out of the shell

this becomes how you choose a kind of name
echoes of passion sing through normal dreams
each in their way remembers the true flame

your choice determines how you take the blame
not the exposure of the old regimes
this becomes how you choose a kind of name

the lion bows and pretends to be tame
you take each thing for just the way it seems
each in their way remembers the true flame

a child could tell you how to play the game
but not which form of victory redeems
this becomes how you choose a kind of name

it would be easy to declare the shame
of those who could not see the honest gleams
each in their way remembers the true flame

instead you smile and bow and give acclaim
to those who find a path to smarter schemes
this becomes how you choose a kind of name
each in their way remembers the true flame

and then just vanishing

you want to see what lurks beyond the scrim
a normal thought erupting in each brain
and what is spoken can't be shut again
you know the word illuminates the dim
turns plainest song into the deepest hymn
and lets each know just what they can attain
so much is set out on the open plain
by those who accept what is not so grim
this choice is made by one who speaks aloud
what in the silence should not have been said
to those who coming would find all set out
for those who could not bear the larger crowd
but would have wanted all the tables spread
and had their orders writ to settle doubt
that was enough to let the foolish shout
but you might not have known this being too proud
to show to those who watched the normal dread
we would not now expect to be allowed
to suffer or to be sent out instead
these are the signs as far as we can tell
that only patience ever could dispel

the werewolf's tale

the ones who panic you would not abhor
say something simple to those who escape
another victim soon comes through the door

the story never leaves you wanting more
nor is there any message on the tape
the ones who panic you would not abhor

someone thinks this a case of keeping score
and knowing how to bend the proper shape
another victim soon comes through the door

you do not let us quickly reach the fore
and watch the hasty servants bow and scrape
the ones who panic you would not abhor

this is the idol that we would adore
and that is while the spectators all gape
another victim soon comes through the door

the ending is in peace and not in war
we keep the secret of the naked ape
the ones who panic you would not abhor
another victim soon comes through the door

what prospects open now

those who walk backward see only the past
the future's hidden from their steady eyes
all that will happen's just one more surprise

the thing that happens happens very fast
we cover it with a blanket of lies
those who walk backward see only the past

we don't expect that anything will last
what is to be is no more than surmise
and what to do that no one could advise
those who walk backward see only the past

xtian charity

our sentiments became a heavy yoke
under the cloud we wait for time to pass
and do not cherish fragile flowers of grass
spring gives us more than what's beneath the cloak
so much to do before we hear the stroke
the morning seems to us as clear as glass
and still our hearts are deep in the morass
we feared the storm for long before it broke
so now we listen for the sound of time
or else for music that announces fear
the background radiation of our season
we made our very hope into a crime
turned expectation into one more fear
and as our last salute forbidden reason

A hungry mob is an angry mob

A hungry mob is an angry mob

John Maxwell

Very occasionally I'm asked why, when there is so much to write about in Jamaica that I sometimes write about things outside. My answer is always the same: Jamaica is a part of a larger world and much of what happens here happens because of what happens outside
As I write, for instance, Jamaica is remarkably serene about the rapidly approaching food crisis. The reason is simple. Most of us, including our media, don't expect to be affected by famine and hunger and will, they think, be able to assume their characteristic pose as spectators, unengaged, viewing 'dispassionately' the suffering and privations of others less fortunate.

At the moment we are much more occupied with the question of writing a Charter of Fundamental Rights and Freedoms for Yuppies. Shall we or shall we not change the constitution to enable those with more money than sense to hold dual citizenship and allowing Americans and other foreigners to write laws for Jamaicans as they were able to do when Roger Mais was jailed for speaking his mind 64 years ago.

Meanwhile, in the United States of America, the biggest wholesalers like Costco and Sam's Club have begun to impose limits on the quantities of rice that anyone may buy at any one time. While Sam's Club say they're not yet rationing oil or flour, Costco is. Sam's Club is a subsidiary of Walmart, the world's largest corporation. In Lima, Peru, relief food supplies are delivered to householders by night in order to avoid the threat of hungry mobs capturing the scarce supplies.

Here, we are cool, untroubled by global warming, sea level rise or the threat of famine.
Sea level rise and global warming are both anthropogenic - caused by human activity - and famine has historically been more the result of political decisions than of crop failure. Today, American food producers and traders have besieged the Commodities Futures Trading Commission which regulates US commodity markets. According to capitalist theory, commodity markets and all other free-market institutions are essential components of the equitable management of world trade, balancing supply and demand and performing a function so disinterested that it can almost be considered a public service.

The father of capitalist theory, Adam Smith, thought otherwise. While he extolled the essential fairness of the 'invisible hand' he decried the inherent greed and self-interest to which most businessmen were prone. According to Adam Smith:
"People of the same trade seldom meet together, even for merriment and diversion, but the conversation ends in a conspiracy against the public, or in some contrivance to raise prices." (The Wealth of Nations: Vol 1, Book 1, Chap 10).

Of course, if I said that, or if Michael Manley or someone similar had said it, we would immediately be accused of acute Communism and subversion of democracy. In relation to this, it may be interesting to quote something said 43 years ago in a debate at the university between economics lecturer, later Professor R B Davison and myself in June 1965.
According to The Gleaner's report: "The intellectual is not the representative of the people in the House of Representatives; he is the representative of all the people in the West Indian islands, Mr Maxwell said. He would be criminally responsible if he allowed these people to starve when he was paid by them to subvert the structures which kept them enslaved."

Among the structures which keep ordinary people enslaved is the colossus of globalisation. We need to recover our autonomy. The world financial system has pauperised middle- and working-class Americans in the great housing scam, and having created many surplus trillions, is now seeking some other prey to devour.

The food supplies of the world is their new target.
According to the Toronto Globe & Mail Thursday: "Food producers lined up against investment fund managers during an extraordinary meeting in Washington yesterday, saying they are partly to blame for driving up food prices and playing havoc with commodity markets."Sixty per cent of the current [wheat] market is owned by an index fund," said Tom Coyle, of the National Grain and Feed Association. "Clearly that's having an impact on the market."

What is an index fund doing owning 60 per cent of the world's wheat trade? According to Tom Buis, National Farmers Union "...[W]e've got a train wreck coming that's going to be greater than anything we've ever seen in agriculture."

Rice has almost doubled in price in two months, wheat has gone up 120 per cent in a year and both will go higher if speculators play true to form.

In the International Herald Tribune, economist William Pfaff, says "Speculative purchases have no other purpose than to make money for the speculators, who hold their contracts to drive up current prices with the intention. of unloading their holdings onto an artificially inflated market, at the expense of the ultimate consumer. Even the general public can now play the speculative game; most banks offer investment funds specialising in metals, oil and, more recently, food products."

Pfaff - like millions of less well-educated people, cannot understand why this wickedness is allowed to continue - "It is astonishing in the present situation that the international financial institutions and government regulators have done little to control or banish this parasitical and antisocial practice. The myth of the benevolent and ultimately impartial market prevails against all contrary evidence."

Meanwhile, here in Paradise, we will stay cool, as we import new problems with mammoth people-processing factory-hotels fencing us off from our Caribbean Sea, happy to service the unscrupulous and law-defying local subagents of the international casino called globalisation.
And, as we degrade our land for shrimp farms and slave to produce and process pond shrimp, it should give us no end of joy to know that The American Purina Corporation is a huge market for farmed shrimp. They use it for dog food.

Are we having fun yet, Daddy?

An Attractive Nuisance
Personal liability lawyers call unfenced swimming pools and similar child traps 'attractive nuisances' - dangerous enticements to the unwary, unless access is restricted in the public interest.

In the United States, the Democratic party presidential nomination process has been transformed into a kind of political strip poker. A few months ago, Geraldine Ferraro, who was Walter Mondale's running mate in the 1984 presidential election, delivered herself of the profound thought that Barack Obama would not be a candidate for president had he not been black. Had she considered the qualifications of Hillary Clinton one wonders whether she would have said that she wouldn't have been in the race but for the fact that she was the wife of Bill Clinton.

Barack Obama's campaign was premised on a non-racial, non-confrontational approach, he was a candidate to sluice clean the Augean stables of Washington and to unite the people of the United States in their own best interests. Originally there were four other major candidates for the Democratic party nomination but one by one they dropped away, leaving only Clinton and Obama. Clinton had been heavily favoured to walk away with the nomination, and if she expected any real opposition it would not have been from the rookie Senator Obama, but from people like John Edwards, a former senator who was John Kerry's running mate, or Governor Bill Richardson.

All of them were better known and of considerably more experience than Obama. But Obama's ideas suddenly caught fire among Americans of all types, particularly among the young, but also among experienced people like Senator Dodd, Ted Kennedy and Governor Richardson and a wide spectrum of others like Oprah Winfrey, and even the Republican former Secretary of State Colin Powell.

