IF you should peep into the head of the man closest to you, it doesn’t take an abundance of analysis to determine that all he really wants out of life is a chance to be considered important to at least one other person. He wants to be relevant.

If a man is lucky, life will wait on him at least once in his lifetime. In general though, the world is a highly impersonal, unfeeling place and so it must be as it continues on its cosmic trip. It has no place for losers, whiners and those who believe that life is unfair to them.

Many only dream of attaining greatness and most are afraid of the responsibility which attends greatness, so the quest for relevance often suffices, especially if the basics of food, clothing and shelter are barely realised.

It is in this quest for relevance that man often finds himself seeking a reason for his existence and that final adult fantasy — eternal salvation. The more relevance eludes him, the more eager he is to bring relevance to salvation and the more adept he becomes at defining and embellishing its author — God. To find God, to personalise the experience and to claim eternal salvation constitute the surest shortcut to relevance.

Talk show host, Observer columnist and children’s advocate Betty-Ann Blaine recently launched a new political party, New Nation Coalition (NNC), one she claims will be grounded in Christianity and Christian principles. Another of the members of the new party is Celta Kirkland, who also writes for the Observer.

To an atheist like me, Kirkland’s pieces come across like daily pills of comfort for the Christianised afflicted. I view them as little more than fundamentalist pap, ideally suited for those who prefer others to do their most basic thinking for them.

As much as I consider them little more than Bible verses with commentary, they satisfy a need. But, I am forced to ask, how can Blaine, Kirkland and the others leave their Bible pulpits and deal with the pressing realities which face Jamaica?

Well, we are told that the party will be grounded in Christianity and Christian principles, so by that admission we should look for them to be taking the Bible pulpit with them. I know Betty-Ann and have co-hosted her talk show twice. Her heart is in the right place and I believe she wants to make a difference. That said, I am forced to question her party’s stated approach — using religion, Christianity as the vehicle in her efforts to get the ear, the eyes and the ultimate vote of the Jamaican electorate.

Praying over politics

Both leaders of the JLP and the PNP are Christianised. To be in politics in Jamaica and not give kudos to God at the drop of a hat is suicide.

Golding is Seventh-Day Adventist, and Simpson-Miller is, well, religious to the point of being involved in numerology. One wonders how did Betty-Ann Blaine arrive at the ultimate plunge. Did she hear God talking to her one night? Did she pray over it? Did God answer her prayer? What did God say? Did He say, ‘Go and be fishers of men…’?

I am not trying to kill her efforts before they begin but I must ask, should she become prime minister, would she offer prayers at Budget time and ask God to fill the deficit? Blaine has told us that she begins with no money, will not be seeking funding from large corporate groups and will instead look to the little man for donations.

This is indeed a bold step away from the usual, especially in a country where the little man is always looking to the political parties for handouts. I didn’t get the sense that she would refuse corporate funding, only that it would have to come with no attachments, no unwritten conditions.

For now I wish her well and would be pleasantly surprised if the NNC does well. As one who believes that religion is the first resort of the dull and backward, I cannot see the NNC empowering our people anymore that the JLP/PNP have.

But it is still early days and maybe Betty-Ann, Celta Kirkland and the others know more about God than someone like me who is trying very hard not to burst out laughing. It is enough for a grown adult to indulge himself/herself in a personal, imaginary friend known as God. To me it is ludicrous to place it on a national stage.

I suspect that as much as our people are not unduly worried about their mis-education, many of them are able to place God in some personal, private side of their lives while acknowledging that Mammon has a role in the political affairs of man.

Betty-Ann and the NNC aim to bring about a great merger where we will pray to reduce crime, ask God to reopen the bauxite companies, seek Jesus’ help in getting seven million tourists to visit Jamaica and ask the Almighty to make us a civil people.

As a first step, maybe she could ask God for a robust budget. Now that would be a great start! Amen.

Why no support for the Reggae Film Festival?

IS there something about the Reggae Film Festival that is hidden to us causing it to not attract support from JTB, JAMPRO or the Ministry of Culture, despite the fact that the event has given international exposure, publicity, awards and income to at least four of the films it has premiered in its three-year existence?

The four films — Why Do Jamaicans Run So fast, Wah Do Dem, A Dance For Grace, and Dub Echoes — exposed the talents of 10 new Jamaican filmmakers.

More importantly, why is support being given to a Dutch event, Dutch university and Dutch speaker to speak at The Reel Reggae Film Festival at the upcoming UWI Rastafari Conference? Do the Dutch know more about Reggae films than our home-grown people, or is it that we are afraid to cultivate the entrepreneurial side of that market?

We have seen events like Calabash, Sumfest, Jazz and Blues become staple events on the local and international timetable, so what is it about the Reggae Film Festival that makes it so unpalatable to the Ministry of Culture and the Jamaica Tourist Board?

Can we hear from Minister ‘Babsy’ Grange.

The culture of Jamaican policing

A writer who tells me he was once a policeman in the much-feared ‘Rat patrol’ of the 1980s e-mailed me the following in response to the Buckfield shooting and my column of last Thursday.

“Your article on 08/05/2010 was really spot on. I also share your view on the commissioner’s response. I thought that it was hypocritical and that it gave the impression that Mr Ellington was a neophyte to police shootings. While I do not necessarily support the action of the officers in that Buckfield shooting, if closer scrutiny of the video was done a lot of glaring failures on the part of the Government would be evident.

