- NORMAN GRINDLEY /DEPUTY CHIEF PHOTOGRAPHER
Mourners and curious onlookers look on as the coffin of Donovan 'Bulbie' Bennett was pulled by an F150 vehicle during the funeral procession in Spanish Town on November 27.
Trevor Gordon-Somers, Contributor
Recently, panellists on the Breakfast Club interviewed Horace Levy and Anthony Harriot of the University of the West Indies on the current crisis of crime and violence in Jamaica.
On the same day, a Gleaner editorial and an article by Heather Robinson, offered chilling insights into the crisis occasioned by the recent outbreak of violence in Spanish Town from the police action that resulted in the death of Donovan 'Bulbie' Bennett and defensive posturing by some People's National Party (PNP) politicians. Jamaica Observer editorials urged the said politicians to get real!
Messrs. Levy and Harriot addressed the issue of crime and violence from different, though related, perspectives.
The former argued for police interventions to decriminalise communities, reinforced by social interventions targeting unemployed and marginalised young men and young women, charting a productive alternative to the gun.
Mr. Levy, a member of the Peace Management Initiative, believes this approach would be beneficial in finding lasting solutions, and with this I concur.
Mr. Harriot's perspective rests on an assertion that organised crime is taking root in Jamaica and could, if unchecked, engulf the nation, undermine governance institutions and completely shackle inner-city communities through corruption and relentless violence. He argues that the public needs to be fully educated to the degree of this threat.
I was left with an impression that Government has yet to match the skills, technological capabilities, enormity of illicit funds and determination of criminal enterprises to take over the country, although recent successes by Operation Kingfish and promises of more to come, engender some optimism.
Both views reflect two sides of the current Jamaican reality.
The upward trend in gun-related murders, viciousness against children and women, protection of criminals by inner-city women, suspected links with uptowners, reports of gun-toting young women and the availability of 'shottas', a growing heartless army of young men with access to weapons and grinding poverty in many inner-city communities, are part of the same reality.
Government assurances that the ports are more successfully monitored and the coastline more effectively patrolled to check the flow of weapons, strain credulity.
POLITICIANS AND CRIMINALS
The explosion in Spanish Town brought into sharp focus two rather ominous factors.
The bond between politics and crime was undeniably and forcefully demonstrated and the potential for structured collaboration among criminal organisations throughout Jamaica with ambitions for direct political leadership may not be as far-fetched as we would like to believe.
Historically, relationships between politicians and criminals probably go back three or four decades. In recent times, criminals are no longer dependent on politicians for bankrolling as drugs and extortion are more lucrative and some still benefit from various civil contracts.
Politicians at different levels and persuasions are probably forced to be more discreet as a result of electoral reform, public scrutiny and the Code of Conduct.
Despite protestations, rumours persist and then there was Spanish Town!
In Spanish Town - and it could have been any other urban setting with a vibrant sub-culture of illegitimate governance - well-orchestrated mass demonstrations with women and children on the front line, used an established guerrilla warfare tactic, aptly described by Arnold Bertram in his contribution to The Sunday Gleaner, November 6, as 'no retreat, no surrender'.
DISCONCERTING MESSAGE
Community activists vented their anger as 'Bulbie', their godfather and long-time supporter of the People's National Party (PNP), was eliminated by the Jamaica Constabulary Force, the security organ of the state.
When putative PNP demonstrators cast 'Bulbie' in a better light than the serving Prime Minister, and orange T-shirts with the image of the Minister of National Security, aspirant for the top spot, are burnt in effigy, this is a new and most disconcerting message.
Let's assume that demonstrators were compelled by the criminal hierarchy, not just by community thugs or enforcers of the party in power, some may actually show up as delegates at the next conference to elect the president of the party and Prime Minister of Jamaica.
What constrains their ambitions for more direct political representation and governance of the country?
On this occasion, supporters of the Clansman gang felt abandoned by the PNP, but it could as well have been the One Order and the Jamaica Labour Party (JLP).
In fact, Mr. Bertram's reference to 'open facilitation and consultation' between both gangs at the height of the confrontation with the security forces in Spanish Town reinforces my assumptions.
Links between organised crime and politics are legendary. The spread of mafia influence from Sicily to the United States, the Colombian drug cartels that have spawned an unending civil war, are telling examples.
