DeLiRiouS NY......part 1

Those trucks in the street
Is it really Monday?
Time to find some trouble again
Make a bid for romance while the dollar stands a chance.
Dumb love in the city at century’s end

Those trucks in the street…

Opening lines patently familiar to a New Yorker - clarion call signalling it's time to get up and slog through yet another week.  Taken from the theme song for the movie "Bright Lights, Big City" (United Artists, 1988). The movie is based on Jay McInerney’s novel of the same name (NY:1984) about an unnamed protagonist seeking escape from his reality in mid-1980s postmodernist New York City. Not only was he living in postmodernist New York City, his story is contextualised in a timeframe in which postmodernist aesthetic and thought was coming to a festering, carbunclous head.

I found myself singing that song as my subconscious yet again registered images of pop culture peeps and storefront mannequins adorned with fluorescent costume jewellery and accessories, stud belts, leg warmers, electric blue shoes and eyeliner, skinny jeans, stiffly moussed/gelled big hair, neon clothing…and that’s just the guys.

OMG…is society now undergoing an 80s redoux?? (groan!)

Is that what’s responsible for the Footloose remake and ‘Greed is Good’ Wall Street 2? (sigh!)

Will 80s nostalgia kickstart round 2 of the Postmodernist movement? (sound of me slitting my wrists...ok not really)

Postmodernism is a portmanteau of ‘Postwar Modernism’. Postwar Modernism > Postmodernism > PoMo is a movement that began in America in the late 60’s - early 70’s. The ideologies that define the movement emerged as a reaction against the previous Modern era and its tenets, particularly those of functionalism and an adherence to tradition and clarity of function. Postmodernism rejects such rigidity and further, believes that Modernism failed to deliver on many of its promises, including that of creating utopia.

PoMo stretched across the turbulence of the 60s, the conflict and frustration of the 70s to the angst, cynicism, greed and excess of the 80s. It encompassed the visual arts (Andy Warhol’s Marilyn, Campbell’s Soup), the literary arts (McInerney’s novel, Beckett’s Waiting for Godot), architecture and music.

A snapshot of this tri-decade changing world distilled in the experiences of one man can be felt in the 4 minute run time of Steely Dan’s Kid Charlemagne which chronicles the rise and fall of uber iconic, counter-culture Bear (Owsley Stanley III): famous 60s “cook”, Grateful Dead audio engineer and unflappable LSD innovator and mass marketer:
  

        Just by chance you crossed the diamond with the pearl
        You turned it on the world
        That’s when you turned the world around…
        Did you feel like Jesus?

The post Viet Nam conflict/psychedelic freewheeling 60s era of free love and free drugs (escapism) help define the threshold between Modernism and Postmodernism. Somewhere along this time line the party was over. Society changed. Post war boom led to double-digit inflation & rising unemployment:

        All those DayGlo freaks who used to paint the face
        They’ve joined the human race
        Some things will never change.

        Son you were mistaken
        You are obsolete
        Look at all the white men on the street.

Kid Charlemagne is the flagship track from the album Royal Scam, issued in 1976.  NB the album cover: 

Man, seen from a worm’s eye view, obviously down on his luck, he grabs a nap where he once would wait to board a train (that’s a bench you find in a train terminal) to go to work in a big skyscraper not unlike one of the four fearsome looking zoomorphed skyscrapers ready to make a meal of him.  The metaphor needs no explanation.

An eerily similar image is found in Rem Koolhaas’ retroactive manifesto, Delirious New York, 1978. (Dutchman Koolhaas studied architecture at Cornell in the early 1970s.) Here we see anthropomorphed Chrysler building (William Van Alen, 1930; Art Deco) in bed with Empire State Building (Shreve, Lamb, Harmon, 1931; Art Deco).

The zoomorphisation of NY skyscrapers is a psychological projection of human fear felt in the Postmodernist era.  It represents a certain trepidation of Man being swallowed up by them and what they represent (unbridled capitalism).  A portent of things to come.  Even the buildings themselves see the sick joke.  All brace for the paradigm shift.

 
[The worm’s eye view is a common meme used in photographs of people and buildings; especially NY shots.  Those who don’t really know what they’re looking at think it’s cool.]

In the PoMo world, Capitalism is now codified as ‘The Man’ who now controls society.  We all now work for The Man. 

Capitalism and Architecture

Many PoMo buildings serve as metaphors.  Much of it reflects a disenfranchisement with (International Style) Modernism and the failure of its manifesto: ie, to create utopia in the post war (WW2) era via designing better cities and better buildings wherein people would live.  PoMo archtecture was quickly adopted by corporations to serve as symbols of wealth and power.  The late 1980s brand of capitalism focussed on product information and images rather than the thing that the image represented.  Image was reality.  Art for commerce, no longer for art’s sake (Warhol’s Campbell’s Soup series).  This fostered a climate where buildings were fighting for their own identity which fuelled a return to ornament, which came in the form of weird cross references: eclecticisms and the real being substituted by simulacra.  To what end?

Philip Johnson's AT&T Building, 1984

Cabinet by Thomas Chippendale c 18thC

Elevation. AT&T Bldg

Two iconic PoMo buildings, both located in NYC, are Philip Johnson’s AT&T Building and his Lipstick Building.  Both reference typologies not found in architecture, especially the International Style which is modernist.  The former looks like an 18 century cabinet (see Thomas Chippendale) and the latter like an elliptical tube of lipstick (see woman’s make-up bag).

'Lipstick Building', Philip Johnson, 1986

The buildings are ambiguous (a hallmark of PoMo thought and architecture) and give no indication as to what types of functions are performed in them.  Form definitely does not follow function.  (ie, the AT&T building is not furniture headquarters, and the Lipstick Building is not a cosmetics headquarters, but boy do they stand out!)  This type ambiguity is a snub at the Modernist corporate aesthetic and famous Modernism axiom attributed to Bauhaus modernist Ludwig Mies van der Rohe: "Form follows function". 

One might ask: Why design these type buildings? It’s what society wanted.  From architect Philip Johnson, self proclaimed corporate “whore”:

 

“I’m a whore.  I do what the developers pay me to do…while Mies would rather be good than interesting, I’d rather be interesting than good.”

Interesting.

What's that now, Philip??
Mies & PJ with a model of the Seagram
nb Mies 'claiming' his bldg by placing his hand on it

The Seagram Building, not two blocks up from the Lipstick building, is a classic example of the Modernist corporate aesthetic:  Rectilinear box, lack of ornamentation, self referential, use of industrial materials (the thin mullions - vertical strips that divide the windows - are in essence  I beams), economy of materials: columns, floor plates, glass curtain wall ‘skin or enclosures.  The interior of the building is travertine and even gold plate, but rendered in a non showy, non ornamental way. 

