This article was inspired by the political cartoon by Clovis published in the Jamiaca Observer of January 7, 2024. The cartoonist has seen what the Government, Opposition, and law enforcement agency have failed to see.

What is depicted in the parish of St Elizabeth is a general picture of the relationship between the use of cocaine, proliferation of guns — especially among the youth — and the related bizarre violence in the country. Of course, this is a partial but huge source relating to crime and violence. The real root is grounded in the social, political, and economic arrangements in the country.

If I were the political leader, I would be going to history, especially the history of the late 1980s. During this period, the conservative polices deepened inequality and the youth in certain urban and rural communities were left out of the programme, so they turned to the drug trade and possessing guns. They unleashed unprecedented violence and disorders in the country.

The current situation, in terms of crime and violence, mirrors that of the late 1980s. This is one issue that cannot be left to divine intervention. I would go to political history to seek solution, instead of going to church.

Globalisation and the new liberal order

During the 1980s a certain socio-political thinker conducted and published some significant public opinion polls grounded in acute observations of the ‘goings-on’ in the society. In October 1987 he published a revealing account on the youth, especially those from the inner city. He charged that those youth embraced the opportunity to have access to guns that more than often are used a tool for survival. They saw the gun as a symbol of power and to appropriate wealth in order to escape their meagre existence.

Against this background, he unmasked that the root of crime and violence is grounded in poverty. It is important to discuss the issue of crime and violence in the context of globalisation and the thrust of the market-driven democracy.

Much of what is happening in crime and violence now mirror the realities of the era of the late 1980s characterised by globalisation, neoliberal politics, and economics. It was also a time and place that was dominated by mass culture, which, with impatient rapidity, displaced the family, the Church, and the school as the traditional agencies of socialisation.

Associated with mass culture was the importation of values from the North, mandated by way of trade and cultural agreements. These new values from the North were characterised by a new type of individualism — a “What is in it for me?” mentality. These imported values emerged from the neoliberal politics as wells as practices for societies in which they are associated with high incidence of crime, high rates of homicides, drug abuse, alcoholism, and high levels of dysfunctional families. The advancement of the concept of “self-esteem” and an “erroneous appraisement of the self” was indeed new thinking is social psychology that reinforced the new individualism as well as creating the urge to embrace the new era of high consumerism.

These imported values have displaced traditional values and have unleashed dangerous consequences in Jamaica, then and now. In recent years, Jamaica has been pressured to eradicate corporal punishment in our society because it is associated with the levels of crime and violence in the country. What a great lie and distraction? And, yet, it is being embraced by the current leadership in Government.

Bizarre violence

There is the story the there was a new interpretation of the ‘bad boy’ behaviour in Jamaica during the late 1980s. A newspaper story, published on November 18, 1987, exposed the “real terms” associated with interpretation of the bad boy behaviour are associated with “the increased economic pressures and stress, added to inadequate parenting in the household; the dominant role of aggressive behaviour; the crudity, the disrespect for women, the elderly, and a general presence of personal abuse in public life”. There is another dimension of the problem and that was the role of the powerful Jamaican drug gangs in North America. These gangs were associated with both drug and gunrunning.

In another story, the socio-political scientist linked the cocaine trade to the availability to most of the availability of the illegal guns, and that the use of cocaine was associated with a new type of violent behaviour resembling that which emerged during the political upheavals in Jamaica during the 1970s. One can imply that which was taking place in Jamaica during the late 1980s mirror the images of the bizarre violence that emerged during the 1970s. According to the story, the cocaine-induced killers are called “glass eyed” men. They killed babies, shot and stabbed pregnant women, raped and committied other bizarre and violent acts.

The scope of violence

The level of social disorders in the Jamaican society was said to have been caused by the bizarre violence. The story written by the socio-political thinker and public opinion pollster charged that the dominant form of violence in Jamaica was not associated with tribal politics like in the 1970s. He wrote that the scope of violence that emerged across the country took on new formations, among them:

* increased domestic violence;

* violence between family members;

* increased tensions between teachers and students, parents and teachers; and

* a serious breakdown of discipline in Jamaica.

History is repeating itself, a repeat of high levels of violence, murders, and social disorder from the late 1980s that are reflective in present-day realities in Jamaica. Our political leaders must look to history in order to understand what is happening.

It appears that both the Government and the Opposition do not have a clue as to what is happening; both are focused on the symptoms and not the root cause. It is clear that the story about corporal punishment is not associated with the level of crime and violence in Jamaica and is far from the truth.

Let us not fool ourselves, Jamaica has the most churches per square mile and the Christian religion which has been around since slavery and was given the responsibility to educate the ex-slaves has failed in guiding the country along the path of a morally outstanding society. The real issue is that the mission of the Church’s was not to help in the Emancipation process but to contribute to the social control of the ex-slaves. It is against this background that this plan the Government and Opposition have to involve the Church in the process to manage violence and crime is a monumental waste of time.

Divine intervention cannot help us out of this crisis.

Louis E A Moyston, PhD, is a consultant and radio talk show presenter. Send comments to the Jamaica Observer or thearchives01@yahoo.com.