Organised crime takes root and thrives under certain conditions, the question being whether Jamaica is a fallow environment.
Acquisitiveness, greed and the pursuit of wealth by any means, a strong desire for power and control, weakened or non-existent legitimate governance institutions, malleable or complicit leaders, marketable products for illicit gain and pervasive poverty in marginalised communities, are essential ingredients for robust growth of criminality.
Criminal organisations demand unquestioned loyalty even with decentralised operations. Justice and vengeance are swift, hence community compliance.
Effective networking, advanced communication and technological facilities, access to weapons and a willingness to use deadly force, financial and legal shrewdness in money laundering, investing and hiding assets, demonstrate a degree of sophistication and resolve that will severely test weak and resource-starved states.
High profit margins are compelling - one kilo of cocaine produced in Colombia and an equal amount of heroin in Pakistan sell for 50 times more in the U.S. - hence, Caribbean transit points are easily corrupted.
One recalls the offer of the Cali cartel some years ago to pay off Colombia's national debt and the accompanying spate of violence against politicians, judges and civil servants.
ORGANISED CRIME
In Sicily, Mafia dons entered politics, gained leadership prominence through extortion and violence, enriched their organisations and strengthened ties with the U.S. mafia.
Accumulating great wealth through prohibition in the 1920s, they elevated extortion to brutish levels and enforced their decisions through Murder Inc., a well-organised killing network.
Introduction of the innovative U.S. government legislation Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organisation (RICO) eventually helped stem the rising tide of organised crime.
Guerrilla wars originating from a noble, ideological premise often degenerate into wanton killing fields motivated by greed and the pursuit of personal power, in which children, women and the elderly are prime victims.
This was certainly the pattern, for example in Angola, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Liberia and Sierra Leone. Language of the struggle is usually grandiose in terms of liberty from the rapacious dictator and equality for all ethnic groups, all too often replaced by the reality of a new demagogue, the 'big man', characteristic of such African experience.
Extremism becomes the hallmark of the opposing sides and rape of the resources of the country (diamonds, oil, forests) parallels human atrocities. In short, guerrilla forces adopt methods and structures similar to those of organised crime, thereby corrupting governance in the drive for power and control.
LOW-INTENSITY CIVIL WAR
Crime and violence in Jamaica display characteristics of a low-intensity civil war, with seemingly organised criminal gangs applying guerrilla tactics against the state and the population.
The question is to what extent structured organised crime networks exist with common goals, agreed hierarchical arrangements, shared profits, joint management of assets, command and controlled deployment of 'shottas', exercising illegitimate governance in various inner-city communities throughout the island.
Have some politicians been 'bought'? Is a delegate being readied as the candidate of organised crime for higher office?
Perhaps Jamaican criminals are too individualistic to enter into such formal arrangements but let's take nothing for granted. Yesterday, it was Spanish Town. Tomorrow, it could be Tivoli, Flankers, Dunkirk, Jones Town, Arnett Gardens, August Town or Trench Town.
Crime, the many-headed hydra, will sprout replacement leaders, notwithstanding Operation Kingfish successes. Beware!
FROM TALK TO ACTION
Despite the ongoing crisis, essential legislation has been painfully slow and the justice system seems flawed in many respects. Hopefully, with the proceeds of the Crime Bill, fingerprinting, plea bargaining, amendment to the Evidence Act and more rigorous implementation of the Code of Conduct, significant improvements will occur and well-thinking, law-abiding and honest Jamaicans will find courage to come together with restored faith and collectively excise the cancer of criminality from the polity before we are entirely overwhelmed.
Realistically, Government cannot do this alone, regardless of the party in power, as past entanglements are too complex. A comprehensive national mobilisation is required that fully and meaningfully involves all political parties, civil society, media, private sector, churches, schools, JCF and the Jamaica Defence Force, working within an agreed consensus on the way forward.
This sentiment is not new, but I think Jamaicans are capable of coming together for change and positive outcomes. However, we need to demonstrate that commitment, moving from talk to action. Those who proclaim the value of a truth and reconciliation mechanism are on the right track but time is running out as our leaders fiddle.
Trevor Gordon-Somers is a retired chief of staff of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and was also a special representative of the UN Secretary-General involved in peace negotiations in Liberia.
