The social disarray and economic dislocation created by four decades of weak and negative economic growth have led many Jamaicans to doubt Jamaica's viability as an independent state and to distance themselves from electoral politics. For them, the national project has failed and the road travelled since Independence has brought Jamaica to a place reserved for the poor and under-developed nations of the world.

By contrast, in the 18 years between the granting of Universal Adult Suffrage in 1944 and Independence in 1962, the new electorate and their political leaders carried the colonial state from poverty and backwardness to the top of the developing world.

Today, after four decades of independence, Jamaica's potential for greatness seems to have evaporated. The murder rate which was 13 in 1962 seems set to once again break the 1,500 mark. Over the last four decades, economic growth has averaged less than one per cent per year. While access to secondary education has increased by some 600 per cent since Independence and the tertiary enrolment rate by over 1,000 per cent, Jamaica's labour force has one of the lowest levels of productivity in the region.

A Survey done by Pat Anderson in 1999 disclosed that 74 per cent of all unemployed youth in the age group 15 to 29 had no educational certification of any kind, although more than a quarter had four years or more of secondary education. Worse 75 per cent of all homicides were carried out by this age group and they also provided 75 per cent of the victims.

Devaluation

The national debt has climbed to $1.3 trillion and we are eagerly awaiting another loan. The currency has been irreparably debauched. In 1969 when Jamaica converted from Sterling the new Jamaican Dollar was worth US$1.31. Today, the Jamaican dollar is worth one cent (US), a devaluation of over 11,000 per cent!

As grim as these statistics are, even more permanent damage has been done by the introduction of the political garrison as the basis for development in the most deprived urban communities where the right to vote is traded for access to fundamental social amenities.

The 'Buck Stops' with the Political Directorate

We who have been part of the political directorate since Independence must take collective responsibility for the present state of the nation. We cannot continue to pat ourselves on the back for 'taming inflation', 'modernising the physical infrastructure', 'institution building' and legislating 'social equality' without admitting that we have yet to deliver on the two primary responsibilities of any elected government, namely the maintenance of public order and establishing a framework for national development.

At this stage, it might be time to consider seriously establishing a 'Truth Commission' along the lines of the one chaired by Archbishop Desmond Tutu in South Africa.

The Disintegration of the Political Parties

The failure of the national project was deeply rooted in the disintegration of the old political directorate and the limited vision of the generation which succeeded them; a generation more concerned with a permanent hold on political power and the spoils of office.

It is ironic that the disintegration of the national movement began in Norman Manley's PNP. His decision not to offer himself for leadership of the federation in 1958 sowed seeds of doubt about the viability of the federal project, which the PNP never overcame. In 1961, he asked the Jamaican people to vote in a referendum on federation without the benefit of the political education and mobilisation that only a united party could have undertaken. These developments took place against the backdrop of Nethersole's death in 1959 which removed the man widely accepted as Manley's heir apparent and opened up the party to the internal struggles which developed around Wills Isaacs, Ivan Lloyd, Florizel Glasspole and Alan Isaacs.

The divisions within the JLP were equally debilitating to the political process. Their annual conference in 1960 ended in disarray as the feud between aspirants for leadership came to a head. Bustamante's letter to the conference which declared the vice- presidential elections null and void, and postponed the public session was read by the conference chairman, Rose Leon, who "in between sobs" asked the conference to sing, "Oh God our help in Ages Past."

The vote of the electorate against federation in the referendum of 1961 effectively sidelined the PNP's leadership of the national movement. The JLP came to power without any notion of reconstructing the national project. Bustamante at 78 years of age had neither the mental nor physical capacity for national leadership. Sangster's premature death three months after being elected prime minister left a vacuum which intensified the existing rivalries within the JLP. For all intents and purposes in the first decade of Independence, the choice of electorate was limited to a demoralised PNP and an unprepared JLP, both of which were divided.

The Renewal of Radicalism

The absence of effective national political leadership in independent Jamaica stirred popular disaffection and encouraged a renewal of radicalism. On the world stage, the national liberation movements in Africa and Asia, the civil-rights movement in North America, the assertion of women's rights, the anti-imperialist movement in Latin America, the push towards industrial democracy by the workers of Western Europe and the irresistible international demand for an end to the war in Vietnam gave impetus to Jamaican radicalism.

In this environment, the advocacy of socialism fell to a number of small political parties and organisations, including the Jamaica Socialist Party, the Young Socialist League, the Unemployed Workers Council, the Revolutionary Marxist League, Youth Forces for National Liberation, the Abeng Group and the Workers Liberation League.

