KINGSTON-MOUTH

Ebola, Science and Religion

2014-11-02T12:39:00.001-08:00

The recent rise in the spread of the Ebola virus provides proof of the fact that the law of nature is totally unalterable. So much so that it cannot be changed by god himself. It raises doubts among sceptics of religion of god’s infinite power. It begs the question of god’s selective intervention into earthly catastrophes and presents him as a benefactor of scientific interventions. Therefore, the uneasy question has to be asked does he really exist or is his divine intervention manufactured by religious historians and reinforced by Pastors, Imams, Rabbis and other spiritual gurus?

Ebola is not the first pandemic to leave a frightening and devastating trail of death in the word. The Black Death disease arrived in Europe by sea in October 1347 when 12 Genoese trading ships docked at the Sicilian port of Messina after a long journey through the Black Sea. The disease was one of the most devastating pandemics in human history, resulting in the deaths of an estimated 75 to 200 million people and peaking in Europe in the years 1345–6. In other reports it is estimated to have killed 30–60% of Europe's total population. Overall, the plague reduced the world’s population from an estimated 450 million down to 350–375 million in the 14th century.

Some Christian theologians at the time of the black plague thought that the devastating plague had been sent by the almighty as a divine punishment for their sins. The only solution, some claimed, was to rid the world of the blasphemers, and to once again win the approval of the Almighty. Thousands of citizens were slain in the late 1340s in order to appease God and win back his approval. Once the majority of the plague outbreak had passed in Britain, many of the surviving peasants felt that they had been saved for some divine purpose. This had a dramatic impact on the mind- set of the peasants, which contributed to great changes for them later in the 1380s where religion became more entrenched.

Fast forward to the 21^st Century, cases of Ebola were first reported from forested areas in South-Eastern Guinea in March 2014. The outbreak has rapidly evolved and several districts and Conakry have reported cases and deaths that begun to spread rapidly. The Ebola virus came to light only in 1976, the first known outbreak. Forty years later, scientists are just starting to answer some of the most important questions about it. A small number of suspected cases and deaths have also been reported from neighbouring countries with all of them having crossed from Guinea. Confirmed cases have been reported from Guinea and Liberia where the virus is currently rife and the body bags are currently increasing and are drawing international attention. A number of Pseudo scientists and conspiracy theorists have taken to social media and the tabloid press to capitalise on the issue by exploding unhelpful myths as to the origin of the virus.

The most useful and credible scientific explanation from the WHO is that it originated in Africa. Fruit bats are believed to be the natural hosts of the Ebola virus. The virus is transmitted from wildlife to people through contact with infected fruit bats, or through intermediate hosts, such as monkeys, apes, or pigs that have become infected through contact with bat saliva or faeces. People may then become infected through contact with infected animals, either in the process of slaughtering or through consumption of blood, milk, or raw or undercooked meat.

Ebola then spreads through human-to-human transmission via direct contact (through broken skin or mucous membranes) with the blood, secretions, organs or other bodily fluids of infected people, and with surfaces and materials (e.g. bedding, clothing) contaminated with these fluids. Edward Holmes, a famous biologist at the University of Sydney in Australia recently opined. “I understand why people get nervous about this, but as scientists we need to be very careful we don’t scaremonger.”

The U.S. government now has more than $1 billion available to fight the spread of Ebola from three West African countries, where it has killed more than 4,500 people. David Cameron has laid down a challenge to European leaders to stump up 1 billion Euros to help tackle Ebola. Meanwhile British Prime Minister David Cameron posited this week that the spread of the deadly virus was the ‘biggest health problem for a generation’ - but some leaders were not doing their bit. He has written to Herman Van Rompuy, President of the European Council, to say Ebola should be placed on the agenda of next week’s Brussels summit. Mr Cameron said the 1 billion Euros would pay for 2,000 health workers to fly out to the affected West African countries, to help stem the spread of the disease.

The late Reverend Thomas Robert Malthus was an English cleric and scholar in the seventeenth Century who was influential in the fields of political economy and demography. In his essay on the Principle of Population, he observed that sooner or later population will be checked by famine and disease, leading to what is known as a Malthusian catastrophe. Malthus believed that the power of population is so superior to the power of the earth to produce subsistence for man that premature death must in some shape or other visit the human race. Protagonists of a contemporary Malthusian philosophy on population check see diseases like the Black Plague and the Ebola virus as nature’s way of checking the population. This position is somewhat untenable as in developed countries a surplus of food is being dumped while the global south is starving. It is therefore prudent to critically assess whether or not diseases like the black plague and the Ebola virus are nature’s way of regulating the global population rather than seeing it as a backlash of a pious and vengeful god’s response to man’s perceived evil.

A search for the cure for Ebola is currently on in earnest but what makes it complicated to come up with a cure is that there is more than one strand of the virus. There are currently virologists working hard in the scientific labs at the major centres of scientific research across the world for an urgent cure. Pious pastors, Imams and Rabbis have their hands clasped in prayer waiting for a scientific breakthrough so that they can claim it on behalf of god, Allah and Yahweh.

David Hume was a Scottish philosopher. He was also historian, economist, and an essayist. He is known especially for his philosophical empiricism and skepticism. He posited that no matter how scientific or rational a civilization became, the belief in miracles would never be eradicated. Human nature is such that we love the marvellous and the wondrous stories of religious, miraculous cures. The more wondrous the religious miracle sounds, the more merit we bequeath to the gods. According to Hume, history is littered with stories of vanity; delusion and “zealotry” that have led to more than one pious fraud supporting a holy and meritorious cause with gross embellishments and outright lies about witnessing miraculous events.

There are other sets of unscrupulous benefactors waiting in the wings to profit from the misfortunes of victims of the Ebola virus. They are pseudo-scientists, Obeah men, crooked fraudsters and unprincipled spiritual healers. We can expect in the current or near future a number of persons to come out of the wood work purporting to have potions and backroom manufactured tablets that can cure the Ebola virus. Like religious hacks, the criminal underworld always sees disasters as a way to fleece victims of major catastrophes. As we continue to track the impact of this disaster and await a cure it is very useful to not to make ourselves vulnerable, as science has a way of eventually sorting things out even though religion will be the eventual benefactor.

This article was written jointly by Donovan Reynolds CEO and Kevton Foster Managing Editor of Kingston-Mouth .com. Both are Independent Bloggers and Human Rights Activists who are of Jamaican descent and are legal academics that have an interest in Human Rights and International Development issues. Viewers wishing to give feedback on this article may do so in the space provided for commentary on this blog.

The Public Beheading of Alan Henning by IS -The Clash of Civilizations and The Making of a New World Order: A review of Samuel P Huntingdon’s Thesis and its Relevance to the New Wave of Global Terror By Donovan Reynolds and Kevton Foster Bloggers and Independent Writers

2014-10-05T14:12:00.001-07:00

ISIS is the unauthorised creation, Islamic State in Iraq and Syria. It is an expansion of ISI (Islamic State in Iraq) and operates in both Iraq and Syria. Until last year it was an Al-Qaeda affiliate but it has now evolved into an Al-Qaeda rival. ISIS is a very radical Islamic organization whose stated objective is to use force and military conquest to recreate the caliphate and to impose their idea of strict Islamic rule in the Middle East. It uses an image of religious wholesomeness to raise large amounts of money from donors and to recruit many volunteers from around the world to engage in jihad or the 'fight for Islam'. According to US intelligence sources ISIS, which calls itself the Islamic State, can "muster between 20,000 and 31,500 fighters across Iraq and Syria, “It is also a mafia-like organization which raises a great deal of money through extortion, and looting, selling what it has looted and kidnapping westerners and collecting large ransoms for their release.

Allan Henning, a Salford taxi driver From the United Kingdom was delivering aid to Syria in December 2012 when he was kidnapped and then held hostage by IS. IS threatened to kill him in footage released last month on the internet which showed the gruesome beheading of another British journalist David Haines, and in this video they also threatened to behead US aid worker Peter Kassig. Alan Henning a taxi driver and philanthropist had gone to Syria to help get aid to people of all faiths in their hour of need but was brutally beheaded by IS and his death was callously paraded on video across the internet as revenge for British involvement in the American led war on IS. The gruesome beheading sent shockwaves across the western word evoking rage and deep sympathies internationally. Britain and the US maintain a policy of not negotiating ransoms with terrorists while the French and the German governments are more flexible on the matter. British Prime Minister David Cameron assured Mr Henning’s family that Britain would do all it could "to hunt down his murderers and bring them to justice". This act is especially despicable to Western societies as it is not only barbaric but archaic and more indicative of warring medieval civilisations.

Therefore, it seems wholly appropriate for us to assume that we are experiencing ‘a clash of civilisations. The Clash of Civilizations is a theory, proposed by political scientist Samuel P. Huntington. He posited that people's cultural and religious identities will be the primary source of conflict in the post-Cold War era. Huntington was a former White House Coordinator of Security Planning for the National Security Council for President Jimmy Carter. Huntington began his thinking by surveying the diverse theories about the nature of global politics in the post-Cold War period. Some theorists and writers argued that human rights, liberal democracy and capitalist free market economy had become the only remaining ideological alternative for nations in the post-Cold War world. Most notably among such scholars is Francis Fukuyama who has argued that the world has reached the 'end of history' in a Hegelian sense.

Huntington believed that while the age of ideology had ended, the world had only reverted to a normal state of affairs characterised by cultural conflict. In his thesis, he argued that the primary axis of conflict in the future will be along cultural and religious lines. As an extension, he posits that the concept of different civilisations, as the highest rank of cultural identity, will become increasingly useful in analysing the potential for conflict.

In the 1993 Foreign Affairs article, Huntington wrote:

It is my hypothesis that the fundamental source of conflict in this new world will not be primarily ideological or primarily economic. The great divisions among humankind and the dominating source of conflict will be cultural. Nation states will remain the most powerful actors in world affairs, but the principal conflicts of global politics will occur between nations and groups of different civilizations. The clash of civilizations will dominate global politics. The fault lines between civilizations will be the battle lines of the future.

Huntington in his seminal thesis on the clash of civilizations explained that some of the factors contributing to this conflict are that both Christianity (which has influenced Western civilization) and Islam are missionary religions, which seek the conversion of others. Islam posits that there is no God but Allah while Christianity posits that there is no other name under heaven whereby salvation can be gained except through Jesus. This constitutes universal, "all-or-nothing" religions, in the sense that it is believed by both sides that only their faith is the correct one. Both religions are teleological who dogmatically posit that their values and beliefs represent the goals of existence and purpose in human existence. Irreligious people who violate the base principles of those religions are perceived to be furthering their own pointless aim, which leads to violent interactions.

More recent factors contributing to a Western-Islamic clash, Huntington wrote, are the Islamic resurgence and demographic explosion in Islam, coupled with the values of Western universalism—that is, the view that all civilizations should adopt Western values. This has infuriated Islamic fundamentalists. The combination of these historical and modern factors, Huntington wrote briefly in his Foreign Affairs article and in much more detail in his 1996 book, would lead to a bloody clash between the Islamic and Western civilizations.

The contemporary struggle against international terrorism is different from any other war in our history. In the case of IS the enemy is not a single political enemy but a group of Mujahedeen thugs. It is a criminal mafia network operating between Syria and Iraq but also having ties to Al-Qaeda and Boko Haram franchises. They have hijacked and corrupted the religious ideas of Islam and distorted it for extracting evil benefits and the exercise of conquests and power under the pretext of establishing an Islamic caliphate. These mafia thugs also hold the misguided belief that they should achieve their evil aim by slavery, kidnappings, robberies, geo-political conquest, beheadings, crucifixions and the forceful religious conversion of people who don’t share their seventh-century beliefs.

President Obama and the west were right on this occasion to launch air strikes on IS operations in Syria and Iraq as they pose a threat not only to the Middle East but to western countries and even those with Islamic immigrant communities. Their appeal is broad and their tentacles of recruitment have an extensive reach into the west where they recruit young vulnerable Muslims in the UK, USA, and Western Europe and as far afield place such as East Timor and Trinidad. The world must send a message to these evil morons who will stop at nothing to spread their evil brand of medieval mayhem upon us. In the same vein while we hunt them down we have to be wary of the unintended consequence of the accidental deaths of Iraqi and Syrian non-combatants so often insensitively fobbed off in the West as collateral damage. While the western governments go ahead to contain these hate mongers, it is imperative that they exercise caution and not flaunt humanitarian laws nor ignore the plight of the refugees that emerge from this conflict. It is of paramount importance that the Red Cross and other humanitarian organisations are allowed free and unfettered access to provide assistance and support to those in need as is befitting of their human dignity as stipulated in International Humanitarian Law.

This article was written jointly by Donovan Reynolds CEO and Kevton Foster Managing Editor of Kingston-Mouth .com. Both are Independent Bloggers and Human Rights Activists who are of Jamaican descent and are legal academics who have an interest in Human Rights and International Development issues. Viewers wishing to give feedback on this article may do so in the space provided for commentary on this blog.

Examining Political Apathy among Young People in Jamaica : By Donovan Reynolds& Kevton Foster Bloggers& Independent Writers

2014-09-28T07:25:00.000-07:00

The phenomenon of voter apathy in Jamaica has long been an enigma to, politicians political commentators and academics in Jamaica. This discourse seeks to excavate some of the main causes and identify, with the aid of statistics, a number of contributory variables that need to be addressed if we are to begin to engage young people in the political process. The overall aim of this dialectic is that through this and other discussions, ideas can emerge that will broaden the scope and involvement of the apathetic Jamaican voters in nation building thereby paving the way for them to be involved in a more vibrant democratic process.

Whilst dwindling voter turnout at elections in Jamaica has long been a subject of study by political commentators interested in more general issues of political participation, the reasons for the recent precipitous decline are not yet well understood. It is evident; however, that the decline is not connected solely with the “Dudus” saga, as turnout has declined in each of the last three general elections. In addition, it does not seem that the low voter decline is necessarily connected to political issues and events specific to Jamaica as other young democracies in the Caribbean and Latin America are facing the same phenomenon. Why then are young adults demonstrating such an entrenched apathy to the political process generally and voting in particular? This is the vexing question that political campaigns have been asking for decades and is a subject that deserves ongoing analysis.

Socio-economic factors significantly affect whether or not individuals develop the habit of voting. The most important socio-economic factor affecting voter turnout is education. The more educated a person is, the more likely he or she will be to exercise their right to vote. There are factors that are closely associated with high voter turn-out apart from a good educational background, such as income and class. Income, for example, has some effect independently. In developed countries wealthier people are more likely to vote, regardless of their educational attainment. However, even the wealthiest Jamaicans seem to be currently apathetic due to almost fifty years of economic decline. Furthermore this problem is further compounded given the fact that nearly two thirds of Jamaicans are functionally illiterate. There is an average of 20,000 students graduating from secondary schools every year without the necessary qualifications and skills to join the workforce This naturally exacerbates the problem of unemployment. In addition, some estimates show as much as 66% of Jamaicans between the ages of 18 to 40 are unskilled, surely this is a fertile ground for voter apathy. In essence, considering the aforementioned prevailing conditions in Jamaica, it was not surprising that there was a record low voter turnout with only 52.2% of the registered electorate casting their votes in the last General Election held in Jamaica in 2011.

Shalman Scott a former Mayor of Montego bay turned political commentator posited in 2013 that: “youths in Jamaica like everywhere else yearn for a good life. Young people want a life that is filled with opportunities, meaning, and a good standard of education, peace and security”. He further opined that if these needs are not met, they will become frustrated and alienated from the political process. He also made an important distinction at the time -that despite the fact that Andrew Holness was a young candidate at the time of the General election in 2011, he was unable to capture more than 6000 voters from the new electoral roll of 300,000. While his older opponent on the opposition bench, Mrs Portia Simpson-Miller, was able to attract 58,000 of these new voters. As a result she defeated her younger political challenger and former Prime Minister, Mr Holness, relegating him to the dispatch box on the opposition bench. The victory was an emphatic one for the PNP as it was the first time in the history of post-colonial Jamaica that a party was ousted from government in a single term of office. Statistics never tell the complete story as there were other variables that might have cost the JLP election but that discussion is best left for another extended debate at some other time.

The mean average age of parliamentarians in Jamaica is about 60 years of age and the impression given is that they are lagging behind in the use of digital mode of communication technology when compared to young people who were born into the 90s fast paced technological revolution and the emergenc of internet generation. The young voters between the ages of 18 to 26 were born in an era of fast paced technological advancement and look to social media as their primary mode of communication. Therefore there is definitely a communication gap between themselves and an older breed of politicians, some of whom are still stuck in the analogue age and are lagging behind in the usage of these new technologies. In order to politically reach these techno-savvy young people, the mode of communication and new methods of voting have to be brought in line with their cultural thinking if they are to become politically accessible.

While researching this topic we have spoken to some young Jamaicans on social media who are turned off by politics. They believe the political class in Jamaica is not meeting their needs. They complained that these politicians seemingly cling on to power and widen the gap between their working lives and their pension packages. In the process narrowing the opportunity for young people to get involved in the political process at the leadership level. They see these old politically clingy politicians living it large by driving SUVs, their children are privately educated abroad and they do not use the local hospitals or take the public transportation system. They cite the fact that corruption and graft is widespread by politicians and the prisons and police cells are bulging at the seams with young men trying to shoot their way out of poverty. Surely, their claims are merited and as a consequence they have lost trust in government, are alienated from politics and have lost the belief in the efficacy of voting and good governance.

Would it be unreasonable to demand that these 'over-stayers' go? Is the time not ripe and right for fresh young talent to bring a fresh new perspective to the political arena? One is not advocating that the elders have nothing to contribute. However, one must seriously, impartially and conscientiously question the success, veracity and even commitment of these elder statesmen. Furthermore, the age difference between politicians and young voters alienates young people from the political process. Youths hold the perception that political parties do not reach out to them or are simply out of touch with them. In essence, youth do not believe that government represents them or cares about their views or address their needs and their issues.

Governing politicians may argue vociferously to the contrary but the figures do support the claims of Jamaica's youth. According to the Ministry of Internal Affairs & Communications, the youth Unemployment rate in Jamaica increased to 7 percent in June of 2014 from 6.60 percent in May of 2014. Youth Unemployment Rate in Jamaica averaged 5.65 Percent from 1968 until 2014, reaching an all-time high of 13.20 Percent in March of 2003 and a record low of 1.20 Percent in November of 1968.

In critiquing the political apathy in Jamaica, the age of the country's democracy must be up for examination. One could almost say Jamaica is a youth among the nations and is still in an economic and political maturation process. Jamaica may be well established in the international community due to its cultural prowess and its reputation for world renowned athletes but it is still only 52 years old in terms of its political independence.

Elections require considerable involvement by the population, and it takes some time to develop the cultural habit of voting, and the associated understanding of, and confidence in the electoral process. This factor may explain the lower turnouts in post-colonial democracies in the Caribbean and Latin America who are still shaping their cultural identity. We believe that the core curriculum of any developing country needs to connect young people with the political process from a very young age. A failure to do so may result in a feeling that politics does not affect them, perhaps because they do not receive the knowledge based resources to develop the responsibilities that are the subject of a meaningful political discourse.

One of the main reasons for the alienation from politics in Jamaica is misplaced developmental policies. The country has gone down the road of heavily investing in cross-Island road infrastructural development funded by external debt. The hope is that this will spur growth and development but in the process they have ignored investment in Human Resource development at their absolute peril. This fact seems to be verified by recent statistics. According to the statistical Institute of Jamaica the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in Jamaica contracted 0.50 percent in the first quarter of 2014 over the previous quarter.

Having four first-world highways is not a bad idea but a massive development in meeting the skills needs of young people is absolutely necessary in order to stimulate growth. The government of Jamaica underestimates the ability of a young skilled work force to be innovative and create wealth. This will in turn decrease external borrowing, reduce crime and social deprivation and create confidence in politics and engender confidence in good governance. The need for capacity building around creating opportunities for young Jamaicans to participate in a stake holder society is urgent as young people are stretched with frustration to the margins. The questions politicians must ask themselves is, are they in power to serve or to swerve?

This article was Written jointly by Donovan Reynolds CEO of Kingston- Mouth and Kevton Foster Managing Editor of Kingston-Mouth .com. Both Authors are Independent Bloggers and Human Rights Activists who are of Jamaican descent and are Legal Academics who have an interest in Human Rights and International Development issues.Viewers wishing to give feed back on this article may do so in the space provided for commentary on this blog.

