IN The Diaspora

In a highly sensationalized article, Sun, Sea and Murder, the Economist magazine focused on the alarmingly high (and growing) incidence of violent and drug-related crime in the Caribbean, referenced the deadly rampages in Guyana and observed that Jamaica enjoys the dubious distinction of having the highest murder rate in the world. Most of this violence, as economist Norman Girvan has pointed out, can be described as poor-on-poor, poor-on-not-so-poor, state-on-poor, community-on-community. In Jamaica the violence between rival (garrison) communities – beset today by rampant poverty, unemployment and the lure of the drug trade – cannot be detached from the machinations of the two main political parties, with murderous effects reaching their height in the 1970s.

While one may not dispute the statistics, the Economist article was really about and for the Western audience, tourist and investor. It leaves out a lot, not least local perspectives and responses.

On March 4th, Jamaicans are holding a March for Peace that will leave from Halfway Tree, Three Miles and Mountain View, converging on the Kingston Waterfront where a rally will feature speakers and artistes like Tony Rebel. In West Kingston a carnival march will mobilize people to come out on March 4th, and communities are being encouraged to walk with banners. The march is the brainchild of the Violence Prevention Alliance, which began three years ago as the initiatives of two doctors in the Ministry of Health, Elizabeth Ward and Deanna Ashley. Today the Alliance, now based at the University of the West Indies and chaired by Barry Chevannes, meets monthly to facilitate the sharing of anti-violence strategies among its roughly 35 members who are drawn from Non-Governmental Organisations, the state, international agencies and a few private sector bodies.

One of the groups organizing the march is the Peace Management Initiative (PMI), set up by the Ministry of National Security six years ago, and primarily funded by the government (not nearly enough, but it pays for four full-time field staff). The PMI works on a number of fronts with communities that are directly affected by the violence: getting corner youth together; stressing collective leadership and establishing peace councils (in one area, Mountainview, about 7 communities covering a distance of some 2 miles established a single peace council); co-sponsoring cultural events with groups like the Area Youth Foundation; holding sports activities where rival communities play on the same team; hosting residential retreats and therapeutic trips for traumatized children and mothers; engaging pastors and others to offer peace counseling; offering individual advice with at-risk youth; even providing small start up funds for affected youth to begin small businesses like block making and chicken farming. As Horace Levy, who has been with the PMI from its inception, notes, the results are hopeful: one of the most dramatic shifts is in Dunkirk, a population of roughly 13,000 that experienced 44 homicides in 2005 (a conservative estimate, according to Levy, since the numbers are based on community youth trying to remember exactly who was killed). Intensive work in the community spearheaded by PMI saw that figure drop to 1 the following year (there were seven homicides in 2007).

PMI’s approach – to begin with peace, and to say that we will talk and work with anyone who comes forward to express an interest in peace – seems fairly out of step with wider sentiment. A recent poll indicated that roughly two-thirds of Jamaicans were in favour of hanging, up from 50% a year or two ago (in Guyana we have also seen a rise in calls to ‘exterminate’ criminals, and there has been an outright dismissal from several quarters, including the government, of Father Malcolm Rodrigues’ suggestion of dialogue). Horace Levy’s response is that meeting violence with violence does not break the cycle, and may even make it worse. Jamaicans for Justice have pointed to the high numbers of young people killed by the police, 229 in 2006 and 270 in 2007, many of whom were innocent of crimes (in Jonestown, population 9,000, 13 young people were killed by the police in 2007). Apart from the denial of due process, the police killings have had little if any effect on the overall murder rates, so why should hangings be an effective deterrent? A more persuasive approach, Levy believes, is to ensure an effective and well-trained police force and judicial system, and the kinds of sustained grassroots interventionist strategies that are bearing fruit in several communities in and around Kingston. It is hoped that the March will bring on board uncommitted individuals, organizations and communities.

When I asked Horace Levy what message he wanted to leave with the general public, he immediately said that it is important to understand that affected communities are desperate for peace, and that what is required is effective facilitation that can bring people together and address their fundamental concerns. March 4th, then, is not just a call for peace, for peace requires a supportive context in which social, political and economic security offer the foundations for hope beyond poverty, fear and despair. It is a call for Jamaicans to march not just to end violence, but for well-to-do Jamaicans to recognize that peace and justice are inseparable.

There have been recent suggestions by the Prime Minister of Trinidad and Tobago for a regional security response to the spiraling crime and violence across the Caribbean. And we can be sure that crime will be high on the agenda of the CARICOM inter-sessional and Heads meetings. As it should well be. But there is another approach to regionalism that is way overdue. Perhaps it is time for us to link from the ground up, to co-ordinate the work that begins with communities and that is being done in various countries. Could you imagine the sense of solidarity and power that would come from knowing that you are participating in a march that was taking place not just across the Caribbean but also in the diaspora where issues of violence, racism and state surveillance are pervasive? This is not just a Jamaican issue, and we should all support it, and find ways to make meaningful and ongoing regional connections and exchanges that can strengthen our work in each individual country and location.

To find out more about the march and the Peace Management Initiative, contact Horace Levy at jenhal@cwjamaica.com.