September 17, 2000
JAMAICANS UNITED AGAINST POLICE BRUTALITY Dear Friends, Below is the response of Nadi Edwards to our September 14 Press Release calling for a suspension of any more international shipment of weapons to the Jamaican Security forces. Nadi takes exception to our belief that if the Jamaican government does not take timely and concrete steps to end state practice of police executions then it might be necessary to call for an international boycott of Jamaica as a tourist destination. We would like to invite your comments and begin a discussion as to what ought to be done. At this time our only response is to ask whether international sanctions wasn't one of the major reasons why today we have a black government and basic democratic rights for the South African black majority. We strongly believe that the human rights of citizens who live in the innericities of Jamaica are undermined by the police seige under which they live and until this seige is lifted any notion of Jamaica being a democratic society is a cruel hoax. Those Jamaicans and others (friends of Jamaica) who live outside of Jamaica must make a decision as to the best way they can contribute to bring this deplorable and criminal practice to an end. What do you think? Lloyd D'Aguilar
While I thoroughly abhor the deplorable human rights record of the Jamaican security forces, I suspect that a call for a tourism boycott of Jamaica ignores certain realities that can lead to unintended negative social and economic consequences. The road to hell is always paved with good intentions, and good intentions are always suspect especially when their consequences will not be felt by those who propose and implement them. With all due respect, I think that the boycott proposal needs to be replaced by more creative measures that can pinpoint the offending institutions rather than subjecting an already impoverished population to economic sanctions ( which is what a tourism boycott amounts to, given the importance of tourism to the Jamaican economy). I don't want to see Jamaica subjected to the kind of punitive sanctions regime that will offset any attempts by a poor, struggling country to stand on its feet. Impoverishment is not a good way to conduct a human rights campaign. Poverty only increases the chances of violence, greater social instability, and more repression. I think that it would be better to call for continuing sanctions against all kinds of arms and militaristic training for the security forces, with the proviso that the latter would have to immediately effect a human rights oriented recruiting, training, and dismissal programme. Any proposals regarding the curbing of state violation of human rights must also address the question of people's social and economic rights, since human rights cannot occur in a vacuum. I think that the issues of landlessness, the asymmetrical distribution of resources, the deplorable state of legal and judicial institutions, the cost of legal representation, the pervasive acceptance of a code of violent retribution, and the medieval penal regimes, all need to be put on the table. Human rights will remain an abstract term, if it cannot be located within these concrete social issues. Instead of proposing a tourism boycott, why not propose a concerted rethinking of current international assistance to the Jamaican security forces. No more arms, no more paramilitary training, only assistance guaranteed to reshape the police force into an institution that sees itself as part of and the defender of civil society. To demand a total overhaul of the force is not as sexy as the immediacy of direct action, but its effects will be more substantive. A boycott can generate negative backlash among the populace who might interpret it as a call to back national sovereignty against interfering do-gooders. The majority sentiment in Jamaica , at the moment, while opposed to police brutality, is still very much in favour of hanging,and a significant minority support the extrajudicial executions of suspects. Any upsurge in crime tilts the balance toward calls for more aggressive and repressive police actions. Furthermore, a few cosmetic changes here and there could result in the lifting of the boycott, after which things will return to the normal pattern of brutality. Without being cynical, I also need to raise the concerns of those who point out the hypocrisy of Britain and the U.S -as nations that routinely supply repressive regimes and security forces with weapons and training. Jamaicans are not a naive people, and I have heard people mention the moral inconsistencies of policies that can condemn Jamaican police brutality while supplying the murderous Columbian military with massive amounts of aid, aiding the misogynistic oil-rich Gulf states, and implementing genocidal sanctions against Iraqis.etc;. All of these factors can lead to a total distrust of humans right measures that are premised on international boycotts and sanctions. This is not to say that the British and American concerns and measures are wrong. On the contrary, I think that they are totally accurate. But the question of situational ethics will haunt national perception of any proposed economic boycotts. Sanctions that are not supported by the Jamaican populace will ultimately fail. ( Just look at the collapse of the EU sanctions against Austria). I am heartened by the fact that organizations like JUAPB exist to carry the torch of conscience. A friend of mine was executed, along with two other men, by the police in 1985. Their deaths and those of the many other victims of police brutality in this country have gone unmarked and unpunished. Hopefully, JUAPB will reverse this trend, but it is important to recognize the complexities of struggle. The vocabulary of civility, civilized, and civilzation, can sometimes be too simplistic, especially in the Caribbean context which has seen the barbarism of civilizing missions. I am not a believer in such absolute terms, but I want to see the issues of justice, dignity, peace, equality before the law, shelter, food, education, and health all brought to the table in any attempt to redress the callous bloodletting that currently passes itself off as national security. Thank you for bringing this matter to my attention. I look forward to your work on behalf of human rights, and I hope that my comments might, at the very least, stimulate some thinking and rethinking around the kinds of measures needed to force the government to address the matter. All the best in your striving for justice Nadi Edwards
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