A measured Response to Damion Crawford’s Unwarranted Rant on Twitter

2014-08-27T15:45:00.000-07:00

As the global south face the new challenge of a growing push towards human secularism and an emergent number societies that are embracing the post modernist mantra of religious scepticism. Damion Crawford musings on twitter in which described Jamaica as a Christian country- whose core belief is under siege by atheists and agnostics. Is a very amusing but deeply offensive and misleading narrative .This statement is bound to offend secularist of Jamaican descent so his statement should not be let off the hook as a light hearted banter.

First, let me declare my hand. I am Jamaican and an avowed secularist and proud of it. Damion Crawford’s twitter feed would have gone unnoticed. If he had not been a government minister whose duty is to protect the fundamental rights and freedom of all Jamaican citizens. In addition, in his private capacity as a human being the expectation would be that his augments should have been characterised by respect for alternative beliefs or a lack of it. Having read the tweet it comes over as the musings of a controlling and desperate “religious housewife” and not that of a responsible Minister of Government.

Let us extend the debate in order examine the flawed philosophical argument raised by Mr Crawford. Because it may create a collision course with politics and secularism for Jamaica that in future that may be fraught with insularity. Damion has taken us down the dark “Hobbesian ideological path “.In which religion is seen for its divisiveness and as a vanguard for protecting the motley political status quo. His argument is in line with Thomas Hobbs who argued long-ago that the sovereign has the right to determine which opinions may be publicly espoused and disseminated. Mainly, because in the past religion was seen at that time as a vital instrument of power that was necessary for the maintenance of civil obedience. Or has he taken the feudal 17th century protestant position: those atheists cannot be trusted to take part in society peacefully because they do not see themselves bound by divine law and not beholden to a transcendental god.

Our position as atheist and agnostics Damion, is that we take exception to your religious exclusiveness the misguided idea that: all Jamaicans are Christians and that they are under attack from atheist and agnostics. It is at is conceptually “thick” and misleading metaphysical concept that you have dreamed up to ferment hatred against us. In Jamaica religion is a practical political idea used by politicians in for the purpose keeping the common people quiet. Christianity is what keeps the poor from murdering the rich and the political class in Jamaica who have historically plundered the economic coffers.

The burgeoning of the Secularist movement in Jamaica is indeed a challenge to the political class and rightly so. We are seen a threat to the political class. Mainly, because we increase the rank of the undecided voters due to our scepticism and apathetic to a constitutional arrangement that abhors human rights of alternative lifestyles and no religious belief. Because we are sceptics who call for a deconstruction of this conservative arrangement it’s easy to single us out for culpability for the countries moral failings as the the god and devil hypothesis is currently under assail.

Politicians and religious leaders can no longer fob us off with bogus prayer breakfasts any more. They normally do so unchallenged before we arrived on the scene. Those religious tenuous events are normally rolled- out whenever the government become bankrupt of ideas of how to fix the sliding Jamaican dollar. Or whenever the many youths in the garrisons that they create by geo-political gerrymandering – are hell bent on shooting their way out of poverty. When infrequently caught in the crossfire with the police these vulnerable “shotters” are often found clutching a gun with one hand and holding desperately to a bible in their back pockets with the other hand.

As Atheist and agnostics we see religion and Politics as two utopian concepts that continue to placate the poor. There is an unhealthy co-relationship between, the Jamaican constitution, the education system, religion and the state that we hope to challenge through constructive engagement. It is our belief that the state must neither advance nor inhibit religion.This collusive arrangement has resulted in excessive entanglement between government and religion and creates legitimacy for Ministers like Damien to insult us in parliament and on twitter.

Finally, Mr Crawford as you” grope” your locks in the dark and wrestle with a complex religious identity crisis- Kindly, be enlightened that we secular humanist- are small in number but not short on brain space- before you decide to spew religious vitriol on us.

Donovan Reynolds is a Blogger and Independent Writer. He is a British based Social Worker and Human rights Activist. He has an interest in Secularism Politics, Culture, and Human Rights. Readers may comment on this blog or email feedback at dannygerm63@hotmail.co.uk

Towards a New Global Constitutional Arrangement: By Donovan Reynolds

2014-06-24T14:55:00.000-07:00

Tackling the twin challenges of global terrorism and climate change is currently a threat to our way of life and common humanity .Never before have so many nations and their leaders so frequently and so openly admitted their growing vulnerability and the need for collaboration and increase interdependence; never before have they created so many cooperative frameworks and elaborate mechanisms for managing these complex phenomenon and its consequences. Simultaneously however, national leaders and their supporters continue to insist on the sovereign independence of their states with the expectation that the intricate web of regional or global cooperative links will serve their separate interests. It is the belief of this author that the best way of managing our current global crisis is by a global constitutional arrangement along side the current state arrangement that expresses our common humanity.

The history of humanity has been a battle of failed political and religious Ideologies.In 1961, the French theologian Gabriel Vahanian argued that modern secular culture in most of Western Civilization had lost all sense of the sacred, lacked any sacramental meaning, and disdained any transcendental purpose or sense of providence, bringing him to the conclusion that for the modern mind, "God is dead". This might be an extreme position by Vahanian but there is no disputing the fact that extreme religion is a part of the problem and will never be a part of a global constitutional settlement.

Francis Fukuyama is an American Political Scientist of Japanese descent. He is best known for his book, The End of History and the Last Man (1992), which argued that the worldwide spread of liberal democracies and free market capitalism of the West and its lifestyle may signal the end point of humanity's sociocultural evolution and become the final form of human government. One of the problem with liberal democracy is its ability to create a handful of billionaires and abject poverty of the masses in one go. Many believe that Adam Smith’s promised trickle-down effect is similar to the transcendental promise of the return of Allah and Christ in sync.

Those who argue in favour of Socialist utopian concept as a driver for a new world constitution takes the position that liberal capitalism is a regressive, backwards system given modern civilizations' current level of technological and economic development, and regardless of how progressive capitalism becomes, it cannot meet the needs of the majority of the population and solve its inherent structural issues. The problem with socialism is that it has not delivered on its promise of liberating the masses and espouses the rights of the state apparatus at the expense of individual liberty. Furthermore, China and Russia two former Socialist giants have been so busy resource grabbing on the global stage and creating a hybrid form of capitalism, their socialist credentials are highly problematic.

In the near future it is going to be vital to reach a international consensus if we are to address problems which affect humanity as a whole such as climate change, world poverty and global terrorism. One possible way of achieving solidarity is through a codified global constitution that is binding on all the world’s states and their citizens. Human Rights as expressed in a trans-legal arrangements is the best means for safeguarding the well being of all on the planet. Human Rights committed to diversity, and respect for those of differing yet humane views. Human Rights Treaties and Legislation after the Second World War have shaped a decent world view and normative humanitarian values that is necessary to maintain peace and global stability. Human Rights through its progressive Regional constitutional frame work and the United Nations holds hope as a template for shaping the future world governance in an even handed and sustainable way.

Wrestling the balance of power away from the meddling hands of war warmongering politicians. Is our only hope of shaping a world that upholds the equal enjoyment of human rights and civil liberties in an open, global constitutional arrangement. Human Rights encourage the maintenance of world peace and a credible civic duty to participate in a global democratic process. Human Rights Laws that are 'jus cojens' and emphasise a planetary duty to protect nature's integrity, diversity, world peace and beauty in a secure, sustainable manner.

In order for Human Rights to triumph on the global stage nationalism has to go under the guillotine. As the content and subjective reach of nationalism depends upon primordial sentiments that are for the most part crude and rather divisive. Equally regressive, is the burgeoning of political tribes that operate alongside extreme religiously entrenched polarisations that constantly threaten world peace. The proposition of global constitutional arrangement underpinned by human rights in my opinion, suggest the advantages of constructing, new "state" global federations.

This therefore would enable an atmosphere in which sovereign states would cooperate in far reaching ways to tackle common problems of terrorism, fair trade and other pressing environmental problems in a comprehensive and uniformed way. I envisage such an order occurring in collaboration with ‘a low concentration’ –yet potentially a trail blazing new arrangement of global governance. If properly shaped by a reformed United Nations and an effective oversight mechanism on board, this new arrangement could produce a new global order. One that is better able to preserve transnational legality, protect rights and allow for a far reaching but respectful political autonomy that will lead to a much safer world.

Donovan Reynolds is a Secular Humanist, Human Rights Campaigner and a Independent Writer. Please feel free to use the space designated on this blog site to give a feedback on this article. You can also provide feedback at Dannygerm63@hotmail.co.uk, Dannygerm @twitter or on my face book page.

The Proposal of Coal Power Usage in Jamaica: A serious Health and Environment Threat

2014-05-11T08:49:00.002-07:00

In recent years, the recognition of the links between human rights and the environment has greatly increased. Many States now incorporate a right to a healthy environment in their constitutions. Countries such as Jamaica- regardless of its economic vulnerability - still have substantive obligations to adopt legal and institutional frameworks that protect against environmental harm that interferes with the enjoyment of human rights. This including harm that could be caused by private sector actors and their lobbyists seeking to exploit the country's economic vulnerability.

The publication of a headline in the daily Gleaner entitled “Coal power to the rescue” on Sunday the 11^th of May is cause for a great consternation. The article quoted the ex- director general of the Office of Utilities Regulation (OUR), Winston Hay, as lobbying the Jamaican Government to use its public service agencies to educate the public on the usefulness of coal generated power. Winston Hay wants a public service agencies lead initiative to spearhead a public-education campaign aimed at “demystifying the arguments around the use of coal as an environmentally acceptable source of energy”. What an audacious and gravity defying attempt at bamboozling an unsuspecting Jamaican public.

Such a dishonest suggestion by the former head of the National Planning Agency if remains unchallenged- will cause the the late John Maxwell journalist and environment activist to have a violent epileptic fit of anger from his grave. So if only for the dignity of the late John Maxwell let us examine the facts from reputable experts on the subject.

Access to electricity has a positive effect on the health and well-being of people world-wide. However, the use of coal to generate energy has negative health consequences. There is growing body evidence collated by well respected scientist of coal's negative impact on human health during every stage of its use for electricity generation -- from mining to post-combustion disposal. In particular, the burning of coal has been well-studied, with compelling evidence of the pervasive health effects on the population. Air pollution produced by coal combustion in power plants can affect the respiratory and cardiovascular systems as well as cause abnormal neurological development in children, reduced growth of the foetus before birth, and can cause cancer. Coal used for generating electricity, creates pollutants in outdoor air that are known to cause respiratory ailments and cancer. Additionally, coal combustion contributes to climate change, which in turn can harm human health on a global scale.

According to the Health Care Research Collaborative: people, who live In the vicinity of coal fired power plants, have a massive exposure to emissions. This depends on factors such as weather (temperature, precipitation, wind-direction and speed) and topographical features of the local area. Coal emissions by their account can also be transported long distances, even globally, causing health effects to those living far from power plants. Individual susceptibility to the health effects of coal emissions depends on age, underlying medical conditions, and use of medications. Populations that are especially vulnerable to health effects from air pollution include children, the elderly, pregnant women, and people with lung conditions like asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.

A 2007 article published in the medical journal, The Lancet, summarizes the burden of the health effects of generating electricity from coal and lignite (a type of coal). The authors estimate that for every TWH(Terawatt-hour) of electricity produced from coal in Europe, there are 24.5 deaths, 225 serious illnesses including hospital admission, congestive heart failure and chronic bronchitis, and 13,288 minor illnesses.(7) When lignite, the softest and most polluting form of coal, is used, each TWH of electricity produced results in 32.6 deaths, 298 serious illnesses, and 17,676 minor illnesses.In addition Coal combustion in China’s power plants causes an estimated 250,000 deaths per year.

A study by Gohlke J, Thoma R, Woodward A, Campbell-Lendrum D, Pruss-Ustun A, Hales S, etal. Estimating the global public health implications of electricity and coal modelling the effect of coal use for power generation on life expectancy found that the use of coal predicted a decrease in life expectancy in countries with moderate life expectancy at the baseline year (1965) including Poland, China, Mexico, and Thailand. In India and China, years of life lost were estimated up to 2.5 years and 3.5 years, respectively.

A case study of air pollution effects on the health of 480 primary school children in Cubatao, Brazil, where large quantities of mixed pollutants were emitted from 23 industries (steel mill, chemical industries, cement factory, fertilizer plants, etc.), showed that 55.3% of the children had decreases in pulmonary function. Another example of health effects of air pollution appeared in the Ulsan/Onsan special industrial zone, Republic of Korea, where many large-scale plants (mainly petrochemical plants and metal refineries) are concentrated. Local residents complained of a variety of health problems, particularly of the nervous system disorder called “Onsan Disease”.

The Right to Economic development in Jamaica should not come at the expense of our physical health nor as a burden to the environment. I can understand the urgency to meet the IMF and World Bank growth forecast but it should not come with increased hospital bed spaces, increased graves spaces in cemeteries and large bulge at the pockets of inept “lickey lickey “lobbyists. Let’s find other ways of growing the economy without increasing the mortality rate.

Donovan Reynolds is a Blogger and Independent Writer. He is a British based Social Worker and Human Rights Activist. He has an interest in Politics, Culture, Human Rights and International Development issues. Readers of this blog may add their comments or critique at the space provided on this blog .Or alternatively they may e-mail him at dannygerm63@hotmail.co.uk/ or dannygerm@twitter

Viewing Jamaica’s Economic and Social Development Needs from the Current International Development Framework.

2014-05-02T13:04:00.000-07:00

The recent discussions around the proposed portal hub development in Jamaica have ignited a flicker of economic hope for the future. The right to development in emerging economies is often saddled with environmental and human rights concerns inter ilea.

The poor track record of successive governments in Jamaica over the past fifty years in areas such as: shaping a progressive economic policy, advancing human rights and strengthening accountability has been an uphill struggle. A culture of change in the right direction for the future is hardly guaranteed. As we anticipate one of the largest post independence Foreign Direct Investment already there are musings of an unavoidable environmental trade off. This concerns the proposed usage of a coal generated power plant.

It is fair to posit that economic and social justice has to be concurrent with civil and political rights- if Jamaica is gain recognition parity with other emerging economies that compete for recognition and foreign direct investment in the global marketplace.

One of the main reasons why we are stuck in an economic black hole for fifty years: Is as a result of short sightedness on the part of the two major duopolies parading as political parties failure to unite around core developmental goals .The other is the failure of citizens to demand political reforms that will hold themselves, public officials and government to a greater levels of accountability.

Every time I visit Jamaica it pains me that most of the people are stuck with a historic notion of politics as a function of their destinies rooted vision of either Norman Manley or Sir Alexander Bustamante development model. It is not the intention this discourse to devalue the contributions of both stalwart historical figures of the pass. Neither is my attention to ferment a discontent over historically held romantic feelings towards out national heroes. The sober understanding is that much has changed on a global scale in terms of Economics, Law, international trade and transnational communication. So to hang on to these past political icons is a great disservice to their memory.

Over the past 50 years our long term development goals as a country has been strangulated by a five year preoccupation of keeping the two political classes in power at or absolute peril. This discussion would be tantamount to a pretentious tirade if I omit to flag up a social constructivist approach by locating our development bug bearers that we need to overcome.

The first is to identify that currently our Economic future is tied up with the ability to measure our development against meeting the policy standard of economic organisations such as the WTO the ILO the World Bank, the IMF benchmarks and other international credit rating agencies.

The second consideration is to recognise that there is an increasing push towards world constitutionalism with a growing and relevant transnational and regional legal frame work of treaties and soft laws that we need to keep abreast with. These laws and treaties most of which we are signature to has changed our autonomy as sovereign states and will force changes in the way that we think culturally. The essence of our democracy is no longer rooted in a Hegelian framework that is organic or frozen metaphor of our political heroes of the past. It is based on international legal norms and external treaties that we are a party to.

The third consternation is that we live in an era where Human Rights have trumped cultural relativity. As the world push towards a global culture backed by Human Rights laws- that are part of the push towards a new global constitutional arrangement it has affected our way of life has impacted our domestic law and cultural norms.

So the next vacation that I spend in Jamaica spare me from the sabre rattling tosh about following Bustmate long after he is dead. Neither do I want to hear about the vision and intellect of Norman Washington Manley. Let’s talk about our current political and economic reality and how we can get the current set of desk thumping parliamentarian’s to buy into it.

Dancing on Margret Thatcher’s Grave: by Donovan Reynolds Blogger and Independent Writer

2013-04-14T02:51:00.002-07:00

Dancing on Margret Thatcher’s Grave: by Donovan Reynolds Blogger and Independent Writer

The name Margret Thatcher is like a sorcerer’s curse to the ears of most left leaning working class British Citizen. She is like the rain- loved by some and loathe by others. The announcement of her death on Monday of this week sparked some of the biggest street party from her birthplace in Grantham to Brixton who lined up maliciously to dance on her grave. It’s not my style to dance on people’s grave so when the invite came for me to attend a central London Party this Saturday I politely declined.

The last time I did something vengeful to a dead person was at the age of 27 out of share unadulterated anger -let’s say for politeness sake -I became overwhelmed with alcohol and unresolved childhood anger when I foolishly emptied my bladder on my physically abusive dad’s grave. So as a rule ,feisty as I am I don’t to the murky business of dancing on my enemies grave-at least not anymore. The revelation of it in a burdensome confession to my family I have regretted to this day. As most of my first divorce I had to endure the emotional pain by sulking to myself in private without the emotional support of my avenging family members as pay-back. But let us offer a sober assessment of the late Baroness life and legacy before the lingering hatred for her boil over in the days leading up to her funeral.

Twenty three years after demitting office as Britain’s first woman Prime Minister demitted office at Number 10 Downing Street she died earlier on this week at the Ritz Hotel in London at the age of 87 yrs. from a stroke after a long period of illness. Born in Grantham England the daughter of a local grocer became the first woman leader in British politics. She took over the helm of the conservative led Government in Briton in 1979 when the United Kingdom was considered as the sick economic man in Europe and carried out a number of social and political reforms that were both decisive and divisive. By 1999 when she left office because of the introduction of a deeply unpopular implemented poll tax although she had left the economy in a much healthier position she had by then become the most conflict-ridden leader of post war British Politics. Thatcher’s claims to promote low inflation, the small state, and free markets through tight control of the money supply, privatisation and constraints on the labour movement has been both her success as a leader and her demise. She was loved by US President Ronald Regan at that time for her conviction capitalism and was his key ally with the US in the Cold War and earned her name as the Iron Lady by the Russian press following one of her speeches criticising the USSR.

The Iron Lady earned her hatred because of her determination to reduce the power of the trade unions over plans to close 20 state owned mines and cut 20,000 jobs .She won the dispute at a price tag of 1.5 billion pounds and the loss of thousand s of job in rural Britain leaving to untold hardship on a scale that was unimaginable and closed the door to future female British Prime Ministers. News of her death sparked a feeding frenzy of coal miners across Britain dancing unsympathetically in the streets to the music of Morrissey’s hate fuelled song about the Baroness. While all of this was happening Republicans on the other side of the Atlantic in the US led by Nancy Regan showered praise on her and worshiped at the altar of her macro-economic legacy.

At home in Britain she was accused by comedian Alexi Sayle of making a conscious decision to run down manufacturing and concentrating on selling arms and growing the financial services. Former Labour Prime minister called Lady Thatcher a towering figure while others cynically commented that he was the main success of her Legacy as she bequeathed her crony capitalism him to so much that it seem at times during his premiership he was reading joint right wing hawkish foreign policy document give to him by Gorge Bush.

Margret Thatcher was by far the most masculine Woman among men in British politics: with the exception of Baroness Young, no women were promoted to the Cabinet or to junior Minister. Novelist Lionel Shiver hailed her as a feminist not for what she said but what she did. That compliment coming from a man is hardly comforting when she did so much to undermine women such as freezing child benefits and accused women during her premiership of raising a “crèche Generation”.The only bold feminist statement that she made was by way of a gaffe in 1989 when she declared “we are a grandmother “shortly after the birth of her grandson Michael in 1989.She once disclosed to a personal adviser in private that she reviled the feminist movement yet she was admired by women for her steely determination and her astute and firmness as a leader and she had the beauty and aura of a Hollywood film star. She held a squeaky clean image in her public life yet her son Mark was charged in 2004 with an alleged plot to overthrow the Government of Equatorial Guinea in Africa and he pleaded guilty to a lesser charge of f helping to finance the plot and was given a tap on the wrist in order to preserve his ailing mothers dignity. In 2009 her daughter attracted controversy when she was sacked from the BBC by describing a black tennis player as a ‘golliwog’.

In all of this she was extremely successful in government. A historical sweep of Margret thatcher life in politics reads like the story of an extremely successful but reckless male formula one driver who has won the grand prix. However in doing so- have wreaked a lot of havoc along the way and made a few friends and many enemies on his way to pole position. In all of this the honourable Baroness deserves a measured and dignified state funeral with her family, friends and foes sobbing over her casket. Not the ugly spectre a few right wing zealots ready to snort her ashes or vengeful left-wingers waiting to dance on her grave to the wizard of Oz song “Ding Dong! The witch is dead”.

