Dear Editor,

Politics in Jamaica can be loud, aggressive, and, at times, downright disrespectful. I know because I lived through it in the heat of this last election. I walked the streets of St Elizabeth South Western and listened to the voices of ordinary people. I also listened carefully to the tone of the campaigns. What struck me most was the difference in posture.

On one side stood the Jamaica Labour Party’s Floyd Green. On the other, his opponent, the female People’s National Party (PNP) candidate, Miranda Wellington, who made headlines with the now-viral declaration: “…if a war, a war”. That line was repeated with what sounded like pride, as if hostility and combativeness were the ultimate show of strength. And this wasn’t confined to the constituency alone. On the national stage, the posture was the same. I even spoke with a prominent PNP supporter who admitted without hesitation that the entire approach towards the prime minister was simply a “hit job”. That was the party’s strategy. That was its vision. Tear down the JLP Leader Dr Andrew Holness with exaggerations — hit him squarely between the eyes.

As a young Jamaican woman, it disturbed me. Because this is the political culture so many of us are stepping into as we consider public life. If the example before us is that leadership equals hostility, that politics is about tearing others down, that strength is measured in insults, then what are we really building?

On the side of the JLP I witnessed something different. I saw first-hand a leader who chose not to fight fire with fire. Green’s campaign was not about dragging others down, it was about lifting people up. His tone was measured. His focus was steady. It wasn’t flashy or theatrical, but it was real. And for me, as someone working on the ground, it was refreshing.

This is the politics I admire in Green and Dr Holness. Dr Holness has brought Jamaican politics far from the past that scarred our country. The 1980 General Election was marked by violence and division, aligned with the PNP’s chilling present-day slogan ‘Blood and Fire’. It was a time when politics too often meant fear, intimidation, and confrontation. Contrast that with today, when the JLP has consistently put forward a different message: ‘Choose Jamaica’. The distinction could not be clearer. One calls us to hostility, the other to nation-building.

And the dangers of hostility are not just history lessons. Look abroad. The recent assassination of right-wing US political activist Charlie Kirk is a stark reminder that political differences should never result in death. When rhetoric normalises violence it becomes only a matter of time before someone takes it literally. That is why Jamaica had to move away from the old blood and fire politics and why, even in this election, we rejected the PNP’s posture of hostility. We cannot afford to make ‘war talk’ or ‘hit jobs’ the language of leadership.

Women in politics especially must take heed. We can be firm, passionate, and uncompromising without being bitter or vulgar. We can command respect without sacrificing respectability. We don’t need to scream to prove our point. Our daughters deserve better examples than that.

I don’t pretend politics is easy; it is one of the roughest spaces to survive in. But the old model of war talk and hit jobs will not move Jamaica forward. What will move us forward is calm, consistent, respectful leadership that inspires confidence, even among those who disagree.

That is why I am proud to stand with Member of Parliament-elect Green. Proud to stand with Dr Holness and the JLP. Because beyond the votes and the headlines, they represent a kind of politics that says respect is still strength.

And as we do a post-mortem of the general election, the PNP must come to terms with the truth: Jamaica has no place for this kind of politics anymore. We have rejected it and we will not accept its return.

Kenneisha R Campbell

Communications specialist

kenneisharenae@gmail.com