Garth Rattray

The Europeans couldn't have been so successful at 'harvesting' people for the trans-Atlantic slave trade without the full cooperation of our African forefathers. Tribal wars and a pre-existing slave trade made things easy for the foreigners.

We seem to have lost most of our positive African traits like respect for our elders, respect for tradition and community cooperation. Unfortunately, we retained far more than just a vestigial propensity for the negative traits like tribalism and violence. With the slightest stimulus, we separate into hostile factions of 'us' against 'them', PNP against JLP, this street against that street, this community against that community and this gang against that gang.

Wrestled for supremacy

In the early days of our Independence, the two political parties wrestled for supremacy. Politicians played the people against one another with silky promises of community assistance, financial aid and employment opportunities in exchange for votes. Thus was born the dependency syndrome.

They also capitalised on our tribalistic tendencies and used it to their political advantage. The national divide became deep, wide and dangerous. Instead of promulgating peace and unity, guns were imported for so-called self-defence against incursive force to the 'other' party. Soon, a gun culture developed and they were used as offensive weapons. The arms race escalated until their deadliness equilibrated. Thus was born the garrison community.

Eventually, the economic influence of the politician waned. They were no longer able to sustain their so-called generosity. Violence, poverty, unemployment, squalor, aggressiveness, intolerance and hatred for anyone with opposing views increased. A new breed of futureless youth with no respect for life was born. They were ripe for the picking by opportunistic, exploitative individuals. The leadership vacuum was often filled by former political area leaders - dons. Now, drugs, weapons, racketeering and extortion sustain impoverished communities led by modern-day tribal chiefs.

Our people began their journey with tribal conflicts that led to slavery and now (since we obviously learnt nothing from our sad history), the violence and poverty associated with new-age tribal conflicts (politics and gangland activities) have enslaved a high proportion of Jamaicans and future generations with a trillion-dollar national debt, economic hardships, poverty and worst of all, crime and violence. Politics has doneirreparable harm to this nation. It not only took advantage of our tribalistic tendency, it perpetuated and nourished it. The existence of throngs of clamouring political activists and die-hard party supporters testify to our tenacious and self-destructive grip on tribalism.

We will never begin to heal until and unless we lay bare the harsh truth that we have been our own worst enemy for hundreds of years. Tribalism and greed got us into slavery but we never learnt. We developed new divisions of 'field slave' versus 'house slave' and 'upstairs slave' versus 'downstairs slave'. At one time in our history it was Maroons versus escaped slaves. Before we start looking outside for reparations for slavery, we need to address the existence of 'tribalism' and 'slavery' today, right here at home.

We need a catharsis. Our political parties have never publicly acknowledged their role in creating the deadly gun culture so pervasive in depressed communities, their intimacy with corruption, their lingering association with 'questionable characters' and the unleashing of crime and violence upon our society. Many earlier politicians empowered themselves and not the people. Their failure to do so has had disastrous effects.

We must start reparations here at home with truth, reconciliation, and by emancipating ourselves with national pride, respect and love for our race, people and country.