Jamaicans for Justice – evolving out of the gas riots

It’s been five years to the day when the infamous gas riots of April 1999, a spontaneous nationwide reaction to the announcement of an increase in gas prices by the Government, brought the country to its knees, suspending for three days all social and economic activity.

It was from this mottled period of Jamaican history that the group Jamaicans for Justice (JFJ) was born. JFJ, a non-partisan, non-governmental organisation (NGO) is a volunteer citizen’s rights action group, advocating for changes in the judicial, economic, social and political fabric of Jamaican society.

According to its executive director, Dr Carolyn Gomes, the organisation started when a group of demonstrators, of which she was a part, tried to articulate the deeper meaning of the spontaneous, often-violent eruption of demonstrations and civil unrest and the core anger and frustration which seemed to fuel them. “The price of gas had very little to do with it,” Gomes said.

An assessment made with hindsight. Gomes went on to relate that the group that she was a part of was demonstrating at the gas station at Jacks Hill. There was another similar demonstration taking place simultaneously right across the road, the Barbican Road, which splits uptown from downtown and which was seen by Gomes and her co-demonstrators as a glaring metaphor for the division that is a major ailment of Jamaican society. “The placards,” Gomes noted, “were all basically saying the same thing.”

By the end of that first day both parties on either side of the divide had come together. “The next day, it was a party there. People brought (food).the only thing we didn’t have was a sound system so people opened the backs of their cars.pumping out Bob Marley and Peter Tosh. There was no violence.just a sense of oneness.those of us who’d felt that spirit wanted to find a way forward.”

So, continuing a rich tradition of gutsy, pioneer Caribbean women, Gomes became instrumental in forming the group, which would emerge a major vehicle in bringing about the change. Jamaicans for Justice, which Gomes quickly pointed out also has a good mixture of men and vibrant young people in its ranks, was born. There was the desire to carry forward that sense of connection experienced at the gas station between the middle and working classes, who proved to have more in common than previously believed. The experiences were marked by the similar outpouring of frustration at the continued sacrifices demanded of the populace and not of the political leaders, in addition to the unfairness in public life and the inability of the majority to access justice.

To that end, the group’s mandate/mission statement is to implement a vision of “a Jamaica where the rights of all are ensured, where there is equal opportunity for citizens to realise their full potential and enjoy a sense of well-being, and where our culture is enhanced and respect shared”.

The organisation’s office is based at the Stella Maris Foundation Building located at 1 Grants Pen Road. It became a Limited liability company in October 1999. It boasts to date a 200-plus membership in both MoBay and Kingston, headed by an elected 12-member Board of Directors, with the main committees being the Response Team, the Issues Committee, and the Communication and Education Committee. JFJ is funded mainly by fundraising events and international donor agencies with their biggest success to date being the donation from USAID for a Research and Documentation Centre, a library for human rights documentation, located on the premises.

The group has not evolved without its share of controversy. Indeed, it has blazed new trails in watch-dogging the various instruments of the State and achieved much-including their first clients, 52 youths from Grant’s Pen who suffered abuse at the hands of the police and those who signed up with the group to make a formal complaint were, afterwards, monetarily compensated by the Government. It is also probably best known for its championing of the Michael Gayle case – which is still ongoing. But there have been sharp criticisms levelled at the group that it is anti-government, biased and especially silent when injustices are meted out to the police.

Gomes is unfazed by those criticisms, however.

“We do actually respond when police get killed in the line of duty… when people get killed carrying out their civic duty that’s an assault on the justice system and we do come out against it,” she told all woman. “.but the point is that’s why you set up a judiciary because you know that there are criminals who will do bad things and so you set up a whole apparatus for dealing with that.where we don’t have an apparatus is where it’s the police that are trying to break down your door.”

The group, which has received accolades like the Gleaner Honour Award and the Royal Netherlands Embassy Wooden Shoe Award in its five-year history, in the meantime plans to press on with its work and is committed to providing a formidable force to be reckoned with. It is overseeing over 300 cases. “There are problems within the justice system, the health system and the answer is not to form one more squad. We deserve more than that,” said Gomes. “Money is not the answer.the government has been good at throwing money at breaches of rights.but it doesn’t change anything unless you hold people accountable .what is at stake here is people being held responsible.”