Causes of turmoil in Jamaica
By Pat Chin
Some months ago, an upsurge of violence in Jamaica was
featured prominently in the big-business news. Absent, however,
was any in-depth analysis of the complex social problems facing
the Caribbean island-nation.
Missing from the coverage was Jamaica's long history of
slavery and colonialism, with their legacy of severe class
divisions, racism and poverty. The role of capitalist financial
institutions like the International Monetary Fund and World
Bank, their relationship to U.S. transnational companies
operating in the country and how they deliberately prevent
development were, of course, omitted.
General elections are set for next year, and political
loyalties are very intense in
Jamaica. This historical fact, no doubt, has contributed to the
upsurge of violence involving factions from the Jamaica Labor
Party (JLP) and the ruling People's National Party (PNP), as
well as the repressive forces of the state--the army and
police.
Politically motivated gang wars are nothing new. In fact,
the first recorded flareup of election-related violence took
place in 1967 in the West Kingston constituency of Edward
Seaga, a pro-Washington conservative member of parliament who
now also heads the JLP.
Killings in West Kingston
The latest clashes started in early May after three PNP
activists were shot and killed. They included William Moore, a
gang boss and popular community leader said to be involved in
the drug trade. Many Jamaicans are forced into this line of
work due to poverty.
Retaliations soon followed with more people being gunned
down. The toll increased when on July 5 members of the security
forces raided the West Kingston neighborhoods of Tivoli Gardens
and Denham Town--JLP strongholds--claiming to be looking for
guns.
Two bystanders were immediately slain in the fierce gun
battles that erupted.
When the four-day police siege finally ended, 27 people had
been killed and close to 50 wounded. The deceased included
three cops and a soldier and two people who succumbed to
chronic illnesses because they were unable to get to the
hospital.
JLP head Seaga, who represents the areas, accused the
government of fomenting violence--including the police
assault--to embarrass him as a pre-election ploy.
Facing sharp criticism, Prime Minister P. J. Patterson
responded by sending Security Minister K. D. Knight to the
former colonial masters in London, begging for more equipment,
including armored vehicles and training for the security
forces. Weeks later, Patterson announced the establishment of a
commission of inquiry into the violence.
"The problems are in Kingston," said Knight in an interview
published in the July 24 issue of the Toronto Star. "The rest
of Jamaica is not a problem.... The current trouble is nothing
to do with politics or political gangs."
In late July, an additional five people were shot dead "in
clashes between gunmen from rival areas dominated by the
opposition Jamaica Labor Party or the ruling People's National
Party," reported the Aug. 3 issue of Caribbean Daylight. Since
then, sporadic outbreaks of election-related violence have
continued.
Class politics and globalization
What are the causes of the turmoil now convulsing Jamaican
society, which has seen a steep rise in acts of desperation
leading to so-called criminal activity? A look at the country's
history from a class point of view and for the impact of what
would today be called "globalization" is most instructive.
Jamaica had enjoyed rapid industrial growth during the 1950s
and 1960s as the bauxite industry boomed. Multinational
companies like Alcan, Alcoa, Reynolds and Kaiser raked in huge
profits. Despite this, however, the majority of the
population--mostly dark-skinned Jamaicans of African
ancestry--remained poor.
In the 1970s the economy almost totally collapsed due to a
downturn in bauxite prices and the skyrocketing cost of oil. In
addition, the CIA had moved to destabilize the new progressive
government headed by Michael Manley, the PNP candidate who had
been elected in a 1972 landslide.
The bloody CIA campaign, which exploited Jamaica's history
of politically motivated gang warfare, left over 750 people
dead. It also had a negative impact on tourism and caused the
flight of capital and a "brain-drain" of skilled labor from the
island, which was calculated to wreck the economy.
U.S.-backed Edward Seaga won the next elections in 1980,
running on an anti-Communist platform aimed at Cuba, while
promising prosperity. He quickly established close ties with
Washington and received unprecedented amounts of financial aid,
backed by the Reagan administration, for his commitment to
restoring the so-called free enterprise system.
Through the Seaga regime, the IMF, the World Bank and the
United States Agency for International Development dictated
structural changes to Jamaica's manufacturing sector that
refocused production on exports. The government reduced
tariffs, opening Jamaica up to cheap U.S. imports and
capital-intensive industry. This displaced many of Jamaica's
small farmers and traditional enterprises.
The Seaga government also devalued the Jamaican dollar,
implemented IMF wage guidelines and suppressed unions.
Although tourism rebounded between 1980 and 1986, Seaga was
unable to turn the economy around. By the mid-1980s,
unemployment stood at 25 percent, and the gap between rich and
poor continued to grow under the IMF's harsh economic
policies.
In 1989, Michael Manley--no longer the anti-imperialist,
"we-are-not-for-sale" firebrand of the 1970s--was returned to
office. This time, there was no CIA attempt to destabilize his
campaign. He had been effectively subdued.
Having moderated his political views hoping to win favor
with Washington, Manley even started wearing suits and
ties.
"By 1990, after three structural adjustment loans, the
minimum hourly wage in Jamaica had fallen to U.S. $0.27, the
lowest in the Caribbean Basin region," explained a report
presented at the International Peoples' Tribunal to Judge the
G-7 most powerful economic nations, held from July 3-4, 1993 in
Tokyo, Japan.
"Due to the elimination of price controls and a series of
devaluations," continued the report, "the cost of living in
Jamaica increased 1,888 percent between 1977 and 1991,
outstripping teachers' pay hikes, for instance, by two-plus
times....
"Public-health expenditures were progressively cut starting
in 1979 until they fell to only 6 percent of the total national
budget in 1987; in 1988, fees were raised in public hospitals
used mainly by the poor (particularly children) as part of a
cost-recovery system." The cutbacks also resulted in a
resurgence of diseases associated with malnutrition, like
gastro-enteritis and typhoid, as well as an increase in
illiteracy.
The Jamaican economy has been further devastated by the
upsurge of capitalist globalization that followed the collapse
of the Soviet Union. Successive governments-- PNP
included--have implemented the IMF's structural adjustment
program in return for short-term loans to be repaid at
exorbitant interest rates.
Jamaica's external debt--U.S. $800 million in the 1970s--had
risen to $4 billion by the end of the 1980s. It now stands at
$7 billion. As a result, 52 cents of every dollar of the Gross
National Product now goes towards paying just the interest on
the debt. Although the country is not receiving any new funds
from the IMF, the government is still reportedly implementing
its guidelines.
In 1997 unemployment was still very high at 16.9 percent,
according to official figures. This included the loss of 18,000
jobs since the North American Free Trade Agreement was
implemented in 1994.
Next: The
history of slavery, colonialism and resistance.
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