Dear Editor,

It should be clear, nearly to all, that the Government of Jamaica has sought continuously, for the last fifty years, to usurp the authority of the Maroons over the Cockpit Country and its adjacent communities. And, suceeding administrations have been steadfast in their refusal to consider any reasonable alternative to the prospecting and mining of the area, even before its natural environment has been comprehensively studied.

It must be noted, that the Cockpit Country and the various Maroon settlements on the island of Jamaica form the only area outside of Israel — which Jews, along with others, fought for and won — where people have the right to lead a peaceful and secure life free from oppression and discrimination after the thirteenth century. The existence of the Maroon settlements with its Jewish component ensured the relative peaceful life of both Jews and Arabs in other parts of island of Jamaica. In other words, the Cockpit Country and related Maroon areas were paid for with Jewish blood along with the blood of others, areas of immense cultural and historic value to the Sephardic Jews in the Americas.

Having stated the above, one can only but hope that all understand that a heavy price will be paid by any government, anyone or entity, which seeks to take onto itself the right to terminally disrupt the social and or natural environment which exist in the areas outlined. Jamaica is not faced with starvation nor has the international community turned its back on her and, as such, there is no need to seek to pursue a course of adopting the types of policies and/or actions which the Government has in mind.

As a simple Jamaican, in whose veins runs Sephardi blood among others, I would urge the authorities to actively pursue those types of economic activities which seek to preserve the social and natural environment of the areas outlined above. I would also like to point out, that these types of policies should be extended as far south as Mile Gully in Manchester; an area with a Moravian and Sephardi historical and cultural significance.

Basil Fletcher

basilAksumite@hotmail.com