“As a former police officer I was always amazed at the lack of resources available for use. I was a part of the much-feared ‘Rat Patrol’ back in the day and reputation did not disappoint. I now live in Connecticut and I observed a similar situation of a man also being a public menace. On the arrival of the police, the man was tazered, subdued then on the arrival of the paramedics his vital signs were stabilised and then he was placed in custody.

“I am always at pains to explain to people that without other less lethal options at their disposal the Jamaican police officer will always resort to his firearm as the first resort. The policeman hitting ‘Chin Sing’ had nothing but his baton and his sidearm, no other form of less lethal force was observed being available for use. There was no attempt to restrain and handcuff ‘Chin Sing’ as well.

“Far too often though, and for this I, too, am guilty, police on scenes such as the videotaped one play into public sentiments and ultimately try to make their job easier rather than doing what they are legally bound to do when they sign up to serve and protect.

“But I for one am glad that this incident occurred because it has given me hope that it is an important step on the way forward in changing how policing is done in Jamaica.”

It is my belief that had two or three of the policemen present attempted to pin ‘Chin Sing’ to the ground with their arms and knees, he could have been totally subdued. That was probably not done due to the shooting culture of the Jamaican policeman which grew during the period that the Suppression of Crimes Act was in force.”

Another writer, again an overseas-based one, was of the view that if crime was brought to bearable limits in Jamaica he and others would return in huge numbers. He also believed that we tended to get the government we deserved. Said he: “I am a weary Jamaican living overseas. I left the island 20 years ago for what I thought would have been a brief stint of studying to become an engineer and then returning home to release my entrepreneurial zeal.

“However, during the course of living overseas two things happened. One, I realised why the west became wealthy and two, Jamaica descended into lawlessness and corruption. I realised that wealth can only grow in an environment where there are (1) rule of law (2) good governance (3) educated populace and (4) dynamic entrepreneurship.

“Unfortunately, crime and violence and corrupted governance have made that dream impossible in Jamaica and as a result I stayed here and I am quite happy I did. However, I am longing to contribute to the development of my former homeland.

“I have many Jamaican friends here that are bright, enthusiastic and ready to contribute to their former homeland but corruption and lawlessness have them scared.

“I discovered your column a few months ago and must say it is a breath of fresh air. You write with an unbiased opinion and provide valid voice for reason. I hope all of Jamaica reads your columns and discuss them in every nook and cranny of the country.

“People of the country need to stop sitting on their heads because while they lash out at the politicians you really cannot blame them. I heard a quote once — to paraphrase: ‘In a democracy, people get the government they deserve’.”

Another writer shares the view of Wayne Chen that only long prison terms with labour attached to it will work. He wrote, “Mark, you have always been a person who has always spoken the truth, PNP or JLP. With regards to Jamaican criminals, there is no such word in their vocabulary named rehabilitation. I am a person who does not believe in the death penalty but a long prison term, meaning if you take a life you are not going to enjoy yours on the outside but in a place where you will be confined for at least 85 years.

“Jamaican criminals have a saying that they will do this or that to you and do a few years and come back to road. For me, only a very long vacation will do and all government properties should be maintained by these people.”

‘Dudus’ was close to controlling PNP votes

“AFTER Seaga gave his name to the police in 1994, he has never attended a JLP meeting,” said a JLP activist to me last Wednesday.

Between 1994 and just up to the time before his extradition, Christopher ‘Dudus’ Coke was more in touch with the area leaders in depressed garrison communities than he was strictly a JLP don.

“What a lot of you journalists failed to realise is that he was always trying to go legit, to drop the demons that haunted his father, ‘Jim Brown’. The signal was that Seaga list. Although Tivoli was his home base, in the 15 years after 1994 he had amassed so much power in garrison communities of every colour that if he truly wanted, he could have told many PNP to jump for the JLP and they most likely would have.”

On one front where Peter Phillips was in Golding’s back like a petchary on a John Crow, to the street operatives in the PNP and those in the executive who were reading the signals correctly, ‘Dudus’ had to go because of purely political reasons.

Said the man: “Dudus was close to, if he wanted to, to give the JLP about six of the PNP garrisons. For that reason, he was the most powerful man in the country. The JLP needed him to stay and the PNP wanted him to go but not for the grand reasons given.”

Minister Pearnel Charles told me on Thursday that a senior executive of the PNP (he gave me his name) told him after the failed vote in seeking an extension to the State of Emergency, “You people wanted me to advance the causes of Bruce Golding. I am not into that.”

It is known that there is nothing ‘national’ about our politics that the PNP and JLP will agree to. The political culture is antagonistic and it is always based on snatching power and holding on to it. As example, when Opposition Leader Portia Simpson-Miller suggested that if Golding was really interested in winning the State of Emergency (SOE) extension vote recently he should have carried all of his troops to Parliament, she was playing to the divisive politics she knew.

Said a well-known PNP activist to me recently: “I don’t know how you failed to catch that. Imagine the matter was a national one. Main crimes under the SOE were trending down more than significantly. Yet all Portia could see was a win vote or a lose vote. In her mind there was no such thing as a national cause that both parties could agree on for an extended period.”

When I asked him about ‘Dudus’ and his ability to swing PNP votes to the JLP he said: “All I can say is, if the man decided to pass through an area and leave certain directives, those orders would be carried out. Remember now, when he escaped from Tivoli, he went through Denham Town then through Jungle. If he could pass through one of the strongest PNP garrisons untouched, who knows, maybe he could do what your JLP activist friend said he could.”

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