Seagram details

Seagram Building, 1958. MVDR & PJ

How many people would guess that the Seagram Building was done in 1958?  Good is timeless, Philip.

Though designed by both Philip Johnson and Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, the Seagram is essentially all Miesian in approach, form, look and feel (Mies was the king of the glass box). Johnson was primarily responsible for the interior architecture.  Incidentally, Mies and PJ parted ways after designing this building.  Clash of ideologies between the whore and the purist.

If one believes that the role of an architect is to articulate our environment enabling a literal comprehension  of society, then Postmodernist architecture succeeds at this.  If modernism wanted to underscore the fact that architecture must grapple with the society of its time, postmodernism highlighted that this too must include an articulation of societal flux and uncertainty.

Post war (WW2) environment led to pre war (WW3?) angst and anxiety. The political climate created a sense of unease and dread:  The Cold War was still being fought.  There was constant talk of nuclear war.  The word “superpowers” came into being.  Everywhere there seemed to be the feeling of an impending threat of total annihilation at the push of a red button, with the ‘lucky’ ones inheriting a blasted, pockmarked, toxic earth, or a cyber-punk world of degraded society littered with cool gadgets.  Common images of NYC in that era were of sidewalks thick with yuppies (a Postmodernist word), heads bobbing up and down as they marched en masse to or from work in their trench coats and sneakers & stockings (???); blank faces masking the loss of control and exuding disaffected, collective cynicism.

We cut to this blonde  

Dancing on a mirror

There’s no disbelief to suspend

It’s the dance it’s the dress

She’s a concept more or less

Dumb love in the city at century’s end

Back to our Postmodernist protagonist.  The dust cover of the novel shows the protagonist headed in the direction of the Odeon cinema.  ‘ODEON'  marquee is done in streamline moderne  – the tail end of the art deco movement (WW2…1945). This type architecture is juxtaposed on the other side with Minoru Yamasaki’s and Emery Roth & Sons’ large, looming gothic modernist World Trade Centre twin towers (completed 1970 – 1971). The skyscrapers dominate the right side of the book’s cover.  Midground we see a tiny little Beaux Arts building (representing the Classical architecture of the Greeks and Romans and its insignificance to the Postmodernist era).  Back turned to the audience, thus effaced (it’s a historical no-no to have one’s back to the audience), we get the sense of following him.  Following him in his trench coat.  Following him around in his little NYC world.  Following and watching.  As we all know, the sense of being followed or of being watched produces a fair amount of angst.  We the reader, therefore engage in producing this angst that overshadows his life.

 

Weighted down with the death of his mother, his wife leaving him, and a seemingly illogical emotive reaction to a stranger: a pregnant woman in a coma, the protagonist struggles to balance his day job at a New York lifestyle magazine as a fact checker (juxtapose this with Orwell’s protagonist in Nineteen Eighty-four who is a ‘fact eraser’ for the State newspaper) with his escapism played out on the nighttime club scene, which includes lots of girls and ‘lifestyle' or 'recreational' drug usage. 

Nobody’s holding out for heaven

It’s not for creatures here below
We just suit up for the game
The name of which we used to know
It might be careless rapture

He is centrally located between symbols of work (big corporation embodied by the Twin Towers) and play (embodied by the cinema, which is also a means of escapism).  How does one achieve Homo Ludens in a Postmodernist society? Though it may seem like it, peel back the layers and one realises that the protagonist's recreation is not fun. 

While we become acquainted with him and get a peek into his life I’m sure it escapes some readers’ attention that he has no name!  He is effaced and self-effacing, as the novel is written in second-person narrative; a Postmodernist (rehashed) literary tradition:

You are not the kind of guy who would be at a place like this at this time of morning.  But here you are, and you cannot say that the terrain is entirely unfamiliar, although the details are fuzzy.  You are at a nightclub talking to a girl with a shaved head.  The club is either Heartbreak or The Lizard Lounge.  All might become clear if you could just slip into the bathroom and do a little more Bolivian Marching Powder.  Then again it might not.

                                       Bright Lights, Big City. NY: 1984, p 1.

He tries to look for escape from within the very environment from which he wants to escape.  As he attempts this he (we) realise that his situation isn’t singular.  It is Postmodernist zeitgeist, which in many ways could be interpreted as dystopic (yet another parallel to Orwell's novel). 

I too have felt the discomfort and sense of unease and of not belonging; a lack of a sense of identity whilst studying in NY during the tail end of the Postmodernist era.  Though primarily based outside NYC, forays into the city would sometimes produce this sensation.  Sometimes.  I always thought this was the result of being a stranger in a strange land.  Decades later I now realise that even ‘native’ New Yorkers felt this way.  Postmodernist zeitgeist.

Obsessed with the Male-female paradigms of love (of all things: LOVE?!?!): mother/wife/expectant mother, our protagonist keeps moving, travelling through this architectural landscape going through the motions of work-consumption-work-recreation-escape-work-consumption-escape-…aware of his disconnect and his inability to get it right, proceeding in an unending cycle of cynicism and resignation to his perceived lack of control over his life and its regnant ambiguities.

Scratch the cab

We can grab the local
Let’s get to the love scene my friend
Which means look, maybe touch
But beyond that not too much
Dumb love in the city at century’s end.

Dumb love in the city… .

       - Torsdag

YouTube video of Century's End.  Soundtrack to 'Bright Lights, Big City'. DonaldFagan, 1988.

More about → DeLiRiouS NY......part 1

Jamaica in Need of Moral Guidance

“Social conservatism is a political, and usually morally influenced, ideology that focuses on the preservation of what are seen as traditional values.”

I am not an advocate of American style “Social Conservatism” however I do believe that the Jamaican society could do with some form of moral guidance, it cannot continue to just “Ga-long-so” with the younger generation being educated by the dance hall DJs and a growing population of single mothers, absentee fathers and children who are left to find their own way in life. It is safe to say that there is no organized group in Jamaica that advocates good individual and family values and if they are then they are not loud or consistent enough or are just paying lip service to the problem.

Our Political Class is not seen as role model by the Jamaican people and truth be told they are not trying to be role models, being a role model means you have to stand up for something, adhere to some principles even if it cost you your political future and our politicians are not about to let principles and good moral judgment stand in the way of Power and Money. You will never hear a Politician at a Political rally, stand up in front of the people and appeal to their moral consciousness.

When was the last time you heard one of our politician’s male or female try to appeal to the Jamaican men and boys, on the proper role and responsibilities of men and boys within our society, what is expected of them as adults, how to be good fathers, husbands, a gentleman and head of the household?

When was the last time you heard one of our politicians male or female try to appeal to the Jamaican women and girls, on the proper roles and responsibilities of girls and women within our society, how to behave like young ladies, as mothers, wives, their social and societal responsibilities, what is expected of them and how they should not behave? As per the Planning Institute of Jamaica about 45 percent of all Jamaican households are headed by single female.

