McKenzie and Burke
Erica Virtue, Staff Reporter
PAUL BURKE'S and Desmond Mckenzie's paths were bound to cross.
Mr. Burke is chairman of the People's National Party (PNP) Region Three which takes in Corporate Area political constituencies.
Mr. McKenzie is chairman of the Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) Area Council One, with responsibility for the JLP's organisation in the Corporate Area.
They have much in common.
They've seen hundreds of their countrymen taken out by the gunman's bullet. They've attended hundreds of funerals for the fallen.
They've comforted the survivors. They've stood at the scenes where so much blood has run.
They, like Jamaica, are bleeding and hurting because of the senseless loss.
Yet, a quarter century ago, it was highly unlikely that they would ever be in the same place building bridges.
The raw, dangerous and divisive politics of that era and later forced them to sit on political fences, with miles between them.
Ironically, it is the seeds of that period which saw parallel lines converge and forced them onto common ground.
Today, they are walking, talking and begging. They are running the race of their entire lives. They are pleading for peace.
It is a relentless and, sometimes. elusive attempt.
They say peace might not come in their lifetime, but they are willing to give it all they've got, while they are alive.
Theirs is a common wish. That our children and grandchildren can live in a country where they are not paralysed by fear, where they will be free to walk anywhere they want to go.
Many have described the once fiery chairman and general secretary of the People's National Party's Youth Organisation (PNPYO) as "controversial".
He has been linked to notoriety, and, like many others who are today hugged by society, he has been associated with the unsavoury. While others try to hurdle their past, he has never denied his.
Desmond McKenzie could also be described as controversial for his links to unsavoury characters. Both men are formidable political opponents and are fervent in their search for peace.
Paul Burke reluctantly spoke to The Sunday Gleaner last week.
He said the efforts at peace were not his and Mr. McKenzie's responsibility alone, and should not be placed solely on their shoulders. He believes efforts would be better served if the communities were engaged by the media. He challenged the media to assist the process.
Working together
Asked if he could have envisioned himself and Desmond McKenzie working this closely together 25 years ago, he said "Yes. I think the answer would still have been yes. There was a desire by many persons to work towards de-tribalisation. The circumstances were difficult, and I don't think there was sufficient political will by the people at the top. But, on the ground, many of us were strongly opposed to the level of violence, which we saw as one of the ugly manifestations of tribalism, and we in the PNPYO had wanted to forge a unity of working youths, to channel that energy into class struggle," he said.
Most of the PNPYO's position on how to tackle the matter in the 1970s, he said was "along class position".
Asked to explain class position, he said, "As they relate to the ownership of the means of production. We thought that what was needed was to strengthen the working class, and that trade union rivalry and tribalism were tools to divide the working class, that it was deliberately being manipulated by members of the oligarchy (the ruling class, the capitalist class) and their agents in the political parties."
According to him, many people accepted this divide as "just a part of life and many of my colleagues were caught up in the same monster we were trying to destroy and inadvertently, the 1980s strengthened it."
He maintained that there was a will and a wish that political violence on the ground must come to an end. Citing the spontaneous move for peace in January 1978, he said "people with very little input made their own peace initiative at that level, it was supported by the PNPYO."
Speaking to the West Kingston peace treaty, which involved efforts on the path of two of the most violent political opposites of that era, Claude Massop and Aston "Bucky Marshall" Thompson, he said, both were instrumental in the end product, but, "the young people on the ground were tired of the war. They wanted an economic agenda, even though some of it was criminally inspired. It was still in the right direction. They wanted an end to political conflict and the beginning of a common economic agenda."
It culminated in a huge peace concert at the National Stadium. The image of a dreadlocked Bob Marley with then PNP president and Prime Minister, Michael Manley, and Opposition Leader Edward Seaga holding hands was the image of the 1970s.
People wept openly for joy at the sight of relatives they had not seen for years.
But peace was short-lived.
Mr. Burke said they failed to achieve those objectives, because the ground support lacked proper leadership, and the peace efforts were neither fully appreciated nor trusted, by politicians on both sides.
"There was insufficient traction to consolidate the efforts and the distrust factor was very high, even among people on the ground and it did not have the time to evolve in the way it should," he expressed.
He called the holding of hands at the peace concert, mere tokenism.
"Twenty-five years ago I was half the age I am, but there were real forces too that were dead set against the efforts, even within our own parties. There were war-minded person in the parties. Nevertheless, there was the initiative and the desire," he declared.
Asked if he was hurt when a life was lost, his response could be considered controversial.
"I think it is an unfair question and we should not personalise. I think it hurts the country first of all. But I am not going to pretend that every single life lost I am overly concerned about. I am not a purist. But certainly, where there is this senseless violence and there are victims who have no involvement, but who are just in the wrong place at the wrong time, that hurts me. But if shotter (gunman) and shotter want shot each other, I can't pretend that that hurts me. It doesn't," he said flatly.
He said most of the victims were innocent persons who were caught in the crossfire, and "that pains me, because each and every day I ask, when is it going to be you or someone very close to you. Because nobody is immune from that kind of wanton, senseless, indiscriminate, excessive violence that has been unleashed by these persons with high powered weapons, whose guns are bigger than their brains."
