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fflynfyck · 7 years
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Andrew Holness & The PNP Dream.
I was born into a home split into two sides of the same table.  My Grandmother, the descendants of maroons had been cultured in a Baptist influenced home. while my grandfather, a man of British heritage was a stark Anglican.
Though they were both educators who served Jamaica collectively for over a century,  the term eye to eye never drew credence when political cards were unsheathed a the very same table.
Manley was charismatic, handsome, a mesmerizing orator, who wore a bush jacket and Nibiru suit like no other man alive, then or now.
He was a visionary, which led many to think he was only a dreamer because the tangibility of his initiatives supposedly bore little or no fruit.
Seaga, on the other hand, was an expert at socio-political warfare. A hard hitter who struck when it was hot and dealt a heavy hand if he was throttled. A man who augmented his mysticism with a public display of his love for Revivalism, Art, Music, and Myal.
By the time I reached high school, Micheal Manley had retained power once again. But not after suffering from the mutinous defeat at the hands of his own comrades in 1972, he was once again in position to lay a foundation for the future of the party, with the hope that the next generation of leftist political practitioners would continue the dream of social equality and economic prosperity.
The dream was rather short-lived. His radical assertion of socialism and his accelerated initiatives aimed at social equality created acclimatization issues for the remnants of Jamaica's ruling class who were at the time, and maybe still are, predominantly JLP.
This social upset aided the clandestine destabilization initiatives of North American interests who through the privilege of the Monroe doctrine sought to thwart "the manifestation of an unfriendly disposition toward the United States."
But after the trauma of the early 70's and the rebirth of the classist movement during the 80's, the average Jamaican had reached its limit to being roofed by a glass ceiling.
An election was drawn by Seaga in 1988 under the post amble of Hurricane Gilbert, and keloid scars of 80s elections, with the hope that an extension would be granted by the people.
Micheal by this time had matured and had recovered well from the scenarios of 1972, 1976, and 1980. But had simply decided to let time do its bidding.
Gilbert came in 1988, and from any standpoint would prove to be an opportune moment for any party in power at the time to dispel of their quiet opponents easily, especially when they controlled the coffers of the country.
The strategy was simple. Use the resources to distribute scarce spoils and benefits while capitalizing on the potential to capture disparate voters, cover the gambit, before calling a snap election reminiscent of 1983 but without the associated quagmires.
It backfired. Badly.
As in any stream of tin-pot politics when it plays out, a lot of people were caught hoarding and loathing. I am reminded that Joan Webley distributed flour with her face on the bag, while others dumped or rerouted relief supplies designated for PNP  heavy constituencies.
At that time the grapevine was restricted to bars, churches, and radio waves. It was easier to spread news then. Now it's just faster.
The rumors soaked like kerosene and added fuel to the fire of an already frustrated populace who felt it was heartless to use their discomfort as a political advantage. The Gleaner provided proof of the pudding, finalizing JLP's position as of a shadow of their former selves for close to two generations.
Why?
The distrust that was felt from the Gilbert debacle opened wounds left long ago by the plantocracy and when the cry "Black Man Time Now" was roared by PJ Patterson on his ascension, it was just the gas the mass needed to rally around the PNP.
A lot of socialism happened during the ensuing period. Not much economic growth, but for what it was worth the masses finally had a leader they could identify with.
Bastard children could now carry the name of their fathers, common law wives could now reap the benefits of their married counterparts.
Pan Africanism was re birthed and revisited, leading to an entire generation of college educated Afrocentric graduates shaking the indoctrination complex of previous generations and creating a fresh batch of free thinkers.
But truth be told not much growth happened economically. Cash Plus, Bandoloo, Bypass, Sportsbooks and Call Centers served as the primary proof of economic prosperity during the 18 years of Comradeship.
The social ideals of Manley were being fulfilled. But the economic component had seemingly been left to chance.
By the time Portia was handed the baton, the glee that a woman was to become our next Prime Minister came at an ideal time, when women in Jamaica has finally asserted themselves as game changers. but her femininity and questionable experience were also used to overshadow her potential as a suitable leader.
Internal mutiny again ensued, and the PNP in 2007 lost to a Bruce Golding who had attained JLP leadership during the party's 18 years lost years.
The JLP took the opportunity to focus on economic growth which reflected some results during the period 2007-2011.
But the chattels of the PNP no longer had a free hand on the wharves, crash cars, and the white investors who clamored to take advantage of our unregulated telecoms ecosystem and cheap labor by simply paying a "fee" to speak with a minister of your choice to get things "done".