Our Politicians are afraid to hold the people accountable fearing they might alienate their electoral base and the people may also start holding them accountable.

Another reason for the delinquency of our minors and adult population is migration, absentee parents and family structure.  Mothers and fathers have migrated in search of a better life and leave behind their children to be raised by extended family members such as old grandparents. These absentee parents find comfort in the fact that they send home some money or a barrel here and there such is the extent of their parenting, parenting by proxy, they are not there to help shape young hearts and mind, many of our absentee parents have gone on to create new families, new husband, wives and children.  Young people who are left behind with extended families feel abandoned by their mothers and fathers and lash out in various ways. I would like to see a comprehensive study showing the effects of migration on these children.

"The popular "Dutty Wine" dance is being blamed for yesterday's death of an 18-year-old St. Catherine woman. Tanisha Henry was attending a 'school uniform' party at Beacon Hill, Thompson Pen, about four o' clock Sunday morning when, while doing the popular dance, she collapsed and was rushed to the nearby Spanish Town Hospital  where she was pronounced dead."

Read More: Dance of death? - Beacon Hill residents blame 'Dutty Wine' for teen's death 

Clovis Toons 

A person on facebook posted a dance hall video and in that video a young woman was thrown on a table, she spread her legs and then the man took out a bottle of hot pepper sauce and began to pour it between her legs to cheers and merriment of a crowd of on-lookers. This is the type of behavior that we are now reduced to, where hot sauce poured between a woman’s legs is seen as entertainment. I responded that this was the most disgusting thing I have ever seen to which he responded that he sees nothing wrong with it as slavery was over and this represented art created by a free people. … “Art…?” If after 300 years of slavery and colonization this is all we come to then what’s the point, all our National Heroes wasted their time and life, if The Hon. Paul Bogle could see the future then maybe he would chosen to live till a ripe old age instead of dangling at the end of a rope because he was fighting for our freedom.

I am not asking for Dancehall to be banned, I am asking for it to be regulated because on a nightly basis various underage kids can be seen in the dancehall instead of at home studying. Maybe promoters should be fined a certain amount per underage child. But I suspect like everything else the promoters would just increase the amount they are paying the police to keep the dance in the first place and how do you regulate something that takes place on the street and spans one or two streets? I would definitely support banning Dancehall events from taking place on the streets.Further, I know there are laws already on the books that can be enforced to curtail this behavior: Noise abatement act, Children curfews, Child welfare laws (which applies to teens under age of consent) and aiding the delinquency of a minor to name a few...

I am asking for some sort of moral guidance from our so called leaders at least speak out against the disgusting things that goes on in our society, set some standards, do something. The Upper, middle and educated class are the power brokers of our society, the movers and shakers, they control the commerce of the country and yet they too go through life with blinkers on, they see no evil, hear no evil and pretend it does not affect them. They are in the society but not part of the greater society, they have narrowed their scope and could not care less about the rest of society. The education system is in a mess simply because these power brokers have no use for it, they have identified only a few selected schools that their kids will attend, they then make sure these schools are in proper working order, when their kids out grow the school they then export them overseas, to attend schools in various first world countries. The public healthcare system is in a mess because these power brokers do not depend on it, most have private healthcare in North America making regular visits to their doctors and dentist in Miami, some have even paid for a service to airlift them to Florida in case of emergency so why should they care about the future of the healthcare system and the public. Our power brokers exist with one foot in Jamaica and another foot elsewhere, their foreign passports and visas are never far from them and maybe the new underused four lane highway to the airport is being built to ensure their smooth exit in-case of emergency.

Clovis Toons 

The church is not only a disappointment but hypocritical to say the least, that organization behaves no different from the Political class, the educated class and in some cases the Dancehall DJ’s, they only see what they want to see, too busy living the high life at the expense of their flock. They go on and on about Sunday racing simply because they do not want any competition on a Sunday fearing that the money they would normally get would then go to the horses. They go ballistic when the word gay is mentioned, for that they would open the very gates of hell and stop short of demanding their followers to hunt down and kill people who are gay but will never speak out against the moral decay that takes place in our society, what goes on in the dancehall, the lyrics from the DJ’s, nothing!

Child molestation takes place on a daily occurrence in Jamaica, how often do we see young girls 10 and 12 or high school girls being molested by grown men standing on the corner trying to pick them up, recent news reported that grown men was having sex with girls young as 10 and 12, the girls and these retarded men was educated by the dancehall DJ to think that this is how they should behave and in Jamaica for the most part this is seen as normal healthy male behavior, “Young, Fresh and Green” as the song says and where are the politicians, church, the women’s groups and all other powerful groups… nowhere to be found, that is because even the pastors and politicians are engage in this practice, they see nothing wrong with it.

The least I expect from educated, upper class and Political Class female and male is to stand up and speak out against such behavior, to reason with the women and girls, Men and boys of our society, a sort of a “million woman and man march” type of reasoning, to define what is expected of them and to denounce the bad behavior that have infected our society. I am not asking you to go so far as pass laws to control people’s behavior, to ban the dancehall and nasty lyrics but to express your disgust at the bad behavior and continue to express it, to drive home that this sort of behavior is not the norm and to be frowned upon. We need to counteract the teachings of the dancehall DJ’s because right now they are the lone voice that is loud enough and consistent enough that is brainwashing our youths, yes our youths are learning how to be men and women from a bunch of semi-literate/illiterate low class Dancehall DJ’s.

Problem/Solution

Some of the lyrics in the dancehall have engineered our young people to dehumanized each other, conflict resolution have been reduced to primal levels, if you feel a person did you wrong then kill them, the dancehall advocate murder and violence as a way to resolve conflicts, it promotes for the most part that everything should be reduced to Murder, Violence and Sex. Even the sex act is reduced to an act of stab, ram it violence! Everything leads to violence in the dancehall and this message is continuously being pounded into the heads of our young and is now being played out in real life.

 "INFLUENTIAL British reggae historian and sound system selector David Rodigan believes contemporary Jamaican music suffers from a lack of original ideas and creativity.

According to Rodigan, the music has lost its identity."

Read more: Lost Identity - Rodigan says music lacks creativity

As a nation we need to stop and seriously evaluate how we got to this point in our existence, why is it that the people of our country find it so easy to kill, to take another person’s life for the simplest things. I know our immediate response is to become partisan and tribal but this is beyond party politics, this is an attack of the core values of a society by every member of the Jamaican society, by not speaking out you have become part of the problem. The political class, the educated class, the lower, middle and upper class, all of Jamaica needs to come together and reverse this trend. We need an injection of conservative values within the Jamaican society, we need the political class to stand up and defend good values and denounce bad ones, we need the rich and powerful to stand up and defend good values while denouncing bad ones, we need the powerful women in our society to stand up and engage the women of our society, to denounce bad values and promote good ones, we need powerful men of our society to stop making excuses, Man up, stand up and be men, be leaders, promote good healthy values and speak out against bad ones, to engage the boys and men of our society. We need to take to the streets to promote good values, public burning of nasty disgusting dancehall CD’s and records is a good start and sends a strong message that we are ready to take our young people back, to take our country back from the counterproductive and destructive voice of the dancehall DJ’s.

