Garth Rattray
ABOUT THE same time that United States President, George W. Bush, decided to enforce the United Nations Security Council Resolution 1441 by going to war with Iraq without UN approval (go figure), a war erupted in Kintyre, St. Andrew. As bullets flew in Iraq, bullets also flew in Kintyre. As Iraqi refugees fled the carnage, so too did Kintyre refugees flee their community. As innocent lives were lost in Iraq, so too were innocent lives lost in Kintyre. The only thing missing was CNN.
Jamaicans were busily watching the spectacular pyrotechnic display of Tomahawk cruise missiles, bunker-buster ordinances and assorted 'smart' bombs exploding for hours on end in Baghdad. We were enthralled with the sheer magnitude of the sorties and overwhelmed by the degree of human suffering in Iraq, yet we gave our own enormous human suffering right here in Kintyre the usual curious interest.
Make no mistake about it; the intermittent, ongoing hostilities in Kintyre constitute a war. There is armed conflict, retaliation, death threats and numerous incursions. However, there are no POW's because the objective here is to annihilate and not just defeat the 'enemy'. This so-called enemy is not some invading foreign power; it is their fellow Jamaican men, women and children, neighbours separated by invisible lines of demarcation drawn by despots with allegiance to diverse political parties and/or criminal gangs.
Perhaps if CNN were to televise the faces of the families weeping for their loved ones, or the loud heart-stopping explosions of guns barking into the night, we would come to appreciate the tragedy unfolding before our eyes, right in our own backyard. If we were to hear for ourselves the echoing report of rifles and the crying of children, then maybe some would see it fit to bear "Stop the War in Kintyre" placards. Perhaps then, some would march in support of peace in Kintyre.
This war has casualties and collateral damage. Just last Saturday evening, a taxi was shot up, the driver was killed instantly and passengers were injured. Word on the street is that the particular taxi was believed to transport certain men from one area to another. Although the driver probably knew nothing about whom he transports and although he probably only drives that taxi sometimes, someone opened fire on the car filled with passengers that included innocent women and children.
I believe that Kintyre got its name from a peninsula 64 kilometres long in Southwest Scotland. It terminates in Mull of Kintyre, a beautiful place that was made famous by a song of the same name by Sir Paul McCartney. Kintyre in Jamaica was also beautiful and peaceful. Slowly the community began to change as political parties/gangs claimed the fealty of idle young men. Now, as I understand it, Kintyre has become fragmented and segregated with 'Top Kintyre' and Hope Flats sharing similar political persuasions. 'Bottom Kintyre' and Quarry both appear to be evenly divided between the two major political parties.
Although it is known that the Andem gang was instrumental in initiating violence, no one seems to know exactly when or how this took place. Young men are often seen 'patrolling' openly with high-powered rifles during the days. At nights, there is a self-imposed curfew. Shops close early, children go inside at dusk and everyone experiences the anxiety that comes from living in a battle zone. There are nightly gunshots and surreal horror stories. Actual accounts of murder and mayhem are whispered across fences, at street corners and even in the places of worship. Fear breeds distrust of neighbours and even of the police.
Now, people live in terror and sleep fitfully, plagued by nightmarish scenes of suffering and death. Children bear the scars of gunshot wounds and the psychological scars of being helpless in a community where the law of the gun rules supreme, always afraid of being in the wrong place at the wrong time.
We can't afford to dissociate ourselves from the events and atrocities in Kintyre. We can't afford to allow murderous elements to maim and kill wantonly in order to subjugate the innocent citizens and exterminate those perceived as enemies. The churches, various human rights organisations and other influential associations need to come out and register their moral indignation for what is befalling this once tranquil district. Maybe a long-term police post in situ is in order. The Iraq-American war is beyond our control but we can and must stop the war in Kintyre. There needs to be a cessation of hostilities in this very inane and unjust war.
Dr Garth A. Rattray is a medical doctor with a family practice.