Donovan Reynolds is a Blogger and Independent Writer. He is a British based Social Worker and Human rights Activist. He has an interest in Politics, Culture, and Human Rights. Readers may comment on this blog or email feedback at dannygerm63@hotmail.co.uk

Debunking the Myth of Creationism-Does god really exist?

2013-04-07T08:50:00.000-07:00

Debunking the Myth of Creationism-Does god really exist?

An explanation for the origin of the world man and other creatures is found in all human cultures. Traditionally all three Abrahamic religions such as Christianity, Muslims and Judaism- all explain the origin of man and the universe as the handiwork of an omniscient god. When the Secular Rastafarian and Poet Mutabaruka did a Poem” Is God schizophrenic” it plunged religion in an existential crisis. Central to the poem was a scathing request for god in the sky to come down and die. Mutabaruka a clever outspoken humanist trough his poem appealed to religious addicts high on the god delusion to think outside of the box of religious myths.

The promise of a god in the sky is misleading and fancy fairy tale dreamt up and believed by religious theorist. The religious hatemongers were infuriated by this cleverly crafted dialectic that is indeed radical and thought provoking. But on the positive side of the equation it created a quiet revolution unnoticed by the Oxford and Princeton brigade who claimed responsibility for the second wave of Secularism and the contemporary post -religious philosophy. History is replete with records of many secularists who have been persecuted by religious fanatics for not believing in creationism. Their Punishment often range from being burnt at the stake, torture or long periods of imprisonment.

But let us examine the historical trajectory that led to the discovery of evolutionary biology. Even Ancient Greece who staked it claim in Western Civilization was bogged down with the myth of an intelligent designer. Anaximander a pre-Socratic Greek philosopher who lived in Miletus btween610 – 546 BC proposed that animals could be transformed from one kind to another. It seem wholly unusual that the roots of evolution had its early groundings in religious thought as Christian theologians such as Gregory of Naizahus and Augustine maintained that not all species of such was created by god and that some species must have come into existence after the flood as it would have been imposable for Noah ark a single vessel could hold all the species of the world in that time.

Charles Darwin the founder of modern evolution theory: owes a debt of gratitude to his forerunners French naturalist Jean Baptise- Lamark who published a seminal writing’ Philosophical zoology’. The work of the Reverent Thomas Malthus became widely known for his theories about population and its increase or decrease in response to various factors. The six editions of his An Essay on the Principle of Population, published from 1798 to 1826, observed that sooner or later population gets checked by famine and disease. Charles Darwin attributed his seminal theory of the original species to Malthus influence. I hate to admit this but atheist like myself owe a debt of gratitude to early Christian theologian’s for handing us evolutionary biology on a platter.

So let’s get to the meat of the matter -that is -to lay bare the ludicrous idea of creationism. We know from palaeontologists and molecular biologist that the earth is 4.5 billion years old. The oldest know rocks, dated at 3.96 billion years are found in north western Canada. Most professionals in the scientific community that is worth their grain of salt all widely believe that the universe started about 15 billion years ago in the ‘Big Bang’. It was a monumental explosion that sent matter and energy exploding in all directions. As the universe expanded, matter collected into clouds that condensed into galaxies such as our own milky way. Gravitational attracted materials that in many ways condensed into stars where nuclear reaction took place forming small planets like the earth and the sun. This is more comforting than the Adam and Eve and “Yaccubs theory “of Creationism as most of it is scientifically validated and the gaps in understand are emerging continuously.

We owe an infinite amount of gratitude to the work of several evolutionary biologist, palaeontologist archaeologist and genealogist to our understanding of the origin of species most importantly Charles Darwin. We know know that women have their pace in the evolutionary process than the subservient belief that they share a rib from man given to them by god. Evolution is the process of decent with modification. The virtual infinite variation of life are the fruit of evolution and not a designer of a god in a back room call heaven knocking and fitting bones and flesh together with an hammer and an anvil.

There is such too much to say about the evolutionary process that cannot be done in a single blog. Except to end by saying god and creationism is as real as the cow jump over the moon. People accuse me of being self-centred but that accusation is wide of the mark. I owe no apology for being knowledge centred if gods exist- show me the evidence.

Demar Robinson, ISSA , Calabar High School and the Jamaica Athletic Contradiction By :Donovan Reynolds Independent Writer.

2013-03-03T13:08:00.000-08:00

Demar Robinson, ISSA , Calabar High School and the Jamaica Athletic Contradiction By :Donovan Reynolds Independent Writer.

There are countless myths and realities associated with the daily lives of Jamaican high school student-athletes with which most persons may be unaware. For example, many individuals perceive that student-athletes in Jamaica have all their needs met in their academic and personal environments, such as having preferential treatment in class scheduling, access to funding streams that is unavailable to typical students and a broad base of support from athletic supporters in the Business in community in Jamaica.

Demar Robinson of Calabar high -a former tripel jump champion and Odean Skeen of Wolmers Boys School must be a broken young men today- failed by ISSA and the schools and country that they once represented. Skeen was disqualified for a false start in the Class One 100m final at last year's ISSA/Grace Kennedy Boys' and Girls' Athletics Championships at the National Stadium was to be his final individual appearance at the over a century old event. According to ISSA rules, student athletes must maintain a 45 per cent average in at least four subjects and an attendance record of 80 per cent in the school year to be eligible to represent the school in any sports under the ISSA umbrella. Skeen, who was a surprise third in the boys' 100m at the IAAF World Junior Championships in Barcelona, Spain, last year, was expected to feature in what is expected to be a mouth-watering Class One boys' 100m final against defending champion Delano Williams of Munro College, and Odail Todd of Green Island High. The Inter-Secondary Schools Boys and Girls Championships (better known as the Champs) is an annual Jamaican multi-sport high school athletics meet held by Jamaica’s Inter-Secondary Schools Sports Association. The four day event, held during the last week before Easter every year in Kingston, is considered a proving ground for many successful Jamaican athletes most of them from poor backgrounds who see the championships as a way to becoming professional athletes.

The last athletic championship held in 2012 was won by Calabar the boys from Red Hills Road who have a proud record of winning those championships and the Jamaican School challenge Quiz in one scoop. The road to Champs is now even more of a proving ground in preparation for world-class competition, but there is no guarantee that talented teens will shine through immediately. Triple Olympic/World gold medallist and world record holder Usain Bolt, for example, first came to the fore in 2002, after failing to win any events in the Class 3 age group. Olympic champions Veronica Campbell-Brown, and Shelly-Ann Fraser suffered crushing defeats in the lower age groups at the meet before finally winning for their school teams. Three-time 100m world record-holder and World/Olympic gold medallist (4x100m) Asafa Powell competed, but never became a household name at the high school level because he was disqualified in the Class 1 100m final. So Maybe and I say “maybe”- Odean Skeen has a flicker of hope- if the dust settles in his favour. Other top performers at Champs who have gone on to excel on the world stage include Michael Frater, Bert Cameron, Melaine Walker, Winthrop Graham, Beverly McDonald, Maurice Wignall, Juliet Cuthbert, Sandie Richards and Raymond Stewart. All of these successful athletes have paid the price for mixing academic life with the rigours of academic work is a difficult balancing act. Let’s face it making the transition from High school athletic prodigy to a successful professional athlete is a a cat herding exercise.

Behind the glitter of an envious championship belies the usage and disappointments of a number of athletes who suffer from undiagnosed learning difficulties are overworked by pushy coaches and discarded when they don’t meet the eligibility criteria set by ISSA which is a 45 % academic average in at least four subjects and a 85% school attendance rate. These athletes come from a society where two third of the general population is living below the poverty line as stipulated by the United nation and a colonial standard education system that is woefully underfunded due to the country high debt to GDP ratio which currently is estimated at a whopping 140%.In addition the countries children Services is lacking the investment needed to target and provide support young persons who are vulnerable to the difficulties associated with learning difficulties. There is an archaic understanding about young persons with learning difficulties in Jamaica they are seen as disruptive and lacking in ambition and are cruelly labelled as “a dunce”. This stigma is morally objectionable students likeDemar and Odean is expected on top of their hectic training schedule to achieve academically alongside students that are way above their average who shame them because they are unable to keep pace with their normal student peers without Learning support and psychology input. No wonder children with undiagnosed learning difficulties experience low self-esteem and are more vulnerable to truancy and the allure of maladaptive behaviours.

Learning disabilities, or learning disorders, are an umbrella term for a wide variety of learning problems. A learning disability is not a problem with intelligence or motivation. Young persons with learning disabilities aren’t lazy or dumb. In fact, most are just as smart as everyone else. Their brains are simply wired differently. This difference affects how they receive and process information. Simply put, children and adults with learning disabilities see, hear, and understand things differently. This can lead to trouble with learning new information and skills, and putting them to use. The most common types of learning disabilities involve problems with reading, writing, math, reasoning, listening, and speaking. Learning disabilities look very different from one child to another. One child may struggle with reading and spelling, while another loves books but can’t understand math. Still another child may have difficulty understanding what others are saying or communicating out loud. The problems are very different, but they are all learning disorders.

It can be tough to face the possibility that your child has a learning disorder. No parents want to see their children suffer. You may wonder what it could mean for your child’s future, or worry about how your child will make it through school. Perhaps you’re concerned that by calling attention to your child's learning problems he or she might be labelled "slow" or assigned to a less challenging class. I have two sons with learning difficulties so I understand the challenges faced by parents. I was maths dyslexic when I attended Calabar where Demar is attending and it was a frustrating and dehumanising experience for me. The important thing to remember is that most young persons like Demar with learning challenges are just as smart as everyone else. They just need to be taught in ways that are tailored to their unique learning styles. By learning more about learning disabilities in general, and your child’s learning difficulties in particular, you can help pave the way for success at school and beyond.

On my last visit to Calabar in February this raised the issue with the Guidance Counsellor and John Messam the hard working President of Calabar old boy association about the need to support young persons at risk of social exclusion as a result of attention deficit disorder, learning difficulties poverty and social exclusion .I was very lucky to have a supportive mother who had the patience to nurture me through the disappointments of struggling with learning difficulty. Today I have a successful career and mentor a number of University and college students in the UK that I shepherded trough the difficult but necessary terrain of learning difficulties. I have raised this issue to shed the spotlight on ISSA to positively discriminate in favour of athletes with learning difficulties. So that they may receive support with diagnosis, extra support and practical assistance that will enable them to meet a reasonable set an academic criterion which is a well-accepted welfare principle that needs to be applied.

To conclude ,we have to collectively advise ourselves as parents and professionals in the Health and Education sector -that a joined up approach is necessary to save young persons at risk of scuppering their hope and dreams due to a lack of proper assessment, intervention and planning for the future of young people with learning difficulties. Let’s put an end to the “worthless dunce myth”. This writer in principle is in favour of a good support system for student-athletes in Jamaican Highschools .While also, endorsing an educational experience that is integrated across a range of activities, and such experiences should ideally facilitate effective transitions into academic and community life for the student.

Donovan Reynolds is a Blogger and Independent Writer. He is a British based Social Worker and Human rights Activist. He has an interest in Politics, Culture, Human Rights and International Development issues. Readers of this blog may add their comments or critique at the space provided on this blog .Or alternatively they may e-mail him at dannygerm63@hotmail.co.uk/ or dannygerm@twitter

Towards a Philosophical Understanding of Black Human Secularism drawn from a West Indian Perspective: by Donavan Reynolds

2013-02-24T10:59:00.000-08:00

Towards a Philosophical Understanding of Black Human Secularism drawn from a West Indian Perspective: by Donavan Reynolds

It’s quite embarrassing to wish my readers a happy New Year since we have almost completed two months into the New Year. I do apologise to all my valuable readers. I was unavoidably detained by organising a High School reunion and a much needed respite from work. My libido has dipping fast as I approach the 50th anniversary of my birth giving my brain an extra capacity for radical reflection. As I mulled over the blogs that I posted it occurred to me that a rich vein of secularism ran through most of them. Secondly, I embarrassingly discovered that the religious right was at the” fag end “of a lot of my deserved criticism-and rightly so. The evident self critique is that although I had provided an exciting form of writing that was at times informative it was done in an unstructured way and could have been more historically focused. I am always looking for ways to improve my work and to broaden my audience in a progressive and engaging way.

This year I am going to be more organized in my presentation as I intend to lay out my stall as a

black secular humanist in my blogs for this year. My writings in 2013 will include the embrace of

human reason, ethic, social justice and philosophical naturalism, whist specifically rejecting

religious dogma, supernaturalism, pseudoscience or superstition as the basis of morality,

decision making and public political discourse. Why is it that I emphasise my blackness in this dialectic space? It’s simply because identity culture and ethnicity is inextricable bound. Even if you are an avid deconstructionist you will always be associated with your biology more specifically the colour of your skin. My social consciousness and resentment towards religion arose out of awareness that I am a descendant of slaves brought from Africa to the Caribbean slavery and religion was the axis of evil that sustained the oppression that kept us chained to a capitalist system of forced unpaid labour for 300 years without reparation. While slavery in itself was a wicked and unjust physical act - a mental hoax called religion historically is used to dupe people of African descent mentally into submission and altered the notion within some of us that we were different but equal to our oppressors. ((CARICOM) The African Diaspora at its 2007 Global Conference held in Bridgetown, Barbados issued a call for CARICOM governments to collaborate with the African Union in developing appropriate mechanisms to ensure that Third States such as several European states, Canada and the United States expedite the implementation of reparations for their role in slavery.

Throughout my reading of Caribbean History I located a rich vein of black secularism

running the gamut of George Pad more, CLR James, Walter Rodney straight trough to the

late John Maxwell, Journalist Mark Wagnall and Dub poet and cultural icon Mutbaruka.

They have all embraced the post colonial era without getting into ideological bed with the

religious right. It is this rich vein of progressive thinking that I want promote. I believe that as

a people who have endured slavery and colonialism we can only find peace and true

liberation by rearranging our circumstances. Neither can we medicate away our poverty and

ignorance with religion. True confidence as a people must come from understanding our

history which can help us to heal, seek reparation and progress. The course of West Indian history is marked by appalling crimes. We need to take a fresh look at the black Christian evangelical movement and examined how they have betrayed our aspiration for a departure from mental slavery by chaining us to a social representation of the past.

Estimates vary, but somewhere between 20 million and 60 million people were captured, enslaved and brought to the Americas. Millions more died in the slave raids, in the dungeons and in the Middle Passage. The ship in which Hawkins commenced the trade was named The Jesus. Other ships of this pious Christian slave trader John Hawkins bore the names Solomon and John the Baptist. I have evidence to the slave-ship Thomas. Here is a copy of one of the bills of lading:--“Shipped by the grace of God in good order, and well conditioned by James Dodd, in and upon the good ship "Thomas," master under God for this present voyage, Captain Peter Roberts, and now at anchor at Calabar, and by God's grace bound for Jamaica, with 630 slaves, men and women, branded D.D., and numbered in the margin 31 D.D., and are to be delivered in good state, and well conditioned, at the port of Kingston (the dangers of the seas and mortality alone excepted) unto Messrs. Broughton & Smith. In witness whereof the master and purser of the ship "Thomas" hath affirmed to this bill of lading, and God send the good ship to her destined port in safety, Amen. October 31st, 1767.”

In what is now Burkina Faso, Ghana's neighbour to the north, the population was nearly decimated by the slave trade. Most who survived the raids came to either Cape Coast or Elmina (Portuguese for "the mine"). The Dutch and Portuguese bought slaves from Elmina and shipped them via seagoing communal coffins to Brazil, Surinam and other colonies. Slaves from Cape Coast went to the Caribbean and the United States.In 1951, Israeli authorities made a claim to the four powers occupying post-war Germany regarding compensation and reimbursement, based on the fact that Israel had absorbed and resettled 500,000 Holocaust survivors. They calculated that since absorption had cost 3,000 dollars per person ($26,862 in today dollars), they were owed 1.5 billion dollars ($13,400,000,000 in today dollars) by Germany. They also figured that six billion dollars worth of Jewish property had been pillaged by the Nazis, but stressed that the Germans could never make up for what they did with any type of material recompense. Negotiations leading to the Reparations Agreement between Israel and West Germany began in March 1952, and were conducted between representatives of the government of the Federal Republic, the government of the State of Israel, and representatives of the World Jewish Congress, headed by Dr. Goldm. The agreement was signed by Adenauer and Moshe Sharett on September 10, 1952 in the town hall of Luxembourg.

Every time African descendants of slavery living in the Caribbean and the Americas make the argument that if the Jews were compensated for the Holocaust then our clam for compensation for the damages caused by slavery we are accused of being anti Semitic. Maulana Karenga an African-American professor of Africana Studies states that the effects of the African slave trade were "the morally monstrous destruction of human possibility involved redefining African humanity to the world, poisoning past, present and future relations with others who only know us through this stereotyping and thus damaging the truly human relations among people of today". He cites that it constituted the destruction of culture, language, religion and human possibility. Perhaps the reason why reparation is a difficult is its historical links to the two major religions. Like most holy books, the Bible and the Quran can be used to support particular viewpoints, and slavery is no exception.

There are numerous references to slavery in the Bible and the Quran which can be interpreted to condemn or condone this practice, and even those verses which appear unambiguous, are far from clear when scrutinised. As we continue to assert our identity as Caribbean people it is important for us to begin to reshape our thinking about spirituality. One of the truly bad effects of religion is that it teaches us that it is a virtue to be satisfied with not understanding. I am happy to be alive at time when humanity is pushing against the limits of understanding and thinking outside of the box. Voltaire got it right long ago when he opined: 'Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities.' So did Bertrand Russell who said: 'Many people would sooner die than think. In fact they do.”

Donovan Reynolds is a Blogger and Independent Writer. He is a British based Social Worker and Human rights Activist. He has an interest in Politics, Culture, Human Rights.Rreaders may comment on this blog or email feedback at dannygerm63@hotmail.co.uk.

An “un-jolly” old and Unjust Jamaican Saint Nicholas

2012-12-16T08:05:00.001-08:00

An “un-jolly” old and Unjust Jamaican Saint Nicholas

Oh! Oh! Oh! It’s the season to be Jolly in Jamaica again we love the ho -ha of a good Jamaican Christmas we are a people religiously and materially punched drunk on a good old Christmas. By now the Portia Simpson -Miller led Government officials are unwrapping their 60 Million Jamaican dollars worth of high end SUV (JEEP).Jamaica’s idea of a Globalised Christmas is a woman dressed in a Brazilian wig, cheap false nails from Singapore, a tight cheap shiny dress from China, discounted underwear from Victoria secret in the USA, a fake Gucci handbag from Hong Kong and a replicated Dolce & Gabbana slipper while dancing to misogynist background music- courtesy of "Vibes Cartel". Her spoof male counterpart is a man with his face bleached out by cheap Indian bleaching cream, studded gold earring bought in Panama, string vest from Thailand a tight pair of jeans from new York and a pair of Clark's extorted from his family in London-dancing to” Boom By Bye in a Batty Boy head”.

I am self-disgusted to churn out this aggressive generalisation of my beloved country as most of us a humble, loving and decent people who are broadminded and generally modest. But running concurrently to our better selves is the dark side of our cultural equation bedevilled by debt riddled and morally bankrupt society where politicians run “amuck”.According to the debt Management Unit of the Ministry of Finance Jamaica has racked up $81.9billion of additional debt during the period January to September 2012. The nation ended 2011 with debt in excess of $1.63Trillion at the end of September 2012, calculations estimate the nation's debt has grown this year by about five per cent to $1.71Trillion. Jamaica has added debt at the rate of $299million per day or $12.5million per hour or $207,000 per minute or finally, almost $3,461 per second.

So while we shake our tambourines and sing Christmas songs to the backdrop of thieving oily mouthed rapture hungry evangelist waiting to steal our Christmas Sunday collection drop, just remember that our debt to GDP ratio is running at a whopping estimated 135%. And a new IMF deal is yet to see the light of day. Oh! By the way don’t forget to remind Dr Pieter Phillip about the Recommendations of the 2004 Matalan Report that has hovered over the head of four Jamaican prime minister that called for a reform of the tax system, a trimming of public sector wages and pension reform. So I would like to send a Message to Dr Peter Phillips our very clever Finance Minister via an entrenched "champagne Socialist".