Not too long ago reggae was regarded as the voice and heartbeat of the people, its message of upliftment and promoting social consciousness of the poor and oppress. If you asked people from other countries what they know about Jamaica they would tell you Reggae music, Dancehall can only wish it had reggae's notoriety and fame, not only that, the doors that was opened by Reggae is being slammed shut by Dancehall, no one want to hear their desires to beat, murder and dismember people or sex being described in the same manner. I am still trying to figure out how throwing hot sauce in a girls crotch or Jumping from heights landing feet first in a girls face or throwing a girl off the top of a wall cracking her head open have to do with entertainment and I equally cannot understand why young women would subject themselves to such public degradation in the name of cheap entertainment.

The following Dancehall entertainers have been arrested:

• Busy Signal -Extradition to USA on drug charges
• Ninja Man -Murder Charge
• Shawn Storm -Murder Charge
• Beenie man -Assault Charge
• jah cure -Charges of gun possession, robbery, weed and rape
• vybz-kartel -Charged with murder, conspiracy to murder and illegal possession of firearm
• Gaza Slim -Charged with attempting to pervert the course of justice and conspiracy
• Bounty Killa -Charged with Beating Pregnant wife with Hammer and Chain
• Gyptian -Charged with Murder
• DJ Frass -Charged with Murder
• Elephant Man -Charged with rape and sexual assault
• Buju Banton -Guilty of three cocaine related charges
• Mavado -Charged with two counts of assault

"However, close analysis shows that Jamaican dancehall entertainers, mostly male, have also been banned from performing in parts of Europe and in several Caribbean nations, including Barbados, Grenada, Trinidad and Tobago, and Guyana.

"For some time there have been complaints inside and outside of Jamaica regarding the quality of dancehall music and the behavior of the artistes. There have been consistent criticisms that the lyrics of some dancehall music are overtly vulgar, sexually explicit, demeaning to women, and promote violence, particularly gun violence. The Barbados government banned dancehall artistes Mavado and Vybz Kartel on the basis that their songs have a negative effect on that country’s youth. Additionally, some dancehall artistes are linked to drug use and wanton indiscipline."
CN Weekly News Article: Why the ban on dancehall artistes?

TruTv World's Dumbest: Jamaica - poppin-and-clockin

"For the male courtier and/or conquerer, the 'p-.ny' (vagina) must be subdued by any means, at all costs, as a matter of fact. It must be conquered before it becomes too powerful and results in the subjugation and submission of men and the corruption or elimination of their masculinity. Here, the feminine other becomes a trophy whose conquest bequeaths an overtly masculine identity to the marginalised male.

As argued earlier, the intersection of the race/class/gender variables forces a man with limited or no access to true power or resources, to define his maleness, his identity through the most available and accessible avenues legitimated under Jamaican patriarchy. These include sex, sexuality and male dominance of women at its most physical and extreme point of manifestation."

Gleaner Article: Courting and conquering the feared Punany

Selling Ourselves Short
These days the great debate in Jamaica is about attracting High-end investment to Jamaica, everyone is talking about attracting fortune 500 companies but no one is talking about why a fortune 500 company would want to come to Jamaica or just how the government and the people intend to lure these companies to Jamaica. There are certain basic questions we need to ask ourselves, such as, what do people all over the world think when they hear the name Jamaica and Jamaicans, what first comes to mind?

I remember having an interview for a company overseas in the early 90’s, I sat in front of the interviewer waiting to impress upon him my knowledge of the subject matter. He looked at my resume for a while and then leaned back into his chair and said forgive me, this might seem a silly question to ask but does Jamaica have computers? It was then that I realized that the interview was over and that I could relax and have an open conversation, he said that when he thinks of Jamaica, high end technology does not come to mind, what does come to mind is white sandy beaches, reggae music, rastas and weed. After which we spent a lot of time talking about Jamaica’s education system, technology base and software development future among other things, to make a long story short I did not get the job.

The fact is, people all over the world see us how we want them to see us, they did not make these things up, these are the perceptions we export. Our Government Spend billions of dollars selling tourism and most people around the world see us through our Jamaica Tourist Board adverts, which are always generic and one dimensional, “come to Jamaica and feel alright”, reggae music have reached the farthest regions of the planet carrying with it rastas and weed and the sexual prowess of the renta-dread with the big bamboo, have also been exported and attracts females from all over the globe. The idea of trading sex for cash have caused our young men and women to migrate from the farms, given up all hopes of innovation and education to service the tourist in one way or another. The degrading antics of the Dancehall are now being promoted to the world with the increasing use of the internet and youtube, this negative self promotion is destructive, counterproductive and does not send a strong message to fortune 500 companies that Jamaica is open for business, that we are multidimensional.

I have never seen a promotional advert by the Ministry of Industry and Commerce, telling the world how creative and educated we are, pushing our IT sector, business environment, fiber optics network and infrastructure as a place to invest, get value for money and do business. No one is promoting the people, agriculture, software development and manufacturing in the living rooms of North America and Europe. If we can spend millions of dollars promoting tourism worldwide, then why can’t we promote other aspects of Jamaican life?

I remember in the 1970’s the Jamaica Tourist Board had a slogan “We are more than a beach, We are a country” and some people in Jamaica went crazy that we are trying to scare the tourist away by telling them that there is more to Jamaica and Jamaicans than white sandy beaches. We need to be very careful how we market ourselves, how we sell brand Jamaica and before we can even sell brand Jamaica we must have an idea of what that is, we need to know where we are going as a country and a people, we do need to sell all aspects of the Jamaican society else we will be selling ourselves short.

A Fool and his Money

While traveling in the English countryside I came upon a food stall called the honesty box by the locals, this food stall was unmanned, various goods left in the stall with a note containing the price for each type of items, people would approach the stall, take what they wanted and pay for it, even rumbling through the money box to find correct change.

On another occasion while in Amsterdam trying to get a train we noticed that there was no turnstiles, inspection points, no booths or people on the platform inspecting our tickets, you just buy your tickets and get on the train, I asked a fellow passenger how this worked, what was I to do with my ticket, he said that someone may come around to inspect our tickets, the fine was very high for not having a ticket and that the system was based on the Honor/Honesty System… on the what???

