Melville Cooke

So now September 11 has two meanings specific to Jamaica. It has long been the day in 1987 that Peter Tosh was murdered in Barbican and, 20 years after that, it is now the day Bruce Golding was sworn in as Jamaica's eighth Prime Minister.

The former occasion is cause for regret, even among those who felt the edge of the Stepping Razor's sharp tongue, as artistic brilliance and integrity do not often come in the same person at the same time. The jury will be out for some time on whether or not the latter is a day to celebrate or mourn.

There is, however, a stronger connection between the two dates than the obvious fact that they are both Jamaicans and they both left the organisations that brought them to public prominence. (Peter Tosh walked away from the Wailers and never looked back; Golding walked away to be a part of the National Democratic Movement and left them floundering like a lover on the side who the married man or woman moved in with briefly, then returned to the marital fold. Better to be a 'matey' forever than to have a snatch of the live-in feeling.)

The connection comes through Peter Tosh's superb (some would say incendiary) speech during his performance at the One Love Peace Concert, held at the National Stadium on April 22, 1978. In the extensive address Tosh spoke directly to then Prime Minister Michael Manley (Leader of the Opposition Edward Seaga was also there) and made a remark that resonated with many in the audience. He said "I am not a politician, but I suffer the consequences." We all do.

Of course, September 11 is known for the plane attacks on the United States in 2001 the emotional outpouring accompanying that date has decreased considerably since the viciousness and deception of the U.S. government has come to light. However, as many people have pointed out over the years and I went into in-depth a couple '9/11' seasons ago, the date has significance for others.

Among other things, it is also the date on which the socialist government of Salvador Allende in Chile was overthrown in 1973, bringing in the murderous era of Pinochet (a great friend of Margaret Thatcher). It is the date on which the British mandate on Palestine, which effectively set the stage for the land conflict which has now become normal in the Middle East, was enforced in 1922.

Then there was September 12, yesterday, for us yet another anniversary of what Lloyd Lovindeer has indelibly dubbed 'Wild Gilbert', the 1988 hurricane that set the standard for all hurricanes to come for those who saw it. Of course, another generation will use Ivan and Dean as their markers. For persons who care to remember, September 12 is also the date that Steve Biko died in Pretoria, South Africa, after being beaten by the police the day before, chained for a day and then driven 740 miles in the back of a car.

Public reaction

That would wear down anybody,I believe.

Still, it is the events in the United States which we have the strongest public reaction to, because it is the one that we have been exposed to most graphically (who can forget the planes crashing into the towers and the persons who jumped) and repeatedly.

However, we should not forget that there are significant events on that date which have meaning to Third World countries and, for me, I will not allow my level of emotional response to be triggered by a deluge of press coverage.

I acknowledge the date, then tune out, put in a Peter Tosh CD and know that in music, as Tosh himself sang, "Him no dead, him no dead, him no dead, de man a trod earth still, younger than ever".