Hillary Clinton, for reasons best left unexplored, decided that if Obama was to deny her coronation, he should suffer for it. Her campaign threw the kitchen sink at him, along with the peelings, sending spies to record unguarded quotes which were then scrupulously misrepresented, damning him with guilt by association with Rev Jeremiah Wright and former revolutionary William Ayres. And when Obama appeared disappointed by this farrago of garbage, her response was to suggest he was a wimp, unable to stand the heat of a presidential campaign.

It does not matter to her that it's almost impossible for her to win the nomination, that half the electorate considers her dishonest and that if she were the Democratic party candidate the Republicans would eat her raw in November.

Since even she knows she almost certainly won't be the candidate, she is determined to ensure that Obama can't win in November, converting herself into the only alternative to the Republicans, converting McCain into the alternative to Obama, splitting away white men, older women and Roman Catholics from Obama, smashing the coalition which was building for a Democratic landslide in November. And her position on Michigan and Florida makes it clear she doesn't understand even the concept of fair play.

As Senator Christopher Dodd and others have pointed out, Obama has slightly more political experience than Abraham Lincoln and about the same as John Kennedy, two of the best loved and most important presidents of the United States. Chris Dodd is quite clear about Obama's experience: "Character is more important than experience," he has said. "That's why I'm supporting Barack Obama."

What Clinton really seems to want to say to Obama is "You're no Jack Kennedy" as Lloyd Bentsen famously told Dan Quayle in 1988. One thing is sure: no one will ever confuse Hillary with Eleanor Roosevelt or, for that matter, with Jacqui Kennedy or Bess Truman. As I said some weeks ago, character is the issue.

Copyright©2008 John Maxwell
jankunnu@gmail.com

quick march

this road will wind and lead to the last hill
we know each turn each pebble and sharp rock
the time and distance must yield to our will

the reddening sun and golden moon may fill
electric sky we can't pause to take stock
this road will wind and lead to the last hill

we have to be on time we know the drill
and we are not the masters of the lock
the time and distance must yield to our will

not one of us could claim to have the skill
to pause the hour or to slow down the clock
this road will wind and lead to the last hill

it's not for others to withhold the bill
for what we do we can withstand the shock
the time and distance must yield to our will

what we achieve is done without a thrill
no one turns back for all that you may mock
this road will wind and lead to the last hill
the time and distance must yield to our will

a little sarcasm

we are not asked each time to give a toss
nor are we waiting for a moment's pause
you may or you may not withhold applause

the situation's not a total loss
no one has thought that we are the true cause
we are not asked each time to give a toss

the wheel has fallen off into the fosse
and there is subject to some minor laws
you learn too quickly to avoid those flaws
we are not asked each time to give a toss

implications

you want to name this thing you cannot bear
it does not speak but silence has its weight
and in the end you know just how to fear

what we achieve begins at once to wear
but we have the compulsion to create
you want to name this this thing you cannot bear

another age might want to see you care
or think that you are just the toys of fate
and in the end you know just how to fear

the children all line up and want to cheer
they cannot see what's waiting at the gate
you want to name this thing you cannot bear

as you get older you learn not to stare
nor ever ask the price of all the freight
and in the end you know just how to fear

you have been told that you have to beware
both of the function and the coming date
you want to name this thing you cannot bear
and in the end you know just how to fear

a plain spring afternoon

this is the moment when we want to dance
but all our choices seem to be at sea
no hope but tie some riband to a tree

meaning can't be read out of every glance
and knowledge may not want just to be free
this is the moment when we want to dance

not all our meetings should be left to chance
when there are many things we need to see
on this all the authorities agree
this is the moment when we want to dance

limitations come

it does not matter just how much you do
no one will listen to the tales you tell
you wait in vain to see the green turn blue

none of the people can say what is due
nor can they open even thinnest shell
it does not matter just how much you do

the process waits on just one turn of screw
but is delayed for no one rings the bell
you wait in vain to see the green turn blue

the whole account is known to very few
but every person seems to know the smell
it does not matter just how much you do

no gain or profit can to us accrue
and nothing comes to any place you dwell
you wait in vain to see the green turn blue

all of the fools are in love with the new
and cannot see the fall right into hell
it does not matter just how much you do
you wait in vain to see the green turn blue

accounting for tastes

you think this is the sort of thing that fails
but no one tells you just what you will need
there is a moment when you jump the rails

the ball that bounces still may strike the bails
we watch and wait to see the standard deed
you think this is the sort of thing that fails

each of us adds a small weight to the scales
and does not want to show much haste or greed
there is a moment when you jump the rails

only the youthful sweat the hard details
the rest of us know just how matters speed
you think this is the sort of thing that fails

nothing's been hidden behind screens or veils
we really want this venture to succeed
there is a moment when you jump the rails

this is not left to the old slugs and snails
no one is waiting here to see you bleed
you think this is the sort of thing that fails
there is a moment when you jump the rails

nature at lunchtime

past the magnolias a flash of grey hawk
today the cardinal gazes through glass
and the house sparrow will not cease to talk

the cat is out there on its daily walk
the birds are silent as it stalks to pass
past the magnolias a flash of grey hawk

there is no reason any here would squawk
we have not yet reached an open impasse
and the house sparrow will not cease to talk

the hunter's quiet and he won't let you balk
your options aren't as simple nor as crass
past the magnolias a flash of grey hawk

the stranger waits and cannot help but gawk
there is nothing here that you could amass
and the house sparrow will not cease to talk

you write the message down in plain old chalk
and watch the squirrels running on the grass
past the magnolias a flash of grey hawk
and the house sparrow will not cease to talk

the woods in spring

the urgent haste of life to have its turn
luxuriant forest eager for the light
angry at coming of the so short night

the stars in silence far too distant burn
brutally cold indifferent to the plight
the urgent haste of life to have its turn

leaves and flowers eagerly now yearn
for every moment of the day's delight
and hate returning of the winter night
the urgent haste of life to have its turn

an ordinary magic

we turn our words into the correct spell
no one can doubt our glory or our glamour
the bucket only knows what's in the well

the gold's no longer hidden in the shell
truth is now uttered without any stammer
we turn our words into the correct spell

beyond the moment we may feel the swell
as all the ages cry out in one clamour
the bucket only knows what's in the well

what we don't know no one might now compel
neither from honest folk nor any shammer
we turn our words into the correct spell

what's not concrete will have the time to jell
before it's set in place by force of rammer
the bucket only knows what's in the well

so much to do and so much more to tell
in proper language and complex grammar
we turn our words into the correct spell
the bucket only knows what's in the well

novus ordo saeclorum

this marks the spot at which the music died
you laugh to hear the story then lament
too soon you know begins the swift descent
and not a one can bear the long wild ride
you have no friend in whom you could confide
and no allies to show or represent
either the process or the last event
and this is too much even for your pride
so much depends upon a word or sign
and you have not enough to hang a flag
or wave a placard at the coming horde
there's not a hope that change will be benign
the ones to be are full of shout and brag
and we who go have left a most bare board

advice to youth

the proper magic leads you to this place
there is no hesitation when you speak
a single syllable explodes to grace

all signs of weariness must leave your face
and your heart bear up under all critique
the proper magic leads you to this place

you've reached the culmination of the chase
and found the spring of the refreshing creek
a single syllable explodes to grace

at last you are the winner of the race
and know exactly what it is you seek
the proper magic leads you to this place

no reason now to bow or to abase
yourself before the gods upon the peak
a single syllable explodes to grace

the joys that now you find you must embrace
serve to protect you from both strong and weak
the proper magic leads you to this place
a single syllable explodes to grace

not the right gate

you name yourself the keeper of the past
but cannot see the true passage of time
nor hear the steady ticktock and the chime

we know just how much value's in the cast
and how much effort's put into the climb
you name yourself the keeper of the past

the true account's not given at the last
nor is the honest sentiment sublime
the simplest challenge will turn out a crime
you name yourself the keeper of the past

no more a garden

i want to name the flowers and the sun
those are the tasks i am best suited for
this realm comes under both the harp and gun

it does not matter who has lost or won
we do our jobs and then we do some more
i want to name the flowers and the sun

the sudden stroke will kill or it will stun
there is no pause at any open door
this realm comes under both the harp and gun

you have not thought that what we did was fun
yet nothing here was what you would abhor
i want to name the flowers and the sun

there is not one thing that you have let run
of all the matters that we knew before
this realm comes under both the harp and gun

that was the certainty now we are done
a moment while we add the final score
i want to name the flowers and the sun
this realm comes under both the harp and gun

all so distant now

this is the root of every sort of cry
you can't dig deeper for you have hit rock
your arm has felt the whole force of the shock
and each of us who knew how to apply
the proper treatment when things went awry
knew better than to laugh or fleer and mock
so many things to do when time must dock
the tails of those who're neither swift nor shy
this is the censorship of sober mind
a measure of the passion we must bring
to all the tasks left in the fading light
those who are watching will not be too kind
they are not here to listen to us sing
and know too well that soon it will be night