"An honor system or honesty system is a philosophical way of running a variety of endeavors based on trust, honor, and honesty. Something that operates under the rule of the "honor system" is usually something that does not have strictly enforced rules governing its principles. In British English, it would more often be called a "trust system"."

Even when we got to our stop no one came around to inspect our tickets but that did not stop people from buying their tickets, getting on the train and settle down to read their morning news paper.

Could such a system work in Jamaica? I am not sure, I would like to think that in some nice quiet Jamaican villages that the concept of the honesty box could work, that people in some rural areas would respect and trust others. I know such a concept would not work in most major cities around the world, I cannot see the Honesty System working in New York subway system based on the amount of people jumping the turnstile, nor would the concept of the Honesty Box work in a city like London. I am not saying that people in the rural countryside of England are all honest people but one report states that 98% of the people are honest enough to make leaving your goods and money unmanned in a stall a worthwhile venture. My cousin believes that if you were to leave your goods and money unmanned in a stall in Jamaica than you would return not only find the money missing but also the goods and the stall itself would be nowhere to be found as people would laugh at you and call you “eeediot” for trusting yardman.

My Granny used to boast that she could leave the house with her front door open and feel safe in the fact that everything will be in place when she returns. That tells me that Jamaica use to exist with the same level of honesty as the people who lives in the English countryside, Amsterdam and countless other countries, so how can we get back to that level.

Mutabaruka Rastafarian dub poet, speaks out against the Dancehall

===============================================

A Rastaman went to visit an old family friend.

The Rastaman knock pon di door and smaddy inside seh:

" a who dat?"

The rastaman said: " It is I and I, Jah Rastafari, Kings of kings, Lord of lords, conquering lion of the tribe

of Judah, son of Haile Selassie I" .

The person inside replied: " A me one dey yah and mi nah open mi door fi so much a oonu".

More about → Jamaica in Need of Moral Guidance

The Republic or Monarchy of Jamaica?

A friend of mine recently sold his house packed up his family and furniture bought a new house in a different country and moved to that country/house, now he did not move because he hated his neighbors he did it because he wants a bigger house, new life and better opportunities. He loved his old neighbors and will miss them dearly but sometimes “A man's got to do what a man's got to do, what he thinks his right”.

I am beginning to get the impression that some people believe that some Jamaicans desire to become a republic is being done out of hate or spite for Britain or the Royal Family. Some in the media and various individuals seem more concern with creating controversy where none exist. The desire to become a republic has nothing to do with disliking the Monarch, The Queen or The United Kingdom but sometimes “A Jamaican's got to do what a Jamaican's got to do”, Jamaicans have a right to decide their own destiny.

Jamaicans on a whole do have a love affair with the United Kingdom of Great Britain and the Royal Family, both will always hold a special place in our hearts. The Commonwealth represents a special community, a family with a unique shared history and the United Kingdom of Great Britain is a central part of that history and a major part of the Jamaica’s History, Britain is partly responsible for who we are as a people, our failures and our success, the British culture runs deep, its influence can be seen in every aspect of Jamaican life and will always be a part of who we are.

The Results of one Poll, an island wide survey among 1,008 people:
60 per cent of Jamaicans held the view the country would be better off under British rule.
44 per cent of the people surveyed said the current Westminster system should be retained
35 per cent said it should be replaced with a republican system.
21 per cent answered 'don't know' to the question.

*Updated Poll: March 12 2012, CVM/Don Anderson polls for 2012, which sampled 1,000

• JAMAICANS are nearly evenly split on the issue of whether or not to cut ties with the British monarchy, with 44 per cent for and 40 per cent against.

Read More: Jamaicans split on cutting ties with Queen

Over the past couple decades it has become clearer and clearer that this love affair with Great Britain was in fact a one sided love affair as successive British Governments(especially "Nu Labour", they had a special dislike for Jamaica and the commonwealth) tried their very best to distance Britain from Jamaica. Our relationship became purely symbolic and added nothing to the lives of Jamaican and British people. We were locked in a loveless marriage and have been for some time. Over the past couple of decades Jamaicans have become increasingly disillusioned with the commonwealth of which we had such great expectations of growing and evolving together into something more meaningful.

The Commonwealth of Nations represents one of Great Britain’s biggest failures since losing its empire, the failure to evolve from Slavery, Colonialism, from Commonwealth into something more meaningful and beneficial, it exists with no sense of direction, no purpose and made up of so many failed and failing states that exist in limbo, it demands nothing, builds nothing, adds nothing and reminds me of a dying star that never really achieved its true potentials but soon will cease to exist. To say I am disappointed would be an understatement, we are 54 countries strong, 15 of which make up the Commonwealth Realm, a third of the world’s population, a mixture of Developed and Developing countries and yet we are not a part of a dynamic economic bloc and add nothing to the lives of the members.

There are 15 Commonwealth Realms in addition to the UK: Australia, New Zealand, Canada, Jamaica, Antigua and Barbuda, Belize, Papua New Guinea, St Christopher and Nevis, St Vincent and the Grenadines, Tuvalu, Barbados, Grenada, Solomon Islands, St Lucia and The Bahamas.


These are the countries Britain cared to keep this is the extent of the British Empire with a Combine Population of about 226,560:

Overseas territories of the UK:

• Anguilla - 14,766
• Bermuda -68,265
• British Virgin Islands- 24,939
• Cayman Islands - 50,209
• Falkland Islands (Malvinas) - 3,140
• Montserrat - 5,118
• St. Helena - 7,670
• Turks and Caicos Islands - 23,528
• Gibraltar - 28,877
• Pitcairn – 48

The Rise and fall of The British Empire

While the Jamaican education system was teaching us, beating into us and promoting “Britishness” and our shared history, the British education system omitted the importance of the colonies like Jamaica to the development of Britain, that without countries like Jamaica, Great Britain we know today might never have existed and would never have been so rich, so powerful. That Britain’s development was done at the expense of the colonies, that there was never any mutual development plan, except for the members of the white commonwealth. They the British were educated in terms of the White man’s burden they took on the Job of colonial masters to save the savages from themselves. The average British person on the street is totally ignorant when it comes to British History with regards to the former colonies, most do not know that Jamaica's Head of State is the Queen and also Head of State for the other members of the Realm, or even what it means and under such condition, such ignorance, how then do they expect this Commonwealth Realm or Commonwealth to survive, to evolve. I suspect they do not want it to survive much less evolve.

The few British Citizens who seem upset about Jamaica’s decision to become a (or pay lip service to become a) republic are only upset because they feel embarrassed for the Monarch, upset that the queen will lose one of her symbolic Head of State status as the Commonwealth Realms gets smaller and smaller. The Royalist in the UK wants Jamaica to retain the Queen as Head of State keeping the symbolic Commonwealth Realm together but really wants nothing more to do with countries like Jamaica or its people. There is no special love for Jamaica or Jamaicans, it is not about us, it is only about preserving the status of The Queen and Britain to the world. This relationship makes us feel like a girl whose male friend only uses her for sex then discards her until nature calls again, when the Queen needs to do one of her symbolic world tours with signature Royal wave.