Please tell him that he only growth this bad Santa has seen from my birth in Jamaica in the past 49years- is the increase of politician’s wages, their waist sizes, wallets and their walk-away retirement packages. And while conveying my message to Dr Phillips- if he is on speaking terms With Mama Portia-tell him to convey my regards to her for looking so young and stunning. The Brazilian wig that she bought in Miami on her recent shopping trip epitomises the incredulity of the spectre of globalisation it looks real to her poor constituents but it’s still fake like Usain Bolt’s American accent. Even I Santa could not get such a good deal from Brazil although I buy my presents at the pound shop in bulk.

Dear Mr Politician you might believe that this Un -Jolly Old St Nicholas has an axe to grind because I have ran off to greener pastors in the UK and is ungrateful for bad mouthing Jamaica but this broke arse Santa became fed up because I wanted a better life for my Children. I wanted my children- like the thieving politicians and corrupt business men in Jamaica- to escape the poverty trap and attend Ivy League Universities similar to the ones that your children attend. So I created my own version of equal opportunity by migrating with them to the United Kingdom.

It’s cold as hell up North and I miss the Sunshine but I can’t afford to return to live because of the murder rate as I know full well that I might get gunned down and robbed in my slay by those little shooters that you have created because of your corruption graft and mismanagement of the Jamaican economy. You can’t exactly regard me as ungrateful as I help my relatives and friends with remittances with my slay full of Christmas barrels. By the Way, I am coming to The Jamaica Jazz and Blues festival and me and my family will be staying in an undisclosed all inclusive own by a rich Jamaican. My only hope is that he pays his fair share of tax and is not benefiting from the waivers that the Matalan report omitted to mention.

To my fellow Jamaicans it may seem as if voting in and out the two major political parties has been a fool’s errand since independence in 1962.Together with the frequent hurricanes since 1988 they have made our lives a living hell at the root of our economic crisis lies a moral crisis that has nothing to do with god or the devil. It’s a long time we haven’t had a debt free Christmas. Our challenges lies not so much in our ability to be creative people but by our failure to demand a moral /ethical leadership in Governance. Our problem is rooted in our neglect as responsible citizens to demand that the two duopolies masquerading as two democratic parties to provide a stakeholder leadership culture that is responsible and just.

On our part as citizens we are guilty of selfish “shortermism” and materialism. The two duopolies that have duped us will never own up to the fact that they have failed us. Instead, they distract and confuse us in a poker game of finger pointing and a cacophony of pre -election lies. Bad Santa or not let us demand a culture of honesty and responsibility. The sentiment that the Jamaican Government should borrow and repay our public debt and to help the poor and vulnerable has long evaporated.

Examining the Recent Political Crisis In Egypt: By Donovan Reynolds Blogger and Independent Writer.

2012-12-07T16:22:00.001-08:00

Examining the Recent Political Crisis In Egypt: By Donovan Reynolds Blogger and Independent Writer.
Political scenarios for the future are hard to predict. Moreover when religion and politics intermingle it creates a toxic concoction. Long known for its pyramids and ancient civilisation, Egypt is the largest Arab country and has played a central role in Middle Eastern politics in modern times. In the 1950s President Gamal Abdul Nasser pioneered Arab nationalism and the non-aligned movement, while his successor Anwar Sadat made peace with Israel and turned back to the West. Egypt has been a key ally of the West; it has played a major role in the Israeli-Arab conflict no wonder President Obama intervened cautiously during the overthrowing of President Mubarak.

But the protests that ousted President Hosni Mubarak in 2011 is putting Egypt at the crossroads once again. The process that led to an Islamist Muslim Brotherhood breakthrough at subsequently annulled parliamentary polls and a narrow win for the Brotherhood candidate in the presidential election of 2012 has turned sour.This has not made the situation better Mr Mohamed Morsi the Muslim Brotherhood candidate and president of Egypt, issued a decree giving him sweeping constitutional powers that has now backfired.

The move prompted his critics to accuse him of seeking to monopolise power creating widespread protest by the opposition parties. Egypt’s health ministry said late on Wednesday the 5/12/12that at least 211 people had been injured in clashes between Morsi’s secular-leaning opponents and Islamist supporters, as riot police attempted to break up the violence. In addition three members of Mr. Morsi’s advisory team resigned over the crisis. They are Seif Abdel Fattah, Ayman al-Sayyad and Amr al-Leithy. They all tendered their resignations, bringing to six the number of presidential staff who have quit in the wake of a decree that has triggered countrywide violence and has drawn a negative international spotlight on Egypt.
So the Muslim Brotherhood led Victory at the polls should have been the solution to Egypt’s long history of dictatorship has suddenly shaped up to be a dictatorship regime in its own right. The aborted revolution of January 25, 2011, which succeeded in ridding the country of the decades-long rule of Hosni Mubarak, has failed to address the authoritarianism and corruption embedded within the state's institutions, from the military and the security agencies, to elements within the judiciary and state run bureaucratic institutions.

In March 2011 voters widely approved a referendum to delay the passage of a new constitution, instead preferring first to elect a new parliament and head of state, resulting in one of the most dysfunctional transitions in modern political history. The lack of will to see the revolution through to its conclusion has yielded a unusual fusion government made up of a combination of the counter-revolutionary remnants of the old regime as well as the self-proclaimed protectors of the revolution, embodied in the group that has enjoyed the greatest electoral success of any political actor, the Muslim Brotherhood.

The Muslim Brotherhood is the Arab world's most influential and one of the largest Islamic movements, and is the largest political opposition organization in many Arab states. Founded in Egypt in 1936 as a Pan-Islamic, religious, political, and social movement by the Islamic scholar and schoolteacher Hassan al-Banna, by the end of World War II the MB had an estimated two million members. Its ideas had gained supporters throughout the Arab world and influenced other Islamist groups with its "model of political activism combined with Islamic charity work”. The Brotherhood's credo was and is, "Allah is our objective; the Quran is our law, the Prophet is our leader; Jihad is our way; and death for the sake of Allah is the highest of our aspirations." Its most famous slogan, used worldwide, is "Islam is the solution."

On the foreign policy side of the equation the west historically has fostered a good political strategic partnership with Egypt mainly as a go between in defusing tensions between Israel and Palestine. But the New Egypt under President Morsi has yet to prove itself to key allies like the United States and other Western countries that he is an ally worth backing, especially after he failed to tackle the attack on the American embassy in Cairo last month by angry protesters denouncing an anti-Islam film. Other issues of concern to America and its European allies include freedom of speech, women's participation in politics and the future of Egypt's Copts who feel increasingly threatened by the rising power of Islamists in the country.

The conflict in Egypt squares with political theorist Samuel Huntington clash of civilization hypothesis. He believed that while the cold war had ended, the world had reverted to a normal state of affairs characterized by cultural conflict. In his thesis, he argued that the primary axis of conflict in the future will be along cultural and religious lines. Egypt is a prime example of a country where people’s cultural and religious identities will be the primary source of complex political conflict. According to Huntingdon Irreligious people like the opposing liberals in Egypt who violate the base principles of religious organizations like the Muslim brotherhood are perceived to be furthering their own pointless aims, and as a result will face violent action.

President Morsi’s use of his democratic legitimacy to shield himself from all accountability, the president has raised the stakes of political competition in Egypt. Given the intensity of the response, however, the unintended consequence of this overreach may be to force a rethinking on the part of the Muslim Brotherhood's political leadership. But as already stated when there is a mixture of politics and religion there is always a tension between religious cultural norms and the idea of political liberal reform agenda- religion always wins. Religious leadership is primarily rooted in adhering to a strict rule of law that cannot be negotiated away while western Liberalism has a modicum of flexibility whether real or pretentious.

So it is my opinion that the fault line between the Muslim brotherhood and the liberal opposition parties and Christians in Egypt will become even more polarised in the coming months. Although we hope that there will be a breakthrough of the current political stalemate. Those of us who had hope that the Arab spring would have brought a rooting out of dictators in the Arab States have to manage our utopian expectations less we become embroiled in bitter disappointment.

Political, social and economic challenges are frequently articulated through the language of dialogue or conflict .Egypt is at a very delicate crossroads as it seeks to forge a new political identity. The dye is cast by the President Morsi and the Muslim Brotherhood narrow electoral win. Can the manifold crises of contemporary life in Egypt be made more intelligible through the frame of unauthorised political decrees by the Muslim Brotherhood with Islam at the core of its political philosophy? There is a current belief by political commentators that the New Egypt is flanked by the forces of religious conservatism and self-obsessed autocratic institutions who are unwilling to chart a new democratic pathway. While liberal and Christian and political oppositions lay angry on the periphery feeling as sense of being duped by a false revolution. The question is can the manifold crises of contemporary political life in Egypt be made more intelligible through the frame of the Muslim Brotherhood rule by decree? Political scenarios for the future are difficult to predict- so your guess is as good as mine.

Donovan Reynolds is a Blogger and Independent Writer. He is a British based Social Worker and Human rights Activist. He has an interest in Politics, Culture, Human Rights and International Development issues. Readers of this blog may add their comments or critique at the space provided on this blog .Or alternatively they may e-mail him at dannygerm63@hotmail.co.uk/ or dannygerm@twitter

The Beleaguered JLP and a Farcical 67th Annual Conference

2012-11-18T08:14:00.000-08:00

The Beleaguered JLP and a Farcical 67th Annual Conference

Sunday’s scaled-down public session at the JLP annual conference will be the first since the party suffered electoral defeats in both the General Election in December and the Local Government Elections in March 2011. However, the party says it is anticipating vibrant and vigorous sessions. The conference will be held under the theme, “Vision, Focus, Build, and Connect”. I would like to use my blog to critically discuss two statements that came out of the beleaguered labour party on the eve of its national conference.

First, a statement made by JLP Opposition Senator Dr Christopher Tufton last Thursday where he echoed former Prime Minister P.J. Patterson's comments ‘about the behaviour of politicians driving away bright minds from politics in Jamaica’. Speaking at a forum hosted by Generation 2000 (G2K) and its University of Technology chapter Dr Tufton hinted that the party was on a constant recruitment drive to attract what he regarded as Bright Minds to the Party. In his speech he also lambasted both political parties’ politicians for creating a credibility gap between their prospective followers and political Parties in Jamaica.

On the surface it is a reasonable comment to make one that is “populist” and will no doubt cast him as an honest broker an image that he normally portrays before the media. In my Opinion politicians need to begin to close the credibility gap within their organisation that they lead, way before they embark on a recruitment drive. In a blog posted just after the JLP had lost the general election I made a clarion call for a root and branch Reform of the Jamaica Labour Party. I had at that time hammered out 10 critical questions for the party to consider in its review of action for the party if they were to make any meaningful progress as an alternative to government.

Those questions are:
(1)What has caused the Party’s core to shift from its base?
(2) Is the method of selecting candidates and the monitoring of their conduct working?
(3)Why is the JLP the “ugly Betty “of Jamaican Politics and what can be done to improve its image and likability?
(4)What does the Party need to do to attract and retain new supporters and membership?
(5)Is the Party’s Ideology and core message at odds with the current politic and domestic climate?
(6)Is the JLP centralised way of structuring its organisation working?
(7) Is the current leadership adequately trained and motivated sufficiently to lead the changes that the organisation needs?
(8) Are the JLP delegates and Party functionaries sufficiently trained and motivated to attract new supporters?
(9) Is the party’s candidates and leaders selected fairly by their local delegates and are they representative of the general population?
(10) Is the Party serious about tackling corruption and has the determination to uproot corrupt official from its leadership and distance itself from criminal activity and garrison politics?

Question seven speaks directly to Mr Tufton: he is the Deputy Leader in charge of Area4- he did poorly in the Local and General election as a matter of fact on top of losing all the parish councils in Area 4 during the last Local Government Election to the PNP. In addition at the last General Election in 2011 he performed disastrously losing his own seat to the PNP’s Hugh Buchannan. Organisational Management and more specifically political progress are about results and taking responsibility for failures within organisations. But Jamaican has a flawed understanding of organisation behaviour built on a false misnomer of likability over performance credibility and effectiveness within organisations.

I know this will rile up his supporters as he has cross-party appeal in Jamaica. Politics is not a beauty contest it is about effective communication of a party’s core message and getting people to buy into that narrative and cashing in on it at an election by demonstrating “win ability” at the polls. If you can’t win your own seat as a leader what credibility or moral mandate do you have to convince your aspiring candidates to? A good academic credential is an asset but political savvy is about your own track record of good leadership demonstrated by effective results. No wonder the JLP is the first one term government in the history of modern Jamaica -as its decision making process is flawed and needs an urgent review audit.

The second issue that I would like to address is the fact that Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) member Everald Warmington had filed an application in the Supreme Court seeking an injunction to bar the election of three front runners for the posts of deputy leader on Sunday. On Saturday the news came in that Mr Everald Warmington has withdrawn the injunction application against the election of three deputy leaders for the party. It is understood that one of the issues raised by Warmington is the failure of the branch network to meet and send in minutes of their meetings to the party’s headquarters on a timely basis.

Evrald Warmington seems to represent all that is symptomatic of the JLP as a dysfunctional organisation. While the party in its pre-conference nuances tried to present themselves as a cohesive unit on the eve of the conference he took out an injunction bring three aspiring deputy leaders who did not follow the party’s constitutional internal processes. You can’t help but to give him some kudus by bringing to light that its business as usual whereby the party functionaries at the grass roots are often by passed in order for the big wigs in the party to further their personal political ambitions. Totally oblivious to the fact that the JLP is a democratic organisation and that its delegates and the selection committee should be at the core of its decision making process. As it stands now in my opinion the party is being led by a set of Plutocrats who have their heads up their posteriors.

To conclude we expect it to be business as usual as it regards to infighting in the JLP. The JLP organisation is like an old computer used by the Russian cosmonauts during the latter stage of the cold war in Russia -it is useless and needs radical reform. On the back of two election losses it cuts a pathetic figure, it’s a limp organisation masquerading as a genuine political party. The JLP has certainly become “the ugly Betty of Jamaican politics”. When the delegated and supporters arrive in Kingston today for the Sunday public session of the JLP 67th National Conference- if they are discursive they will be pondering: how did such a progressive party funded by Sir Alexander Bustamante descend into such a farce of an organisation?

Donovan Reynolds is a Blogger and Independent Writer. He is a British based Social Worker and Human rights Activist. He has an interest in Politics, Culture, Human Rights and International Development issues. Readers of this blog may add their comments or critique at the space provided on this blog .Or alternatively they may e-mail him at dannygerm63@hotmail.co.uk/ or dannygerm@twitter

Israeli Assassination of Hamas Military Chief as Hamas announces that it will open the Doors of Hell in Retaliation: By Donovan Reynolds Blogger and Independent Writer

2012-11-14T15:08:00.000-08:00

Israeli Assassination of Hamas Military Chief as Hamas Announces that it will Open the Doors of Hell in Retaliation: By Donovan Reynolds Blogger and Independent Writer

Ahmad Jabari, the head of Hamas's military wing, has been assassinated in an Israeli air strike on Gaza. Israel killed the military commander of Hamas in a missile strike on the Gaza Strip and launched air raids across the enclave, pushing the two sides to the brink of a new war. The attacks on Wednesday the 14th of November marked the biggest escalation between Israel and Gaza fighters since a 2008-2009 conflict and came despite signs on Tuesday that neighbouring Egypt had managed to broker a truce in the enclave after a five day surge of violence. Hamas said Ahmad Al Jabari, who ran the organisation's armed wing, Ezzedine Al-Qassam, died along with his son when their car was blown apart by an Israeli missile. Palestinians said nine people were killed, including a seven-year-old girl. Israel’s Shin Bet domestic intelligence agency and the military also confirmed the operation.

"During a joint operation of the General Security Service [Shin Bet] and the IDF [army] today, Ahmed Jabari, the senior commander of the military wing of Hamas in the Gaza Strip, was targeted," a statement from the Shin Bet said. The military said Jabari "was a senior Hamas operative... directly responsible for executing terror attacks against the State of Israel in the past number of years”. The purpose of this operation was to severely impair the command and control chain of the Hamas leadership, as well as its terrorist infrastructure," it said in a statement. Military spokeswoman Avital Leibovich said the strike was the start of an operation targeting armed groups in Gaza following multiple rocket attacks on southern Israel. “The IDF started an operation against terror organisations in Gaza due to the on-going attacks against Israeli civilians," she said on her Twitter account. Later in the evening, the Israeli military has said it was prepared for a ground operation in Gaza "if necessary”.

“All options are on the table. If necessary, the IDF (army) is ready to initiate a ground operation in Gaza," the military said on its official Twitter account .Responding to the killing, the armed wing of Hamas, the Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades, said its fighters would "continue the path of resistance”. “The occupation has opened the gates of hell on itself," Leibovich a senior Hamas spokesman said, in a statement in a passionate call for revenge. Said to have been the head of the Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades. He in the past has co-ordinated much of Hamas' military capability, its military strategy, and the transformation of the military wing. He also led the final negotiations in Cairo that concluded the prisoner swap between Hamas and Israel in 2011.The killing of Jabari sparked furious protests in Gaza City, with hundreds of members of Hamas and the Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades, chanting for revenge inside Shifa hospital. Outside the hospital, armed men fired weapons into the air, and mosques throughout the city called prayers to mourn the commander's death.

An Israel defiant defence Minister Ehud Barak warned on Tuesday prior to the targeted assassination that a flare-up in violence with Gaza was "not over," after Palestinian fighters fired two more rockets and Israel carried out air strikes throughout the previous night. Barak, meeting Israeli military chiefs, said the current round of confrontations was on-going, adding that Israel would decide how and when to respond to the rocket fire. “It is certainly not over and we will decide how and when to act if necessary," he said in remarks communicated by his office. “We intend to reinforce the deterrence, and strengthen it, so that we are able to operate along the length of the border fence in a way that will ensure the security of all our soldiers who are serving around the Gaza Strip," "At this time... it is preferable to act [in a timely fashion] rather than just talk.” he said.

The Israeli-Palestinian conflict is one of the longest-running and most contentious in the world. The conflict can be seen at one level to be essentially over the competing claims of two different nations to one area of land. However the issues are deeply complex and contested, and in 2010, despite many years of a peace process a final solution to the conflict remains a distant hope. Both Israeli and Palestinian civil society groups have reacted to the conflict by forming a large number of peace building organisations, including some notable collaboration.

The main bone of contention is the Israeli West Bank barrier .A separation barrier under construction by the State of Israel along and within the West Bank. Upon completion, the barrier's total length will be approximately 700 kilometres (430 mi). The barrier is for 90% a fence with vehicle-barrier trenches surrounded by an on-average 60 metres (200 ft) wide exclusion area, and 10% of the barrier is eight metres (26 ft.)-tall concrete wall. The barrier is built mainly in the West Bank and partly along the 1949 Armistice line, or "Green Line" between Israel and Palestinian West Bank.

According to the Israeli human rights organization B'Tselem, 8.5% of the West Bank area is on the Israeli side of the barrier, and 3.4% is on the other side but "partly or completely surrounded".

Opponents of the barrier like me object the wall on the basis that: the route substantially deviates from the Green Line into the occupied territories captured by Israel in the Six-Day War of 1967. We argue that the barrier is an illegal attempt to annex Palestinian land under the guise of security, violates international law. It also has the effect of undermining negotiations (by establishing new borders), and severely restricts Palestinians who live nearby, particularly their ability to travel freely within the West Bank and to access work in Israel. In a 2004 advisory opinion resulting from a Palestinian-initiated U.N. resolution, the International Court of Justice considered that "Israel cannot rely on a right of self-defence or on a state of necessity in order to preclude the wrongfulness of the construction of the wall". The Court asserted that "the construction of the wall, and its associated regime, are contrary to international law”. While: some Jewish settlers on the other hand: condemn the barrier for appearing to renounce the Jewish claim to the whole of the Land of Israel.

Since June 2007 Hamas has governed the Gaza portion of the Palestinian Territories, after it won a majority of seats in the Palestinian Parliament in the January 2006 Palestinian parliamentary elections and then defeated the Fatah political organization in a series of violent clashes. The European Union,[ the United States, Canada, Israel and Japan classify Hamas as a terrorist organization. Meanwhile the Arab nations, as well as some other countries including Russia and Turkey, do not.
In the January 2006 Palestinian parliamentary elections Hamas won a decisive majority in the Palestinian Parliament, defeating the PLO-affiliated Fatah party. Following the elections, the United States and the EU halted financial assistance to the Hamas-led administration In March 2007 a national unity government, headed by Prime Minister Ismail Haniya of Hamas, was briefly formed, but this failed to restart international financial assistance Tensions over control of Palestinian security forces soon erupted into the 2007 Battle of Gaza, after which Hamas retained control of Gaza while its officials were ousted from government positions in the West Bank. Israel and Egypt then imposed an economic blockade on Gaza, on the grounds that Fatah forces were no longer providing security there.