a simple answer

a simple answer tells the complete tale
trapped in a moment which lasted much too long
we asked for what turned out to be so wrong

in doing this we hung upon the nail
the only thing that must have made it strong
a simple answer tells the complete tale

you started out believing we would fail
and laughed for joy when you perceived the song
this is what makes it clear where we belong
a simple answers tells the complete tale

mistaken identity

so much can happen after the first fall
we don't agree to answer for the lie
but only to stand up till one goodbye
and yet we sell our goods from the same stall
as when we first learned how to toss the ball
and win the game by giving one hard try
and taking perfect aim with one good shy
these are the matters for which we must call
yours is the word for which no one could wait
but now we hasten to the port secure
while in the distance other people speak
we have forgotten the true time and date
and think ourselves the last ones wholly pure
and all the time we really are the weak

underneath the story

on darker borders other forces wait
your choices are not made with them in mind
we do not have the right to consecrate

you chose the answer with time for debate
but the position had not been defined
on darker borders other forces wait

this was not written on a broken slate
nor were the choices left to the unkind
we do not have the right to consecrate

against our skins we feel the pressure grate
but what we are has always been maligned
on darker borders other forces wait

we watch as the balloons start to inflate
knowing just how the structures were designed
we do not have the right to consecrate

the cavalry will reach us just too late
our guides are always just a little blind
on darker borders other forces wait
we do not have the right to consecrate

at the forest wall

you tell me what i do not need to know
so much of history is needless pain
this is an ending not a thing will grow

the radio blares another boring show
we wait and wait for one more healing rain
you tell me what i do not need to know

i read and feel my brain growing more slow
under what seems an ever-growing strain
this is an ending not a thing will grow

i see the green has got a midday glow
it is so obvious and frankly plain
you tell me what i do not need to know

we write the rules in terms from long ago
and then we do not keep them in the main
this is an ending not a thing will grow

stand where you will that cannot pause the woe
we find so much that might remove the stain
you tell me what i do not need to know
this is an ending not a thing will grow

art deco

you see no symbols written in the air
but those who rule us say what they observe
and you are never given chance to swerve
and must say that you too can see them there
a single voice a single oath to swear
that is the thing that will a foe unnerve
and so we face the mystery with verve
drawing a line across the vacant sphere
divine some system and you get the sense
of who the agents are of this control
not just the faces staring from the sky
whose images might be a great pretense
but the fine figures of the dawn patrol
who do not slacken and who cannot lie

not speech nor silence

this brings the thing down level with most shock
you find the answer not in the best way
but dancing through the light of brighter day

not every key will fit into this lock
and rules are made for those who do not stray
this brings the thing down level with most shock

i speak to those who cannot help but mock
that they will find the shaping of this clay
is not the simplest sort of human play
this brings the thing down level with most shock

one touch of fire

this is the moment when i know mistake
the voice i hear most loudly is my own
so many ghosts now crowd around the lake

you see the wind will make the branches shake
and hear just how the forest comes to moan
this is the moment when i know mistake

on ears and minds the same words come to break
and winds and whirlwinds long ago were sown
so many ghosts now crowd around the lake

at such a second the eye grows opaque
and the cold ear can't register a groan
this is the moment when i know mistake

the clarity of light no one could fake
at such a time as this when it is shown
this is the moment when i know mistake

the fact of life is there is no retake
the pieces scatter once the bomb has blown
this is the moment when i know mistake
so many ghosts now crowd around the lake

in memory of aimé césaire

the story's told in brief an old man's dead
the poet's silent now whose word once made clear
all that we needed the damp antillean air
lost for a while its ancient weight of dread
and all of africa spoke through that head
so many logics he could make appear
in one return that banishment of fear
was the least part of what the morning said
to make the exile into native land
and change the margin into metropole
these are not easy tricks for any man
and yet these words could flow out of his hand
a complex charm to turn us all creole
there's nothing better since the world began

Dancing on Eggs

John Maxwell
In a column after last year's general elections I predicted the political crisis now upon us. I said that the JLP was likely to lose its majority in Parliament whenever it was decided that foreign nationals could not be elected members of the Jamaican parliament.
That time has now arrived.
In my column I cautioned that we would need to tread very carefully when the crisis developed because there was potential for great civic unrest if the matter was not handled with tact and intelligence. I specifically cautioned the PNP not to press for an immediate general election but to consider whether it would not be worthwhile in arranging some power-sharing arrangement in which both parties could devise together and implement together ways of tackling the urgent political, social and economic disasters in which we have been embedded for the last several generations.
What I did not foresee was that we would be in the midst of an economic crisis at the same time as the political crisis.
We are now beset by both crises, although, judging from the level of public debate, few people recognise either.
The fact is that once the Chief Justice determined, as she had to, that Americans and other foreign nationals could not sit in our parliament, the JLP would lose its majority. The economic crisis has been sharpened by the worldwide speculative inflation in food prices and the shortage of some classes of food. The social and political crisis has been sharpened by the debt and by the popular expectation that the advent of a new government should mean some relief and surcease for the poorest.
Globalisation has meant that hundreds of thousands of Jamaicans have been forced onto the streets by privatisation, deregulation and devaluation.
Our fantasy economy has been spewing up great fortunes while leaving most people idle and without resources to help themselves. The destruction of agriculture has meant that we are less able to feed ourselves than we have been since the end of slavery in 1838.
Speculators and the bauxite industry have driven people off the land and into the 'ghettos' and disrupted the whole social order of this country, producing unforeseen crises in education unemployment and crime.
Hundreds of thousands of the our best, youngest and brightest have been forced abroad whence they keep Jamaica alive by remittances which are now more important to the economy than tourism or bauxite.
Had we not destroyed agriculture and had we put the idle acres to work, agriculture would be as important as remittances. The burning of sugarcane land and other land, the over-use of fertiliser, pesticides and herbicides which are the pillars of agribusiness, have destroyed the productivity of the land. Few people realise that soil is not simply mineral dirt but is almost half composed of bacteria and other living organisms which are what differentiate the Sahara from Amazonas.
The uprooting and effective destruction of the Jamaica School of Agriculture, the destruction of the experimental agricultural stations and the extension services; and the cold war against the Jamaica Agricultural Society have all combined to put us squarely behind the 8-ball now that there is a world food crisis.
And while people are hungry they are without work and increasingly resentful of the forces of law and order, especially since those forces have continued the four decade long assault against the working classes and the unemployed.
Those two factors alone mean that we are at a serious disadvantage in dealing with any emergency which may come upon us. A natural even such a the next hurricane will make government impossible in this country unless we take steps now to do what should have been done twenty, thirty, forty years ago – putting our house in order.
The latest speed-bump in the political system is likely to add an unpredictable element to the whole noxious stew.
What is happening in Haiti is going to happen in Jamaica if we don't take steps to deal with the problem NOW.
The fierce urgency of NOW!
EPA: The Government needs to sit down with the Opposition to demand an annulment of the so-called Economic Partnership Agreements with the European Union. These arrangements have one potential – to further pauperise Jamaica.
THE DEBT: The Government needs to sit down with the Opposition to demand an end to the commercial usury which means that 70 cents of every dollar we pay in taxes goes to margin-gatherers in the Caymans, Miami or some place other than Jamaica. If we cannot get the usurers to agree on some alleviation of our crushing debt burden a united country needs to announce that we are not going to pay any more than say, 35% of the claims against us because we are in a desperate, live threatening situation.
We can do what the Haitians cannot, because we still have to some extent, a government which represents most of us.
HAITI: Because we can, we should devise systems to offer whatever technical aid to Haiti. There is nothing like helping a brother to take our minds off our own troubles. Besides which, it is our duty.
THE LAND: The Government and Opposition should agree that we are going to bring all idle and under-utilised land into cultivation, using the capital freed up by repudiating the debt. We need to get the large landowners to understand that if there is no future for the poor there is no future for them in this country. Putting the land back into cultivation will do several things:
•It will begin the process of re-socialising Jamaicans into a sense of productive community;
•It will allow us to develop and provide proper schools and other public services and amenities for our people;
•It will reduce the level of crime and violence by giving young minds something to grapple with other than M-16s and the need to scrape a living as parasites.
• We need a comprehensive programme to rehabilitate the land itself, to stop erosion and the chemical warfare against "pests'.
•We urgently need to protect our water supplies against chemicals, squatters and mining and protecting them, planting trees and making terraces with give thousands work and produce thousand of acres of productive land.
• We need to finance the planing of fruit crops by small farmers, taking advantage of Jamaica's enormously diverse micro-climates and soil types to produce sustainable exports of real food.
• We need to plan for specific production targets for locally produced and consumed food, with incentive payments to those who produce them.
•We need to embark on programmes to recycle and re-use organic material for natural fertiliser and soil conditioners. We burn our garbage, poisoning people, especially children and contaminating the groundwater.
•We need to end the mining of bauxite and other minerals in Jamaica. We need to conduct studies to confirm that land in situ is more productive than land exported as ore. Digging up Jamaica and shipping it away will eventually produce here what was produced in Nauru, a bare, desolate place fit only to be covered by the sea.
•We need to revise the tax system so that the rich pay their appropriate contribution to the development of the country and that the poor afre relieved on tax on their basic necessities.
THE PEOPLE we need to embark on a programme of sustainable development in which the people make the decisions, or at least have the major say in the making of the decisions about what is going to happen to their country.
•We need to plan about how we are going to protect the enormous areas of land and the huge numbers of people at risk from global warming, sea-level rise and saline intrusion.
•We need to build dikes to protect Portmore and other large population centres from storm surge and later, sea level rise. If we are wise and humane, these projects will employ a large number of people instead of bulldozers and put money where it is needed, into the base of the society.
• We need to provide credit for small entrepreneurs, higglers and other people who are necessary parts of any food distribution system in Jamaica. We need to provide civilised accommodation in good locations where they can sell their goods without harassment from the police or the parish councils
•We need to ensure that all developments are in the public interest and to understand that Jamaica cannot be developed by outsiders parachuting in to erect economic or touristic free zones which are simply mechanisms for exporting capital from Jamaica.
Above all, we need a programme of remaking Jamaica into the place we keep on talking about, that demiparadise, that blessed isle, where every prospect pleases and not even man is vile.
We have to reconnect the Jamaican people and communities with each other, end both the low income and the high income ghettoisation of Jamaica which simply defines territory to be fought over.
We need to do what Norman Manley started seventy years ago with people like Thom Girvan and Eddie Burke and hundreds of other forgotten Jamaican heroes: we need to build a nation instead of a collection of competing interests, continually at each other's throats. We need urgently, to rebuild our communities and lift up the poor and disinherited.
We can do it, if we really want.
Now, more than any time in the past, we need to recognise that all of us have the same interest. We all want a Jamaica that works, in very sense. We don't want parasites of any kind, either those that steal cars or those that steal beaches.
We don't have much time.
Copyright 2008 John Maxwell