These loyalists are the same people who complain, day in day out that there are too many foreigners living in Britain, that their cities are infested with non-white people and that Britain is for the British and should close its borders. These are the people who lobbied their Government and bombard the media to restrict Jamaicans from entering Britain. It seems we are not good enough to come to England but we should have the English Queen as our Head of State and if we dare use the word Republic then they are the first to say we should be charged with Treason.

An excerpt from the "madmonarchist" blog website states: “Would they prefer Jamaica to be more like the impoverished republic of Haiti or perhaps the Communist dictatorship of Cuba? With the Crown and the Jamaican monarchy the island has had security, independence, freedom and a proven system of government to respond to the needs of society”. The blog went on to say "Former PM Bruce Golding had made the same sort of treasonous statement"

Here the white man’s burden is alive and well, over stating British involvement in Jamaica as a reason for our security, independence, freedom and a proven system of government” where was Britain during the Invasion of Grenada and why are they not doing more in Zimbabwe and countless others, as a matter of fact the only time Britain defended its interest was during the Falklands War or when America commands it to. These loyalist have gone so far as to say that if Jamaica becomes a republic then the UK should cut of all aid to Jamaica.

The Commonwealth

I do believe that it is not the commonwealth who is abandoning the Monarchy but Britain who is abandoning Commonwealth and Realm and have been for sometime now. As far as most Brits are concern the Commonwealth includes Canada, Australia and New Zealand since that is the only part of the commonwealth they can and want to relate to.

Apparently 50 years ago Jamaicans were all Educated and Prosperous!
I am sick and tired of the British Media (especially the BBC) stating that 50 years ago Jamaica was prosperous without providing the necessary economic and social indicators/data/facts to support that statement and not just the cherry picked data but the entire truth, provide me with a detail explanation of the Standard of living of most Jamaicans and how it was better.  I understand it was a different time, a simpler time with simpler people but knowing the British concept/”one sided view” of a colony being “Prosperous” I doubt that the standard of living of most Jamaicans was better or even close to what it is today. The top 1%, the colonial class, the ones who benefited from the existing status quo, who owned the means of production and reap all the wealth will always see those times as the glory days. Us Jamaicans are not fools we have mastered the fine art of “If you find a donkey, ride him to pasture”, we would never have turned our backs on a good thing.

As citizens of the Commonwealth we get no special treatment from the United Kingdom, no special protection, enjoy no elevated status. In the years before 2003 the British Government and media launched a media campaign to demonize Jamaicans for the sole purpose of implementing visa restrictions against the Jamaican people, at a time when more Europeans from the EU was flooding into the UK, Black Jamaicans had to go. Headlines after headlines reported that Jamaican “Yardies” were destroying her Majesty’s perfect society and they needed to be stopped. Yes there is such a thing as one sided over reporting used to shape people's perception, to make them think what you want them to think, this is a standard practice employed for centuries to get your people to do what you want them to do and support your actions, first you demonized then you strike.

In months leading up to the visa restrictions the British media directed their sights on Jamaica like attack dogs, reporting each and every crime committed by a Jamaicans and descendants of Jamaicans some of whom had never set foot in Jamaica. Every black person who committed a crime in the UK was somehow linked to Jamaica thus turning the tide of public opinion against us, something had to be done about the Jamaican menace,it was media persecution at its very best.(Read: Removing The Jamaican Menace)

The British deputy high commissioner in Jamaica, Phil Sinkinson, had said one in 10 passengers leaving for Britain was a drug mule. Both the Jamaican national carrier, Air Jamaica, and British customs and excise officers disputed the numbers and the national anti-crack strategy published by the Home Office at the time made clear that most of the 40 to 50 tonnes of cocaine shipped into Britain each year came in bulk by sea to Spain and then overland to the Netherlands but once Jamaica’s name was associated with this, the damage had already been done. Even the recent riots in England did not pass without Jamaica being blamed for the uprising.(Read: Whites have become black)

I remember in my A’Level history class reading a paragraph from the manuscript Debate in Parliament where a British MP, after slavery had ended, complained that Jamaica was now costing Britain 10 thousand shillings a year. It was then that I realized that we were no longer a pearl in the British crown but a drain on her resources. Deep in my subconscious I believe that Independence was a British concept planted in the minds of the educated middle and upper class and I would not be surprise also if becoming a Republic was also a British concept.

Link >> JDF Changing of the Guard at Buckingham Palace

Westminster has been trying to set us adrift for some time now, chipping away at the relationship, trying to break the bonds between us. Britain at one time had a preferential Import agreement for Bananas from Jamaica and the Commonwealth using a favorable trading agreement, in short the United States of America took Britain and the EU to WTO court and the Trade Agreement was canceled thus killing the Banana industry in most of the Caribbean and bankrupting small farmers, (I would not be surprise if Britain/Nu Labour asked America to take them to court to end this subsidies and preferential treatment). All this happened at a time when America was creating preferential trading blocs of their own such as the North American Free Trade Agreement or NAFTA and Caribbean Basin Initiative (CBI), The United Kingdom of Great Britain failed to create any such trading bloc with the Commonwealth Realm we were left high and dry in a cold dark place without a candle, told to get on with it.

The British have never defined their relationship with the Commonwealth Realms or Nation as a “Special Relationship”, that title is reserved for the United States of America. Jamaica stopped being a “Pearl in the Caribbean” and a “Jewel in the British crown” simply because we no longer serve any purpose to Britain. We no longer enrich her but instead add to her cost, constantly being treated like a begging dysfunctional child who is genetically predisposed to crime with a parent who is trying to abandon that child in the car park of the shopping mall.

Even though, I will be the first to tell you that any system, either the Westminster model or a Republican System is only as good as the people running it and if we cannot get this current Westminster system to work for us then I do not see how the hell we will get the Republican System to work also. Becoming a republic should but will not do anything to the mindset of the Jamaican people they were never engineered to value Jamaica, this rock of mine and most see it as an unfortunate birthplace, a barren wasteland from which to escape. I do not have faith in the Jamaican people to get this system or any system working, the political class does not fill me with confidence and while the body of the people is trapped in Jamaica their minds wonder the landscape of North America, London and Paris, anywhere else but here, I do not get Nation Building from them.

However I do support Jamaica becoming a Republic and finally turn her back on the old ways once and for all, it is sink or swim time now boys, will you be man enough to shoulder the responsibility to engage the nation building process and create a nation state future generation and the world will be proud of or sink into the Caribbean, forever begging for a handout, continue to behave like unwanted dogs hanging around the dinner table waiting to be noticed but instead being kicked.

