Dear Editor,

It is important for members of both the Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) and People’s National Party (PNP) to begin to critically assess their parties with a view to calling for a new path to the future.

After more than six decades of Independence, the lives and conditions of the mass of people have gone through marginal change. After six decades of Independence only 37 per cent of voters turned out for the last election.

This is no time for loyalty, we are going through serious crises: the depth of poverty is unprecedented and the country is overrun with violent gangs. This liberal politics and its association with high levels of criminality is not new. This was the case during the decades of the 1980s, a cessation in the 1990s, followed by a resurrection of this society of violence and cultural decadence.

Of course, the
Financial Times (
FT) article on Jamaica was not comprehensive, it was aimed at congratulating this neoliberal order that has deepened inequality and produced high levels of crime. Crime is a product of the way in which the society is organised. Whether you are PNP or JLP adherents, you are not immune to crime and this state of insecurity.

Since the 1980s Jamaica has embarked on a new path of political and economic thinking grounded in neoliberalism: marketisation of society; deeper privatisation; new values; and the rise of raw individualism, leading to a transactional society. Both political parties subscribe to this practice.

The State has become an instrument to protect and advance foreign investments as well as the landed and commercial elites at the expense of the majority of the population. Incoming foreign investments and promises of more mega projects should not been seen as successful policymaking. Yes, there is prosperity, but only for the few; the majority of people are being told that they need to pull themselves up with their bootstraps. The reality is that they have neither boot nor strap. There is the need for a two-pronged approach to development, the existing complimented with a kind of self-reliance and rural development component.

The foreign press is proud of what is happening in Jamaica because the Government is doing what pleases foreign investors. It is not about displeasing anyone. But these two parties need to look at another path, another route to development of people and country. There are many big projects but no small ones, there is the need for balance in development: strategies grounded in self-reliance and rural development, thereby widening the base of growth.

There is no reason to gloat over the
FT report about the great success in Jamaica as we are in the danger zone and it is time for all Jamaicans to take an objective approach to political analysis because the times are getting more unbearable among the masses. More police and soldiers can protect the private interest because that is their role, but they certainly cannot manage crime effectively. The solution to crime must be political.

There is a new generation of young people who have no loyalty to either the PNP or the JLP, and the voice of this large body of independents must begin to grow louder.

Louis Moyston

thearchives01@yahoo.com