Dancing on Eggs

John Maxwell
In a column after last year's general elections I predicted the political crisis now upon us. I said that the JLP was likely to lose its majority in Parliament whenever it was decided that foreign nationals could not be elected members of the Jamaican parliament.
That time has now arrived.
In my column I cautioned that we would need to tread very carefully when the crisis developed because there was potential for great civic unrest if the matter was not handled with tact and intelligence. I specifically cautioned the PNP not to press for an immediate general election but to consider whether it would not be worthwhile in arranging some power-sharing arrangement in which both parties could devise together and implement together ways of tackling the urgent political, social and economic disasters in which we have been embedded for the last several generations.
What I did not foresee was that we would be in the midst of an economic crisis at the same time as the political crisis.
We are now beset by both crises, although, judging from the level of public debate, few people recognise either.
The fact is that once the Chief Justice determined, as she had to, that Americans and other foreign nationals could not sit in our parliament, the JLP would lose its majority. The economic crisis has been sharpened by the worldwide speculative inflation in food prices and the shortage of some classes of food. The social and political crisis has been sharpened by the debt and by the popular expectation that the advent of a new government should mean some relief and surcease for the poorest.
Globalisation has meant that hundreds of thousands of Jamaicans have been forced onto the streets by privatisation, deregulation and devaluation.
Our fantasy economy has been spewing up great fortunes while leaving most people idle and without resources to help themselves. The destruction of agriculture has meant that we are less able to feed ourselves than we have been since the end of slavery in 1838.
Speculators and the bauxite industry have driven people off the land and into the 'ghettos' and disrupted the whole social order of this country, producing unforeseen crises in education unemployment and crime.
Hundreds of thousands of the our best, youngest and brightest have been forced abroad whence they keep Jamaica alive by remittances which are now more important to the economy than tourism or bauxite.
Had we not destroyed agriculture and had we put the idle acres to work, agriculture would be as important as remittances. The burning of sugarcane land and other land, the over-use of fertiliser, pesticides and herbicides which are the pillars of agribusiness, have destroyed the productivity of the land. Few people realise that soil is not simply mineral dirt but is almost half composed of bacteria and other living organisms which are what differentiate the Sahara from Amazonas.
The uprooting and effective destruction of the Jamaica School of Agriculture, the destruction of the experimental agricultural stations and the extension services; and the cold war against the Jamaica Agricultural Society have all combined to put us squarely behind the 8-ball now that there is a world food crisis.
And while people are hungry they are without work and increasingly resentful of the forces of law and order, especially since those forces have continued the four decade long assault against the working classes and the unemployed.
Those two factors alone mean that we are at a serious disadvantage in dealing with any emergency which may come upon us. A natural even such a the next hurricane will make government impossible in this country unless we take steps now to do what should have been done twenty, thirty, forty years ago – putting our house in order.
The latest speed-bump in the political system is likely to add an unpredictable element to the whole noxious stew.
What is happening in Haiti is going to happen in Jamaica if we don't take steps to deal with the problem NOW.
The fierce urgency of NOW!
EPA: The Government needs to sit down with the Opposition to demand an annulment of the so-called Economic Partnership Agreements with the European Union. These arrangements have one potential – to further pauperise Jamaica.
THE DEBT: The Government needs to sit down with the Opposition to demand an end to the commercial usury which means that 70 cents of every dollar we pay in taxes goes to margin-gatherers in the Caymans, Miami or some place other than Jamaica. If we cannot get the usurers to agree on some alleviation of our crushing debt burden a united country needs to announce that we are not going to pay any more than say, 35% of the claims against us because we are in a desperate, live threatening situation.
We can do what the Haitians cannot, because we still have to some extent, a government which represents most of us.
HAITI: Because we can, we should devise systems to offer whatever technical aid to Haiti. There is nothing like helping a brother to take our minds off our own troubles. Besides which, it is our duty.
THE LAND: The Government and Opposition should agree that we are going to bring all idle and under-utilised land into cultivation, using the capital freed up by repudiating the debt. We need to get the large landowners to understand that if there is no future for the poor there is no future for them in this country. Putting the land back into cultivation will do several things:
•It will begin the process of re-socialising Jamaicans into a sense of productive community;
•It will allow us to develop and provide proper schools and other public services and amenities for our people;
•It will reduce the level of crime and violence by giving young minds something to grapple with other than M-16s and the need to scrape a living as parasites.
• We need a comprehensive programme to rehabilitate the land itself, to stop erosion and the chemical warfare against "pests'.
•We urgently need to protect our water supplies against chemicals, squatters and mining and protecting them, planting trees and making terraces with give thousands work and produce thousand of acres of productive land.
• We need to finance the planing of fruit crops by small farmers, taking advantage of Jamaica's enormously diverse micro-climates and soil types to produce sustainable exports of real food.
• We need to plan for specific production targets for locally produced and consumed food, with incentive payments to those who produce them.
•We need to embark on programmes to recycle and re-use organic material for natural fertiliser and soil conditioners. We burn our garbage, poisoning people, especially children and contaminating the groundwater.
•We need to end the mining of bauxite and other minerals in Jamaica. We need to conduct studies to confirm that land in situ is more productive than land exported as ore. Digging up Jamaica and shipping it away will eventually produce here what was produced in Nauru, a bare, desolate place fit only to be covered by the sea.
•We need to revise the tax system so that the rich pay their appropriate contribution to the development of the country and that the poor afre relieved on tax on their basic necessities.
THE PEOPLE we need to embark on a programme of sustainable development in which the people make the decisions, or at least have the major say in the making of the decisions about what is going to happen to their country.
•We need to plan about how we are going to protect the enormous areas of land and the huge numbers of people at risk from global warming, sea-level rise and saline intrusion.
•We need to build dikes to protect Portmore and other large population centres from storm surge and later, sea level rise. If we are wise and humane, these projects will employ a large number of people instead of bulldozers and put money where it is needed, into the base of the society.
• We need to provide credit for small entrepreneurs, higglers and other people who are necessary parts of any food distribution system in Jamaica. We need to provide civilised accommodation in good locations where they can sell their goods without harassment from the police or the parish councils
•We need to ensure that all developments are in the public interest and to understand that Jamaica cannot be developed by outsiders parachuting in to erect economic or touristic free zones which are simply mechanisms for exporting capital from Jamaica.
Above all, we need a programme of remaking Jamaica into the place we keep on talking about, that demiparadise, that blessed isle, where every prospect pleases and not even man is vile.
We have to reconnect the Jamaican people and communities with each other, end both the low income and the high income ghettoisation of Jamaica which simply defines territory to be fought over.
We need to do what Norman Manley started seventy years ago with people like Thom Girvan and Eddie Burke and hundreds of other forgotten Jamaican heroes: we need to build a nation instead of a collection of competing interests, continually at each other's throats. We need urgently, to rebuild our communities and lift up the poor and disinherited.
We can do it, if we really want.
Now, more than any time in the past, we need to recognise that all of us have the same interest. We all want a Jamaica that works, in very sense. We don't want parasites of any kind, either those that steal cars or those that steal beaches.
We don't have much time.
Copyright 2008 John Maxwell
jankunnu@gmail.com