Councillor, Senator, JLP firebrand, a staunch defender of his municipal area of Tivoli Gardens, Desmond McKenzie, who has worked closely with Edward Seaga, the JLP's leader, talks about his involvement in the peace process.
Mr. McKenzie has been a JLP Councillor since 1977 and only a fortnight ago, was named as a JLP Senator.
He too said he has had a long association with peace efforts, which he said began in the late 1970s with the signing of West Kingston peace treaty.
Senator McKenzie said his efforts for peace spans a quarter century.
"I have been at it for about 25 years. I have been a Councillor since 1977 and I have had some involvement in the first round of the then peace treaty with the Claudie Massops, Aston "Bucky Marshall" Thompson and the Tony Welshs. Perhaps that experience has helped me to deal with what is happening now, although what is happening today is more vicious and frequent than what used to happen 25 years ago," Senator McKenzie recalls.
The JLP's firebrand Councillor and leader of Opposition business in the Kingston and St. Andrew Corporation, talks about the political divide of 25 years ago and why efforts at peace could not be sustained.
"Twenty-five years ago the political divide was much greater and people were not as conscious of the need for peace as they are today," he expressed.
He believes, peace efforts are greater this time.
"I think the consciousness of the people now is that politically they are much more aware. They are much more conscious. They realise that a loss of life don't benefit anybody whether it be PNP, JLP or whatever the person might be," he lamented.
According to him, "A loss of life only deprive the country of vital human resource. So, I believe that because of how diverse things are now, in the sense that, we understand ourselves much more, and because the wider communities themselves really want to live in peace and unity. So it is important that someone take the initiative and broker whatever can be done. That is where Paul and I come in," he said.
Asked if peace was realistic when so many guns were in the hands of illiterate persons, Senator McKenzie said "We know that the number of guns out there is frightening. We are not here to retrieve guns, because I can't tell anybody I know where they are. But I know guns are out there. I know if all the guns can't be collected, if we can minimise the use of the guns, that can go a far way. How you approach it? The method that you use is not something that I think can come with up just like that."
He said the communities say their guns are to protect their lives, their turf and their families. He feels there needs to be an answer which will collectively rid us of the cancer, "but the answer, the answer is when."
Risk
Mr. Burke feels that, "There are some communities that are really at risk, because it takes one or two individuals to start and resume a conflict. If you don't break it down almost immediately, it pulls in a number persons who do not want to get involved into the conflict, but who might have to end up defending their community if it comes under attack."
He said, "it happens from both ends. And the people who are the combatants, the few of them, end up becoming the heroes of the communities, because they are the ones who protect the communities at nights.
Protect the communities from the very same conflict they initiated, for individual and criminal reasons that had nothing to do with community issues at the start.
Can they both find a solution.
"I am not saying that we have all the answers, and we can prevent the loss of lives or prevent gunshots from firing. But, at least we can offer something that is perhaps different, hold out some hope to people in some communities that really need an answer to what it happening," Mr. McKenzie said.
Asked if he was hurt when a life was lost, his response was staggering.
"In my lifetime I have been to more than a thousand funerals. Each funeral is a different emotion. Sometime there doesn't even have to be a loss of life. Just to see what happen to people. It is more than heart-rending. The death of this seven-month-old toddler has touched me more, in a more frightening way. Because we ask, what sort of crime has this infant committed. We ask and we can't find an answer. But yes, it is a very bad situation. Sometimes we wonder if it is really all worth it, and we ask what is there to gain in the long run," he said.
Senator McKenzie said, "I would like to say the work has just started. Going to the Senate is a step up. It is an opportunity that offers itself to expand the horizon and contribute more. Normally it was just a parochial thing, now the Parliament is a national situation where the debate will be different and the challenges are going to be different. My role as chairman of the JLP's organisation in the Corporate Area is still important because there is a lot more work for us to do within the Corporate Area. Once the delegates have the confidence in my ability to continue as chairman, I will continue. And if the people of the Tivoli Gardens Division believe that I can still offer the kind of leadership as Councillor I will continue for as long as they make it possible.
Continue to work
Asked if he believed there would be some element of peace in his lifetime, he replied, "Peace, perhaps is an operative word. I don't know if there will ever be peace in the world. But perhaps if we can create an atmosphere that can be conducive where every man can live the way they want. If we can even get 20 per cent worth of peace, it will be OK. But if not in my lifetime, then I hope that in the future of my children will be able to benefit from the efforts that I am making in my own simple little way."
And according to Mr. Burke, he has to continue to work for peace.
"One has to work towards it and be optimistic. Comparatively, the 1980 election, this was a peaceful election and there are more guns in the society today, so we need to put thing in context. In 1980 there was a virtual civil war. There were boundaries all over the Corporate Area. The boundaries were not re-established and people were free to go where they wanted to. So in terms of the gang warfare, community conflict, political violence, I think we can do a lot more to drop that," he said.
Mr. Burke believes there will always be an element of violence, and it was purely utopian to believe violence will come to an end.
"It's not going to happen," he stated.
He said that he did not know what tolerable levels of violence were but he believes that based on what obtains in the world, the country should not see more than 200 murders per year maximum, a figure he believes was still too high.
His parting shot was "I don't know how much longer my lifetime is. I don't put a time limit to life, but I believe there is a greater collective sense of urgency and purpose by the society, the political parties, the Government, and the society in general to crush violence."
