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Avoiding total takeover by the street
MARK WIGNALL
Thursday, October 22, 2009
There is something about the street that is at once pragmatic as it is totally devoid of the rules which govern civilised behaviour in the wider society.
MARK WIGNALL
The street is, of course, the no-longer-young woman hustling numbers in the ghetto for Mr Chin, the streetside vendor across the road having his son prepare plastic sachets of ganja for retail sale with his bun-and-cheese, the hard-working hairdresser employing two girls but "tiefing" electricity, and the million and one other stories which bring themselves together among persistently unemployed men who gather in rum bars and in backyards and at corner shops throughout Jamaica.
But the street recognises the legitimacy of the large supermarket on the edge of its social and economic space while fostering an understanding that the owner must not just have tax relevance and lawful status to that nebulous entity called government. It must also show added relevance to the "laws" of the street if only because the street has the power to burn it down tomorrow night.
For that reason, boys from the street will assist Mr Supermarket Operator to dump debris illegally from his building expansion site not purely for the money, it may seem, but also because every single time the street performs an illegality for "lawful" entities, the street carves out an extra chunk of the state's legitimacy.
Indeed, it could be said that it has been the state which has been giving the street increasing legitimacy by the failure of the state to prove, over the last 40 years, that it is anything else than an oppressor and worse, a "downpresser". An oppressor holds you back and pens you in. A "downpresser" rubs your nose in the ground, tells you how good it feels and is never afraid to unleash its scared and (as a result) dangerous security forces on the street, wholesale.
A few months ago the prime minister informed us that the tax administration department had run about 500 names of well-known professionals estimated to be in the very high income range through its computers. At the end of the exercise, very few if any of the names showed up in the database. Meanwhile, in a little country town some time ago, at least one politician whom I knew of, paid for equipment to allow for constituents to connect illegally to the NWC pipes. There are "cables" of electric wires from many depressed communities running under roadways, then up JPS poles where they are connected illegally. The JPS never makes a loss on this because those who pay must pay for those who do not pay.
So that extra on the light bill is one of the "extras" the state (unwittingly?) imposes on the law-abiding citizens in an attempt to collect from some in the net who refuse to pay taxes on $10 million-plus per year incomes.
In the 1970s when Michael Manley began the Special Employment Programme, called crash programme by all, I believe it was more a social pressure valve release than any real attempt at restructuring the society's social imbalance. It was an attempt by the state to say to the street that it understood the pain of the people closest to it. It was met by the typical political response: throw some money at it.
A senior JLP politician said to me recently: "Most of you have been criticising the government over the crime rate. The fact is, by the time the policeman gets involved, the murder is history. What more do you want the police to do?"
I said to him, "Looks like you guys have been meeting regularly because just yesterday one of your colleagues said the same thing to me. I agree with what you say about murders, but when you were in Opposition I don't recall Derrick Smith or you analysing it in that manner." In quick time he switched to another subject.
I have seen no evidence that the quality of detective work in the JCF has been on the increase. Whether out of reasons of police corruption, that is, "selling out" of cases when an accused being investigated pays off the police to drop the case or make it die on the vine, or simply poor quality detective work by the police, over the years people committing murder know that they have about an 80 per cent chance of walking away free.
The street saw that where wrongs were committed, those who were financially strong or socially connected would walk through the justice system and walk away to thumb their noses at the poor and powerless. So, as the state failed on this, the street carved out its own crude system. It gave the criminal don his "government" and he accepted that it was his role to build on the failures of "law and order" as set out in the constitution. He evolved as the state proved its impotence and willingness towards devolution of its mandate to the people.
So he held court and his tools of justice were simple. A pickaxe stuck hard across the shin or arm for robbery. A sharpened machete for the neck in the case of rape and a shot in the head for murdering one of "our own". In between the extremes, restitution was ordered and there would be terrible sanctions if this was not met in a timely fashion.
While the government has the right to pick on taxi and bus drivers, questions of its moral legitimacy will always rise up to bite it on the face when the street hears about and watches two elected politicians, facing (by no means flippant) allegations and charges of corruption, continue in office as if the circumstances have further empowered them to do so.
The street will only begin to lose its legitimacy when the mass of the people of this country see value in obeying the law. When the streets see elected politicians walking tall amid damaging public perceptions, people at the bottom of the society look on and they know which system is broken and which one works for their benefit.
<span style="font-weight: bold">In the 1970s, one infamous PNP gunman/enforcer/contractor (who was later taken out) who always wore his welder's goggles, had a signal which indicated that someone was going to be shot dead. He modelled it after Clint Eastwood movies.</span> In the latter part of that decade, he faced off with a JLP politician, now minister, on a building site in New Kingston.
"Jesus, when mi si 'im draw 'im gun and hol' it up inna di air, me know seh... dead now," said an eyewitness to the event. He then described how the JLP politician began to tremble violently. "Ah dat save 'im all when 'im haffi lef fi 'im gun inna him waist and hold up him han' an' beg..."
It's time for this government to begin the process of having commonality of interest with the lawful elements inside the police force. Until then, the street will continue to enforce "justice" and the politicians will continue to tremble and hide in fear. As long as that happens, the best sound we will hear from this administration we elected is, "cluck, cluck, cluck.".