After a series of behind the scene brokered Arab led negotiations between Fata and Hamas .On May 4, 2011, Hamas and Fatah announced a reconciliation agreement that provides for "creation of a joint caretaker Palestinian government" prior to national elections scheduled for 2012. As part of that agreement, Hamas' resistance would be peaceful and not military, according to Israeli news reports. The conflict between Israeli and the west bank simmered with the odd artillery shelling between both parties meanwhile Fatah and Hamas enjoyed a awkward coalition mainly to attract international aid to keep the near bankrupt Palestinian coffers afloat.

The history of Israeli and Palestine is a long history of filed negotiations from as far back as back as you can imagine. The last direct negotiations between Israel and the Palestinian National Authority took place since September 2010 as part of the peace process, between United States President Barack Obama, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, and Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas. The ultimate aim of the direct negotiations at that time was reaching an official "final status settlement" to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict by implementing a two-state solution, with Israel remaining a Jewish state, and the establishment of a state for the Palestinian people. In early September, a coalition of 13 Palestinian factions began a campaign of attacks against Israeli civilians, including a series of drive-by shootings and rocket attacks on Israeli towns, in an attempt to derail and torpedo the on-going negotiations.

Direct talks broke down in late September 2010 when an Israeli partial moratorium on settlement construction in the West Bank expired and Netanyahu refused to extend the freeze unless the Palestinian Authority recognized Israel as a Jewish State, while the Palestinian leadership refused to continue negotiating unless Israel extended the moratorium. The proposal was rejected by the Palestinian leadership, that stressed that the topic on the Jewishness of the state has nothing to do with the building freeze. The decision of Netanyahu on the freeze was criticized by European countries and the United States.

Wednesday's attack comes after several days’ worth of Israeli air strikes on the Gaza Strip, leaving at least seven Palestinians dead and several more wounded. Saeb Erekat, Palestinian negotiator based in the West Bank, told Al Jazeera News: "We condemn this Israeli crime and assassination of Ahmad Jabari."We are witnessing a major escalation against our people in Gaza, and it seems to me the Israeli agenda is war, not truce or a ceasefire. We hold the Israeli government responsible. He said.

On BBC Palestinian security sources and medics confirmed a total of four air strikes across Gaza during the late afternoon, two in Gaza City, one of which killed Jabari, one in northern Gaza, and a fourth in the southern city of Khan Yunis. A CNN correspondent, reporting from Beirut, Lebanon, said Jabari had been a target for Israel for a long time. In my opinion this has been a big loss for Hamas, and a success for Israel, who have been after him for a while and it could lead to an outright Israeli Palestinian war on the eve of President Obamas second term in office. Certainly I believe we will see an escalation for sure within the immediate future as the Hamas supporter in in the Gaza strip are infuriated and want revenge. We expect therefore in the days to come a lot of civilian casualties’ bot in Israel and on the Palestinian side. So let us watch the space in the days to come and wish for a speedy resolution. As it comes on the back of a civil war in Syria and both events could plunge the entire Middle East in a complex conflict that the world is unprepared for.

Donovan Reynolds is a Blogger and Independent Writer. He is a British based Social Worker and Human rights Activist. He has an interest in Politics, Culture, Human Rights and International Development issues. Readers of this blog may add their comments or critique at the space provided on this blog .Or alternatively they may e-mail him at dannygerm63@hotmail.co.uk/ or dannygerm@twitter

Black British View of the President Obama Election Victory and its Domestic and Global Implications: By Donovan Reynolds Blogger and Independent Writer

2012-11-10T15:43:00.001-08:00

Black British View of the President Obama Election Victory and its Domestic and Global Implications: By Donovan Reynolds Blogger and Independent Writer

Barrack Obama and the Democrat Party in the US secured a second term in government 7am GMT on Wednesday watched by thousands of TV viewers on this side of the Atlantic in a nail biting victory that at time was too close to call. Addressing cheering supporters in Chicago at his campaign headquarters he promised ‘The best is yet to come’. David Cameron the British Prime minister tweeted him a warm congratulatory message from a tour of the Middle East promising to continue the special relationship that the UK and the US both share. The electoral victory was well clear of the 270 needed for victory and his winning margin passed the two million mark with the Republican taking all but one of the marginal electoral battleground states.

Mitt Romney the Republican Runner called Obama at 1 am prior to his concession speech called Mr Obama to ceded defeat after a prolonged period of number crunching that went against him. Shortly after, he made an eloquent and balanced concession speech thanking his running mate Paul Ryan, his family, Donors and supporters of the Republican Party. Romney looked emotionally drained but was gracious enough to urge on the need for a consensus, he urged Americans to ‘put people before politics’.
Obamas Victory speech was eloquent, statesmanlike, soaring and pragmatic and may well go down in history among the 100 greatest speech of all time. The inspirational grandiloquence of “We are an American Family and we rise and fall together” is a clever catch phrase along with a riled up rhetoric that followed a will echo beyond Chicago in a melodious way into the apogee of history.

It received a robust review in the British press and was cheered on by his protagonist in the Centre and liberal left of the political spectrum in the UK. Judging from the feedback in the media and by the rabble rousing left wingers in the pubs of London they were happy overall that the Republicans were trounced. Conservatives such a Richard Goodwin in the Evening Standard chided Romney for failing to express the American way in his election campaign like the late Republican President Ronald Regan. He also criticised him of portraying an un-American vision.
My personal Criticism of Governor Romney having watched the election from a distance was that on a personal level he may have been a nice person but his campaign came across as too old school, too white, too male, too rich, too against immigrants and too out of touch with the ordinary Americans.

History have a way of evening out the playing field after years of oppression and discrimination against immigrants ,blacks, LGBT, young people and women they have now craftily mastered the way of using the electoral college system of selecting the American President designed ironically by the Republicans. The feelings among white wing protagonist that I spoke to is that there is a growing fear that Republicans are finished in the future as an electoral force at a presidential level in the US. With the emergence of a more diversified and multicultural America the political tectonic plate has shifted in favour of an urban voting pattern.
Will this therefore trigger a call by the Republican for a reform of the electoral college voting model in favour of a first past the post system that we are accustom to in the UK?

Alternatively this threat of an erosion of the US Republican power base in my opinion may force the Party to broaden their policy tent and distance themselves from the neoconservative and the Tea Party’s unscrupulous agenda. But this might be wishful thinking as the Old Republican brigade are stubborn and entrenched in their old ways already the bloodletting conversation coming out of the Republican party is that one of the failure of Mitt Romney in the debates that he lost the election by foolishly occupying the political middle ground.

So the Democrats won the argument by portraying the Republicans as fixated on, reducing the economic deficit at the expense of growth. On the other hand they were portrayed as a party of tax concession givers for the Rich and neglecting the poor and middleclass, Pro special interest Gung hoe on foreign policy, anti- Immigration and against the interest of 47 per cent of American people. The one dispiriting aspect of this election that shocked the British Public was the overall cost of the election the price tag was a whopping US $2.5 billion (£1,6billion).This was in part to the party’s being good at eliciting funds from their donors. This happened in the wake of a Supreme Court Ruling in 2010 which removed the restriction on campaign fundraising spending. This is not good for democracy as money from large donors comes with an expectation. Media Moguls in the US must be licking their chops from the huge swathe of advertising money spent on negative advertisement that fuel hatred and polarise the already deeply polarised American society and must feel hurtful especially the urban poor in the US who continue to slide down the greasy pole of upward mobility. Notwithstanding it was felt that the election process was incident free overall and despite a few technological glitches it was an example to the world especially developing countries of how peaceful an election ought to be.

We in the Black Community UK are accustomed to less glamorous elections in the UK as we watched in amazement of the Black President as he took to the stage in Chicago against the backdrop of Stevie Wonders signature hit- Sigh Sealed and Deliver- doused in a shower of glitzy confetti. Britain did not miss out on the election party CNN hosted a party at Mayfair in the City of London attended by the political well-heeled where guests were offered a choice of Obama and Romney badges. Judging from the feedback supporters of Romney left the party early with disappointment etched on their faces.

The republicans had their own election bash in an upscale community in Clerkenwell although the event organiser Camilla Wright, initally she wanted a mixed audience only Republican supporters could afford the drinks. Patrons at the event were updated at the event by Tweets from noted Broadcaster Richard Bacon who skiped live from Florida with regular updates. I listened to him on BBC Radio five he had two Republican guests who he got under their skins regularly with his edgy, comical but cynical criticism of the Republican Right. The working poor like me had to alternate between Aljazeera, CNN, BBC, the internet and the Radio5. In between, I had several cups of teas to stave off the night sleep but it was well worth it.

Black British Citizens looked on with a sense of pride begrudgingly as the idea of a Black Prime Minister for us is a pipe dream as we are still at the stage of tackling racism in football leagues. A pre-election poll gauging the choice of who was the British choice of candidate in the US Elections showed that 90% of British people were broadly in favour of an Obama victory. I suppose, it’s good to have a black president as long as he is on the other side of the Atlantic. I can’t recall going to the home of a West Indian or African friend’s home without seeing a photograph of Barrack Obama and his family hanging proudly from their Communal Hall. It’s almost as if Obama is our President by an act of rebellion. But while we goat in his victory we are politically aware that the task ahead for him in the next four years will be a cat herding exercise.

We know for example that vengeful republicans in congress are already itching to block any progressive legislation that the democrats may want to push through congress. The challenge for Obama is to forge a working relationship with the Republicans to avoid an economic gridlock- is almost like asking your ex-wife to cover the expenses of your new marriage to a after a nasty divorce. Obama during his victory speech pitched the need for consensus and agreed to a post-election meeting with Mitt Romney but difficult sweet heart deals will have to be made.

As stated whichever party in government usually don’t affect the relationship between the US and The UK and the historic ties are deep but Europe is in economic decline and the relationship between themselves and the US is currently uneven. After the second Wold Western Europe and The American government clever shared the Boards of the major global financial institutions such as the World Bank, The IMF and NATO among themselves creating cementing an economic and Political hegemony over the planet. However as we speak Europe is in decline and Germany single headedly is trying to keep the European currency from collapsing. It is a long held whisper among leaders of Europe that while the US has used its relationship with Europe to leverage its vast Empire experience to quell hotspots globally. Now that the European Union is in trouble economically the US under Obamas leadership has gone silent.

Further afield Chinas appetite for oil and raw material to fuel its growing.Its new found expansionist global capitalist ambition funded by the "Walmartisation" of its economy and clever currency manipulation has US on the economic back foot. Chinas unfair trade advantage became an election football during the election campaign. A fourth term Obama will have to mend fence with the newly elected young Chinese Leaders who will be elected by the congress of the Chinese Communist party. America enjoys an awkward economic relationship with America as its surplus is invested US domestic debt while the president will be expected to reduce the trade deficit caused by American huge appetite for Chinese manufactured goods.

After the dust of the election settles it is widely expected that Hilary Clinton will demit the Foreign affairs portfolio leaving lots of unfinished business. Whoever takes over will have the arduous task of managing the backlash of the Arab Spring and taking the finger off Israel’s trigger that has a nuclear ambitious Iran in its sight.

An incoming Secretary of State will be faced with the dilemma of using the hawk or dove approach in those delicate negotiations in to avert a war that will loom in the backdrop of those diplomatic talks. Featuring prominently on Obamas in-tray will be Syria’s Civil was and how to get the stubborn President Assad to take a hike of face the wrath of the International criminal court of which the US is not a Signature to. Africa had high expectation of Obama in his first term that was by and large unmet no wonder the content leaders are “coseying” up to China. Africa is shedding its image as the begging bowl of the word and is buying into the idea of aid for trade. However, Africa still has a corruption problem regardless of green economic shoots emerging from countries such as Nigeria and Ghana it is expected that they will become more independent and lead the way by a good example. In his second term Obama has the difficult task of distancing himself from the unhealthy relationship with the Egyptian army and to seek out Boka Harem in Nigeria the new terrorists on the block with a reputation to match Al-Qaida.

The global south is no longer the political fiefdom of the US as countries like Venezuela and Brazil are getting wealthy and is no longer beholden to US economic policy. The re-election of President Hugo Chavez who is still friendly with the Castro’s much to the annoyance of the US. Closer to home the US backed war on Drugs in Mexico is unwinnable and is raking up body bags by the thousands. Will Obama be brave enough to boy into a liberal drug policy by decriminalising drugs and breaking the power of drug lords in and outside of the us, The only persons that have benefitted from the war on drugs is the Us gun Lobby who sell arms to both the government’s and the vicious drug lords.

Be that as It May President Obama has one thing on his side he is a personable leader and a master communicator as he negotiate his way through his second term Black Britain and the liberal left wishes him well as he spawns the many problems of the US on a global and domestic scale. We recognise from across the Atlantic that the biggest problem that he has to negotiate is to remove the obstacle of big moneyed special interest for between himself, his decision making process and the people that he serves. He may well have to cut sweetheart deals with the Republicans in the US congress but we hope that in making those deals the 99% is not sold down the road as it was they who gave him the mandate to serve a further four years as commander in chief. We wish you a safe and progressive tour of duty Mr President.

Donovan Reynolds is a Blogger and Independent Writer. He is a British based Social Worker and Human rights Activist. He has an interest in Politics, Culture, Human Rights and International Development issues. Readers of this blog may add their comments or critique at the space provided on this blog .Or alternatively they maye-mail him at dannygerm63@hotmail.co.uk/ or dannygerm@twitter

Obama in an Election Race that will go all the way to the Wire: Verdict of the third and final US Election debate by Donovan Reynolds Blogger and Independent Writer

2012-10-23T15:38:00.001-07:00

Obama in an Election Race that will go all the way to the Wire: Verdict of the third and final US Election debate by Donovan Reynolds Blogger and Independent Writer

President Barack Obama and his Republican challenger Mitt Romney had their final debate on Wednesday the 22/10/ 12 as a precursor to a two-week campaign that leads to US Election Day. So much was expected from them in third and final televised debate as they tussled for the political affection of undecided Democrats and Republicans as they tried to lay bare their foreign policy prowess. The venue for the verbal spar off was in Florida, one of the key battleground states, at Lynn University.

For Obama spin doctors the recession has ended, employment figures have slowly climbed and other indicators show the economy has improved. Spending by American consumers probably picked up in the third quarter, helping the world’s largest economy overcome a slump in business investment that is holding back the expansion. They point to the fact that the countries Gross domestic product rose at a 1.8 percent annual rate after expanding at a 1.3 percent pace the prior quarter, according to the median forecast of 66 economists surveyed by Bloomberg ahead of Commerce Department data Oct. 26/2012. It would be the first back-to-back readings lower than 2 percent since the U.S. was emerging from the recession in 2009. According, to the U.S Department of Labour Statistics: employment for 16to 24-year-old young persons in the U.S reached 19.5 million in July 2012: Up from 2.1 million since April.

In 2011, youth employment rose by 1.7 million from April to July. The July 2012 employment-population ratio for youth--the proportion of the 16- to 24- year-old civilian non institutional population with a job--was 50.2 percent, up from July 2011.
But there lingers among the US electorate a widespread sense of unease and dissatisfaction with the way things are going. The feeling is pervasive that the economic argument has to be won by the republicans if President Obama is to win a second term in office.

Mr Romney, his vice-presidential running mate Paul Ryan, and the Republican Party in the run up to all three debates have had their campaign bolstered by big-spending patrons eager to dispatch Mr Obama to a one term political oblivion. They blame Mr Obama's policies for the ongoing economic malaise, and hope voters will overcome their fondness for and political investment in him. By pointing out that in his four years of government there is no significant economic achievement for the Republicans to crow about. But in my opinion neither Obama nor Romney has fully fleshed out their economic policies for the future, as doubts remains about how either Republican or Democrat would tackle the $15tn (£9.3tn) US debt.

There was a good deal of agreement during the debate on foreign policy between the two US presidential contenders at the third and final debate. They both agreed to defend Israel if it came under attack from Iran. In addition neither candidate appears to want to unleash another US military intervention in the region, though both clearly would not rule out the use of force.

Throughout the debate Obama rocked the governor and onetime Bishop of the Church of Jesus Christ of the Latter Day Saints with spiky and sarcastic attacks on his credibility as a word leader. In fact, Obama got off the two best lines of the debate. One was clearly prepared in advance. He charged that Romney “has the foreign policy of the '80s, the social policies of the '50s and the economic policies of the '20s”. The other was apparently spontaneous. When Romney criticised cuts in the number of ships in the US Navy, Obama responded that times have changed. “We have fewer ships, but we also have fewer horses and fewer bayonets.” This I interpret as an attempt by the President to portray the Governor as inexperience and out of touch with American foreign policy needs.

But Mitt Romney went on the offensive by demeaning the President for not doing more to keep Americans safe by pointing out that Americans was three year closer to a nuclear Iran a usual scaremongering tactics often used by Republicans. A CNN poll at the end of the debate showed voters giving a 48%to 40% per victory to Obama.
Meanwhile the right wing press and their pollsters a wash with money from big Republican donors must be planning a counter attack offensive as their campaign machinery roll out across marginal states for the next two weeks- trying to win the affection of the 11% of undecided Americans.

For now Republican spin-doctors are inundating the left wing press and social media of medieval caricatures of Mitt Romney riding a world war one decor war horse pointing a bayonet. A word of caution to the Michelle Obama fan club – encourage her kiss in public and watch the daily gallop polls trough the corner of her eyes as on the final night of debate the fat lady only lip singed for President Obama the idea of a Black first lady kissing on the white house lawn infuriates the Sarah Palin and the Tea party fan club. This coming election may down in history as the closest political race in the history of the US. The last time cried on my couch in London as I watched Barack Obama trounce Senator John McCain to become the first black president of the US this time around I am willing to froth from the mouth in anguish.

Donovan Reynolds is a Blogger and Independent Writer. He is a British based Social Worker and Human rights Activist. He has an interest in Politics, Culture, Human Rights and International Development issues.Readers of this blog may add their comments or critique at the space provided on this blog .Or alternatively they may e-mail him at dannygerm63@hotmail.co.uk/ or dannygerm@twitter

Obama Trounced in First face off and Needs to Up His Game in the Remaining Debates: By Donovan Reynolds Blogger and Independent Writer.

2012-10-06T08:08:00.000-07:00

The first Pre- US election publicly aired political debate took place last Wednesday with both President Obama and his Republican contender Mitt Romney having two separate visions for the economic future of the US. With an economic double dip recession looming in the backdrop of the next presidential cycle. The importance of these debates reflects not just the closeness of the race but the politics at stake. More than in most US presidential contests, the candidates embody clear alternatives, between a larger, more interventionist state and a stripped-down, market-oriented one.

In his manifesto pledge President Obama has unveiled a plan to cut the national debt by about $4tn over a decade. The strategy hinges on eliminating wasteful spending in government programmes like Medicare and generating revenue by ending some of the Bush-era tax cuts for high-income households and closing tax loop holes. The plan also includes troop withdrawal from Afghanistan, imposing spending caps for future overseas military operations, and a $32bn cut on direct payment to farmers over 10 years. In a nut shell Obama proposes the reduction of federal spending on the US armed forces and the more prudent budgetary control and a raising of taxes on the wealthy individuals and corporations.

Romney's proposed approach to creating jobs hinges upon less regulation, a balanced budget, more trade deals to promote growth, and cutting the corporate tax rate to 25 from 35 per cent. He has also proposed replacing unemployment benefits with an unemployment savings account, as well as repealing the Dodd-Frank Wall Street reform law that gives the federal government new powers to regulate Wall Street after the financial meltdown of 2008 Romney says his private sector experience as CEO of Bain Capital makes him an ideal candidate for job creation. In response, the Obama campaign has accused Romney of heading a carpet-bagging corporation that destroyed domestic companies, sent jobs overseas, and forced bankruptcy onto a number of firms.

Glued to my television set in the UK and deprived of my early night sleep -from the very beginning of the 90 minute debate, Mitt Romney looked comfortable and prepared for the debate. He appeared relaxed someone totally in charge of his brief. President Barack Obama on the other hand looked exhausted and exasperated he was thrown onto the defensive throes for most of the encounter. He missed some open goals, at one point. Mitt Romney queried whether the President's assertion that companies get a tax break for shipping jobs overseas, saying that after 25 years in business: 'I don't know what you're talking about. I need to get a better accountant'.

President Obama failed to use the debate at that stage to highlight once more that his opponent is a multi-millionaire who last year paid a tax rate lower than most average Americans, so probably has a pretty good accountant. There was no mention of the '47 per cent' video which has damaged the Romney campaign so badly, and only a passing reference to the auto industry bail out. This was an insipid, uninspired and uninspiring performance from a sitting President who four years ago energized a country and a generation with his message of hope and change. That allowed Mitt Romney to appear calm and in control, even Presidential.

