Degenerate Impact of Dancehall Music I believe that we need to do more to help curb violence in Jamaica. Let us start with the dancehall music. It is so easy to say how we want to reduce violence in our Island, but from the perspective of a native Jamaican, it is easy to preach, but difficult to practice.
The Garvey-Liberia Connection The cry of Africans imported to the Americas from as early as the fifteenth century was echoed in Marcus Garvey’s ‘back to Africa’ ideology. This longing for a return to the homeland continued through to the 19th century with the establishment of the American Colonization Society which founded the colony of Liberia for the resettlement of free blacks. The general interest in Africa persisted into the 20th century with the idea of uniting all Africa.
Petition In Hand, Why I Think Bob Marley Should Be Jamaica's 8th National Hero It's been almost 27 years since the death of Bob Marley, yet despite previous appeals by the Marley Family and a host of posthumous awards Jamaica still refuses to accord the Hon. Robert Nesta Marley national hero status, the country's highest honour. Even when Bob was a young musician from Trenchtown, his music wasn't recognized by his own people in Jamaica until his first album "Catch A Fire" became an international hit, thanks to Chris Blackwell, but also the fact that Rastafarians were regarded as outcasts, or "Black Heart" men in the 60s and 70s.
The Fabrication Of Man-Made Global Warming Claims And Why? Three things that completely undermines the claim that man is causing the earth to warm up, needs brief mention. Firstly, it seems that other planets in our solar system are heating up.
Debunking "white-skin is superior" propaganda Lewis Hamilton a man of predominantly African decent, race car drive extraordinaire and English born son of Caribbean immigrants was the subject of racist chanting in Spain recently. He was verbally abused by a partisan crowd who wore monkey-face mask and directed monkey chattering sounds towards him.
Keeping History Alive By not keeping our history alive, we in essence dishonours the virtues of our martyrs and our freedom fighters, and stifle the call for fairness and justice, while creating a wave of dormancy in what should have been a vibrant continued struggle. Conversely, by keeping our history alive, we no doubt will inspire others to assume the roles of our heroes and leaders and pay homage to them that made the ultimate sacrifice through defiance, bravado and courage.
Sport And Budgeting The commercial evolution of sport and how it has managed to move from the kitchen-table model to the corporate-boardroom model has become quite a sophisticated industry from a financial viewpoint....Jamaica, a country with rich sport history, must ensure that there is an awareness programme for the continuity of the legacy that continues to grow.
Acceptance Is GRANTED not DEMANDED A touchy debate reignited last week and is still ensuing ; a Home Economics text book in use at the secondary level is advancing the notion that same sex /homosexual/gay couples, that is, two men or two women living together can be considered a “family” who may even adopt children.
Jamaica Investment Clubs Jamaica has been having, in recent years an upsurge of investment clubs/schemes. Basically, these investment clubs offer high interest rates once you invest with them. These clubs have grown in popularity as they are the best alternative to saving in banks, and there interest rates are more than enticing. With interest rates starting at a minimum of 10% per month, no other transparent financial institution have been able to compete.
The Sacrifice Of The Truth On The Altar Of Partiality For the last couple of weeks I have been attending to some very important matters, which were placed on the backburner before and after Election 2007. Another reason for not putting pen to paper is quite frankly I have been turned-off by the intolerable level of dishonesty in media both print and electronic. There is hardly a journalist, commentator, contributor, columnist, talk show host, letter writer or caller that values TRUTH for truth’s sake.
"Chances Are." There are many young people in our communities that have attained neither an education nor a skill. They are our fellow brothers and sisters, aunts, uncles , cousins etc. Yea! Our fellow man, flesh and blood. They are a part of our world, our lives and our being. They will not simple vanish in oblivion and of such we must find ways to help them to become productive, to become skilful and educated so that they can in turn help themselves and others alike.
