Bob Marley Beach saga

“A nation should not be judged by how it treats its highest citizens, but by how it treats its lowest ones.”

– Nelson Mandela

To the Jamaican Government, opposing leaders and other ‘powers that be’, how are you treating ordinary Jamaicans and the most vulnerable groups? Are you continuously dispossessing and perpetrating against their equal rights and social justice? Supposedly, the nation’s absolute poverty, riddled with crime and violence, gives credence to this response!

The Ministry of Housing, Urban Renewal, Environment and Climate Change is responsible for overseeing the “sustainable growth and development” of Jamaica in key portfolio areas such as environment and risk management, housing policy and research, real estate, and climate change, among others.

However, there are imminents threat on the horizon!

• The threat of Jamaicans losing FREE access to the Bob Marley Beach as they have with the commercialisation of countless other beaches.

• The threat of gentrification (displacement and destruction of an entire community and a culture of Rastafari)

• The threat of livelihoods being annihilated in and around the surrounding area

Persons may argue, though, that Jamaica has long fallen prey to those threats.

Damion Coombs reinforced the above quote in his article The Exclusion of the Citizen from Jamaica’s Beaches by adding: “The fact that we can treat the beach as an asset to be saleable is evidence of how low this country sees its citizens and how little we value the beach’s ecological importance.”

HOW CAN CITIZENS CORRECT THIS IMPENDING CATASTROPHE?

JaBBEM, the Jamaica Beach Birthright Environmental Movement - is an advocacy group led by Dr Devon Taylor, who, seemingly, has the fortitude of a lion. He uses the tool of the Prescription Act (1882) to battle the Jamaican Government and the legislative system:

• For basic fundamental human rights and dignity.

• For protection of terrestrial ecosystem.

• Against discriminatory laws preventing ordinary Jamaicans from FREE access and use of the beach and the sea and enjoying their ecological heritage in perpetuity.

JAMAICA’S VISION 2030

Ironically, Jamaica’s Vision 2030 Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) has a provision stating that Jamaica is Leaving No one Behind while identifying said group of persons who are indeed at risk of being left behind:

• Children living in poverty

• Unemployed Youth

• Persons with Disabilities

• Residents in Rural Areas

• Older Persons

• Farmers

• Pregnant and lactating women

• Adolescents

• Informal settlers

• Fisherfolk.

Go figure!

The SDG also states that some key challenges of poverty in Jamaica are poor educational outcomes; insufficient social security, inadequate provisions for shelter and related infrastructure, lack of provisions for increasing equity in the society for disadvantaged and vulnerable groups, and calls for the eradication of poverty in all its forms. Eh! A mere Willy Wonka narrative if you ask me. A lack of any kind of substance to support this so-called “Provision”.

BEACH CONTROL ACT – 1956

The dichotomy is that there is a legislative framework in the Beach Control Act (BCA),1956 that promotes quite the opposite: inequity and discrimination against the same vulnerable group the SDG prescribes not leaving behind.

One of the conventions stipulated in Section 14 of the BCA states: “Disputes concerning the right to use any beach, any land, road, track, or pathway to gain access to such beach needs to be lodged in an appropriate Court of Law pursuant to Section 9 of the Prescription Act. Which implies that each successive Government is clearly aware that the Beach Control Act infringes on the ecological rights of its own citizens!”

Dr Devon Taylor said in a recent sitting on IMPACT 360: “The state reinforces the colonial beach laws, promotes the commercialisation of coastal spaces and refuses to take proactive steps to preserve and protect the rights of FREE access for its citizens.” Dr Taylor is convinced that access to beaches by Jamaicans should be in perpetuity and not be limited to commercial transformation for generational wealth by foreign investors - under the guise of tourism and commercial development.

BOB MARLEY BEACH SAGA!

The Bob Marley Beach saga continues as JaBBEM leads the way to proceed with matters in the Kingston Sutton Street Court later this month determined for the Government to develop a new coastal regulation policy, replacing the BCA 1956. This will afford all Jamaicans equal rights and social justice, environmental protection, general and unfettered beach and river access in perpetuity, using the legal mechanism of Prescription Law (Prescription Act, 1882).

As JaBBEM swings the pendulum through the route of a Prescription Act, we must all ensure that equality meets inequality. Therefore, commercial tourism is not sustainable if it ONLY serves a select few - that of foreign investors, the elites, and corporate Jamaica.

Sustainable development must also serve the interest of the entire nation!

Jamaica should pray that Bob Marley’s Redemption Song - “Ol’ pirates yes dey rob I, sold I to di merchant ship” - will not hold any stronger! Therefore, as Jamaicans, we need to “get up and stan’ up. Stand up for our rights!”

Kindness and compassion go a long way, so join the movement that celebrates improving lives, improving communities . Incidentally, the Marley family (namely Ziggy, Cedella, and Stephen Marley) has also joined in this movement.

All others are welcome to sign the petition on change.org: To Protect Beach Access for all Jamaicans https://chng.it/YFwcJ97PXW

Klandine Thomas is the host and producer of IMPACT 360° with Klandine. Email feedback to columns@gleanerjm.com and impact360ja@outlook.com.