Ronald Thwaites | Origins of our distemper

There is a strong correlation between gang membership and family breakdown as predictors of social disorder. In their few less desperate moments, the government ministers understand that but, self-shackled to existing structures, do nothing about it.

Look at the evidence and the social enquiry reports of the recent One Don murder convicts as well as the thousands of other prisoners increasingly, expensively and futilely packed in our Black Holes of Calcutta, o/c prisons, to reveal the spiritually, materially and socially impoverished backgrounds of the majority. No father figure, frassed-out mothers, no Sunday or Sabbath school, irregular or pointless schooling; no self-restraint except that imposed by poverty, hunger or bad company.

INTRA FAMILY VIOLENCE

Then look closely at the increasing conflict among intimate partners- of all classes: often erupting into lingering animosity, violence and in extreme but nowadays not infrequent cases, the gushing of little children’s blood which no SOE or licence to “shoot to kill” can ever stanch. But we don’t really promote stable relationships, do we. Why do so many young single mothers remain unmarried? Why continue to lionize men with multiple baby mothers?

Check Don Anderson to confirm that justifiable fear of crime (rebel or official) is sapping our confidence to be productive and “live gud”. Yet we continue to do little positive despite the indisputable evidence that people from stable homes, children isolated from morally destructive media and street exposure; undertaking purposeful activity (aka work!) and sturdy civic, humane and religious schooling: all are the proven ingredients for socially adjusted lives.

So we continue to invest billions more in fighting crime than in curbing crime. There are reasonably adequate education dollars but most spent on exam preparation rather than character formation and correction.

Of course the children are watching us carefully. Check the TV ads which project that becoming a millionaire at 20 or dressing up to puss-backfoot are the high points of life. Weddings and funerals are no exceptions. We pretend convincingly that pose and dash are proofs of healthy relationships and social validation.

Comments last week indicate that those in authority both at home and at school are more concerned with grooming than with literacy. By what perversion of school board authority is there a suggestion about “democracy in school grooming”? our children are beautiful in uniform.

DREAM OR NIGHTMARE?

Last week the Prime Minister was heard, plaintively, encouraging voters not to give up on the “prosperity” dream. But Most Honourable, a dream deferred for seven years and counting may truthfully be described as a mirage – or a nightmare. Mr. Holness reminds me of the hapless Hugh Shearer in 1971. Now as then, the leader of government just can’t fathom how ordinary people fail to appreciate the benefits supposedly made available to them. The subliminal question then as now is what can kind of life the average Jamaican can realistically expect as a result of their effort and loyalty.

SUFFICIENCY AND PROSPERITY

Most of us no longer rely on the promises and projections of our leaders. Who refers to Vision 2030 any more? Instead of prosperity, let us talk about the ingredients of sufficiency. St. Augustine used to pray to avoid both poverty and riches. Both corrupt the human spirit.

National policy and personal behaviour should aspire towards committed relationships as the prerequisite to parenting. Then the guarantee, regardless of means, of decent health care, affordable food and quality education. Idleness and joblessness are not attributes of freedom. They undermine the sufficiency of the community and corrode the human spirit -similar to slavery. Decent, modest housing, wrought by the combination of personal effort and state facilitation is another important element of sufficiency.(Boasting about less than 200 houses provided when 40,000 were promised and triple that needed, encourages derision and incredulity – not admiration.

Campaign Agendas

These are the things we should demand of ourselves and political candidates and parties in this and all campaign seasons. I contend that basic sufficiency for all is achievable within our resources and in our lifetimes. Provide Jamaicans with the credible prospect of attaining basic values, goods and services and our paranoia about crime and violence will subside. Modest middle-class living should be our national trajectory. Prosperity connotes “high-chest”, is inherently unequal and has proven unachievable in our context.

DUCKING OUT ON HUMANITY

The General Assembly of the United Nations adopted a resolution put forward by Jordan for the protection of civilians and upholding legal and humanitarian obligations in the Gaza crisis. 120 nations voted in favour and 14 against with 45 abstentions. Jamaica did not vote on this resolution. We need to know why. Kamina’s excuse is embarrassing.

It is not to be anti-Palestinian to rail against the slaughter by Hamas of innocent Israelis. Long-denied their homeland, just as Jews were, that invasion on October 7, however provoked, can never be justified by a nation like ours whose stance on human rights is in the blood-stream of our tortured history. Equally, it is not to be anti-Semitic to condemn the on-going pogrom, approaching Holocaust-style genocide, being waged by Israel against the humans in Gaza. There is a huge moral and practical difference between defensive retaliation and vengeful recrimination. Twelve CARICOM states voted for the resolution. One abstained.

Where is Jamaica’s principled voice on this issue? Where is the continuity of Hugh Shearer’s courageous defence of human rights at the United Nations in the late 1960s; the championing of the cause of African liberation in later decades? Recently, our principled non-aligned foreign policy seems to have been abandoned for servility to big-power follow-fashion.

Persons of Jewish and Arab ancestry coexist in Jamaica. That example alone should propel us to be engaged and even-handed in our approach to the current war. Lining up at Trump’s kitchen door was a bad sign. Our ‘pee-pee cluck-cluck’ position regarding Venezuela and generally in inter-American affairs has been to our detriment, not least in excluding us from another phase of a PetroCaribe oil deal.

The humane soul of the Jamaican people has been betrayed by our leaders’ failure to stand up for life, fairness, peace and justice in Gaza. Tomorrow should not pass without an apology and reparatory action.

Rev Ronald G. Thwaites is an attorney-at-law. He is former member of parliament for Kingston Central and was the minister of education. He is the principal of St Michael’s College at the UWI. Send feedback to columns@gleanerjm.com.