The Emergence of the Garrison

This was also the political environment in which the authoritarian trend in Jamaican politics began to reassert itself and it was within this trend that the political garrison emerged.

D.C. Tavares Jr was the first of the new generation of politicians to apply scientific organisational methods to the building of a one-party constituency. As an urban political organiser, he was at least the equal of Ken Hill and Wills Isaacs. He came to prominence in 1959 when against the popular current he defeated Frank Spaulding in a closely fought election and by 1962 he was virtually unassailable. In the elections of that year, he not only secured his own re-election but played a decisive role in the surprise victory of his protégé Edward Seaga over Dudley Thompson in West Kingston.

As Minister of Housing in the new administration, Tavares recognised the role of shelter in the consolidation of political power, particularly among the urban masses who still lived for the most part in crude houses made from cardboard and sticks called 'whappen bappen'. The operations conducted by the Ministry of Housing to bulldoze some 1,500 huts in the squatter community of Back o' Wall to make way for Tivoli Gardens began in October 1963. The forced evacuation of the residents was more vengeful for the fact that they were supporters of the PNP and it introduced callousness in Jamaica's politics which has spread over time.

Jamaica's modern political history affords no parallel to the sustained efforts by Seaga to improve the lot of those who opted for his model of constituency development. For decades, they had known nothing but poverty and squalor and in those circumstances readily traded their whappen bappen for a high-rise apartment. It was only later that they had also traded their right to vote.

The tragedy of Western Kingston is that the physical transformation of the environment was carried out on the blood, sweat and tears of many who had lived in there before Seaga arrived, and who wanted to remain there as was their right. Those who were forcibly ejected carried with them bitterness and a yearning for revenge which they passed on to their children.

These sentiments were very evident a decade later when the PNP Minister of Housing Anthony Spaulding established Arnett Gardens along the lines of the Tivoli model and extended his jurisdiction to South Western St Andrew by forcibly evacuating over 5,000 JLP supporters. The bitterness and hatred only spread further as most of these persons found their way to Central St Catherine where they established the JLP garrison which still exists today.

The systematic intimidation and marginalisation of the political opposition, together with the cynical manipulation of the electoral process which became the norm in garrison communities required the services that only criminal dons could provide.

Over time, the quantity and effectiveness of the arsenals in the hands of criminal elements give some indication of the threat they posed to the society at large. In three raids carried out by the police in Tivoli Gardens between 1993 and 1996, the police found 2,877 rounds of ammunition used in Thompson machine guns, M16 assault rifles, AK-47 assault rifles and a range of semi-automatic pistols. Similar raids on Arnett Gardens produced two AK-47 assault rifles with telescopic lens and equipped to launch rockets, four rockets, one semi-automatic pistol, eight magazines, three silencers and several assorted rounds of ammunition.

The Reckoning

Up to the decade of the '80, the dons were dependent on politicians for the lucrative state contracts which financed their flamboyant lifestyles. The international drug trade changed all that. With an independent income from the drug trade amounting to millions, the dons were able to perform the roles of benefactors and protectors more effectively than the politicians, and altered forever the relationship between the two. In this new relationship, both politician and criminals exchanged services as equals, sitting around the conference table.

On September 29, 1994, The Daily Gleaner published an interview with Edward Seaga which every Jamaican should read, study and digest. For the first time the man who had wielded undisputed power for three decades found himself eclipsed, and admitted that the dons were now the real power in his constituency. "I am unable to stop what is happening because they tell me I don't buy them gun and I don't give them shots, therefore I can't tell them what to do." Fortunately, he went on to add, "We can crack this nut. There are no more than maybe 500 of these types of men throughout Jamaica that are holding the entire country to ransom."

Where Do We Go From Here

With our best efforts, it will be a long road to building the kind of society our citizens deserve. The threat posed to democracy by the proliferation of political garrisons can only be dealt with by a police force which receives the support of the political directorate to deal with dons of all ranks without regard of political affiliation. The launch of the National Integrity Action Forum by civil society is the kind of initiative that must be encouraged. The electorate for its part must once again use the power of the vote for developmental purposes. This can only be achieved by supporting individual candidates whose words and actions strengthen the fight against crime and corruption. Blind support for political parties in their present state can only retard progress.

Arnold Bertram is the author of 'Jamaica at the Wicket: A Study of Jamaican Cricket and its Role in Shaping the Jamaican Society'. Email: redev.atb@gmail.com.

Members of the Jamaica Constabulary Force form a human shield to prevent party supporters from clashing along Duke Street. - Norman Grindley/Chief Photographer