barbarism and religion

no one remains beside the broken door
the palace gutted and the kingdom smashed
we enter now the age of spiv and whore

you wonder who could have given much more
when at the gate the last small army clashed
no one remains beside the broken door

the price of paradise is paid in gore
and through the river many feet have splashed
we enter now the age of spiv and whore

not one is left the magic to adore
and every value long ago was trashed
no one remains beside the broken door

a shadow of the past adorns the floor
where once the greatest would have been abashed
we enter now the age of spiv and whore

there is none left to gaze upon the shore
where the last hope has only now been dashed
no one remains beside the broken door
we enter now the age of spiv and whore

explaining action's not all

you let each creature measure out a span
and every foot of distance means some hope
the watchers keep a firm gaze down the slope
but things won't matter when they're in the pan
your mind will labour under heavy ban
and body need the ministry of soap
before the process reaches proper scope
but that's been all accounted in the plan
you drew the map and let each one decide
just how the journey would begin and end
as long as you controlled the realm between
the purpose of the travel's just the ride
however much we might mock or pretend
not one of us can hide just what we mean

dark atlantis

this is the place where stories come to fail
you see the monster light beneath the sun
there is a shark for every single sail

the older kingdom fell once to the pale
who knew the magic of the sword and gun
this is the place where stories come to fail

another portrait hung on the old nail
the same old play performed for the same run
there is a shark for every single sail

each liar turns a zephyr to a gale
the message will be old before we're done
this is the place where stories come to fail

a dark atlantis on a smaller scale
some sort of prize that others might have won
there is a shark for every single sail

the winner always seems to be the snail
and not the child that just seeks to have fun
this is the place where stories come to fail
there is a shark for every single sail

this is no garden

you do not count the traps that have been set
so many fall and never again rise
those who don't fail cannot ever forget

enough to see the fish in the big net
before the sun has cleaned out all the skies
you do not count the traps that have been set

this was the shadow of an evil debt
and not the fallout of a kind surprise
those who don't fail cannot ever forget

so much unknown and we've not started yet
that beyond all's not subject to surmise
you do not count the traps that have been set

those moments come when you might still regret
the manner in which you came to despise
those who don't fail cannot ever forget

alone of those who do not have to fret
we watch to see the keepers and the spies
you do not count the traps that have been set
those who don't fail cannot ever forget

a safer kingdom

a narrow vision gives way to the law
your choice is formed by forces not your own
wisdom and judgment govern us alone

we wait the season of the patient thaw
the force of winter is seen in the stone
a narrow vision gives way to the law

the newer rule needs no talon or claw
we venture out into the realm that's known
there is no weight of evil to atone
a narrow vision gives way to the law

priest of the older god

you know just where the mystery will end
so many hills on which the forest grows
but not enough for minds to comprehend

shadow and substance to the truth pretend
now we demand the army line in rows
you know just where the mystery will end

no matter what we know just who to send
to break the bank and end the long repose
but not enough for minds to comprehend

what has been saved will not be there to spend
he who comes in is not the one who goes
you know just where the mystery will end

too soon we have on one man to depend
whose wisdom centres things upon the nose
but not enough for minds to comprehend

your task is now to see us all ascend
with many intimations and some shows
you know just where the mystery will end
but not enough for minds to comprehend

Eighteen cents a gallon

Prices are rising, driving us all mad,
we all agree that no one can relax;
this is the worst condition, things are bad,
and we can't bear up under these attacks.
McCain says "Cheer up, every lass and lad,
don't shiver in the face of these small cracks!
There is no reason for you to be sad.
We'll just remit some eighteen cents of tax!"

No one could doubt that someone would be glad
to send old John an email or a fax,
explaining just exactly how to add
some more gravitas to his ancient tracks.
For while we suffer he still has to pad
around selling ideas taken from mouldy sacks
and smelling rather worse than day-old shad:
"We'll just remit some eighteen cents of tax!"

the umpires speak

we set the bounds on what you want of life
you play the fool and do not care who knows
nor what the outcome of the early throws

no eager followers of drum or fife
this is the reason no one comes to blows
we set the bounds on what you want of life

beyond the wall is the great realm of strife
no garden for the lily or the rose
but not the kingdom of the waiting crows
we set the bounds on what you want of life

out into the world

these are the ones who know the hidden name
we do not heed their warning as we pass
so all too soon we fall into the flame

too soon we hunger for praise and acclaim
and do not think the chink of gold too crass
these are the ones who know the hidden name

the chase itself we count as far too tame
and think ourselves early put out to grass
so all too soon we fall into the flame

those who would think an explanation lame
have never been stuck deep in the morass
these are the ones who know the hidden name

this is no trickery late in the game
we do not pay you off for cheek or sass
so all too soon we fall into the flame

yours is the secret not the pride or shame
the value's not contained in weight or mass
these are the ones who know the hidden name
so all too soon we fall into the flame

the wrong dream

what is best measured is not always lost
we are not sure of what we might soon need
this is the law that others have decreed
we pay for what we owe in heat and frost
the true have long ago seen what was tossed
out of the boat by those who thought that greed
alone would guide us to the greater deed
and known the pain and had to pay the cost
we who remain are sure only that now
others will earn the wages of our work
while we view rivers of our flowing tears
it was so easy then to take a vow
but then the world entire would go berserk
and pass to us the bill for all the years

into the abyss

it's not enough to say you know the pain
year after year the world comes down this
one sole demand that you must bear the strain

others receive the prize and get the gain
you are the one who listens to the hiss
it's not enough to say you know the pain

once more your goods are cast upon the wain
you cannot say just what it is you'll miss
one sole demand that you must bear the strain

for all the time that you have to abstain
no one would say that you have been remiss
it's not enough to say you know the pain

others would think that you might still complain
while they each take their turn enjoying bliss
one sole demand that you must bear the strain

the world insists that you have to hold sane
although you won't receive a single kiss
it's not enough to say you know the pain
one sole demand that you must bear the strain

vain competitive excuse

yours is the echo of the last complaint
we do not ask just how it came to fade
upon this soil so many were betrayed
and their words come to us in manner faint
we don't expect to find a simple taint
on anything that we would want now made
for this is where things properly arrayed
are to be brought we blame only the saint
for what we are become this much is true
there are so many urgencies to make
the centre not so much what we require
of all the places where good things accrue
this one alone we cannot soon forsake
but now we are supposed to yield the fire

evening at stanmore

the briefest moment now of golden light
sun falling with great haste into the sea
without preamble we learn it is night

the tropic day is often falsely bright
and gives us such a sense of being free
the briefest moment now of golden light

the stars can't guide us on a path that's right
we aren't provided with a way to see
the briefest moment now of golden light

no doubt that we are in a sudden plight
and this is not a proper place to be
without preamble we learn it is night

there is no reason here for fuss or fight
but each is filled with a deep urge to flee
the briefest moment now of golden light

still none of us has cause to be contrite
there's nothing in the dark to disagree
the briefest moment now of golden light
without preamble we learn it is night

roundel of the divine farmer

we bend our necks to the almighty king
this is the proper posture of the prole
we must assume our old historic role

the sovereign people are out of the ring
we praise the givers of a measly dole
we bend our necks to the almighty king

in every temple we have learned to sing
in voices that ring out from empty soul
words that embrace the forces of control
we bend our necks to the almighty king

a single buzzard

we don't regard the message of the bird
but anger drives us into plain desire
and we are under the commanding word

so much of what we learn becomes absurd
you watch what happens underneath the wire
we don't regard the message of the bird

what is not done was properly deferred
but now we cannot help detain the fire
and we are under the commanding word

so much in time we wish had not occurred
it is not something that we could require
we don't regard the message of the bird

the signal is not what we had inferred
but nothing matters when the news is dire
and we are under the commanding word

you find too soon just what we all had heard
that no one to those heights ought to aspire
we don't regard the message of the bird
and we are under the commanding word

sacred victory

we live in echoes of the empty lost
a maze of hatreds never wholly dead
within a forest overgrown with dread

we find the horror has its heavy cost
from each cold mind all decency has sped
we live in echoes of the empty lost

what was once worthy is from us now tossed
no one would keep a clear thought in his head
when dark and fear could take its place instead
we live in echoes of the empty lost

no good recollection

all of the motion adds up to a fall
we aren't the ones we were so long ago
and now we find we're being forced to stall

it seems the manly thing now is to bawl
that what was fast has turned so fucking slow
all of the motion adds up to a fall

the lion that would pounce first learns to crawl
yet leaves a little over for the crow
and now we find we're being forced to stall