Realistically, the first political debate certainly won’t win Mitt Romney the US presidency. Political campaigns are about stealing momentum: and at the very least Obama’s has been checked. In the next two debates, he needs to come out fighting, and show not just the mastery of detail that he was at pains to convey at the debate with Mitt. The magical passion, zeal and charisma that won him 2008 election will have to return sooner than later. One thing is certain from listening to the debate-Mitt

Romney is right back in this race after a terrible month coloured by his 47% gaffe. But it’s far from over for President Obama as the polls still have him in the lead. The expectation by Democrats is that Mr. Obama will now doubtless practice more seriously for the second debate on October 16. Its more informal, “town-meeting” format will test both men’s ability to connect with real voters: Mr. Romney especially scores low in polls when voters are asked if he can empathise with their lives. So a word of advice to my jittery face book Democrats: tell your trounced candidate Obama –less showing of public affect with Michelle in Public outings. Advise him that he has to recapture the political fighting spirit of 2008.

Donovan Reynolds is a British based Jamaican Social Worker,Human Rights campaigner and Independent writer.He is a blogger with an interest in politics ,culture and International development issues.Feel free to give feedback on the space provided below.Alternatively you may respond by e-mailing him at dannygerm63@hotmail.co.uk ,dannygerm@twitter or on his facebook link

The Clash of Civilizations and The Making of a New World Order: A review of Samuel P Huntingdon’s and its Relevance to our New Political order By Donovan Reynolds Blogger and Independent Writer

2012-09-26T12:58:00.000-07:00

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The recent killing of the U.S. Ambassador Christopher Stevens and three other Americans on the 11th September 20 12: — when the consulate in Libya was overrun by protesters and, some say, Islamist militants. This embarrassed the interim Libyan leadership in the capital Tripoli and fuelled public anger at the continued presence on the streets of units from the revolutionary army whose loyalties are often unclear.

President Barack Obama on the 25th of September 2012 invoked the words of Mahatma Gandhi in his address to the UN General Assembly here as he remembered US envoy to Libya who was killed in violent protests that erupted in the aftermath of an anti-Islam film, saying the "crude and disgusting" video was no excuse for an "attack on America”. Three days before Presidents Obama speech impassioned and well measured speech the Daily mail published a shocking revelation: That a Pakistani minister has offered $100,000 to anyone who kills the maker of the on line anti-Islam video that has launched deadly protests across parts of the Muslim world.

The threat from right-wing extremist terrorism is as deadly as the atrocities committed by the Islamic Jihadist. On July 22, 2011, Norwegian right-wing extremist Anders Behring Breivik bombed several government buildings in Oslo, Norway killing eight people and injuring more than 30. After the bombing, he made his way to Utoya Island in a fake police uniform and began firing on people attending a political youth camp for Norway's left-wing AUF political party, killing 68 and injuring more than 60. The 2011 Norway attacks became the largest mass killing of people committed by a single person during peacetime, excluding use of bombs.

As a child I always read widely and it gave me had a vivid imagination. I wanted to travel the world and broaden my horizon by travelling to different cultures. When the opportunity for me to travel to Barbados at the age of 16 years. It was my first holiday opportunity without my mother. So, it was hugely alluring as I had always harboured ideas of grandeur delusion about the outside world. A group of my friends in Kingston Jamaica decided to travel to Barbados I managed to convince my parent to allow me to go after confirming that an adult whom she trusted would be travelling with us and she had called Barbados and made arrangement with a College friend of hers who owned an hostel in Bridgetown Barbados to Keep us for a week.

On my arrival in Barbados we made friends with my mother’s friend relative Charles Padmore was kind enough to take us to Harrison Point Cave Hill, St Lawrence, Boscobel and Silver Sands all of which we enjoyed immensely and shared similarities with our Jamaican environment. My first culture shock came when our host on a visit to the Bridgetown Harbour Charles showed me a cross dressing man whom I swore was a female initially but was told after that he was a cross dresser who was originally named Paul but had changed his name to Paula and had become a male prostitute. Upon receiving that information I shuffled uncomfortably and my toes curled in a cringing manner. How was I a boy from a rural district on the outskirts of Kingston to process such a strange phenomenon?

On my penultimate day I went for a walk by myself and came across about five bearded Indian men dressed in what I recognised at the time as long black dresses walking towards me I immediately became paranoid and ran back to the cottage that I was staying. Almost out of breath I knocked up my boarder at the cottage and told her what I had seen. She gave me a cold drink to calm me down and explained to me that the men that I had seen were Muslims from Trinidad trying to set up a mosque in Barbados. About an hour after the men came to the cottage and we were introduced to them. They told us that Islam is one of the world's major religions, along with Hinduism, Judaism, Buddhism and Christianity They also said that Islam's central teaching is that there is one all-powerful, all-knowing God, who is referred to by the Arabic name, Allah. I was told that In Arabic, Islam means "surrender," or "submission," to the will of God and that Islam was a religion of peace. It sounded reasonable to me but it was different from what I was told by the Rector of my local church.

Today I live in London which is a city that celebrates a multicultural lifestyle with people of diverse ethnicity and religious beliefs. A society that embraces multiculturalism is said to be a society at ease with the rich tapestry of human life and the desire amongst people to express their own identity in the manner they see fit. It is a far cry a way from 1980 when I visited Barbados and had a narrow view of sexuality, culture and religion. Today I am also an unashamed secular humanist with a left of centre liberal viewpoint which sits squarely with the philosophy of multiculturalism. But ever so often, since 9/11 the great promise of multiculturalism and its avowed benefits of a tolerant society have become questionable Utopian ideal. As; ethnic and religious flash points across the globe drive an uneasy wedge of discontent among the great promise of globalisation and the push towards a unified world.

It seems wholly appropriate for me to assume that we are experiencing ‘a clash of civilisations. ‘The Clash of Civilizations is a theory, proposed by political scientist Samuel P. Huntington, that people's cultural and religious identities will be the primary source of conflict in the post-Cold War era.
Samuel P. Huntington was a former White House Coordinator of Security Planning for the National Security Council for President Jimmy Carter. Huntington began his thinking by surveying the diverse theories about the nature of global politics in the post-Cold War period. Some theorists and writers argued that human rights, liberal democracy and capitalist free market economy had become the only remaining ideological alternative for nations in the post-Cold War world. Specifically, Francis Fukuyama argued that the world had reached the 'end of history' in a Hegelian sense.

Huntington believed that while the age of ideology had ended, the world had only reverted to a normal state of affairs characterised by cultural conflict. In his thesis, he argued that the primary axis of conflict in the future will be along cultural and religious lines. As an extension, he posits that the concept of different civilisations, as the highest rank of cultural identity, will become increasingly useful in analysing the potential for conflict.

In the 1993 Foreign Affairs article, Huntington wrote: It is my hypothesis that the fundamental source of conflict in this new world will not be primarily ideological or primarily economic. The great divisions among humankind and the dominating source of conflict will be cultural. Nation states will remain the most powerful actors in world affairs, but the principal conflicts of global politics will occur between nations and groups of different civilizations. The clash of civilizations will dominate global politics. The fault lines between civilizations will be the battle lines of the future.

Huntington in his seminal thesis on the clash of civilization explained that some of the factors contributing to this conflict are that both Christianity (which has influenced Western civilization) and Islam are: Missionary religions, seeking conversion of others. Universal, "all-or-nothing" religions, in the sense that it is believed by both sides that only their faith is the correct one .Teleological religions, that is, that their values and beliefs represent the goals of existence and purpose in human existence. Irreligious people who violate the base principles of those religions are perceived to be furthering their own pointless aim, which leads to violent interactions.

More recent factors contributing to a Western-Islamic clash, Huntington wrote, are the Islamic Resurgence and demographic explosion in Islam, coupled with the values of Western universalism—that is, the view that all civilizations should adopt Western values—that infuriate Islamic fundamentalists. All these historical and modern factors combined, Huntington wrote briefly in his Foreign Affairs article and in much more detail in his 1996 book, would lead to a bloody clash between the Islamic and Western civilizations.

Huntington offered the following six concrete explanations for why civilizations will clash:
1.Differences among civilizations are too basic in that civilizations are differentiated from each other by history, language, culture, tradition, and, most important, religion. These fundamental differences are the product of centuries, so they will not soon disappear.
2. The world is becoming a smaller place. As a result, the interactions across the world are increasing, and they intensify civilization consciousness and awareness of differences between civilizations and commonalities within civilizations.
3. Due to the economic modernization and social change, people are separated from longstanding local identities. Instead, religion has replaced this gap, which provides a basis for identity and commitment that transcends national boundaries and unites civilizations.
4. The growth of civilization-consciousness is enhanced by the dual role of the west. On the one hand, the west is at a peak of power. At the same time, a return to the roots phenomenon is occurring among non-Western civilizations. A west at the peak of its power confronts non-Western countries that increasingly have the desire, the will and the resources to shape the world in non-Western ways.
5. Cultural characteristics and differences are less mutable and hence less easily compromised and resolved than political and economic ones.
6. Economic regionalism is increasing. Successful economic regionalism will reinforce civilization-consciousness.
5.Cultural characteristics and differences are less mutable and hence less easily compromised and resolved than political and economic ones.
6.Economic regionalism is increasing. Successful economic regionalism will reinforce civilization-consciousness.

To conclude, In 1993, Huntington provoked great debate among international relations theorists with the interrogatively-titled "The Clash of Civilizations?", an extremely influential, oft-cited article published in Foreign Affairs magazine. Its description of post-Cold War geopolitics contrasted with the influential End of History thesis advocated by Francis Fukuyama. Huntingdon died December 24, 2008 (aged 81) befittingly at the famous Martha’s Vineyard in Massachusetts USA. He failed to factor in the role of right wing terrorist like Timothy McVeigh who was involved with the devastating Oklahoma Bombing. However, he undoubtedly is one of the best conservative writers of his time. The legacy that he has bequeathed to political analysts and commentators is an invaluable way of deciphering the complexity of the new world order in a post- cold war era.

He was spot on with his predictions. His his critics such as Paul Burman are not word a mention as they are way off target. Huntington’s last book: Who Are We? -The Challenges to America's National Identity, was published in May 2004. Its subject is the meaning of American national identity and the possible cultural threat posed to it by large-scale Latino immigration, which Huntington warns could "divide the United States into two peoples, two cultures, and two languages”. In this book Huntingdon was way off target and may have stoked up scaremongering by pondering to the conservative side of his brain. Or flippantly ,in his last days at Martha’s Vineyard he may have been possessed by John Belushi’s ghost and dreamt up such an absurd book while paranoid and drinking champagne with other neo-conservatives. Whatever the case, the clash of civilizations by my account is more accurate than the book of revelation that John wrote.

Donovan Reynolds is a Blogger and Independent Writer.He is a British based Social Worker and Human rights Activist.He has an interest in Politics,Culture,HumanRigts and International Development issues.Readers of this blog may add their comments or critique at the space provided on this blog .Or alternatively they may e-mail him at dannygerm63@hotmail.co.uk/ dannygerm@twitter

I begrudge the success of every Jamaican Deejay Incessantly. By Donovan Reynolds- Blogger /Independent Writer

2012-09-16T03:55:00.001-07:00

I begrudge the success of every Jamaican Deejay Incessantly. By Donovan Reynolds- Blogger /Independent Writer.
Winston Foster is a Jamaican reggae and dancehall deejay, widely known as “Yellowman”. He grew up in a Catholic orphanage called Alpha Boys School in Kingston, and was shunned due to having albinism, which was usually not socially accepted in Jamaica. Alpha Boys School was known for its musical alumni. In the late 1970s Yellowman first gained wide attention when he won a contest event in Kingston, Jamaica called "The Tastee Talent Contest" where deejays would perform toasting. Like many Jamaican deejays, he honed his talents by frequently performing at outdoor sound-system dances.

In 1981, after becoming significantly popular throughout Jamaica, Yellowman became the first dancehall artist to be signed to a major American label (Columbia Records).[ He was popular in Jamaica in the 1980s, coming to prominence with a series of singles that established his reputation. Yellowman was forced to undergo a very invasive jaw surgery to remove the malignant tumour that had formed. This surgery permanently disfigured Yellowman's face, as a large portion of the left side of his lower jaw had to be removed to successfully extract the tumour. He re-invented himself with his 1994 album Prayer, which stepped away from the slackness that gave him his initial fame. Yellow man’s ugly looks despite his huge financial success became the but of every ugly joke that has ever existed. So much that: when he took on a lovely bride Rosie- a cruel joke made the rounds. Many advised him to make a living will to compensate her for the indignity of waking up each morning and having to look into his face. Yet Yellow man has held down the indignity of his detractors to have become the most toured reggae artist ever he is a living human cash machine with or without a jaw bone.

The first time I saw Elephant Man performing thought he was a clown from the Barnum & Bailey circus. The lisp accompanying his accent was very strange and his orange colour dyed hair made him look very camp he scared the hell out of my young children at a concert. But it was not long after he launched into his set with his catchy lyrics and his creative dance move the energy god won us over with a stellar performance. Ten years on and twenty baby mothers after: He still continues to woe audiences locally as well as in North America and Europe. There's never a dull moment with Elephant Man. With a seemingly inexhaustible energy source, he throws himself into everything he does: whether it’s playing football, deejaying on the corner or in front of 20,000 screaming concert goers - Elephant Man does it in abundance. Formerly of the Scare Dem Crew, Elephant oozes individuality from his trademark yellow-orange hair, to his custom designed ride, his outlandish jewellery and a stew of signature utterances - "You know how we roll"! He is still a walking cash machine with an ego and a huge expensive house to match. Its still puzzling to me how he continue to churn out hits and scratching his clothes off in between with his hum teen baby mothers.

Ninjaman is a Jamaican Deejay short of looks but very talented lyrical and has staved off may competitors in lyrical battles for the deejay high priest of the dance hall Kingdom. Ninjaman, alias the Don Gorgon, (born Desmond John Ballentine on January 20, 1966, in Annotto Bay, Jamaica) is a popular dancehall deejay and actor, known for his controversial and pro-gun lyrics and his stuttering and melodramatic style. Ninjaman is currently out on bail awaiting trial for a murder that was committed in Kingston, Jamaica. At the age of 11, he launched his deejay career with the Black Culture Sound System at age 12 as "Double Ugly". In 1980, he joined Kilimanjaro, there got the chance to learn from established deejays Super Cat and Early B, and released his debut single as "Uglyman".Things got handsome financially for him when he changed his name to Ninja man when he joined the King jammys recording label in Water House St Andrew and began churning out hits accompanied by pure drama. If Ninjaman was not half literate he could write the dummies hand book of why we should all stay away from crack?

Despite hits over the years like "Murder Dem", "Permit to Bury" and "Above the Law" reinforced Ninjaman's image of a violent rude boy. One of his most infamous rivalries (besides the on-going quarrels with Flourgon and Super Cat) was the one with Shabba Ranks, leading to a number of clashes. In 1993, criticism of Ninjaman's violent and pro-gun lyrics arose, leading to a decline in performing gigs and chances to record.By 1997, Ninjaman had changed his name once again, now performing gospel reggae songs as "Brother Desmond". He sought help to fight his crack cocaine addiction in born again Christianity. In the late 1990s, he was accused (but later acquitted), among other things, of having raped a woman at knifepoint in his home and having murdered a taxi driver. He was sentenced to one year in jail in late 1999, after being convicted of unlawfully possessing a firearm and ammunition. In July 2001, Ninjaman was assaulted with a machete, suffering several wounds, some to the head and face by his brother in-law after throwing his 2 year old child out of his window.
In March 2009, Ninjaman, along with his son Jamel, was arrested and charged in connection with a murder of Ricardo Johnson on Marl Road, Kingston, Jamaica. He was granted bail for the sum of JD$2,000,000 in March 2012, and his trial for murder is still pending in the Kingston Supreme Court.

It has been said that Ninjaman comes up with all of his lyrics on the spot in the recording studio, in a freestyle manner as he is illiterate and can’t pen his lyrics. It is said in jest hat if he sees one of his hit songs written on a brown paper bag he could not recognise it. Yet he has several financial lives and still has the ability to rake in millions from royalty’s stage show performances and new recordings if he is able to acquit himself from his latest murder charge.

Bounti Killa his real name Rodney Price is a famous Jamaica Deejay who earns 40k for his boked performances in North America and Europe. Price moved to Kingston at an early age, along with his mother and siblings. His father owned and ran the Black Scorpio sound system and Price started his musical career as a sound system deejay in his early teens. At the age of 14, Price was shot by a stray bullet during a gunfight between rival political factions, and while convalescing in hospital decided on the name Bounty Killer. After recovering, he increased his performances on a greater number of sound systems, and turned his attention towards recording. During the early 1990s, Price was encouraged recorded at King Jammy's studio in Kingston. Price eventually recorded with King Jammy, the first session being in Spring 1992.[2] One of his first tunes was the "Coppershot", which Jammy was unwilling to release due to its lyrics glorifying gun culture. Jammy's brother Uncle T disagreed and released the single himself.

In 1993, Price performed at the annual hardcore festival Sting, held in Portmore, Jamaica every year on Boxing Day, whereupon he had a high-profile clash with fellow deejay Beenie Man. The rivalry continued through the 1990s, with both accusing the other of a stolen act. They settled their differences after both realized the negative effect their feud was having on the industry.[1] He has also had heated rivalries with several other top deejays, including Merciless and Vybz Kartel, throughout his career. He increased control over his output in 1995 by leaving Jammy and setting up his own Scare Dem Production company and Priceless Records label.

During the 1990s, Price voiced for several producers and labels in Jamaica, releasing songs such as "Defend the Poor", "Mama", "Book, Book, and Book “,” Babylon System and Down in the Ghetto". At about this time, he became known in USA and in Europe, recording with such artists as Busta Rhymes, No Doubt, Masta Killa, The Fugees, Wyclef Jean, Mobb Deep, Capone-N-Noreaga, Swizz Beatz and AZ.In the mid-1990s, he began releasing albums, with four released in 1994. His 1996 album My Xperience was hugely successful, spending six months on the Billboard reggae chart. In 1997 Bounty Killer decided to make a cover version of Rose Royce hit single Love Don't Live Here Anymore and invited Swedish superstar Robyn. The song made a huge success in the Caribbean & the US. It was also featured in She's So Lovely (Sean Penn film).

In 1998, Bounti Killa contributed the song "Deadly Zone" to the album Blade: Music from and Inspired by the Motion Picture. Price has expressed disdain for popular rap, which he called "embarrassing to reggae," even while collaborating with Wu Tang Clan, Mobb Deep and others he considers hard core. However, in 2001, Price collaborated with No Doubt on their single "Hey Baby". Further success followed with albums such as Ghetto Dictionary Volume I: Art of War and Ghetto Dictionary Volume II: Mystery, the latter receiving a Grammy nomination. In 2006, he signed with VP Records and released the compilation album Nah No Mercy – The Warlord Scrolls on 7 November 2006. He has been credited with having inspired many young artists such as Vybz Kartel, Mavado and Elephant Man and several other members of The Alliance.

In 2003, Price cancelled two of his concerts after the LGBT magazine Outrage! Petitioned Scotland Yard for his arrest, claiming songs about killing gays[5] would incite violence and harassment against the gay community. He returned in 2006 after a three-year hiatus, performing uncensored lyrics at several venues without recrimination.
Price was arrested twice at the annual International Reggae Sumfest in Montego Bay Jamaica: he was arrested but not charged in a 2001 altercation with another performer and arrested and charged in 2008 for using profanity during his performance. He was also arrested on 3 February 2009 after allegedly running seven traffic lights in Kingston, Jamaica and charged with refusal to take a breathalyzer test and disobeying red lights. Price was arrested by police in June 2006 and charged with assaulting the mother of his child. According to the Jamaica Star, "The complainant was allegedly punched in the face several times, dragged some distance away and her head slammed into a wall."Bounti Killa is famous for butchering the English language and is famous for coining the phrase ‘I are the one’ during an interview on Entertainment Report aired on the Jamaican National television where he claimed to be responsible for a number of younger and upcoming deejays success. He is rich infamous, feisty and talented and has a huge bank balance and while I berate his behaviour ashamedly begrudge his financial success.