Will Rogue Cops Rule Forever!? It is a well known fact that the average citizen, in Jamaica , has very little confidence in the police. Let us stop “bury our head in the sand”. The rogues have given us good reason not to trust them. Our police force must be one of, if not the most corrupt in the world.
Jamaica DID NOT vote: “winners take all” this time The “final” results of the election and the clearly defined mandate and direction of the electorate has in our view “thrown a wrench in the spokes of the wheels” of government. This is so because none of our previous fourteen (14) elections have resulted in such a narrow margin of victory both in terms of the seat count and the share of the popular vote.
Should Jamaica Restrict Family Size? Overpopulation, GNP And Poverty Alleviation! Rather than depending on the laws of averages and the laws of nature to construct the ratio of males to females, China has tampered with its population mix by restricting family size and sex. This experiment now seems to be a colossal failure from one angle as China faces a current and future serious shortage of workers in certain age groups! Looking from another angle though, it may be viewed as a stunning success at slowing poverty growth and increasing GNP per capita. Jamaica should look and learn but should it copy the China population strategy?
Essence of Jamaican Sports As we watch the 2007 IAAF World Championship in Osaka, Japan, we see the best athletes in track and field in the world on show. Jamaica, a major force to reckon, has set Japan on fire with its bold energy and spark which is commonplace wherever Jamaicans go.
Trouble On Vacation Isle A Jamaican wife tells of her trip to the US where her husband gets sick. Something that most Jamaicans fear traveling to the US because of healthcare costs.
Jamaicans.com Owner/Webmaster Blog Xavier,the Jamaicans.com owner/webmaster, has started a blog to share his thoughts about Jamaicans.com, Jamaica related items, the Jamaican community worldwide and other topics. Check it out and feel free to leave your comments.
Emancipate Yourselves From Mental Slavery; None But Ourselves Can Free Our Minds The revolution is here and it won't be televised. These words are familiar to us all, but in some ways it is an abstract thought. Why, you might ask? Well, for one thing, with the recent events of September 11th, war as we know it has been revolutionized, from newspaper articles to radio announcements, and now it is televised. The war on terror, ladies and gentlemen, (some might say revolution) is up front and in our faces, televised!
Reflections In 1962 the Union Jack of England was lowered replaced with the gold, green and black emblem of Jamaica’s Sovereignty and a proclamation that, “Out of many one people,” as our National Motto. What a fallacy...I now realize their clever disguise, for rightly so, out of the many people only one set have continually bear the brunt and bruises, burden and ill-treatment of the British so-called Settlers and their hand picked Overseers... even to this day.
Commentary: How We All "Destroyed" Jamaica And Made Ourselves Poor!! In spite of all the mammoth residential buildings and tourist hotel complexes going up in the country sides, and in spite of the shiny new vehicles and new highways, Jamaica is a finaicially bankrupt country! No politician dare tells the nation the truth because to tell the truth would be asking the nation to stop living a lifestyle that it cannot afford and everyone wants to live good while someone else foots the bill.
Fathers without Children Fathers must play their role and be allowed to do so without hinderance. Single parenting and particularly the lack of involved fathers represents a more pressing threat to our progress as a people than is currently being recognized.
CARIBBEAN UNITY: Part III: Unity is Strength People are always quoting Garvey at me...most of the time out of context. But that is the problem with dead heroes - we hang on their last words of instructions...even if they were given more than 70 years ago, and would in any other circumstance by now require updating.
CARIBBEAN UNITY: Part II: Our People As a people our ancestor’s trial through slavery shaped our metal to make us who we are. Therefore why be deemed a second rate African when you can be a first rate Afro-Caribbean? In our ancestral Africa there is age old history of fractional division through tribal feuding, different languages, religions and superstitions, and the effect of European colonialism across the continent only added to divisive tribalism - perhaps be design. However, by contrast, in the Caribbean, the consequence of British colonialism was that as a region Afro-Caribbeans emerged as one tribe, overwhelmingly of one faith in Christianity as a non-violent and tolerant religion.