[email protected]
MARK WIGNALL
Thursday, October 22, 2009
There is something about the street that is at once pragmatic as it is totally devoid of the rules which govern civilised behaviour in the wider society.
MARK WIGNALL
The street is, of course, the no-longer-young woman hustling numbers in the ghetto for Mr Chin, the streetside vendor across the road having his son prepare plastic sachets of ganja for retail sale with his bun-and-cheese, the hard-working hairdresser employing two girls but "tiefing" electricity, and the million and one other stories which bring themselves together among persistently unemployed men who gather in rum bars and in backyards and at corner shops throughout Jamaica.
But the street recognises the legitimacy of the large supermarket on the edge of its social and economic space while fostering an understanding that the owner must not just have tax relevance and lawful status to that nebulous entity called government. It must also show added relevance to the "laws" of the street if only because the street has the power to burn it down tomorrow night.
For that reason, boys from the street will assist Mr Supermarket Operator to dump debris illegally from his building expansion site not purely for the money, it may seem, but also because every single time the street performs an illegality for "lawful" entities, the street carves out an extra chunk of the state's legitimacy.
Indeed, it could be said that it has been the state which has been giving the street increasing legitimacy by the failure of the state to prove, over the last 40 years, that it is anything else than an oppressor and worse, a "downpresser". An oppressor holds you back and pens you in. A "downpresser" rubs your nose in the ground, tells you how good it feels and is never afraid to unleash its scared and (as a result) dangerous security forces on the street, wholesale.
A few months ago the prime minister informed us that the tax administration department had run about 500 names of well-known professionals estimated to be in the very high income range through its computers. At the end of the exercise, very few if any of the names showed up in the database. Meanwhile, in a little country town some time ago, at least one politician whom I knew of, paid for equipment to allow for constituents to connect illegally to the NWC pipes. There are "cables" of electric wires from many depressed communities running under roadways, then up JPS poles where they are connected illegally. The JPS never makes a loss on this because those who pay must pay for those who do not pay.
So that extra on the light bill is one of the "extras" the state (unwittingly?) imposes on the law-abiding citizens in an attempt to collect from some in the net who refuse to pay taxes on $10 million-plus per year incomes.
In the 1970s when Michael Manley began the Special Employment Programme, called crash programme by all, I believe it was more a social pressure valve release than any real attempt at restructuring the society's social imbalance. It was an attempt by the state to say to the street that it understood the pain of the people closest to it. It was met by the typical political response: throw some money at it.
A senior JLP politician said to me recently: "Most of you have been criticising the government over the crime rate. The fact is, by the time the policeman gets involved, the murder is history. What more do you want the police to do?"
I said to him, "Looks like you guys have been meeting regularly because just yesterday one of your colleagues said the same thing to me. I agree with what you say about murders, but when you were in Opposition I don't recall Derrick Smith or you analysing it in that manner." In quick time he switched to another subject.
I have seen no evidence that the quality of detective work in the JCF has been on the increase. Whether out of reasons of police corruption, that is, "selling out" of cases when an accused being investigated pays off the police to drop the case or make it die on the vine, or simply poor quality detective work by the police, over the years people committing murder know that they have about an 80 per cent chance of walking away free.
The street saw that where wrongs were committed, those who were financially strong or socially connected would walk through the justice system and walk away to thumb their noses at the poor and powerless. So, as the state failed on this, the street carved out its own crude system. It gave the criminal don his "government" and he accepted that it was his role to build on the failures of "law and order" as set out in the constitution. He evolved as the state proved its impotence and willingness towards devolution of its mandate to the people.
So he held court and his tools of justice were simple. A pickaxe stuck hard across the shin or arm for robbery. A sharpened machete for the neck in the case of rape and a shot in the head for murdering one of "our own". In between the extremes, restitution was ordered and there would be terrible sanctions if this was not met in a timely fashion.
While the government has the right to pick on taxi and bus drivers, questions of its moral legitimacy will always rise up to bite it on the face when the street hears about and watches two elected politicians, facing (by no means flippant) allegations and charges of corruption, continue in office as if the circumstances have further empowered them to do so.
The street will only begin to lose its legitimacy when the mass of the people of this country see value in obeying the law. When the streets see elected politicians walking tall amid damaging public perceptions, people at the bottom of the society look on and they know which system is broken and which one works for their benefit.
<span style="font-weight: bold">In the 1970s, one infamous PNP gunman/enforcer/contractor (who was later taken out) who always wore his welder's goggles, had a signal which indicated that someone was going to be shot dead. He modelled it after Clint Eastwood movies.</span> In the latter part of that decade, he faced off with a JLP politician, now minister, on a building site in New Kingston.
"Jesus, when mi si 'im draw 'im gun and hol' it up inna di air, me know seh... dead now," said an eyewitness to the event. He then described how the JLP politician began to tremble violently. "Ah dat save 'im all when 'im haffi lef fi 'im gun inna him waist and hold up him han' an' beg..."
It's time for this government to begin the process of having commonality of interest with the lawful elements inside the police force. Until then, the street will continue to enforce "justice" and the politicians will continue to tremble and hide in fear. As long as that happens, the best sound we will hear from this administration we elected is, "cluck, cluck, cluck.".
[email protected]
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