Hilary Robertson-Hickling

The Olympic Games are held every four years and the outcome includes excitement, disappointment, disgrace, scandals and the emergence of new champions and the departure of old ones. Friendships are made and countries get exposure for their hospitality, vast sums of money are spent to upgrade the infrastructure with the hope that there will be a long-term benefit.

At the start of the Olympic Games there is a ceremony after which there is a declaration, "Let the games begin." It strikes me that there are war games and political games being played with the people of the world and the people of Jamaica right now. President Bush and Prime Minister Blair have been leading the war games that have placed the world perilously close to destruction. The war on terror is creating more terror and creating a world filled with fear, intrigue, corruption and a terrible backlash in the Middle East. Each time one goes on an airplane now one is in fear and trembling that something catastrophic will happen. As the U.S. approaches its mid-term elections, there are daily revelations of scandals and the electorate is being made weary and cynical.

Political stakes

Not to be outdone, we in Jamaica are raising the political stakes, unleashing the outrageous shadow of violence which has left two generations traumatised, brutalised and scandalised. In the end the diehards who support the political parties plus those who will cause one side to win and the other to lose are fully engaged. I must admit that politics seems to be the only thing that engages so many Jamaicans, some of whom do not seem to be engaged in the development of strategy to solve the nation's problems.

Is it any wonder that religious fanatics, hedonists and others are having a field day? I now realise that many people listen to music all day, they ignore the news and other sources of information because there is just too much bad news. Local and foreign messengers are ignored because of their perceived lack of credibility and integrity. Violence is being promoted in the media and the popular arts and we are surprised that we are spawning the killing of children by others and themselves.

Campaign funding

The current revelations about campaign funding are neither new to Jamaica nor any other country, but it has become critical that we establish and maintain probity in public affairs. I would like to see a review of political scandals since Independence in Jamaica as we try to understand the nature and outcome realising that Carl Stone's insightful work on clientilism and patronage needs to be understood. I would suspect that as the state has been structurally adjusted and become indebted, the pickings have grown slimmer and that the manoeuvering has become more intense. I do not believe that Jamaicans are more corrupt than any other group of people but I realise that we are operating in an environment which is ripe with possibilities and rife with possibilities.

The example of large business corporations reaping fortunes in Iraq is just an example of the endemic nature of political patronage in the USA. War games, political games and sporting games have many things in common. As human beings we need to have rules that help to govern our behaviour. In a far from ideal world we need referees and officials, players and governing bodies that keep us trying to operate fairly.

Hilary Robertson-Hickling is a lecturer in the Department of Management Studies at the UWI, Mona.