residents paid any electricity or water rates. It is well organised - politically, socially and economically. It consistently returned the seat for the incumbent for three decades, several boxes regularly returning more than 100 per cent of the potential votes.
ZERO CRIME RATE
It has an internal crime rate of zero, which is testimony to the level of control exerted by the local leaders. I do not hear even the most diehard Labourites denying that some members of the community are well armed. It has had national impact in that it has supplied enforcers and crowds for events elsewhere in the island.
It is also the 'Mother of all Garrisons' because it has been the model for all the others - PNP and JLP - although none have approached it in quality. Quick to see its value, so far the PNP have made about eight copies, but none have quite equalled it in organisation and social development, although they have done a good job in terms of ensuring electoral victories.
As the 'Mother of all Garrisons', it has given birth to two others within the JLP; and would have spawned more if these would not have threatened the power base of the long-standing incumbent.
CROCODILE TEARS
And so Tivoli Gardens is both the birth mother and the spiritual mother of all garrisons, and Admiral Lewin is quite correct to point it out. I am not fooled at the crocodile tears by elements in the JLP as they deny maternity. Or is it that they continue the lie of denial that Tivoli is a garrison at all?
I appreciate the straight talking of Admiral Lewin and DCP Shields. They have been plain in identifying both PNP and JLP as too close to garrisons and political gunmen who have graduated to become heads of criminal enterprises. They both pay Tivoli the compliment of being the best at what they do. Neither political party seems in a hurry to dismantle its garrisons, nor to distance itself from criminal gunmen. Watch the funerals! Neither of these political parties wishes this country well.
Jamaica will only emerge from this dark period in her history when people like Admiral Lewin and DCP Shields expose the links between politics, guns and drugs. I wish them well!
I have to wonder about the sensitivity of the consciences of church people who rub shoulders and join hands with garrison politicians and their henchmen. Some compromises I am prepared to understand, but this is going too far.
And besides, if you play with dogs, you will catch fleas. Jamaican politics has a way of corrupting even the most altruistic would-be reformers. Some of the blood will always rub off!
The person I am most surprised at during this 'cass-cass' over Tivoli as 'mother' is 'Mutty' Perkins, who some years ago I recommended for the honour of National Hero. To object to repeated spectacular invasions of Tivoli is one thing, but to disagree with Admiral Lewin's designation of Tivoli as the 'Mother of all Garrisons' is quite another. We can be firmly against the one while accepting the other.
ACCEPTED FEATURE
Garrisons clearly have become an accepted feature on our political landscape. The first step towards dismantling the garrisons is to admit they are there, and to understand how they got there.
The JLP will not be a fit alternative to the PNP while it continues to make excuses for Tivoli Gardens. Those who are disillusioned with garrison politics - who I like to think are now the majority and who have dropped out of the process - will not work up any interest in a JLP that seems unable to divest itself of the stench in Spanish Town, May Pen and Tivoli.
For the first time in a long time we seem to have leadership within the police and the military who are prepared to call a spade a spade, and to do something about garrisons and their gunmen.
I can well understand the fear within both political parties as they see some of their major dons under arrest or being hunted by the police. This is not the time to vilify Admiral Lewin and DCP Shields but to encourage them, and to spur them on to establish the links between politics and murder. Go for it guys!
Peter Espeut is a sociologist and is executive director of an environment and development non-governmental organisation.
