October 7, 2001
JAMAICANS UNITED AGAINST POLICE BRUTALITY Dear Friends, The selfish preoccupation of Jamaican politicians with power could never be more transparent than at the present time. An undeclared election campaign has resulted in terror being unleashed against and within certain inner city communities. Each side denies involvement but no one is fooled that politicians are once again resorting to violence as a means of intimidating voters and cleansing communities of those whose votes cannot be counted on. Situations such as these reveal once again the impotence of the security forces. Quick to use violence against unarmed individuals they inspire little fear among well armed political thugs. Despite a police post and increased police presence in the Mountain View Avenue area of Kingston several people have been killed and maimed and houses burnt. It is anybody's guess as to whether this is an instance of the police being in league with political gangs, incompetence or cowardice. The cry for peace is to be heard everywhere but the political parties desperate for power lack the will or moral courage to call off their goons. Attack and counterattacks have taken on a life that cannot be easily stopped. One casualty of the upsurge in violence is the unlikelihood of any campaign discussion about reforming the police force even when there are vague references to human rights abuses. For example, D.K. Duncan former general secretary of the People's National Party recently gave opposition leader Edward Seaga an excellent opportunity to indicate his plans for reforming the police but Seaga but despite being "compelled" to put away his prepared speech Seaga gave only platitudes. Duncan, speaking to a JLP group apologized for his involvement as a member of the Manley government in the 1974 passage of the Suppression of Crimes Act. (The act gave the security forces arbitrary powers of arrest and detention and unleashed a wave of police terror. The act was not repealed until 1994 though the offending provisions were still maintained as part of the constabulary forces act.) Duncan talked about "instiutionalised" repression by the state. The security forces he said have been given "licence to terrorize innocent citizens." He called for the disbandment of "special police task forces" (such as the present Crime Management Unit) because they have been ineffective. They do not work. Seaga's response as reported in the press was quite disappointing. The most he could muster was to say that "injustices suffered by the Jamaican people could not be allowed to continue." There was absolutely no indication of how to stop those injustices. It should be noted as well that though supporting Amnesty International against recent government attacks neither Seaga nor the JLP have concretely stated their position on that report about Jamaica's human rights emergency. In other words, should they become the next government what do they intend to do about the many recommendations in that report? The clue to that question may very well be that if the tribal war being played out in the inner cities is an indication that the political parties can never pull away from using terror as a means of winning elections, then there is little hope that they will ever be able to address police terror and state terrorism in general. Lloyd D'Aguilar
Click here to return to Jamaicans United Against Police Brutality homepage. |