Melville Cooke
"Dem no have no title fe de earth, only fe de lan'"
- Sizzla Kalonji
ONE DEFINITION of 'squatter' in the Oxford Dictionary is "a settler with no legal title to the land occupied".
In Jamaica, we have a much more vivid image of a squatter than the rather sterile, though accurate, definition given in the dictionary. It is an image that often comes to us on television, just before or after a bulldozing, complete with cries of "we want justice" and claims of just how long they and their families before them have been on the land.
And with in most cases very permanent and sometimes very fabulous structures, the persons who live in informal communities (which still manage to have electricity, water and telephone service, which is simply amazing) certainly do not consider themselves squatters.
Neither do we, who are paying an arm, a leg and a painful part in between for rent or mortgage. In fact, many of us turn up our noses at those who are dubbed squatters, applying that universal four-letter word of separation, 'them', establishing supposed superiority.
But before we toss those labels around, we should look at the dictionary definition of 'squatter' one more time. And considering that we do not have legal title to a great deal of what should be our national resources, we should remove that four-letter word and replace it with a two-letter one.
Yes, we are a nation of squatters, all of us or all a we, depending on which tongue you wish to express it in.
DIVESTMENT OF GOVERNMENT ASSETS
This occurred to me since the great drive to divestment of government assets somewhere in the early part of this century, but recent events of the toll road kind and the even more recent announcement that the Atlanta, U.S.A.-based Mirant Corporation is selling its 80 per cent stake in the Jamaica Public Service Company Ltd., have brought the matter into sharper focus. (One question: if 80 per cent of a company is owned by a private investor who is not from a particular country, why keep its name on the title? Or is it a matter that Mr. Redi Kilowatt prefers to keep his 'yard' passport while hiring out for labour overseas?)
If we do not have legal title to the assets of the country, and from stretches of asphalt to financial institutions to utility companies, we do not (hey, who remembers the Jamaica Telephone Com-pany?), are we not a bunch of squatters in our own land?
And let us not forget that there were rumbles about the 'privatisation' of the National Water Commission not so long ago.
We have come a long way from Michael Manley's declaration about owning the 'commanding heights' of the economy. From where I sit, there has been a Total change from the National point of view - and it is not in gas sales only.
Now, there is a curious thing about those areas dubbed squatter communities. Sure there is some very bad housing, but there are many very well-kept dwellings among deplorable circumstances. All painted and fancied up, with who knows what kind of posh stuff inside. Similarly, we squatters at large tend to take very good care of the little we own, from the cars to the fingernails, from the flipping cellphones to the arched eyebrows.
There has got to be a psychological explanation somewhere.
So next time you pass a community that has sprung up unplanned yet unmovable, be careful about how you apply labels.
And the 'them' are not squatters. They just have not been given the land by a politician desperate for votes yet.
Melville Cooke is a freelance writer.