By the time elections came around in 2011 the PNP chattels were determined to retain control of the country, The JLP had lost its fire power in the nineties with the migration of loyalist to the U.S eventually becoming a collective called the "Shower Posse".
By the time these dissidents established economic independence from politics, The JLP was a shadow party and as such served no purpose to their modus operandi. They began to juggle both sides of Jamaica's political fence.
When the Tivoli incident occurred, the JLP had lost its handle on garrisons once deemed JLP Loyal. Dons, now leaders of their own right, could swing a general election with the click of a finger. It all depended on who was willing to play the game in their favor.
PNP or JLP?
Dudus heeded no orders sent by Golding, and onlookers assumed he was losing his grip on the party. His next move was desperate, uncalculated and political suicide. With all the drama that unraveled elders began to tell tales forgotten.
Of 1958, 1963, 1972, 1980, 1987. Tales that brought back welts and fears once only existing in distant memories.
Fast forward five years later.
An entire generation of educated, PNP grown futures, has now come to fore that life is real. Many have children, family, and dreams of owning their own home.
Simple dreams from simple people only looking for a suitable leader to provide the opportunity.
But no leader since Micheal Manley has embodied the ideals of an authentic leader.
No other Prime Minister since Micheal Manley has brought such sincerity, humbleness, and trustworthiness to the people.
No other Party leader has since reflected these qualities more so than Andrew Holness.
He is youthful, a family man, humbly educated, a faithful husband with a strong, supportive wife by his side. A leader which has set a transparent example that can be emulous.
Andrew mix of JLP economic austerity and PNP social initiatives makes a good mix that is slowly building the confidence of the electorate, whether PNP die-hard or JLP loyalist.
Despite the JLP current incarnation reflecting a level of inexperience that unsettles the growing confidence of the people from time to time, the party's objective has an appeal reminiscent of the late great Micheal Manley led PNP in its most formidable years.
He has steadily built back the people's confidence in JLP and the electorate system, installing new credence to political transparency, has a dedicated team, though equally as inexperienced, is willing to learn and grow quickly.
This has left the Peoples National Party at the end of a very long rope with not much length left. The mutinous in fighting that took place in 1972, 2002, 2016 has reared its ugly head once again and will be the final death note of a political party in dire need of rejuvenation.
There is no return for the PNP at this juncture. Only resurrection or rebirth. And the first cannot happen without the latter.
Until then, Andrew will continue to build his legacy on the principles of Micheal Manley's dream of social equality and economic prosperity for all.
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fflynfyck · 7 years
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Getting girls into STEM and helping their homeland at the same time. Amazing. (x) | follow @the-future-now
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fflynfyck · 8 years
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Only Black Lives Matter: A Black American Social Complex
In light of the recent spite of racial killings in the US, many historical ideals, which Black Americans have fought for during the last century, have been forgotten.
I’m a Jamaican by birth and have spent enough time in Afrocentric American communities to realize something was a miss with how they viewed the ideals of being Black in America.
America was built on the back of immigrants. From the Irish serfs to the African slaves, and everything in between, America has been built on the hope of people who believed that if given the opportunity, they could make a valuable contribution to this land of the free and the home of the brave.
Black Americans have yet to realize that the freedom they fought for is the one they got. Not the one that they expected.
Somebody should have read the fine print.
They fought for the right to racial equality. Not for social equity.
They fought for the right to be defined by nothing but their skin color; to be recognized by their African ancestry, but not the right to be recognized as valuable contributors of the American society, and to be offered socio-economic equality.
The Jews demanded reparations, but the niggas were so glad to be free that it was only with the bite of hunger did they realize they were starving economically.
Now, don’t get me wrong. Freedom is something to be fought for, and valiantly they did, but that comes in flavors just like any other candy.
Black Americans have been granted the right to be African Americans. That’s the right they fought for.
Not to be Americans. Not for social and economic equality but the right to be free Africans in the land of America, yet they themselves still have little.
Beyond the semantics of Black Power, you can’t have your cake and eat it too. No one realized that to generate power you needed to have a fuel source, and in society that’s economics.
It was the Jamaican of African descent, Marcus Garvey who established the premise of African Americanism through the Pan African philosophy.
If you wanted to be African you had to return to Africa. But first you had to establish an economic base by which to do so.
Self-sufficiency to survive.
Yet within the same breath, James Wormley Jones became the first Black American FBI agent. Specifically with a mandate to undertake the debasing of the growing economic strength of the Marcus Garvey led UNIA and its social influence amongst members the Black American community.
The dream to re-establish Africa America, was destroyed by an African American.
Think about it for a second.