no one would say that we had not the gall
to claim a place where fools alone would go
all of the motion adds up to a fall

before the action we beheld the wall
and found that there was something hard to know
and now we find we're being forced to stall

that is the story we must tell to all
who come to see just how this thing is so
all of the motion adds up to a fall
and now we find we're being forced to stall

a kind of subversion

there is a point when we must stretch our reach
not because fruit are hanging from the tree
but simply for the sake of what we see
within our hearts for what we have to teach
this is the point of saying without much speech
just what we mean about what we must be
the words themselves enact our being free
and take us in one moment past the breach
the silence stretches till we cannot bear
the weight of all the motions we still feel
and step by step this breath turns into time
so many seconds counted out of fear
the human body seems made out of steel
and every hour turns into the prime
we name ourselves the victims of this crime
but knowing nothing have no sense of care
and are not anxious yet to make the deal
while on the sidelines all the crowd must stare
their voices roaring out in harsh appeal
demanding that the normal be sublime
this is the end of what we would not speak
the strong must bow at last to us the weak

after the baroque

the sound of lautenwerk and harpsichord
an older music than the ones we learn
and we find what you always have adored

a better way of reaching good accord
would leave the pilgrim with no wrath to burn
the sound of lautenwerk and harpsichord

with force of gun and symbolism of sword
we give you chance to make a better turn
and we find what you always have adored

so much it takes to bring down the last lord
then to restore the ones we would not spurn
the sound of lautenwerk and harpsichord

channel the world in ways we can afford
yet we will choose no better way to yearn
and we find what you always have adored

this is the magic you have not ignored
a pattern that your people have to earn
the sound of lautenwerk and harpsichord
and we find what you always have adored

Is Starvation Contagious?

Is Starvation Contagious?

John Maxwell

Few people, much less their governments, appear to be concerned about what is happening in Haiti, next to Cuba our nearest neighbour and, in historical terms, the people who paved the way for our freedom from slavery and implemented for the first time anywhere in the world, the idea of universal human rights.
Yet, today, while Haiti suffocates in poverty, hunger and dirt, her neighbours in the Caribbean, with the exception of Cuba, pass by on the other side of the road where Haiti lies in pain and anguish, ignoring the brutalisation of the poorest people in this hemisphere by the richest nations in the world.
Four years ago the Americans and Canadians with the backing of the French, decapitated Haitian human rights, kidnapping her President and instituting fascist rule by a combination of some of the greediest businessmen in the world and the murderous thugs they hired in an attempt to depose the overwhelmingly popular president of the Haitians, Jean Bertrand Aristide.
Mr Bush and Mr Colin Powell and a mixed gaggle of French and Canadian politicians had decided that freedom and independence were too good for the black people of Haiti. Lest you think I am being racist there is abundant evidence that the conspiracy against Haiti was inspired by racial hatred and prejudice.
I have gone into this before and I will not return to it today. Suffice it to say that the US, Canada and France, acting on behalf of the so-called ‘civilised world’, decided on the basis of lies that, as in the case of Iraq, a free and independent people had no business being free and independent when their freedom and independence was seen to threaten the economic interest of the richest people in Haiti and, by extension, the wealthiest countries in the world.
Today, and especially for the last few weeks, the starving people in Haiti have been trying to get the world to listen to their anguish and misery. Along with some other poor people in other countries the Haitians have been driven to desperation and the edge of starvation by the rapidly increasing price of food. Unlike all the others the Haitians are over the edge, they are starving, refugees in their own proud country, many forced to eat dirt to survive, however tenuously.
Only the Cubans, the Venezuelans and the Vietnamese appear to care about what is happening in Haiti. The rest of us are too concerned with ‘wealth management’ and the prospects of foreign investors with bursting wallets floating down from the sky to make us all rich.
But if one listens to people on the Jamaican street it is obvious that we too are in the early stages of the same curse of the globalisation which makes Haitians expendable and assesses their value at well under the price of one Jamaican patty per day.
So, the Haitians have taken to the streets and more than half a dozen starvelings have already been shot dead by the armed forces of civilisation, by the satraps and surrogates of George Bush and his Canadian and French accomplices.
The World Food Programme has appealed to the world for help for the Haitians. So has the Vietnamese representative on the UN Security Council. Venezuela has given Haiti money and supplied them with cheap oil. Cuba, among other things, is training nearly 500 Haitians to be doctors, about half in Cuba and the rest in Haiti.
The Golding government, like its predecessors, pays no attention to our suffering neighbour languishing and dying because of the explicit actions and strategies of the United States of America and its President, George Bush.
Which is why after Aristide, Haitians died like flies because of hurricanes and rainstorms: their local democracy and their early warning systems had been destroyed by the criminal gangsters who Bush put in charge of 8 million Haitians. And when the situation became too noisome even for Bush and the Republican party, Haitians were allowed to vote but not allowed to vote for the man they wanted, so they voted for a surrogate. This meant that the Haitian elite friends of Bush, the Chalabis of our hemisphere, were back in charge and the primacy of the light-skinned minority re-established, just as it was in the eighteenth century, before the American, French and Haitian revolutions.
It is possible that Haiti may not even be Bush's worst crime. In Haiti he destroyed nearly 300 years of History and the Rights of Man. In Iraq he obliterated much of the record of the last 8,000 years of civilisation and set the people at each other’s throats
Many Haitians were killed by the American-paid assassins who inherited military power from the American and Canadian Marines. More were murdered because they were community leaders and allies of Aristide. Even more died from unnatural disasters precipitated by the decapitation of democracy. And many, many more will die from the effects of eating dirt for the greater glory of George Bush and because they have had enough of Bush’s modern version of slavery.

I told you so
Just to be tiresome I want to remind you of a column published in this paper on Sunday, December 10, 2000, my 240th column for this paper. It was published just as the Republican party was prepping the US Supreme Court to appoint George Bush President of the US.
I wrote, inter alia
"The approaching triumph of Greenspan/Ayn Rand capitalism may just be slowed down by the latest developments in the US economy, but that is not cooling down the ardour of the “Cognitive Elite” to gain a handle on the whole business of corporate control of the economies and governance of the world. The Americans a few days ago, chastised Haiti for electoral defects which, compared to Florida, were child’s play and did not really affect anything very much more than the letter of the law.
“… George Bush, if he is appointed President, will use his time to destroy the integrity of the country he rules, starting with the Supreme Court. Then he can start on dealing with the rest of us. That’s his job, and as the American Press has made plain, nothing needs to be known about him and his multifarious incapacities because Big Brother in the giant corporations will tell him what to do.
We are all in a for a very rough ride."
That was published before Bush became president, before Enron, before 9/11, before the invasion of Iraq and before the rape of Haiti.
Today when the world faces climatic, ecological and economic meltdown we in Jamaica are as far away from reality as ever.
We persist in our suicidal pursuit of unsustainable development-by-gimmick, heading for disaster like the Haitians but of our own free will, unlike the powerless Haitians. We are determined to grow sugar cane until it destroys our society, watching helplessly and cluelessly as food prices rise out of our reach and unwilling to even try to save ourselves by growing more food and putting idle hands and idle lands to work, and unwilling to face the elemental truths about this slave society.
We can’t afford rice or cooking oil, or bread or Lexuses.
Where, one wonders, is our Marie Antoinette to advise us to eat Johnnycake?
More than sixty years ago when we were faced with the (for us) less dire crisis of the Second World War our British governors forced all landowners to plant at least ten percent of their land in food crops. Sugar estates began to produce food for the first time in 300 years and our unemployment and malnutrition rates plummeted.
Today we face our unreality bravely, encouraging the most backward among us to sing songs of hate against homosexuals, denying Amnesty’s findings about our internecine violence although they are merely echoing what people like me were writing forty years ago. We are going to grow food for cars while our people starve
We know what’s wrong but resolutely refuse to face reality. In the struggle for survival we say, along with George Bush, every man for himself and let the devil take the hindmost.
The title of my 2000 column I quoted earlier could serve as our epitaph.
It was:
“Democracy? Enough already!”
I told you so.
Copyright ©2008 John Maxwell

opening of a season

this is the only thing we truly mean
once the departure has been set in stone
no one regards the value of the scene

so much hangs on each one standing serene
even when we have left them all alone
this is the only thing we truly mean

the days and nights remain totally clean
we do not want to hear a single groan
no one regards the value of the scene

we do not grant the worth of just one bean
to anyone who speaks of the unknown
this is the only thing we truly mean

shadow and substance have each a routine
and we will listen still for every drone
no one regards the value of the scene

it is too late to be earnest and keen
the knife has cut us to the solid bone
this is the only thing we truly mean
no one regards the value of the scene

