Let's hold up the mirror

Dennie Quill, Contributor

THE FAMOUS quote by Edmund Burke has been playing on my mind all week: "All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing."

All the evil that is emanating from Tivoli Gardens has come about because for too long the good among us have done nothing. The name Heather Robinson may not mean much to some, but she has my deepest admiration for walking away from politics in protest against the aspiring don who wanted to be part of her team. Back in the 1990s, she was a member of Parliament (MP) in a tough South Central St Catherine constituency and she spurned the attention of the enforcer or don and gave up the seat.

The People's National Party (PNP) runs deep in Ms Robinson's vein. I believe she still continues her activism but is no longer in representational politics. Ms Robinson scored no great points for the stance she took and none of her fellow MPs publicly sided with her. Politics is indeed a male sport and, silenced by the demands of party loyalty, none of the other 59 MPs did anything. Instead, they continued to fraternise with thugs, often labelling them area leaders when it was an open secret that they were armed enforcers steadily building their influence and profile in the various com-munities. This so-called political liaison, often uneducated, coarse and fearsome, was known as the 'go to' guy for anything from an audience with the political repre-sentative to acquiring visas, work, guns and money.

Reversal of roles

Time and again I have written about the profound lack of commitment by our politicians to solve the crime that has been hurting our people and impeding our progress. But it is clear that many of our politicians have lost power to the don who is now able to exploit the grievances of the inner-city poor while fattening their wallets with crazy dollars. In a reversal of roles, sometimes it is the politicians who must now do the bidding of the don, if he or she wants to remain in power.

Now, in the days ahead, politicians, commentators and civil society will dissect the Tivoli saga to determine how the tragedy occured and what can be done to prevent it happening in any other community in Jamaica. The post-mortem examination will find that we are all guilty of doing nothing.

When the Tivoli Gardens enclave was being built, many felt that something sinister was happening behind those high-rise buildings, but we said nothing. When former Commissioner of Police Francis Forbes announced that murder most foul was being committed in Tivoli Gardens and attempted to send his men in there, he was roundly castigated and humiliated. We did nothing. When former Prime Minister Edward Seaga, who created Tivoli Gardens, named Christo-pher Coke and 12 others as troublemakers to be interrogated and possibly charged for crimes, the then commissioner of police did nothing.

There are many stories of private-sector leaders who calmly pay extortion money but deny it in public. Those of us who heard things and pretended to be deaf or saw things and pretended to be blind must share the blame.

Dismantling garrisons

After nearly 30 years of deep linkages between politicians and thugs, we now see the first tangible signs that the ties are about to be severed, for Tivoli Gardens will never be the same after this week. And Arnett Gardens and Norwood will wonder who is next? We have the Americans to thank for this, although the target of the extradition request and the timing have left many asking whether the Americans were wearing blinkers for all these years when assorted dons have been flexing their muscles. But that's for another column.

The next step for Jamaica is how do we dismantle the garrisons? The call has been loud but there are no clear guidelines about how this can be done, but there are examples from places like Italy and we hope that our MPs will see this as a priority. Tinkering with the existing system will not do; we need systemic change and must confront this problem of garrison politics without flinching.

Dennie Quill is a veteran journalist. Feedback may be sent to columns@gleanerjm.com.