The second wave of Black Revolutionists striving for the African American dream attempted to establish a premise of superiority in numbers, catalyzing an impetus of mass social discomfort among the general American society who were still barely transitioning from racial segregation.
But it was the third wave of Black Revolutionist, who realized that the reality of freedom was nothing but a self-inflicted delusion of entitlement without an influential volume of economic strength. And though the notation that they might take it by force was never fulfilled, it was an additional stimulus to a tumorous social complex that has continued to drive an uncomfortable wedge between themselves and the general American public; creating an acrid outlook towards the black community, and in turn evolving into a social tension that we now see erupting sporadically across the American landscape.
Besides from musical creativity, and later sports participation, free African Americans have not tried to establish a collective economic base to create an influential social context.
The stark precursor has always been that the LBC does not support the LBC.
So since the advent of slavery, they have not been pragmatic enough to develop any sort of tangible socio-economic collective context, nor significant financial equity in America, as compared to the Asians, Indians, Latinos, Africans, and Caribbean nationals, who use financial independence in America as a benchmark of success, a vector of assimilation into the general American public, and a platform to promote change and economic development in their respective homelands.
The continued irony is blissful. Black Americans have somehow on their own reconnaissance, managed to systematically re-isolate themselves racially from an ecosystem of innovation, technology, wealth creation, and financial equity.
Simply put, Black Americans have not brought the power of the dollar into their collective foreground, and their attitude and perspective toward wealth creation is indicative of this.
Any member of the Black American community who successful acclimatizes himself to the general American public is seen as an outcast, more specifically; a sellout.
So why should I go back?
And that’s the root of the concurrent problems facing black communities.
Statistically, very few Black Americans return or stay to stimulate social development in their community. Even fewer return to try establishing an economic base to strengthen the wealth collective of their home ground..
Every nigger wants to get out. To live uptown in a gated community.
Few openly want to return to the LBC and make it better.
Even fewer want to delve in re-education, job innovation, community entrepreneurship, and collective wealth creation.
It’s every nigger for himself, until every nigger is in a corner.
Now take a look at your news feed. Turn on your TV and take a look at your favorite news channel.
The revolution is being televised. Beamed, streamed, downloaded.
The fourth wave of Black American revolutionists are emerging.
I only hope they realize that this chapter in their indigenous history should not be written to tell the tales of another American racial revolution, but the opportunity to begin a brand new chapter entitled; “The economic evolution of the African American In The 21 Century”.
Freedom, my black brothers, does not guarantee wealth, power or respect.
Our ancestors demanded and received what they wanted; Freedom.
The forty acres and the mule was just a fleeting concept. So we are owed nothing but the freedom granted to those before us.
In the land of the almighty dollar, cash is king.
Selah.
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fflynfyck · 8 years
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Short Changing Youth - A Cultural Endemic
The recent death of a young talented Jamaican high school soccer player has sent shockwaves throughout our small nation.
Considering our passion for sports, and more specifically youth sports, the aftermath has swollen into volumes that bring into critique our conscientiousness towards youth development.
Compared to other members of the Caribbean basin, we have one of the best early childhood development programs, if not in the western world.
It is no secret that our toddlers enter the formal education system as early as 2 years old. And our primary and prep school programs have complimented the educational systems wherever our young immigrants are inserted in the world.
The continued results of our ECD programs has led to private institutions such as EduFocal, and NGO’s such as Crayons Count lending a valuable hand in its continued sustainability.
Given absolute credence to the mantra “No Child Left Behind”.
But what happens once the child becomes a youth?
It seemingly becomes a statistic.
The child, now a youth, becomes a number. An additive to reflect our national education index, literacy, our potential workforce, GDP, and tax burdens.
Over the last two decades in order to meet the “numbers,” our educational standards have been short circuited with the “empirical 3”, now being a pass, one I may tell you is disdained by any sensible HR manager in this country looking for a suitable employee.
It is no closeted secret that UWI Mona has a remedial English program for entrants that is akin to basic school English.
Why?
Because many first year students have not attained a proper command of the English language, despite spending seven years in high school.
Because once you become a youth, it seems the mantra, “No child left behind”, no longer applies.
At the “Youth” level, the emitted perspective is that it’s no longer about creating a suitable learning environment. It’s about building an education system to create a workforce to fill the demand of BPO’s and hospitality outfits for people who speak coherent English.
It is not about building individualism or innovators.
Based on the GoJ perspective, some square pegs apparently fit in round holes, and those that have not, are not included in the “numbers” as educated or employable.
They are considered statistically as functional illiterates, or F.I’s for short.
So these “F.I’s” having “graduated” from the national education system, now use what little or much skills they have learnt and acquired during their high school tenure, to create for themselves opportunities of “gainful” employment and self-sufficiency.
