Dancehall's betrayal of reggae
Reggae Month cannot end without someone's saying that the dominant trend in dancehall represents a betrayal of reggae; the tragic case of the child doing violence to his mother. Reggae differed from mere pop music which was for entertainment and frivolity. Reggae was serious without being sombre. (Boyne)
A collapse into chaos? The dancehallisation of Jamaica'
'I am a human being, so nothing human is strange to me' wrote the Roman poet Terence. Obsessive homophobia aside, this pretty much sums up dancehall. And no artiste better conveys its raw uncensored immediacy than Marion 'Lady Saw' Hall, the most important female artiste and most celebrated slackness performer in Jamaica's music history. (Chang)
The penalty of death
Jamaica's murder rate increased by 17 per cent in 2007, to a level behind only the record year of 2005. The two most murderous years, in other words, were two of the last three years. Last year, 65 children, 146 women and 19 policemen were among those murdered. This year has started badly too. (Buddan)
Current challenges to Jamaica's political system
The following is an edited version of a speech given by Opposition spokesman on national security, Dr Peter D. Phillips, at a recent meeting of the Rotary Club of Kingston.
Effects of PCs on primary education
With calls from politicians and academics to make children in schools computer literate, a lot of organisations are rushing to ensure that children in Third World countries, in particular, are not left out in the computer age. (Bonsu-Akoto)
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