Total independence is not a solution in itself but could be part of the re-branding process, a core part in the ideology of Jamaica. Jamaica needs an ideology, the people need something to believe in, something to rally around, something everybody can get on board with, the ideology of nationalism, the ideology of patriotism, the ideology of self reliance and the ideology of Jamaica first. Before we can sell the brand Jamaica to anyone else we must first have a brand we Jamaicans believe in. We need to redefine what it means to be a Jamaican, what it means to be a Jamaican worker, what it means to be a Jamaican farmer , what it means to be a Jamaican producer and we need to redefine what it means to consume Goods and services made in Jamaica. It is about time we take on our own burden, it is about time we bring home the reality of what it means to be a Jamaican, what it means to have your own country, no one is going to save us, not the United Kingdom of Great Britain and certainly not the United States of America this we must do ourselves.

FACT: Becoming a Republic is NOT the most important issue facing Jamaica today, personally I am happy either way, we have far bigger fish to fry but we will always have bigger fish to fry, so we must make time for the not so big but very important fish in our lives, this is not a life or death situation. The majority of people who oppose full independence say to me that they like the arrangement we have today, that Government have power but not Total Power, that we have the British Monarch as an ace in the hole and that they do not trust their fellow Jamaicans with full control fearing things may get kind of “Mugabe like” and if our backs are against the wall and all hell is breaking lose then Britain can send troops to restore order. They also said to me that they do not want to lose the English Privy Council as it is outside of local control and influence, not prone to local corruption.

Queen ELIZABETH II the Head of State of the tiny spice island of Grenada, The Monarch of Grenada, a member of the Commonwealth Realm and yet the United States of America without her knowledge or permission invaded her domain, so it seems Britain is truly a nation without “street cred”. Grenada was Britain’s responsibility to fix, not America’s, if a member of the Commonwealth Realm needed sorting out, needed to be invaded, then I expect The United Kingdom of Great Britain, The Mother Country, Protector of the Realm and the other members of the Realm to do the invading and set wrong, right, I was embarrassed for Britain and the Commonwealth... Jesus! .. Give me something to rally around I beg you... Nothing would please me more than to scream to the world that our union, our commonwealth, our Realm is both beneficial and progressive.

Montserrat is a British overseas territory, a British colony, in July 1995 a volcanic eruptions devastated two-thirds of that island, it looked like a barren lunar landscape as per the BBC. The people had to be evacuated and yet in the UK there was opposition from the general public to the people of Montserrat being evacuated to Britain as some members of the British public declared, why Britain, why not to the other Caribbean islands, somewhere else, anywhere else except Britain. In the end 4,000 of the 11,500 people living on the island was relocated to Great Britain. As a direct British overseas territory, a British colony there should not even be the question, why Britain, it should be automatic, British responsibility, British Solution, end of, even if you have to get rid of some people from the EU. As far as I am concern your circle of importance and responsibility should be United Kingdom, then Commonwealth Realm, then Commonwealth of Nations then whomever.

So the very idea that Britain have the ways or the means or even care enough to run to our rescue is laughable and provides a false sense of security to anyone who believes otherwise, just look at the state of the commonwealth, Britain care about a hand full of non-white commonwealth countries with small population sizes as vacation and offshore banking paradise, she no longer cares about Jamaica and most of the Commonwealth.

I do believe that becoming a Republic is such a fundamental change that we should have a referendum, the people must decide, and if they choose not to become a Republic, then a referendum should be held every 10 years.

I have read one report in the Gleaner stating the cost of becoming a Republic, What did you think it was going to be free? That is like saying I would like to own my own house but I do not want to pay for it. I did not think you needed a report to figure this out, yes it will cost us, when have we gotten something for nothing, making your way through life will cost you, owning and managing your own country will cost you.

I have a love affair with the United Kingdom of Great Britain, I really do, I am an Anglophile and a Gooner, the older members of my family were all loyalists and the majority of my family now call Britain home and themselves British but Jamaica is my life, the very essence of my being and I will support her regardless of direction, Republic or Constitutional Monarchy. Currently Queen Elizabeth II is "The Queen of Jamaica","the Head of State", she is my Queen and Jamaica is the "Monarchy of Jamaica", and a Commonwealth Realm, that is a constitutional Fact and I respect that and will continue to respect it, so long as this Constitutional Monarchy remains.

"What is missing from this debate is a comprehensive list of Pros and Cons reasons by all concern about why Jamaica should become a Republic or not become a Republic, a list of Pros and Cons on keeping The Queen as our Head of State and mutual benefits that it may or may not will bring. It cannot be only for sentimental reasons whatever decision we make must be a working decision."

God Save the Queen and God Bless Jamaica Land I love.

Towards Independence - Part 1 & 2

More about → The Republic or Monarchy of Jamaica?

The Real Hotties of Parliament

It is no secret that the Jamaican women are in charge of the day to day running of the country. On every level of society the Jamaican woman is taking charge, this is a trend that started long ago. In schools, girls outnumber boys on almost every level, girls are more likely to achieve higher education than boys and on a daily basis more woman can be seen heading out to work than men, regardless of the type of job and more men can be seen holding their corners on the side of the road begging for handout than women.

Source:CIA Factbook
Literacy:
definition: age 15 and over has ever attended school
total population: 87.9%
male: 84.1%
female: 91.6% (2003 est.)

Source: Jamaica Education Statistic 2000 - 2001
Enrollment at the Tertiary Level:
Boys : 32.6%
Girls: 67.4%
Out of the 29,593 enrolled:
Boys : 9,645
Girls: 19,948

Enrollment at the Tertiary Level By year:

Male	Female	Year
11,422	23,392	2005
7,189	18,491	2006
12,249	24,723	2007
8,121	21,636	2008
9,955	19,583	2009

7. Best place for high-skilled jobs : Almost 60% of high-skilled jobs in Jamaica are filled by women, compared to 2% of similar jobs in Yemen.
Women’s Status Worldwide: Best and Worst Places | Secrets to Your Success

Men are more likely to get their education and socialization skills from the dancehall, it is the dancehall DJs that have become role models to our young men, it is the DJ who teach our young men how to interact within society as the aggressive lyrics of the dancehall gets played out in real life, on the streets of Jamaica. For the women it is not that men are in short supply, it’s just those educated, upwardly mobile, family oriented men are in short supply as the women lose patient with the dancehall(Jack-it-up-cock-it-up dig-out-di-red) mentality of the average male. What is the purpose of higher education if you are going to lower your standards and respond to the mating call of the man on the corner, “Hey gal come yah nuh” just does not cut it anymore when you have a couple degrees and PhDs to your name.

I have even heard it said that the Jamaican woman is forced to add men to the ever increasing list of goods we import from overseas, let’s see … SUV –check, French wine – check, imported Terrazzo tile and marble counter-tops – check, a good man – check..