And they have excelled in their own right.
In less that a decade, Jamaica has gone from a no name in the game of FinFraud to becoming one of the most recognized scamming centers in the world, surpassing previous titleholders such as Nigeria and GuanDong China.
Local F.I’s have shorted the American economy close to a Billion dollars since 2007, informally creating one of the largest influxes of remittances since the coke hey days of the late 80’s.
And similar to that era, once the well goes dry, man get hungry, and violence erupts. But in this case, it occurs mostly among the 15 to 27 year old demography, which represent a significantly younger crowd than their drug-dealing predecessors.
Since the start of phone scamming, gang related murders have almost doubled and gun related crimes against youth (12-22) has escalated just as much. The average age of first time crime offenders has gone from 15.5 to 13.2 years of age at the same velocity.
It is alleged that in recent times, one of the violent criminals hunted by the JCF was apparently 16 years of age!!
But let’s come back to the field of play.
Youth Sports is one of Jamaica’s greatest pastimes.  But we must admit we place more emphasis on the spectacle and standard of our youth sports than the people that actually make it happen.
Our Youth.
Despite all the big sponsorship dollars thrown behind “Youth” in Jamaica, no time is measured to ensure that the participants are wholesomely attended to; Home School, Mind, Body.
Far too many high school athletes have died in the field of play in recent times to consider it a stroke of bad luck. It speaks heavily on the attention junior athletic stakeholders pay towards its athletes, and its proactivity in ensuring the individual well being of our young gladiators.
On the higher end, it is a sad reverberation of the state of our health system, whose rate of negligent juvenile manslaughter now clocks in at an average 2.5 a month, (yes, 2.5.. that means somebody nearly dead) and in the same breath, the Bureau of Standards, whose responsibility is akin to the FDA, has no regulatory framework in place to monitor the importation of the cornucopia of energy drinks. and aspartame based products that have flooded our local food chain.
It is imperative more than ever for us re-evaluate our national perspective of the wholesome importance of our youth’s role in national building and providing the context to ensure they individually appreciate their intrinsic value in Jamaica’s bright future.
One way to begin our commitment to this process is to recognize the need for “student centered learning”(SCL) methodologies to be implemented within our high school program.
By incorporating cost effective digital tools to transform the traditional high school classroom into an innovative SCL environment, educators will bridge the learning divide, and create a more immersive secondary school learning ecosystem which through the stimulation of individualized learning, will foster the development of entrepreneurship and innovation, two important elements that are required to spur future growth through formal Job innovation.
For too long our education system has churned out intuitive civil servants, rudimentary en masse employees, and mastermind criminals of all collusions, simply because of out dated mechanized learning systems that has denied our youth the potential to explore the possibilities that a world-class secondary education can provide.
Because to ensure sustainability and continuity in national growth we have to ensure we pay special attention to youth development, for our greatest asset as a nation is not our sun, sea, or sand.
It is our future, which lies in the youth of our people.
SELAH
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fflynfyck · 8 years
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This is powerful article....a must read for ALL Jamaican on Tumblr
THE JAMAICAN DEPORTEE DEFACTO
I’m all about numbers. As a data analyst by default, it’s odd that I hated numbers in high school. However with persistent teachers such as the legendary Bonito White and my extra classes teachers Mrs. Harris and mother Belair(god bless her), I forged a love for math, sparking a career that has led me to some interesting places and spaces in my 22 years sojourn.
 I went through a lot during high school. Between the deception of life and the perspective of friends, I learnt to appreciate that the purity of numbers always reveals the greater underlying truth. They have an uncanny way of shuffling out the bullshit and finding the trinity of truth.
 Your Truth, The Other Truth, and nothing but the Real Truth.
 And that’s the truth. (No pun intended).
 Despite all the shuffling, whitewashing, shredding, double books, and the myriad of other techniques used by accountants at FINSAC, Century National, CashPlus and the US Federal Reserve to cook the books, numbers have always found a way to wade through the bullshit and reveal the underlying truth which always seems to get a bit personal.
 So I apologize ahead of time, but lets delve through a few numbers.
 When Jamaican gained its independence in 1962, the crime rate measured 5.8 per 100,000. By 2008, it had jumped tenfold to weigh in at a whopping 58 per 100,000 which including 1680 murders, giving Jamaica the title of the most violent country worldwide that same year.
 Though we (Jamaica) have always maintained a “Rude Boy” reputation that the girls dem love, it becomes quite uncomfortable in the streets when a murderous undertone lingers over an otherwise full bodied personality.