raindrops

this is the boundary of complex spaces
where we discover who we truly are
and why our thoughts achieve what you would bar
not once or twice but with greatest graces
and do not halt you'd think we find traces
under the signs that ancient forces mar
or trade for glory in the vast bazaar
where honest people dare not show their faces
this is the normal intercourse of day
spoken by many when they mark the wall
and note the passage is not filled with joys
uch thought assumes that we are here for play
and have achieved what would the wise appall
making the world no more than one small toy

middle passages

so many gods to call on in the dark
and none to answer when we have most need
there is no witness to see what we mark

there was no silence when forced to embark
no word for what we were but others' need
so many gods to call on in the dark

who did not live was fed to ray and shark
and some grew fatter on the alien seed
there is no witness to see what we mark

we have to learn new names for shift and sark
and find the urgency in your hard greed
so many gods to call on in the dark

the truth is given us in the dogs' bark
the whip commands us when to hoe and weed
there is no witness to see what we mark

the answer's always plain simple and stark
there is a poison that impels the deed
so many gods to call on in the dark
there is no witness to see what we mark

simple spices

a bit of time and we acquire the taste
no matter what the hour we have to grow
we never find much need for pain or haste

the statue has not been smashed or defaced
it stands for all the things we hate to know
a bit of time and we acquire the taste

we tell our children they have to be chaste
that patience matters that they must be slow
we never find much need for pain or haste

but never speak of those who sped or raced
to beat the tyrant or to speed the glow
a bit of time and we acquire the taste

so much of memory has been erased
that consciousness can't have a steady flow
we never find much need for pain or haste

we never count life as a loss or waste
with final winners being worm and crow
a bit of time and we acquire the taste
we never find much need for pain or haste

rules of law

we measure light by angle and by weight
what's given us is far too quickly done
so in the end we blame it all on fate

the early bird we learn has flown the gate
this is the shortest time after the gun
we measure light by angle and by weight

tomorrow is the latest ending date
after which nobody can hope to run
so in the end we blame it all on fate

only the air is left within the crate
that is the story that we had begun
we measure light by angle and by weight

we clear the tally off the broken slate
the price we paid was high enough to stun
so in the end we blame it all on fate

you paid us off at the prevailing rate
we asked no pardon and expected none
we measure light by angle and by weight
so in the end we blame it all on fate

not being rats

in time the music grows a fuller tone
all of the echoes come to signify
a weight that has to overcome the lie
and ring within us when we stand alone
what matters in the end down to the bone
is not the shape that brings joy to the eye
but one more thing that we might not descry
that counts much more when any have to groan
let each fond moment count for what it means
not to the highest but the lesser sort
when all the world returns to the first point
all must account within the set routines
but need not give each one the same retort
since we will find the times not out of joint

a simple thought

there are no boundaries there's only light
love has no mysteries and no mystique
we need do nothing more than simply speak
and have no fear the words will come out right
we banish anger banish hate and spite
this is the garden that all people seek
an ordinary place nothing unique
but all that's here is orderly and bright
to find this refuge more than happy chance
knowing how long it took to make all clear
is not a making of some arcane art
but rises from the wonder of a dance
into the clarity of the spring air
and fills with happiness my needy heart

evening bell

at proper angles we let the light fade
this is the duty we demand of all
you do no good to name it just a trade

such simple matters do not call for aid
we leave behind only the very small
at proper angles we let the light fade

the smoothest surface will in time abrade
to say such things does not require much gall
you do no good to name it just a trade

this time we know that you will turn afraid
but we can't let the process fail or stall
at proper angles we let the light fade

your obligation is to make the grade
all other matters will come to a fall
you do no good to name it just a trade

this is the meaning spoken by the shade
not one of us dares listen to that call
at proper angles we let the light fade
you do no good to name it just a trade

a willing liberation

you think the music stops when you must go
each of us has a tiny part to play
but cannot step beyond the scenes we know

your wisdom reaches only down below
and works under the light of common day
you think the music stops when you must go

no one will falter under every blow
and there are minds that map the complex way
but cannot step beyond the scenes we know

learning's the mode for each of us to grow
and every hand is taught to mould the clay
you think the music stops when you must go

the grass revives beneath the weight of snow
while bulky cattle learn to feed on hay
but cannot step beyond the scenes we know

it does not matter whether fast or slow
the ending comes in a clear fade to grey
you think the music stops when you must go
but cannot step beyond the scenes we know

circus act

we think each little circus act unique
the tigers and the lions each may dance
yet none of you believe the thing a freak

the truth is rather less than mild and meek
without a thrill you'd not give us a glance
we think each little circus act unique

you want to satisfy each band and clique
and not leave any one event to chance
yet none of you believe the thing a freak

unwanted questions are a form of cheek
we must not ever dare to look askance
we think each little circus act unique

at the horizon everything is bleak
there is no reason we could then advance
yet none of you believe the thing a freak

the music comes to seem a bit antique
it cannot now our style and form enhance
we think each little circus act unique
yet none of you believe the thing a freak

cycles of sacrifice

all of the angles reach a single point
hour after hour we find that they agree
what we require is what we need to see

so much involved in not being disjoint
it forces us to stay and not to flee
all of the angles reach a single point

the heart of ritual is that we anoint
a sacred figure one who comes to be
both the adorer and the adoree
all of the angles reach a single point

spring appearing

under darkest green
the force of summer pushing
promises so much

after the kingdom's end

those who withhold their word have much to trust
so many silences will soon unfold
we let the gold and silver sink in dust

the gates and fences turn in time to rust
it is the normal weight of heat and cold
those who withhold their word have much to trust

a little honor left here to adjust
since each must do only what he is told
we let the gold and silver sink in dust

yet you had ordered us about and fussed
expected much and warned us to be bold
those who withhold their word have much to trust

we blame ourselves in our own disgust
at finding that we have been bought and sold
we let the gold and silver sink in dust

what's honest hides out beneath the crust
and will not vanish even when we're old
those who withhold their word have much to trust
we let the gold and silver sink in dust

solemn execution

so many reasons end up in one flaw
no explanation can provide excuse
what matters is that we avoid abuse

the choice is never either clear or raw
nor is it one that any could deduce
so many reasons end up in one flaw

you or i end up always a cat's-paw
for someone's head must wind up in the noose
that is our sole purpose our only use
so many reasons end up in one flaw

through the mist

this is the very mystery of grey
between the half-felt pressure of the rain
and the dread certainty of some more pain
before you get out what you have to say
in words that every feeling might betray
you have to act you can't choose to abstain
too many voices speak for even strain
nor is there evidence of clearer way
from shallow waters come no mercies now
beyond horizons we can see no bird
and in the end naught we say will matter
the whole endeavour centres on one vow
a single enterprise hangs upon a word
utter it and universes shatter

actual conspiracy

we set the whole thing up so you must fail
that is the purpose of this great machine
against the gods we are you vainly rail

your whole job is to murmur and to quail
and claim that the process was not foreseen
we set the whole thing up so you must fail

the wind will swiftly move from breeze to gale
and all the ships will have to leave the scene
against the gods we are you vainly rail

you cannot face the ocean with a pail
and all your efforts are not worth a bean
we set the whole thing up so you must fail

the truth is that all virtue is for sale
and honesty is what we find obscene
against the gods we are you vainly rail

upon these heights that you will never scale
are said the words that you could never mean
we set the whole thing up so you must fail
against the gods we are you vainly rail

repeated condemnation

those who forget the past are left to wait
for memories to fade and lights to die
it is as if we want to blind each eye

there is no thing we need as much as hate
no breath that counts as much as one great sigh
those who forget the past are left to wait

our lesser rules are coloured by stark fate
a matter that is hidden from the sky
by which we mean each word is just a lie
those who forget the past are left to wait

propaganda gap

they ask for harmony but give us none
all of their words come empty at the last
such symbols are most ancient under sun

this is not anything that is not done
by anyone who hopes to finish fast
they ask for harmony but give us none

a kind of fairy tale that has been spun
by those who hoped to leave us all aghast
such symbols are most ancient under sun

those messages another age had run
right down to earth but now we have contrast
they ask for harmony but give us none

we might expect a sharp blow that would stun
a normal mind or else some kind of blast
such symbols are most ancient under sun

what we get though is only half begun
and better left in dead rooms of the past
they ask for harmony but give us none
such symbols are most ancient under sun

receipt of signals

those worthies fail to measure every clue
leaving unknown the line of our retreat
but not a one of us admits defeat
instead we turn and look upon the view
so much is left for each of us to do
that we must keep up the long steady beat
no one would claim that we'd commit deceit
but all we say now seems not quite so new
those answers come when we are said to sigh
not daring speech under the heavy grey
since each of us now fears that we are blind
but simple truths don't come from open sky
and honest fact is not just what you say
but what you are the rest comes in the mind

out of the mountains

there is a wider liberty we seek
and words are needed to express the fire
this world belongs to others than the meek

no force is halted at the summer creek
the water will not this time rise higher
there is a wider liberty we seek

your meaning's hidden by the words you speak
and we know you too well as just a liar
this world belongs to others than the meek

too long we find the answers just so bleak
and not the sort of tool that we require
there is a wider liberty we seek

good hope turns out to be one more technique
leaving us all bespattered in the mire
this world belongs to others than the meek

if there's a vision it's that of the freak
and not the one to which you should aspire
there is a wider liberty we seek
this world belongs to others than the meek

in an age of faith

our enemy is always on the brink
or so our leaders say when we don't fear
the worst thing we can do it seems is think

it's so much simpler just to nod and wink
ignoring all the smoke upon the air
our enemy is always on the brink

disaster is the message in the link
but we must meet it with our normal flair
the worst thing we can do it seems is think

we can't allow a single tiny chink
in our defences ever to appear
our enemy is always on the brink

instead we claim that we are in the pink
and ready to plunge in where they won't dare
the worst thing we can do it seems is think

we listen for the rustle and the clink
but no one seems to get up from the chair
our enemy is always on the brink
the worst thing we can do it seems is think

'Alligator down dey!'