CARIBBEAN UNITY: Part 1: Slavery had a silver lining As a child I was taught that it was human to make mistake; it is wise to learn from a mistake; and it demonstrates good judgment to go through life avoiding ever making the same mistake twice. But best of all I learnt that whilst even the wisest man will learn by mistakes, he aims to avoid making mistakes himself by learning from the mistakes of others. Now as a Lawyer, to my mentees, I preach the mantra: Be a quick thinker, and a slow talker - It works better that way round!
Micro-Credit Programs Are Not The Answer To Jamaica's Poverty! Can The Cart Lead The Horse? Recently Ronnie Thwaites quipped on his radio show. "I do not know why someone does not invite Mohammed Yunus (Nobel Peace Prize winner last year), to Jamaica. We certainly can learn from his micro-credit program." The perception has been spread like a butter on bread that micro finance programs will lift Jamaicans out of poverty as Chris Burns wrote in the Observer last year "The Grameen Bank That's The Solution To Poverty! But is it really?
CARIBBEAN DAY…Open Letter to CARICOM On 17 March 2007 the Irish celebrated St.Patrick's Day in the Caribbean, London, Ireland, US and Canada... in fact, wherever the Irish were found they were celebrating that day – as the Caribbean hosted Cricket World Cup (CWC), the Irish served as a timely example of a people demonstrating their pride and joy of ethnic unity based on an annual event.
Let’s Talk about this… CARIBBEAN DAY As a Region there are more things which commonly unite us as a people than could possibly distinguish us as being different and apart, but yet strangely enough in this regional community we have not yet recognised a common community day.
How The Government of Jamaica Left Hundreds Of Millions On The Table! Alcoa has been mining Jamaican bauxite for 40 years and we own not even a single share! Why is this so? Learn how many similar companies merge with local joint venture companies to the detriment of many third world countries.
International CARIBBEAN DAY! Cricket has an important lesson for People of the Caribbean. For two decades, throughout the 1970s and the 1980s, the West Indies cricket team was widely regarded as the world champions, they were the team which every other cricketing team in the world aspired to beat.
A Valentine Tribute to Love In honor of Valentine's Day, contributer Toni Callum offers her views on the meaning of love.
Black History Month...Its Significance. Black History Month (BHM) is like the relationship a mother has with her children. It teaches who we are, where we must go and what we must be. It concepts are based upon traditional, cultural and moral values, centered on the family and society while reaffirming the conventions of dignity, pride, honor and race.
Resolution 2K7…Jamaica This month contributing writer, Delano Seiveright, reflects on 2006 and the prospects for Jamaica in 2007.
Investment Property/Retirement/Holiday Home Part 2 It is a simple fact that the price of realty depends mainly on where the property is situated – so a property of the exact same size and dimension, situated on the exact same lot size, produced from the exact same architectural plan can be valued at millions of dollars apart simply because of the difference in locations.
Trans-national Community of Jamaicans need Home-town Associations Real benefits from creating a trans-national community of Jamaicans in view of effectively incorporating the Diaspora into prospects for Jamaica’s development demands an altered approach to networking.
Bauxite vs the Cockpit Country Jamaica’s last remaining wilderness, Cockpit Country is a rugged, natural paradise located in the heart of the island. Hundreds of species found nowhere else in the world make their homes in Cockpit Country and its unique geology has created countless caves, waterfalls and towering cliffs throughout the area. There is no other place in the world that is even remotely like it. Yet within this internationally recognized wilderness a national debate rages.
Investment Property/Retirement/Holiday Home In Jamaica - Part 1 Why buy property in Jamaica once you have successfully settled into a foreign land? Well, it depends on whether Jamaica is considered your home away from home; or it may depend on whether you wish to invest in Jamaica, or it may simply be the case that you are now at a stage where you can manage to treat yourself and the immediate family to some private accommodation independent of the usual stop over at the relatives.