 Consequentially, with the emergence of social media, and the click of a button, the numbers were put on a world stage as people started referencing tweets, posts, vlogs and search results to decide where in the world to vacation.  
 Reflected in the numbers, was the gross reality that the 2008 crime spree had affected tourism so badly, it took nearly seven years for arrival numbers to level back up to an average of  2,200,000 plus annual visitors.
 So with a lot of social austerity via the emerging Jamaican netizens and pressure from the “Bigga Heads”, crime dwindled to just above 1000 in 2011 to reflect an almost fifty percent downturn in overall crime.
 But something changed that very year.
UK immigration quietly began a program to round up Jamaicans living “illegally” in England and ship them off to a land most have never known.
 Déjà vu of the first degree.
 Over the next five years, the UK deported approximately 9,425 “illegal” residents to Jamaica, much to the aghast of the unknowing Jamaican populace at the time.
 In 2015 David Cameron came to Jamaica to offer a “gift “ of a “modern” prison.
 Why? Guilt? Reparation? Or Repatriation?
 No.
 It’s because Cameron and his “bigga heads” knew the numbers.
 During the time of this clandestine mass deportation program, Jamaica’s crime rate had seemingly fallen. From a high of 58 per 100,000 in 2008 to an all time low of 36 per 100,000 in 2015.
 But here’s the catch. Though the overall incidences of crime have gone down, the types of crime, especially violent crime has diversified during the period.
 So, instead of the crime rate going up, the types of violent crimes have simply changed. Because there were once rules in these dark Kingston streets.
 Never kill a man in front of him family, never kill a woman unless she is the mark(very rare then). You never killed children or babies. You never killed old people. And if a man in a shootout uses a church for refuge he lives to fight another day.
 Those were some of  the rules that guided the original rudeboys that made these streets.
 But today, juvenile murders, tourist homicide, female slayings, geriatric murders, human trafficking, and gruesome reprisal killings have all grown exponentially.
 Recently four children under the age of 3 were killed in one week on the Jamaican east coast in seemingly unrelated homicides. In one week!! Unheard of in normal circumstances, but the last five years has been nothing of such.
 Since the start of the mass deportation program by the UK in 2011, the diversification of violent crimes on Jamaican soil has gone up by over 20%.
 Which when you break out the numbers is absolutely shocking.
 Though crime decreased in 2015 with a reported 1205 murders, the incidents of firearm related murders went up almost 20% compared to 2014. And the scope of victims became extremely broadened.
 With those numbers in tow, it will show, that the diversification of violent crimes in Jamaica has grown by 0.47 percent for every 1000 deportees transited to Jamaica during the last half a decade.
 With the influx of these types of people, some who have been exposed to crime techniques and skillsets in their “homeland”, coupled with microwave mentalities and sitcom sensibilities from the same, many try to eke out a living and survival by incorporating themselves within Jamaica’s disparate criminal ecosystem.
 Using unusually aggressive and excessive techniques to attain and maintain a position in Jamaica’s criminal food chain, their techniques rub against the very grain of our discerning socio-cultural tolerance, it was no coincidence that David Cameron came to offer us a prison before he left Parliament.
 It was a peace offering, a final wash of his conscience before he completed his role in destroying the world’s last crumbling monarchy and walking out on the people who allowed him to do it.
 But as Bob would say, you can’t run away from yourself.
 The blood of our children once again is on the hands of the British Monarch.
 Déjà vu of the first degree.
 Just recently 40 deportees arrived from the UK on a private charter. Only half had family or friends to accept them.
 What happened to the other 20? Where did they go? How will they survive?
If you left Jamaica for most of your life to live in another country, and get deported to Jamaica for a violent crime, or have a criminal record in your previous “homeland”, you have fundamentally given up your right as a Jamaican national to live freely amongst the “real” residence of Jamaica.  
 You should be placed in a publically available reference database, and electronically tagged with a geo-fence for up to 1 year, determined by your risk assessment.
 Once you have proven over the next year that you have acclimatized to our society,  you will be allowed to receive the benefits granted to a “real” resident of Jamaica.
 Why?
Because the unspoken general consensus amongst the POJ (people of Jamaica) is..
No deportee returned to Jamaica on their own accord. They were forcefully evicted from their “homeland”  to reside in a place that is a fleeting memory for most, with an engorged superiority complex towards our easy going and sometimes too laid back sensibilities towards life.
 I mean seriously have you ever met a Jamaican Deportee charged with Securities fraud or caught dealing weed in Aspen?
 It is high time we implement a Deportee Monitoring Program. We need to protect this land we love. We have only borrowed it from our children for a short time.
 And that, my bredren, is the truth.
SELAH
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