Garth Rattray
DEMONSTRATING AND blocking roads seems to be our national pastime.
Early last week, miffed residents of McCook's Pen in Spanish Town blocked the main road to express their displeasure with their Member of Parliament, Clifford Everald Warmington.
They labelled him aloof and unhelpful. Their protest only inconvenienced innocent motorists and enhanced Jamaica's image as a 'hot spot' of civil disobedience and potential mayhem.
PAYING FOR THE DAMAGE
And, last week Wednesday, the usually peaceful St. Ann community of Brown's Town erupted in chaos when a number of residents protested the shooting of 22-year-old Leo Barnett by a policeman stationed there.
Suffice it to say that businesses had to close, a policewoman was injured, market sellers lost their stalls (which were appropriated to set fires in the street), police vehicles were damaged and the town's only garbage truck, (which was privately owned and contracted to the National Solid Waste Management Authority), was torched.
The unfortunate private contractor has lost his three to five million-dollar investment and the rest of us will end up paying for the damage to public property.
The road block and illegal protest mentality exists at the highest level.
Aspiring Prime Minister (Opposition Leader, Bruce Golding) declared his islandwide protest last year 'successful', even though supporters proved him incapable of controlling them when they blocked roads in breach of his promise to the nation that they would not.
And, soon after the Jamaica Labour Party councillors and mayors were teargassed for marching upon Jamaica House illegally, Mr. Golding advised his followers to prepare themselves with wet handkerchiefs for teargassing whenever they protested in the future.
Clearly, we are unable to get a handle on violent and disruptive protests. I believe that several important things need to be done if we are to squelch this nasty habit that people have of blocking the roads for everything under the sun.
SYSTEM FOR AIRING GROUSES
Firstly, we must put systems in place for people to easily air their grouses in an organised, legal and orderly fashion.
Writing letters is almost always a total waste of time, and telephoning relevant authorities is an exercise in futility.
Call-in talk shows rarely produce concrete results and you can forget about any face-to-face interactions with the people who have the authority to effect meaningful changes or provide the elusive 'justice' that the aggrieved seek. Jamaica needs a multi-centre, multidisciplinary, multitasking, multimedia network of people empowered with the authority to demand and receive results and solutions from any and all quarters of society.
It must be easily accessible and have teeth. It must be capable of speedily and tangibly resolving issues in an unbiased manner. Such an entity would negate the need for the frustrated masses to run amok in protest.
NO READY PLATFORM
And secondly, I wonder if the press would consider not providing a ready platform for people to vent illegally.
Law-breaking demonstrators know that blocking the roads, burning debris and making spectacles of themselves will get them instant and widespread media coverage.
The media houses then become unwitting accomplices when demonstrators 'perform' for the cameras and microphones.
Naturally, the press must inform us about what's going on all around the country.
But, perhaps they could experiment with only warning commuters about where demonstrations are taking place and not give the reason for the demonstrations or provide audio, video or still pictures of the scene.
This strategy would take the wind out of the sails of illegal demonstrators and stymie the retinue of criminal elements that take advantage of the ensuing confusion.
We cannot afford these violent disruptions, expensive repairs and bad press. Jamaica must not be allowed to teeter on the edge of anarchy.
Dr Garth A. Rattray is a medical doctor with a family practice.
