The flip side of society

Long before we had CD and MP3 technology for compacting, storing and retrieving music, we had vinyl records. They always had a flip side so, while side A was being played, side B was silently spinning on the underside. And, if we flipped the record over and listened to side B, we would sometimes be surprised at what we heard.

Our society reminds me of a vinyl record, most of us get along by only acknowledging side A, while conveniently ignoring the existence or possible impact of side B. We know that it is there, but we don't pay it any mind unless and until it is played and can't be ignored any longer. Now that the flip side of our society is demonstrating their undying support for their 'president', most of civil Jamaica is reacting with surprise, fear, anger and disgust.

Internal megaphone broadcast 'instruc-tions' to the residents of Tivoli Gardens, sandbags, barricades in public streets, repor-tedly electrified barbed wires, potentially explosive LPG cylinders, large tyres, debris, high-powered weapons, heavily-armed thugs, illegal marches, overtly expressed faith in and a willingness to die for their 'president' (with quasi-religious fervour), orchestrated violent attacks against (our) law and order and murders are all symptomatic of anti-social programming and loyalty to a state within the State. People are willing to kill and sacrifice everything for their 'president' because he is everything to them.

Victimised people

I am not for 'donmanship' because it comes with a terrible price. However, we should never simply write off as criminals and disruptive miscreants all our people who staunchly defend and depend on the 'president' and similar ilk (for food, clothes, shelter, education, 'justice' and protection); they are the used, the abused, the neglected, the needy and the desperate. They are also victims - the people from the sector of society that politics takes advantage of because of their poverty and lack of the essential tool for upward mobility (education).

Instead of ensuring real independence for everyone, politics divided our poor, tribalised the inner-cities, facilitated violence and strived to render all classes of society dependent (on handouts - to the poor and on contracts/favours - to the middle and upper classes). These things were done solely to secure votes and, therefore, power. But, in the case of our poor, the resultant system (of dependency) outgrew the instigators and, since nature abhors a vacuum, people like the 'president' filled the gap and the rest is history.

Where does the money come from?

Supporting and protecting hundreds of thousands of people requires massive capital and a strong power-base. And therein lies the crux of the current allegation by the United States of America ... their assertion that the capital and 'tools' to enforce that strong power-base were achieved by illegal transnational activities.

We must be extremely mindful of the fact that our real problems have little to do with any one man; our real problems are the long-standing and entrenched circumstances (selfish political principles and decrepit social programmes) that led to the emergence of inner-city benefactors. We must provide viable alternatives; we must take responsibility for our less fortunate, otherwise we risk swapping one benefactor for another and/or swapping organised crime for disorganised crime and dispersing a plague as yet unseen and unimagined upon our fragile and susceptible society.

The limited state of emergency for Kingston and St Andrew was necessary but interminable questions will arise regarding how some Tivoli residents lost their lives. Hopefully, the recent happenings will revamp our politics, heighten our social awareness and bring to the fore the plight of our disenfranchised brothers, sisters and children.

Garth A. Rattray is a medical doctor with a family practice. Feedback may be sent to garthrattray@gmail.com or columns@gleanerjm.com.