I have over the years raked up huge debts educating myself and my children as a lurch closely to wards my pension settlement with a double dip recession looming constantly in the background. The days of receiving a golden handshakes or a golden wrist-watch is a distant memory. I might have to take my mind off that a pre-retirement Mediterranean cruise that I yearn for and trade it in for a wash in the polluted Wag Water River. The only thing I have in common with famous Jamaican deejays is a failure to keep my zipper up. It might be my redemption at the age of 49 I have just had twins Danilo and Cassiano .Unlike my other children who have gone the academic route -I am going to take a differed road with their upbringing. I want them to be famous Jamaican deejays or wealthy boxers. Yes, I want them to be famous Jamaicans and walk around with millions of dollars in brown paper bag like American rappers’ Fifty Cent & Rick Ross’. It is an insurance against a failed retirement if they are filthy rich they will give me a good funeral perhaps a glass coffin with all the shenanigans of a gangsta funeral as a compensation for this horrible life.

Donovan Reynolds is an independent writer; British based Social Worker and Human Rights Campaigner. He is interested in Human Rights, Politics, Culture and International Development Issues. Readers are invited to provide feedback in the space provided on this blog or alternatively you may contact him at dannygerm63@hotmail.co.uk on dannygerm@ twitter.

Shocking Revelation: Cannabis Use Lowers Young People I.Q.

2012-09-02T08:46:00.000-07:00

Shocking Revelation: Cannabis Use Lowers Young People I.Q. By Donovan Reynolds

While growing up in Jamaica in 1974 at the age of 11 years as a child I ran away to escape the horrors of domestic violence from a physically abusive father. I spent a short period of time with one of my mother’s friend in a place called Richmond in St Mary close to a male penal institution called Richmond Prison Farm. I attended a school in Richmond briefly nestled between the orange plantation and the Prison Farm. I had my first cannabis ‘spliff ‘one day while truanting from School with other tearaways in order to medicate away the pain of missing my mother and the horrible thoughts of leaving her behind to live with such an ugly beast of a father. The puff from the cannabis took me into a dark place with psychedelic background lights that made me very paranoid. It felt as If I was having a mirage were by I was attacked by several imaginary hostile Calvary soldiers with shiny swords waving above their heads. I began hallucinating and it felt as if I was experiencing a massive panic attack. To take the edge from disturbed mental state my cohorts squeezed a few sweet oranges down my neck to tame my appetite and I was given a bath in a river nearby to sober me up. Later I was taken home to my guardian by a prison warder and my arse received a smacking that immediately sobered me on the spot and my posterior ached for days. During my teen years I went on to flirt with other less enterprising forms of substances- I dabbled with a bit of alcohol and tobacco but no other psychotropic drugs.

While travelling on the London underground tube to work this week I was treated in the Daily Mail to the shocking revelation that teenagers addicted to cannabis risk damaging their IQ and show signs normally seen in early Alzheimer's.The research was carried out by a eminent international research team, including some from the Institute of Psychiatry at King's College London, put more than 1,000 boys and girls through a battery of IQ tests when they were aged 13 and 14. They did the same tests more than 20 years later, at the age of 38. The study found a marked drop in intelligence and attention and memory were also harmed. More sobering is the revelation from researcher Professor Terrie Moffitt, of the Institute of Psychiatry, said: 'Research has shown that IQ is a strong determinant of a person's access to college education, their lifelong total income, their access to a good job, their performance on the job, their tendency to develop heart disease and even early death.
I reminisced mischievously after reading the article on the train that had I not dabbled in a bit cannabis at such a early age on that sordid day in 19 74 and damaged my IQ. I could have now been a rocket scientist on my way to work at the NASA space centre. But instead, I was on my way to work as a Care Manager in an unglamorous low paying job with the National Health Service. But equally I was well happy that my guardian had slapped my bum so hard was able to avoid cannabis dependence and truanting and severe learning difficulties.
For a man who had a near encounter with cannabis induced psychosis and a difficult childhood I have gone on to have a university education and a modest career as a Social Worker and part time Journalist is not a bad outcome in the scheme of things but it could have all gone potty.

The idea that Post- modernity, capitalism, the frantic Youth craze and its social trapping has caused mans insatiable appetite for drugs may be a figment of our imagination It seem as if our habit for using drugs was handed down to us genetically by our ancestors in the caves of Africa many eons ago .Earlier this month scientists at Aberdeen University in Scotland revealed they have found a switch in the brain which may explain why smoking cannabis causes psychosis and addiction in more than one-in-ten users. The team, at Aberdeen University found a genetic difference in the switch, probably inherited from early humans who smoked the drug in prehistoric times.
The difference may also explain why some people could be more susceptible to conditions such as obesity. The chemical 'switch' discovered by researchers could explain by one in ten cannabis smokers suffer from psychosis and addiction issues.
Meanwhile over on both sides of the Atlantic some misguided Rastafarians with their head constantly covered in a plume of cannabis smoke continue to peddle half-truths and explode various myths to young persons about the wisdom of the weed that was supposedly found on Solomon’s grave. In part it is true that the plant cannabis has medicinal values but when taken through your mouth and exhaled from the nostril , it ratchet up the case load at mental health institutions across the globe and lower teenagers IQ. As a matter of fact smoking on a whole is a dangerous and the confirmation that smoking among teenagers in the UK is a cause for concern with policy makers and health professionals.

A survey carried out In the UK for the NHS Information Centre by the National Centre for Social Research and The National Foundation for Educational Research .This survey is the latest in a series designed to monitor smoking, drinking and drug use among secondary school pupils aged 11 to 15. Information was obtained from 7,296 pupil’s in246 schools throughout England in the autumn term of 2010. In 2010, 5% of pupils smoked regularly (at least once a week), a similar proportion as in 2009. Girls are more likely to smoke regularly than boys. The prevalence of smoking increases with age; 12% of 15 year olds said they smoked at least once a week, compared with less than0.5% of 11 year olds.

The idea of a woman pulling on the end of a cannabis “spliff” unashamed is no longer a rear sighting as the statistics above has confirmed that it is a dangerous new vocation for ‘ladetts’ living in urban settings where the pressure to appear tough and hip like their young male counterpart. The recent new research always reveals a close relationship between increase vulnerability to mental ill-health and the use of psychotropic drugs by young people. Finally I have to admit that cannabis use in general is such a challenging undertaking as it’s the most socially accepted drug across the world I have weighed into it because of the serious health social and financial cost to our health and social and Economic wellbeing implication of its misuse. On the other hand you may be like my cousin in Jamaica called ‘Jah T’ that doesn’t care a joint and is stoned all day on the weed. He is always so high on cannabis every day - so much- that he washes his chalice more often than the dinner plates in his kitchen sink.

Donavon Reynolds is British Based Social Worker and a Human Rights Campaigner with an interest in Politics, Culture and International Development issues. Readers are invited to give a feedback on this blog at the space provided below or to e-mail him at Dannygerm63@hotmail.co.uk.You may also give your feedback on the Facebook or twitter link on this blog.

Towards a More Authentic and Coherent Understanding of Atheism and Organised Secular Humanism: By Donovan Reynolds.

2012-08-20T13:16:00.005-07:00

Towards a More Authentic and Coherent Understanding of Atheism and Organised Secular Humanism: By Donovan Reynolds.

Professor Richard Dawkins turned spirituality upside down when he wrote the book “The God Delusion”. Before that I had read other books but none had ever shaken up my world for the better. It gave me a bedrock of understanding who I was and unravelled the mystery of human secularism as a decent and credible system of belief. Prior to that, I had grown up in a Jamaican religious conservative society and my religious curiosity was tamed by rapture hungry evangelist conjuring up a constant died of vengeful death by fire in an eternal hell furnace. However my discursive spirit spurred on my stubborn curiosity about the mismatched chronological world of creationism and evolutionary biology. But I was repeatedly tamed by religious hocks persistence of smothering me with the trenchant idea of believing by faith in a blinkered way.

Professor Richard Dawkins is an atheist and he is a vice president of the British Humanist Association, and a supporter of the Brights movement. The Brights movement is a social movement that aims to promote public understanding and acknowledgment of the naturalistic worldview, including equal civil rights and acceptance for people who hold a naturalistic worldview .He is well known for his criticism of creationism and intelligent design.

In his 1986 book The Blind Watchmaker, he argues against the watchmaker analogy, an argument for the existence of a supernatural creator based upon the complexity of living organisms. Instead, he describes evolutionary processes as analogous to a blind watchmaker. He has since written several popular science books, and makes regular television and radio appearances, predominantly discussing these topics. In his 2006 book The God Delusion, Dawkins contends that a supernatural creator almost certainly does not exist and that religious faith is a delusion he describes it as "a fixed false belief". As of January 2010, the English-language version has sold more than two million copies and had been translated into 31 languages. It has been a centre piece of literature on the bookshelf of a number of Humanist globally like me as a source of comfort and a buffer against the argument of the religious right and the venom of hatred and scaremongering that they often spew out.

Atheists, like me are a misunderstood breed .We face moralistic prejudice verbal and in extreme cases physical assault and imprisonment but we are not alone in our viewpoint of a godless world. The propaganda of us being arrogant devil worshippers is wearing thin and unwarranted. I have embraced my faith identity as an atheist but persons who question religion spawn a variety of other terms or identities, including, humanist, secular humanist, freethinker, objectivist, rationalist, naturalist, materialist, agnostic, sceptic, apathies, or even naturalistic pantheists or classical deists, and so on. In fact I use the term humanist to introduce myself usually in a hostile dialectic setting in order to maintain the shape of my face.

Humanist similar to myself belief that this world is the only one we have and that human problems can only be solved by humans, humanists have often been very active social reformers. Compassion and a sense of justice are not unique to religious people. Most humanists embrace the philosophy that identifies pollution, militarism, nationalism, sexism, poverty and corruption as being persistent and addressable human character issues that is incompatible with the interests of our species. Most humanists believe in democracy, open government and human rights, and support action on world poverty and the environment. The basic and most credible tenet of secular humanism is the focus is on doing good and living well in the here and now, and leaving the world a better place for those who come after.

At the core of our belief we promote public understanding and acknowledgment of the naturalistic worldview, which is free of supernatural and mystical elements? We fail to gain public recognition that those of us who hold such a worldview can bring principled actions to bear on matters of civic importance on a global scale. The humanitarian appeal that we raise along with our charitable work often goes unnoticed. It’s been an up hill struggle to educate society toward accepting the full and equitable civic participation of the difficult humanitarian appeals that others shy away from in order to preserve the moral integrity of their religious faith. Our members have gone into the trenches on their own raise a number of humanitarian concerns globally about Aids, Famine and social deprivation, poverty, religious hatred, homophobia, sexism, racism etc. We are found in every social organization globally from Green Peace, Amnesty International and the Red Cross without drawing attention to ourselves or being self congratulatory.

It’s not all been rosy as an Atheist as we face criticisms internally and externally and we expect to be held up to scrutiny. At a presentation at the atheist Alliance International Convention in 2007 journalist and noted atheist the late Christopher Hitchens likewise found it a "cringe-making proposal that atheists should conceitedly nominate themselves to be called “brights.” Anti-humanists, such as Jean-François Lyotard and Michel Foucault, have asserted that humanism posits an overarching and excessively abstract notion of humanity or universal human nature, which can then be used as a pretext for imperialism and domination of those deemed somehow less than human. Philosopher Kate Soper notes that by faulting humanism for falling short of its own benevolent ideals, anti-humanism thus frequently "secretes a humanist rhetoric”. Rapture hungry evangelist from the pulpits of the religious right make a more scathing attack on us by spewing condemnation and aggressive hate laced generalizations that are unfounded and stomach churning we are branded as false profits, the devil incarnate, fitting only for the everlasting furnace of hell. It’s a good thing that we neither believe in heaven or hell or we would have been frightened into heaven condemned to a life of a boring and unhealthy diet of milk and honey.

I hope this article has garnered some new understanding and debunk some of the silly myths around Secular humanism. It is a heady concoction but I have tried to simplify its core tenets. Like the philosopher Dwight Gilbert Jones I am a crazy romantic and quasi idealist. I believe like him that Humanism may be the only philosophy likely to be adopted by our species as a whole. He however cautions that “it is thus incumbent on inclusive Humanists to not place unwarranted or self-interested conditions on its prospective adherents, nor associate it with religious acrimony”.

Donovan Reynolds is British Based Social Worker and a Human Rights Campaigner with an interest in Politics, Culture and International Development issues. Readers are invited to give a feedback on this blog at the space provided below or to e-mail him at Dannygerm63@hotmail.co.uk.You may also give your feedback on the Facebook or twitter link on this blog.

“ Usain Bolt-Beautiful Jamaican Athletes and the Untamed Economic Beast” By Donovan Reynolds

2012-08-13T15:35:00.000-07:00

Usain Bolt-Beautiful Jamaican Athletes and the Untamed Economic Beast” By Donovan Reynolds

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For the past two weeks while the Olympics gain momentum and the Jamaican athletes graced the field I forgot that Facebook ever existed and my Jamaican pride shot up to stratospheric heights. First there was Shelly –Anne Fraser-Pryce winning of the 100 metre event that caused my heart to pound like a racing car. Then Bolt tamed the beast on Wednesday leaving the Americans in a cloud of dust. While Usain Bolt had the Beast close to his heels celebrating Asafa was left lonely on the canvas holding his groin unattended in agony while they lapped up the adoration of the world. Poor Asafa was taken down by an ungrateful groin injury. He looked like amateur dancer getting a painful fall while doing a difficult’ crotch grabbing’ Michael Jackson dance routine. While the word celebrated the antics of lightening Knights of Jamaican athletics his sympathy fell to three British women of Jamaican decent. While having a celebratory bottle of champagne in my local pub they convinced me that they could have done a better job on Asafa’s groin than his physiotherapist if he had locked himself in a room for a threesome with them before the race 100 metres race for less than 45 minutes. What they would have done to him to whip him in shape is imagination daunting.

Then came the Thursday 1,2,3 heroics of Bolt Blake and Weir that sealed the Jamaican athletic cult status. It was watched by a record twenty million viewers on BBC and 2 billion viewers worldwide. By the time Saturday came Bolt Blake, Frater and Carter had shattered the world record on Saturday my voice went through the window of my apartment closely followed closely by my British politeness .While celebrating my blood to alcohol level was so high that my liver almost set off the smoke alarms in my flat.

For two entire weeks Jamaica received such global spotlight I almost felt that we were citizens of a first world country but the bubble burst on Monday with a telephone call from a male relative in Jamaica that woke me up with the news that he was indebted and needed a loan as he was so broke and was expecting the courts bailiff to come for his furniture among them the TV that he was watching during the Olympics game. Jamaica is a country of amazing contradiction among the records that we have broken globally is the ability to punch above our weight despite our difficult financial circumstances.

Professor Trevor Munroe confirmed a long held suspicion of mine s in a presentation to the Rotary Club of New Kingston, Friday the 10/8/12. The Jamaica Observer quoted Munroe saying that: while the performance of the athletes in their different events has literally pushed Jamaica to the top of the world, the country is still at the bottom of the pile based on its economic performance, pushed there by rampant corruption. Professor Munroe opined:"...At the same time as we are at the top of the world in athletics, we are near the bottom of the world in economic performance; in producing and in providing goods and services to uplift the quality of life of the majority of our people. Regrettably, when it comes to the economy, we not only don't qualify for the Olympics, but we don't even qualify for anywhere near the top three in our region," He quoted an article by the Economist magazine in July this year which predicted that based on current forecasts Jamaica will finish the year with the slowest average growth rate since 2000 in the Americas, behind even earthquake-stricken Haiti, Professor Munroe said Jamaica had "fallen behind a whole slew of countries that it was ahead of in 1970".

Figures obtained from UK Sport, the strategic body overseeing performance sport in the UK, detail the amount of money invested in each Olympic sport since the 2008 Beijing Olympics. An Olympic medal won by Team GB at the London 2012 Games cost an average of just over £4.5 million. Boxing was the most cost-effective sport in terms of funding per medal, with hockey the least. This money spent is estimated to be more than what is cost to send the entire Jamaican delegation to the 12 12 Olympics. The British government spent a whopping 12 billion Pounds to stage the Olympic Games yet in the athletic stadium at Stratford Jamaican flags were strung up around the track as if they were co- host of the Olympic Games. As a matter of fact prior to the games when the Olympic Torch arrived in Tottenham famous for the 2011 British Riots -I went out with my family to see it. There were more Jamaican Flag bearers dressed in Jamaican T-shirts chairing on the torch bearers than British flag bearers we are a n extremely clever and proud people. We Jamaicans are clever at high jacking a party and making it our own. Equally are experts at Hijacking other countries success and highlighting how we contribute to it. Yes, the mantra of our boasting of how our immigrant labour build Britain US and Canada is true to a certain extent but it wearing thin in light of the fact that we are unable to reign in our corrupt politicians and Public officials and create our own economic success. Yes, our athletes are famous and rich and they deserve their success but the nagging contradiction is that we are the begging bowl of the Southern hemisphere.

So the party is over and our two weeks of fame has ended. It was a triumphant game with stellar performances from talented athletes from a confident but financially broke country. Bolstered by the self confidence from the games Jamaican Government and Business should get out there produce and innovate. Let us begin the arduous task of find new markets for our indigenous goods and services that will give us a comparative edge is a difficult global financial market. We can’t employ mediocre politicians and Public servants and expect to get good economic result. Jamaica has had more than a dozen Finance Ministers offer the past 50 years who have less economic savvy than the dinner lady at my son’s primary school on less than £2 a day my son return from school so well fed during the week so much that only needing a bowl of cereal to go to his bed. There are too many charlatans in our parliament they remind me of a Bar attendant that I met in Westmoreland she felt that she was more clever that girls her age who had University degrees on the basis that she was sleeping with a judge and two lawyers at the same time and had a wide knowledge of the law.

As I begin to retreat from the afterglow of the Olympics success and hardly recovering from the over indulgence of my alcohol laced week end Jamaicans living abroad have to join the Jamaica National and western Union lines to stave off a Haiti situation by helping out my country man. It comes on a fortnight that a famous Jamaican politician Facebook accused us of being facitious for wanting parliamentary representation because we are unpatriotic for running away from Jamaica totally oblivious to the fact that remittance is Jamaica’s highest foreign exchange earner. That mealy mouth self-congratulatory politician reminds me of the ungrateful relatives that we take expensive presents for while on vacation that disappears when our money is finished. So the Olympics are now over we have seen the beautiful lightning Bolt and the incredible fast Yohan the beast Blake but after the Olympics is over we know that Haiti is going to perform better than us this year if we don’t get our economy in order. May be I am a hopeless optimist but I believe that we can extend the example of our dedicated and Athletic Professionals to our economic management over time we can be a great country.

Donavon Reynolds is British Based Social Worker and a Human Rights Campaigner with an interest in Politics, Culture and International Development issues. Readers are invited to give a feedback on this blog at the space provided below or to e-mail him at Dannygerm63@hotmail.co.uk.You may also give your feedback on the Facebook or twitter link on this blog.

“Prejudice Somewhere is Prejudice Everywhere”: Examining Homophobia in Jamaica

2012-07-01T06:18:00.003-07:00

“Prejudice Somewhere is Prejudice Everywhere”: Examining Homophobia in Jamaica

Internationally acclaimed Jamaican singer, Diana King has taken an unprecedented step within the local music industry as she dropped a bombshell on Thursday, admitting that she is a lesbian. High Profile Jamaican female Reggae singer Diana King, known for classics such as Shy Guy, I Say A Little Prayer and L-L-Lies made the confession through a note which she issued on her official Facebook page last week that she was gay. It's a historic moment within the Jamaican music industry as she's the first artiste of note to have admitted openly to be gay. In her note on face book, King wrote, "My name is DIANA EUGENA KING; known to most as DIANA KING my fans call me ‘King Singa’. I AM … WOMAN … MOTHER ... AUNT … JAMAICAN … AMERICAN ... INTERNATIONAL ARTIST ... SINGER ... SONGWRITER ... BAND LEADER … FRIEND ... LOVER ... ENTREPRENEUR ... GODDESS! Among other things AND YES!!!…I AM A LESBIAN ... the answer to my most asked INDIRECT question. I welcome the "WHO CARES" right now. LOL." (End of quote).

Apparently her dressing and her facial and body tattoos in recent time seem to suggest that she was gay and the continued questions about her sexuality and the push towards viewing gay rights in the US and Europe as a civil liberty issue must have made her comfortable to make such a bold move. On the back of her posting, her face book page was flooded with mixed reactions of genuine as well as insincere support for her right to self-determination. Shortly after her posting - the religious right rapture hungry class of the Jamaican community and its diaspora flooded her face book page posting with a torrent of abuse and condemnation.

Lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender (LGBT) rights in Jamaica are dominated by the prohibition of sexual acts between men. Sexual acts between women are legal, by virtue of the absence of any reference to them in law. Sexual acts between men are punishable with up to ten years in jail, although the law is seldom enforced between consenting adults. Jamaica has been described by human-rights groups across the globe as the most homophobic place on earth due to the hate speech and bias motivated crimes often directed at LGBT people. Yet hatred against Homosexuals and lesbians continues unchecked in Jamaica. Admitting to be openly gay or being an open gay sympathiser could lead to an unofficial death sentence. Most Dance hall deejays, political aspirants and rapture hungry evangelist in Jamaica have one thing that they like to do in common and that is to use gay bashing as a means to attract an audience.

The former JLP prime minister the Honourable Bruce Golding in an interview with the BBC in 2008 on BBC straight talk, while on a Visit to the UK one of the most liberal place on earth admitted to its host in an interview that he would not knowingly allow a gay members to serve in his cabinet. When questioned about the archaic buggery laws he remarked: “We are not going to yield to the pressure, whether that pressure comes from individuals, either that pressure comes from government or groups of countries, to liberalise the laws as it relates to buggery”. The reverberation of such an ill-conceived statement through the conservative side of the then prime minister Golding’s mouth made headlines in the liberal and gay press in Europe and across the Atlantic. Gay rights activist such as Stonewalls Peter Tachell, LGBT activist Michael Petrelis and Jim Burroway went into a frenzied overdrive to berate the prime minister’s statement.

The online magazine Queerty branded Jamaica as one of the most homophobic place on earth and in one of its quarterly publication called for its affiliates to kick off a boycott of Jamaican products because of its flagrant institutionalised human rights violation against gay persons. The owners of Stonewall Inn decided to dump their supplies of Red stripe beer and Myers Rum down their sinks.

The lesbian, gay, bisexual and transsexual movement online went into overdrive and started a ‘Boycott Jamaica’ campaign. They accused the Jamaican government of turning a blind eye to violence against the gay community in Jamaica and posted an altered red stripe logo with the inscription “Boycott Jamaica and feel alright”. Above the logo was a call to ban red stripe and Myers rum.

Following are some of the low lights posted on the website:

• In 2006 Kingston man Nokia Cowan was drowned after a crowd shouting “Batty Boy” (a Jamaican Gay insult) chased him off a pier.

• One of the island’s most prominent gay activists, Bryan Williamson was murdered in 2009 and a crowd even celebrated over his body.

• In 2008 a mob burst into the house of a gay man, Andre, having dinner with his friends. They screamed homophobic epithets waved machetes sticks and knives. Fifteen to 20 men kicked off the door, entered and beat both men senseless. Andrew received a deep wound to his skull and marks ear was sliced in half.

• February 2010 two men (Dwayne Gordon and Andy Williams) allegedly stabbed to death Dane Harris because he was gay. The accused justified the crime by alleging that Harris made sexual advances at them.

Cultural attitudes towards the gay community in Jamaica have long been unhelpful and sometimes dangerous. One’s sexual preference or the denial to practice it is not often viewed as a civil liberty issue in Jamaica. Moral absolutists are rife and the hatred comes from every quarter, from parliament, pulpit and the places where deejays “strut their stuff”. Jamaica has failed to adopt the full letter of the United Nations Human Rights act. While a number of European countries have repealed the archaic Buggery laws countries like Jamaica has clung to it because repealing it might lose votes for politicians at a general or local government election. In the dance halls mealy mouth deejays use the issue to illicit crowd response and keep their fledging careers going .While puerile politicians such as Ernest Smith a St Ann JLP representative make insensitive anti-gay remarks in parliament without having being made to apologise. Meanwhile at all times rapture hungry evangelist use it on the pews across the island causing their closet homosexual members to go further underground. Those who fail to see gay rights as a civil liberty often confuse child sexual molestation with gay issues. If you are a heterosexual in Jamaica defending or having sympathy for gay rights you are accused of being gay and homophobic and a fatwa is passed by deejays sanctioning your death. Such is the level of ignorance. The rights of gays to assemble in private attract a death visitation and the mention of a public assembly is even worse!

These homophobic acts never go unnoticed in the International press and social media. It sullies the reputation of brand Jamaica. This unnecessary hatred is woven into the country’s cultural fabric and is difficult to disentangle because of entrenched attitudes. Culture is not static, it is fluid. Jamaica cannot remain behind the iron curtain as globalisation takes traction. Vehicles like the internet expose these human rights breaches that are indefensible. The dumping of Myers Rum and Red Stripe Beer by the gay lobby is only a spark of things to come if we continue in the same vein. The country should respond boldly to these breeches. According to the late Doctor Martin Luther King ‘injustice somewhere is injustice everywhere’. The country must begin by embarking upon a public education campaign in schools and across public institutions. To deny persons the opportunity of understanding their civil liberties is a breach of human rights by itself. Leadership should be transformative and inspire change. It should not be based on a vote catching exercise that keeps the status quo in power. Principle decisions by the leadership of a country should be underpinned by a respect of the UN Convention on Human Rights as a moral compass for ethical governance.

This covenant details the basic civil and political rights of individuals and nations. Among the rights of nations are: The right to self-determination, the right to life, the right to liberty and freedom of movement, the right to equality before the law, the right to be recognized as a person before the law, the right to privacy and protection of that privacy by law, freedom of thought, conscience, and religion, freedom of opinion and expression, freedom of assembly and association. The covenant forbids torture. All these fundamental rights impact upon persons of alternative lifestyles in a positive way. Yet, countries like Jamaica, Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Uganda and Ghana all have discriminate laws that excludes LGBT from participating equally, thereby, failing to enjoy the freedom and rights as prescribed by the International Convention on Human Rights.

Let us be very clear: Gay rights are a civil rights issue that needs a positive rights agenda urgently. It’s not just old rules that should be flouted by nation states. It includes not just the freedom to exist but includes freedom of expression regardless of one’s sexual preference. Developing countries like those stated above need to encourage an open mind and predictable rules about protecting people of diversity. Civil liberty is a philosophy that promotes a willingness to treat people of whatever gender, race and faith equally. These principles needs to be stood up for, advocated and when not followed we should challenge, not concur.

In conclusion, Diana King, a respected reggae icon has come out of the closet bombarded by questions about her sexuality. She has been lauded by some for her honesty and castigated by the homophobic brigade. She has rehashed one of the most important debates about gay rights issue and our attitudes to people’s privacy and choice of alternative relationships. This is a very historic moment for the Jamaican music industry to embrace the positive changes as the gay lobby around the world are crying out for justice which they rightly deserve. This author, albeit as straight as an arrow is fully in support of her right to self-determination. It opens the flood gate for LGBT people in Jamaica to also assert their right to self-determination. Attitudes are changing internationally towards people of alternative lifestyles; let us align ourselves with equal rights and justice regardless of our personal preferences. Remember that we should never accuse in someone what you would excuse in yourself.

Donovan Reynolds is a U. K. based Social Worker and Human Rights campaigner. Persons wanting to comment or give feedback are encouraged to respond in the space provided by this blog. Alternatively, they may email me at: donovan.reynolds@hotmail.co.uk.

Global Criminal Links (Part2-Gangs of Jamaica by Donovan Reynolds)

2012-06-19T13:26:00.002-07:00

Chapter5

Global Criminal Link

This chapter seeks to build on the understanding of how the Jamaican Gangs have extended their network and influences to the United Kingdom the United States and Canada. After the infamous 1980 General Election politicians in Jamaica disassociated themselves publicly with these criminal gangs while privately soliciting their assistance to maintain their political base in the garrisons. As a result the gangsters turned their activities to the global drug trade forging alliances with migrant communities in the above mentioned countries. The war on drugs spearheaded by the Regan administration had two effects the first was that the Seaga administration collaborated with the US government to undertake a massive cannabis eradication programme in Jamaica. This move hit especially the rural cannabis farmers hard in the pocket. Secondly the traditional cocaine transhipment port used by the South American drug lords were sealed off and an alternative route was found Via the Caribbean and as a result the Jamaican Drug Barons seized upon the opportunity presented and shifted their activities to cocaine smuggling. They formed a strategic alliance with their mainly Colombians and Panamanian counterparts and begun using the island as a passage way and transhipment port for the illegal but lucrative cocaine trade intended for the European and North American markets. One of the criticisms of the war on drugs spearheaded by the Regan administration was that it focused on supply reduction while the Americans appetite for drugs consumption remained the same.

By 1980 the gangsters in the garrisons recognised that the local political hustling was insufficient to go around more over the cocaine trade was a more profitable means of financing their activities lured by the lucrative lifestyles. They began to muscle in on the cocaine trade and venture out to the cities of North America and Europe to forge their vicious reputation and extend their influence. With cocaine awash on the island they began the process of recruiting mainly women from poor and vulnerable families in Jamaica as drug mules to the USA and Europe. On the back of this activates the Jamaican gangs created satellite networks in the major cities of North America and Europe. They wrestled the cocaine trade away from indigenous gangs and foisted their interest by vicious acts of gun violence, callus murders, extortion and racketeering.

The Jamaican Posse is a loose coalition of Gangs based predominantly in New York and Toronto Ontario. It is widely acclaimed that these gangs are affiliated to the two major political parties in Jamaica-The Peoples National Party and the Jamaica Labour Party. Their first involvement can be traced back to the 1980s where they began with gun running then extending to drug smuggling and racketeering. The Jamaican Possies are known for ferocious gun battles with the police. They have a reputation of committing drive by shootings stemming from disputes over drug turf. The Posse members are known for ritualised killings of members who steal drug proceeds or profits. Ritual violent acts have included the use of laundry irons, chain saw, hammer and nails to pulverise their assailants to death. They have and extreme violent code of conduct against their opponents or among those within their ranks that step out of line.

The most famous of all is the Notorious Shower Posse a JLP aligned gang with its head quarters in West Kingston run by Lester Lloyd Coke Alias “Jim Brown” a garrison Don and political enforcer. The international arm was run North America by a middle class Jamaican business man turned gangster called Vivian Blake.Coke was believed to have been responsible for the deaths of 68 alleged murders that included 13 police officers over a six month period in 1090.Coke was arrested on suspicion of 14 alleged murders but walked away scotch free by making witnesses disappear on his trial date. Lester Lloyd Coke and 60 of his hence men were cornered after and arrested after a blazing gun battle with the Jamaican Police. The arrest triggered extradition proceedings in the Jamaican court where he was wanted for murder and drug trafficking. While waiting to be extradited to the US his jail cell mysteriously caught afire and he was burnt to death. While Coke was awaiting extradition in prison his son Mark Coke took control of the gang and was cut down by a hail of bullets by a rival gangster this sparked a bloody feud for the control of the Jamaican drug market. Coke is survived by three sons that head the West Kingston gang but they maintain a low profile.

Coke counterpart Vivian Blake continue to deny that he is the leader of the North American Wing of the Shower Posse according to him his label stems from the constant stereotyping of Jamaican men. Prior to his entry into gang land activities he was described as a poet, writer and businessman. He is born of a union between a Jewish housewife and a Jamaican merchant tailor. He spent a part of his early years in London, United Kingdom attending a Catholic School. His family returned to Jamaica where he completed High School in Jamaica with satisfactory academic credentials. It is widely believed that Blake used his upper class status and his political connections to steer attention away from the Shower Posse corrupt criminal activities. Blake turned his activities to get a piece of the American drug market by establishing a base in Miami which over time spawned the major capital of the US to include New York while back in Jamaica Lester Coke ran the enforcement arm of the feared organisation back in Jamaica.

Over a period of eight years he expanded his influence in North America by wielding his sphere of influence backed up by acts of brutality. It is believed that he was responsible for about 1,400 deaths and the criminal empire was valued at about 2.5 billion US dollars. This drew the attention of the US Drug enforcement agency and the Federal Buro of Investigation( FBI) By 1989 Blake’s name headed the list of 38 members of the Notorious Shower Posse wanted on an indictment by the US authority on racketeering,smuggling and murder charges. He escaped being cornered by the US authority boarding a cruise ship destined for Jamaica. He remained free in Jamaica for five years fighting the extradition proceedings but he case was loaded against him as one of his lieutenants was a vital witness in the case. During his extradition proceedings in the Jamaican court Blake remained a legend of Robin Hood fame by the Jamaican people who organised rallies and protest demanding his release. The legal battle ended in 1998 when he was secretly handed over to the DEA in Miami. After a plea bargain arrangement in which Blake provided evidence against his accuser he received a 28 years sentence and released to the Jamaica in 2008 amidst a media fanfare and cheering from his West Kingston adorers.

Other members of the notorious Shower posse were caught by the US authority and are serving sentences in US federal Prisons. For example Richard “Story Teller” Morrison a high ranking aid of Cooke and Blake was extradited and sent to prison and is now serving a term of 30 years to life on murder and racketeering. Maxwell Bogle who had been listed as one of the world’s 100 most dangerous men in 2001and was sentenced to 58 years to life in absentia was caught in the same year and is behind bars. Another extremely low ranking lieutenant Rycliffe Bruce on the FBI most wanted list for gunning down a DJ in a crowded dance with two automatic pistols in his hands.

Jamaican gang activities have extended itself to Canada the Malvern Crew and the Galloway crew wreaked havoc in the Scarborough area of Toronto committing random acts of violence gunning down innocent bystanders in an attempt to intimidate and assert their badness honour status. The terrorised the Toronto areas for about two years. One of the most feared gangsters that headed the Galloway Gang was Tyshan Riley a 23 years man of Jamaican descent. He was described by the Canadian Mounted Troupe as the worst killer that the City had ever seen. Things came to a head for the gangsters when they gunned down an innocent bystander in 2004.A joint Canadian Police Command was assembled code named Project Pathfinder. It consisted of officers from the Homicide Squad, the Special Investigation Service, the Intelligence Bureau and Prosecutors from the Attorney Generals Office. The officers swoop down on the gangs and Tyshan Riley and Phillip Atkins along with seven other gang members were arrested. Project Pathfinder according to a Canadian police source got its name from a Nissan SUV used by one of the alleged gangster who is from a Jamaican decent. Most of the men caught in the police sting are behind bars serving lengthy prison sentences for charges ranging from intimidating witness, gangsterism, robberies, and murder.

The United Kingdom and England in specific is vulnerable to the activities of Jamaican gangsters and their satellite network due to its large West Indian migrant population made up mainly of Jamaicans. The first wave of immigrants(492 persons)that formed the British African Caribbean community arrived in 1948 from Jamaica on a Ship known as the Empire Wind rush the first generation of these Caribbean immigrant are often referred to as the wind rush generation. They were for the most part hard working people who migrated to seek work and helped to rebuild the United Kingdom after the ravages of the Second World War. Most of these immigrants settled around South London and made Brixton their unofficial capital. The town of Brixton is often described as the soul of black Britain. It is famous for the Brixton riot of 1980, Nelson Mandela visited the town in 1996 and a street is named in his honour. A square in the centre of the town has been named and dedicated to the memory of the Wind rush Generation contribution to the development of the United Kingdom. This historic and proud contribution to the development of British life is now overshadowed by the activities of Jamaican Gangs who have stretched their influence across England and have forged their reputation by drug dealing and several episodes of gruesome blood -letting.

In 2003 things came to a head so much that the Independent a respected British news paper broke the story that around 200 “hard core yardies” are based in Lambeth South London. The paper recorded that they were operating as members of the “firehouse posse” or Brixton “Cartel crew”. Most of the gangs connected to the Jamaican Migrant communities in the united Kingdom are loosely called yardies the operate and integrate themselves across the UK among the migrant communities and have recruited their members from mostly recent Jamaican migrants and second generation Jamaicans living in the United Kingdom.Peter Walsh the author of Gang war makes an important point that term “yardie” has become so ubiquitous so that it means any Jamaican, African or black gang. These gangs are so entrenched in London that a famous estate in Brixton is referred to as “Little Tivoli” after Tivoli gardens a JLP garrison in Jamaica. Other prolific Jamaican influenced gangs are: the lock city crew, the much love crew in Harlsden,the Hackney posse in East London, The young Peck ham boys ,the Peck ham boys, the ghetto boys in Lewis ham, the murder zone crew, The poverty driven crew and the paid in full crew. Turf war is rife among yardie gangs and the recent trend is the younger gang members breaking of to form their own unit. For example the young Peckham boys broke away and form their own unit and were said to be involved in the murder of a ten year old African youth Damilola Taylor.

For both old and young Jamaican influenced gangsters automatic and semi- automatic guns is a necessity. They move from house to house at nights making it hard for the London Metropolitan Police to track them. This took place after a spate of shootings in the black community in London in the mid nineteen nineties. The Metropolitan Police launched Operation Trident consisting of an elite core of armed police officer to deal with the spate of shooting and gun related murders across London. At that time Cold Harbour Lane in Brixton was reporting three shootings per week along with a number of shootings in Lambeth and Brent. By 2001 things got out of hand so much that the police in a desperate bid to stem the escalation shot dead Derek Bennett a man of Jamaican decent after brandishing a gun shaped cigarette lighter in public. Despite wide spread outcry of murder by his relatives. A coroner’s inquest was held and a verdict of unlawful killing was handed down by the coroner and subsequently held upon appeal.

The killings continued unabated without the police making inroads with the recovery of firearms and operation Trident focused their swoop around the Broxton area in an attempt to deter gangsters from carrying firearms while appealing to the public for information this created a positive effect in terms of containment but by 2006 Brixton was again in the headlines. In September 2006 Brixton was the scene of a widely reported shooting of two boys in a McDonald Restaurant on Brixton Road Acre lane.

The new breed of Jamaican style yardie gangsters and “wannabees” in the United Kingdom is propelled by the growing availability of three commodities: greed, drugs and guns. The new trend is for the more powerful urban crew of gangsters to deliberately encroach in nearby northern cities. The headline making conflict that earned Manchester the infamous label of “Britain’s Chicago” in 2004- was a chilling episode aptly captured by Peter Walsh the author of Gangs War: The Inside Story of the Manchester Gangs and one of the authors of the book Cocky, about British drug baron Curtis Warren. Gangsters on mountain bikes chased each other down a Manchester hospital corridor as staff bravely tried to barricade doors and protect patience who were members of the Goosh Close Gang and their rivals the Long Sight Crew hunted each other through the wards masked in hoods, balaclavas and bandannas. The incident occurred because a member of each gang had been taken to hospitals with gun shot wounds in an incident that also involved the killing of Leon Johnson a Goochie member who had been mowed down in a hit an run attack. As a result of the incident ten young men were later jailed for either affair or pubic order offences. Things died down between both gangs but in July 2005 they were at it again: the Goosh and the Dooddington gang fought hand in hand and traded gun shots at each other in broad day light in the Manchester city centre.

The West Indian involvement has been key to the spread of gangs in many UK cities. A 2003 report suggested Jamaican Yardies had invaded Britain at an ‘alarming rate’ and their control of the crack trade had gradually spread north, reaching as far as Aberdeen. Of 43 police forces in England and Wales, 36 reported a problem with Yardie gangs. Yet in spite of their almost insane brutality, the Yardies have not always fared well against home grown rivals. In Birmingham, Jamaica interlopers were faced down by the ‘homeboys’ of Hands worth and Lozells: the Burger Bar Boys and the Johnson Crew. The Burgers and the Johnnies, however, then turned there guns on each other in a tit-for tat spiral. That culminating in the tragic killing of Charlene Ellis and Letisha Shakespeare at a New Years day party. Far from cowing the gangs, such high-profile incidents seem to heighten their bravado. The Birmingham gangsters have even made and distributed DVDs of their exploit

The city of Leeds was relatively free of violence until the murder of towering gangsters Clifton “Junior” Bryan in 2002 before that he survive a close assassination bid when he was lured in a house with another man, Dennis Wilson, who was shot in the head. Their bodies were bundled into the trunk of a car which was later found abandoned in a district in the outskirts of Leeds.

The clutches and influence of the Jamaican Yardie gangs which has its roots in the political garrisons of Jamaica have been exported and entrenched in the capitals and cities of North America and Europe. Hundreds of deportees have been repatriated by European and North American law enforcement agencies. Some of these deportees have found their way back to their point of deportation shortly after. Others continue to contribute to the burgeoning crime statistics in Jamaica yet a few have been rehabilitated and have turned their life around. The legend and reputation of Jamaican influence gang activity is etched on the mind of law enforcement agencies globally who often shudder and cringe when confronted by their fearless activities.

Donovan Reynolds is a British based Jamaican Social Worker who is a Human Rights campaigner,Independent Writer,Blogger and Author of" Poor and Boasy": a tour de force of Jamaican culture seen trough secular point of view.He also has an interest in culture,politics and international development issuesThis is an edited version of chapter 5.Readers wanting to comment or critique this article can do so at the space provided for comments on this blog.Alternatively they may give their feedback at dannygerm63@hotmail.co.uk, or on the facbook or Twitter link.