'Alligator down dey!'

John Maxwell
It sounds more than a bit vainglorious to say 'I told you so' especially if one keeps saying it, time after time. What's sadder though, is if one continues to see oneself being proved right, time after time, and having to bite your tongue to avoid pointing out that you knew it would happen. What's even sadder is if you can actually prove that you were right.
In the papers last week were two experts, two Jamaicans, whose advice is vey likely to be ignored. If we do we will regret it – while we try to clean up and recover from the disasters they predict. One is geologist Anthony Porter, the other economist Professor Norman Girvan
Porter, a retired geologist was warning about some of the probable consequences for Jamaica of global warming and climate change. His prognosis was that if we don’t act fast, that is, right now, we stand to lose many lives and much expensive property. He wasn't trying to be alarmist. Geologists don't usually do that, accustomed as they are to thinking in millions of years, aeons, epochs, and periods with Greek names like Triassic and Cenozoic.
'Alligator down dey!'
We have a saying in Jamaica: “when fish come from river bottom and tell you sey alligator down dey, believe him!"
Porter says “… the pace at which the ice sheets and glaciers are melting is downright scary to frightening.… If the predictions being made are correct, then all of us in Jamaica and the Caribbean need to heed the warnings. We also need to set up a scientifically driven early warning and watchdog system to check and monitor the effects of rising sea levels…”
I am not going to quote all of Tony Porter's article here because I think you should read it. It'scalled "Planetary meltdown and Jamaica" and was published in last Sunday's Gleaner.
Porter is worried by the fact that already, at high tide, the Caribbean washes over the Norman Manley Highway. If the sea level rises by 10 feet as predicted, he says “Port Royal, the Cays, Palisadoes Road, and Norman Manley Airport will be completely submerged.… Elsewhere in the island, all coastal sections less than 10 feet in height above the high tide mark will be inundated by the sea, including sections of coastal highways, beaches, hotels and other buildings, low-lying swamps, mangroves, Black River Morass, Negril Morass, and the Montego Bay International airport, to name a few: groundwater tables will rise, and weather patterns will change."(Porter)
I (JM) believe that the predicted 10 foot rise is the minimum to be expected, and if the Greenland melt-down accelerates and the ice shelves of Antarctica melt faster than predicted, the rise could be much more sudden and catastrophic. Portmore, Black River and Savanna la Mar would go. The highest point in Portmore, as I reported thirty years ago, is the gas station in Independence City at the lofty eminence of 18 feet (3 meters).
I return to Porter who says:
"Implications
If a 10-ft rise should occur, then In short, planetary meltdown will result in economic, physical and social chaos, and human tragedy will be unprecedented in Jamaica's history, as every aspect of life will be affected - communications, fishing, food supplies, health, insurance, industry, power generation (if we still depend on oil), transportation, and so on."
What Tony Porter is pointing out is that both international airports, Port Bustamante, the electric power stations, the petroleum refinery and most of the capital investment in our hotel industry will simply become useless. Much of the road system will also disappear and the sugar producing plains of St Catherine and Clarendon will probably become saline deserts.
Yet, there are people who still talk about producing sugar for export instead of food, of producing ethanol instead of food and of investing billions into holiday infrastructure that will be hip-deep in salt water before the foreign idiots who lent us the money are paid back.
Global Warming and food security are right now the most important facts of our lives – but nobody cares.
The Prophet unheeded
As I predicted ad nauseam a decade ago, globalisation is for us an almost unmitigated curse. Freeing up our markets and granting most favoured nation status to all kinds of foreign predators makes no sense at all, especially since our capitalists have almost all given up production for margin gathering, and land owners regard land as a portfolio asset rather than as a productive resource.
Ten years go in discussing an initiative called the Multilateral Agreement on Investment (MAI) I said "The capitalists and bureaucrats of the developed world have been working hard on a big surprise for the rest of us. It is called the Multilateral Agreement on Investment (MAI) and its purpose, they say, is to make everybody happier and richer. It is also designed to protect us from ourselves and to protect poor, weak, harmless investors from the predatory menaces of indolent Third World politicians. "(Global Reich - August 30,1998.)
According to its sponsors the aim of MAI is to “provide a broad multilateral framework for international investment with high standards for the liberalisation of investment regimes and investment protection and with effective dispute settlement procedures”
I perceived the MAI as something more sinister
"Equal rights for millionaires
"At the heart of MAI is the idea that in a truly free world, every millionaire should have the same rights as every other millionaire. Or, forgive me, every MacDonald’s or Disney investing in say, Jamaica, should have the same rights as Tastee’s or the local jerk pork counter."
The recent dalliance between the European Union and the Regional Negotiating Machinery of CARICOM was not meant to reproduce the results of the MAI – most of which have been incorporated into the WTO. The latest affaire has been meant to hogtie us more securely for the pleasure and profit of European usurers and exploiters, a more refined form of economic sadism.
Professor Norman Girvan has been campaigning to have the forced marriage of the so-called Economic Partnership Agreement annulled before it is forcibly consummated.
Apart from individually obnoxious provisions in the EPA, Professor Girvan points out:
" … the EPA is a treaty that is legally binding, of indefinite duration, will be very difficult to amend once it is in force, covers a wide range of subject areas that have hitherto been within the jurisdiction of domestic or regional policy, and which few people know about and even less understand. “
“ The [EPA] include services, customs administration, investment, current account payments, expanded intellectual property protection, public procurement, electronic commerce, competition, investment, labour and the environment. There are also tightly prescribed dispute settlement procedures and implementation institutions with powers to take binding decisions. Caribbean countries will be for many years amending their laws, regulations, policies and practices and setting up new institutions to comply with the EPA."
Apart from President Jagdeo, none of our governors seem to be paying much attention to Professor Girvan.
Democracy for some
When the MAI was proposed, as I pointed out in 'Global Reich’ and other columns a decade ago, the European parliament insisted the proposed MAI be withdrawn and should not be re-submitted, except after wide general democratic consultation. And, when the various members of the EU were deciding on a more perfect union, they insisted that every country be given the right to discuss and decide whether it would join and under what terms.
The EU is so big on democracy and public participation that they devised and implemented a treaty called the Aarhus Convention which makes public participation mandatory in important areas of public life and they have recommended that the world adopt the convention.
According to the UN’s Economic Commission for Europe
"The …Aarhus Convention goes to the heart of the relationship between people and governments. The Convention … is also a Convention about government accountability, transparency and responsiveness.
The Aarhus Convention grants the public rights and imposes on Parties and public authorities obligations regarding access to information and public participation and access to justice."
Professor Girvan says:
"… can you imagine a situation where a new Constitution touching many aspects of the lives of citizens were to be adopted within two months from publication of the text to provisional application, without widespread public consultation, dissemination and opportunity for review? The EPA is like a new economic constitution regulating many aspects of our external and domestic policy.…. "
The Professor may not realise that the European Parliament agrees with him – in theory. So why doesn't the European Union practice what it preaches?
It all depends on who you are. There is one law for the rich and another for the Haitians and the rest of us.
You don’t believe me! Here is a quotation from a database published by the rich countries of the world (the OECD) to give guidance to us lesser breeds without the law. I have quoted it many times over the last decade for reasons that will be obvious when you read it. Under the rubric
"Globalisation: what challenges and opportunities for governments”
there is this indecent suggestion
" … Governments may take policy processes to the international level as a strategy to escape domestic opposition and to limit the number of players involved in policy. The “behind-closed-doors” nature of international trade negotiations, for example, has been noted as being helpful in overcoming protectionist pressures on the domestic front Claiming “tied hands” as a result of international agreements, may be a way for governments to present policies at home that are — despite being in the national interest (however defined) — unpalatable to certain groups, and therefore politically difficult to implement. There may, in practice, be an implicit trade-off between efficiency and democracy. "
So, Now you know.
(Next week: Amnesty’s latest report and what I wrote in 1964)
Copyright ©2008 John Maxwell
jankunnu@gmail.com