The Jamaican women have been climbing up the corporate ladder for some time now, so it comes as no surprise that they are taking over the very Seat of Power, the Government of Jamaica.

Not only are the new entries to Parliament some of Jamaica's brightest but they are also some of Jamaica’s hotties and I am here to introduce just a few.

Minister of Youth and Culture, the Hon. Lisa Hanna, MP
Bachelor's and Master's degree in communications from the University of the West Indies

Deika Morrison, MBA, SM, BAS (cum laude), BSc. (cum laude) (Managing Director)

University of Pennsylvania, MBA

Harvard University

SM (Master of Science in Engineering Science) · GSAS

University of Pennsylvania

School of Engineering and Applied Science, BAS, (Environmental Systems)

University of Pennsylvania

The Wharton School, BSc. Economics, (Finance)

Senator Imani Duncan Price
Harvard University Kennedy School of Government
Wesleyan University
Centre for Sustainable Development Studies

Senator Marlene Malahoo Forte
Former Minister of State at Ministry of Foreign Affairs & Foreign Trade, Jamaica
Attorney-at-law
Harvard University Kennedy School of Government
King's College London, U. of London
University of West Indies

Senator Kamina Johnson-Smith
Attorney-at-law
University of the West Indies

And even though the following did make win at the polls but lost by a narrow margin:

Paula Kerr-Jarrett
Attorney-at-law
University of London (SOAS)
LLM The University of London(UCL/LSE)

Dr Saphire Longmore-Dropinski, MBBS, PhD
University of the West Indies

More about → The Real Hotties of Parliament

The Jamaican 1% - CEO'S/ENTREPRENEURS/TECH GURUS?

by Jane Stooshpr Branding on Wednesday, 4 January 2012 at 18:07

How has Jamaica become the land of Entrepreneurs/CEO'S yet almost 20% of the population live below the poverty line?

Who are the 1% in Jamaica?     Spend a few minutes surfing the net and you will soon see just how many Jamaicans are self appointed “CEO's and Entrepreneurs”. If we believed every title we'd be led to think we were reading a Zug phone book!

In the States,when you apply for a job corporations now investigate your resume. Everything from your college grade point to the reasons why and when you left each employer. On top of that many will random drug test and check your financial returns. Even if you are applying for the most humble of roles. This has led to the level of accountability within the professional community. There's no margin of error for the words CEO to slip on ones resume if it can't be backed up with fiscal returns and a corporate office address.

Jamaica has become the juxtaposition to this transparency. When job prospects declined there was a tsunami of interest to become an “Entrepreneur”. I know few in Jamaica who want to, nor ever have, 'worked for the man'.  I often hear the term 'slave driver' being used when I show potential candidates corporate job prospects in Caricom. The same people who urge folks to 'start your own business' are the same parasites who are afforded the luxury to live off a family member or get wires from abroad.

I applaud true entrepreneurs and their spirit to risk their assets and reputation day after day to get results. I would support any of them to go for their goals. But first objectives have to be founded on solid experience. Where are all these self proclaimed Jamaican “CEOs/Entrepreneurs” getting their knowledge since few I've seen have ever had staff experience with any major brand? Let alone be familiar with corporate responsibilities and fiscal reporting? Yet they preach and teach #blindleadingblind

Tech is the biggest area for this “Get Rich Quick/Be Your Own Boss” scam. It's a huge concern to me; So many new “Tech Guru's/Awards/Social Media” experts, it's become the arena for snake oil salesman. All of these “CEO's” but I don't see that any of them have the experience or true corporate knowledge. But people so badly want to believe and the circle jerks of flossing continues but there's rarely revenue and certainly no recognition from any credible foreign market.

Few foreign technology talents who have real authority have been invited to host workshops, why? Just a handful of 'consultants' and more 'self employed' folks are in the mix to 'teach'. The money in Tech is such that talented people tend to work for hearty salaries and seductive perks for the major brand leaders (if they are good!). Those that are 'consultants' I would even be so bold to say are folks who've never been invited to be a staffer.  Plus, outside of the corporate arena it's tough to keep ahead of the curve as they aren't Beta testing with deep pockets. So who are people in Yaad learning from? Would you learn carpentry from someone who can put together a jolly nice IKEA unit?

Is it now time to be realistic and have better expectations for our workforce? Have a level of accountability and transparency? Find modern solutions to gain credibility for all of these “Entrepreneurs/CEOs”, it's all rather Kings New Clothes. (Webinars for schools and groups hosted by major corporate global brands on a variety of platforms could be one idea). If we don't Jamaica will fall so far behind as more an more corporations don't choose Jamaicans for their workforce as so few have worked for 'the man' or are credible in their claims and like it or not it is important to be able to reap the corporate dollar.

-Jane Buchanan
jane@stooshpr.com
Twitter  @STOOSHPR

More about → The Jamaican 1% - CEO'S/ENTREPRENEURS/TECH GURUS?

NIGHT BEFORE CHRISTMAS (JAMAICA, 2011)

By Michael Abrahams

'Twas di night before Christmas

An all thru mi yard

Me a dig up di place fi find

Mi voter registration card

Fa election day a come

An me tink me shoulda vote

But me put di whole a dem

In di same ol sinking boat

Labourite an Comrade

Of di two a dem mi tyad

Because mi tink dem party dem

Harbour some tief an liad

Wedda Manatt or Trafigura

Light bulb or JDIP

Dem tek all a we fi eediat

An inna wi money dem dip

Opposition cuss government

An government cuss opposition

But no matter who inna power

We en up in di same position

Wid greedy an dishonest MPs

An questionable government ministers

So many of di candidates dat me a see

Appear to be shady an sinister

Andrew tek ova from di driva

An Portia a drive fi har Jeep

An me wonder if any a dem promises

Dem really a go keep

Fa me get let down by both sides before

So none a dem me really trus

An me tink seh when whoever win tek office

Some new scandal a go buss

An when me did watch di leaders debate

A dat time me get cross an frown Fa instead a hearing di real issues dem

All me see was two clown

One dodge questions about gays in di cabinet

An di odda want a Jamaican queen

I mus confess, I was not impressed

Wid di orange or di green

Well midnight almost deh pon me

An although me a search hard

Me nuh stop come up empty handed

Cause me still cyaa find mi card

Might as well me doh find it yah man

Cause mi nuh tink seh me a go bodda

Fa when me pree how di ting set up

Is six a one, half dozen a di odda

But den again our forefathers

Did work an struggle an fight

Until dem get adult suffrage

Fi gi me an yu di right

So athough me tyad a di slackness

An tink seh di parties not nice

Me a go look fi mi card one more time

And try fi mek a choice

More about → NIGHT BEFORE CHRISTMAS (JAMAICA, 2011)