The effort to degrade the capacity of criminal elements to establish a lasting foothold in the country continues apace. It is very encouraging that so far the government has demonstrated the necessary resolve to bring the fight to the criminals and to save the country from becoming a failed state. It is equally heartening that civil society has recognised its role in this effort and has lent the government and the security forces qualified support in carrying this struggle to its logical conclusion.

The greatest irony is that Tivoli, once aptly described by a former commissioner of police as “the mother of all garrisons”, has become the rallying point or the catalyst for this hardened struggle against criminals and “donmanism”. I do not believe that the significance of what is taking place in Tivoli is yet to be fully appreciated. It is true that the extradition request for Coke precipitated the events there and emboldened the government to take the fight to criminal elements throughout the country. But the fact that Tivoli is being dismantled is an event in itself. Bear in mind that as a JLP stronghold it is being dismantled by a JLP government and led by a prime minister who is the MP for the area. It is inconceivable what would have been the case if the extradition request for Mr Coke had come to a PNP administration. What if the PNP had to mount the kind of joint police and military operation that is now taking place in Tivoli? They would have been accused of being heartless and of wanting to destroy Tivoli as they have been in the past. Their efforts would have been hobbled by the thinking of many that they did not possess the requisite moral force to mount this operation. In short, there would have been hell to pay.

But the lot has fallen to Bruce, and some have argued, thankfully so. It is yet to be seen what Bruce’s long-term future in that constituency will be. My guess is that when the dust settles he will win acceptance by the law-abiding citizens there. Tivoli is not a monolith of criminality; the majority of its people are law-abiding and just want to get on with their lives as other ordinary Jamaicans would wish. It is unfortunate that the reputation the community has gained has tarnished everyone living there, and this is part of the psychological struggle that has to be won for that community to rejoin the family of communities throughout Jamaica. There is a great deal of work to be done here. But like other Jamaicans, the people of Tivoli Gardens are very resilient, and if given a fair chance will re-establish themselves as a viable community. And for the love of Tivoli they must be given this fair chance. What is required is good leadership, and Tivoli has seen a dearth of this over the years.

Good leaders do not keep a people in mental bondage and create physical and psychological barriers that separate them from the rest of society. Many Jamaicans, for one reason or the other, and prior to the recent incursion, would not want to go into Tivoli Gardens. Whatever Mr Seaga may say, the psychological architecture that was erected in Tivoli gave many Jamaicans the perception that they were not welcome there; that they could not walk safely there or carry out any legitimate business activity there. Mr Seaga, despite his recent fulminations against the prime minister, must bear a great deal of the blame for this perception. It would behove him to be more statesmanlike in his utterances and demonstrate the wisdom, temperance and good sense of which age is a virtue.

In the meantime, the government must not relent in its efforts to bring the criminal elements in the country under subjugation. All well-thinking Jamaicans here and abroad must join in this effort. The verandah conversations must end and all sleeves must be rolled up to do what needs to be done. We will never get another chance like this and neither should we wish to get it. It must be now or never. Mr Peter Bunting as the Opposition spokesperson for national security has been very fulsome in his praise of the security forces. But the real test of the PNP will come when the cleaning-up operations move into PNP territory, especially in the constituencies of Mrs Portia Simpson Miller and Dr Omar Davies. Will the PNP voice be sustained and be just as strident as it is, now that a JLP garrison is being degraded? What we are appealing for is a sincerity of purpose on the part of our political leaders to really rid the country of crime. There seems to be some incongruity between a determination to fight crime on a national level and the blatant hypocrisy of the no-confidence motion that the Opposition s led against the prime minister. Not only is it incongruous but it is downright hypocritical and hollow. There are many things for which a PNP prime minister could have been driven from office over the 18 years they held power, but they survived because the stability of the national interest was seen by the then Opposition to be foremost. If we are going to be united in the fight against crime, which we must be, then these sideshows must end. They may give a good laugh, but this is not the time for comedy.

stead6655@aol.com

www.drraulston.com