September 18, 2000
 

JAMAICANS UNITED AGAINST POLICE BRUTALITY 

SHOULD WE BOYCOTT JAMAICA'S TOURIST INDUSTRY

   As to the issue at hand, here are my thoughts.

   The situation in South Africa was very different because what was being fought there was an official government policy of white minority oppression against the majority black population.  It was a clear case of racial injustice.

  Not only that, blacks suffered as a result of sanctions but, most importantly, had specifically asked for them and wanted them to continue despite the hardship.  In other words, there was solid support from within the country being targetted which might be hard to garner in Jamaica and without which, as Nadi Edwards says, any tourist boycott is unlikely to succeed.

   As someone who campaigns against the death penalty from the UK, I know what hostility there can be towards international opinion, especially from former "colonial masters" (and I do have sympathy with that).  Would the views of Jamaicans living abroad  be received any more positively?

   Aside from that, I also wonder how effective a tourism boycott would actually be.  The reality is people don't boycott countries because of the death penalty and I don't think they would on this issue either.  People I've spoken to see the D[eath] P[enalty] and 'firm policing' as legitimate anti-crime    measures which are in their interests as potential holidaymakers.  Look at the popularity and growth of all-inclusive resorts (which I personally find    offensive) designed to offer 'protection' against local people and the way they live!

   I tend to agree it would be more productive to focus on the causes of the problem through the government.  Also raising awareness by giving the widest possible publicity to abuses that occur and engaging with international    governments that provide "technical assistance" (as the UK does) and arms tothe Jamaican security forces.

   Incidentally, during a House of Commons debate last year on capital punishment in the Caribbean a call to withdraw aid from those countries with the DP was firmly rejected by the British government on exactly the grounds that it would simply exacerbate the problems of poverty and so lead to more crime.

   Well, that's my opinion, for what it's worth!  I hope it's helpful.

   Best wishes    Shelagh   [CARIBBEAN JUSTICE -- UK] 
 

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