Robert Buddan, Contributor
THE PRIME Minister put his foot down against extortion at the PNP's 65th conference. This was the first act in publicly declaring that Government agencies will not concede to the practice of paying criminals in order to carry out projects.
Then a triple murder in Stony Hill gave the issue of extortion a violent and dramatic face. A problem that has existed for years was suddenly recognised by the media and became the focus of special media coverage.
This ugly practice of extortion is much more than the practice of extracting gain on the threat of injury (as criminal law has it).
In Jamaica, it is a form of corruption carried out by dons and criminal gangs under the threat of violence to usurp normal practices and society's institutions.
As a consequence, trust and the integrity of those institutions are undermined, the (transaction) cost of doing business becomes burdensome and development projects come to attract criminals who hijack and undermine that very development.
Put this way, extortion is not simply a crime. It is a danger to our institutions and becomes another of the anti-social threats of lawlessness to our society.
DEMOCRATIC SECURITY
The growth of crimes such as extortion and terrorism and the threat they pose to democracy have drawn attention to democracy's security.
Democracy offers people liberties and a system of law and order (the rule of law) under which to enjoy those liberties.
Liberty and security go together. When the rule of law cannot be guaranteed then liberty comes under threat.
Democratic security demands policies that protect a population so that it can enjoy its freedoms. The rule of law demands respect for authority. When the authority of institutions such as Government and the police can be openly challenged and contemptuously flouted by criminals and their rule of lawlessness then those institutions lose respect. Society becomes too fearful to protect its liberties.
The idea of democratic security is not the same as national security. The latter refers to security of the state by the state. Democratic security means that citizens and state must act together to protect democracy from its enemies. This includes criminals and other forces who disregard the rules of democracy and human rights and who in fact thrive on corruption and practices that are not democratic.
DEMOCRACY AND AUTHORITY
Democratic security rests on the principles of the protection of citizens and their rights such as the right to life; protection of democratic values and institutions so that they can support freedom and the rule of law and gain the trust of citizens; and the solidarity and cooperation of all citizens in defence of a democratic way of life.
While some civic groups focus on the threat posed by state authorities to human rights, the concern of democratic security is about the threat posed by criminal and anti-democratic civilians to human rights.
Gone are the days when the state had a monopoly on the instrument of violence. An armed society and a violent citizenry are a great threat to democracy and human rights in today's world. This is what the focus on terrorism (non-state violence) is about.
In this light, the ability to exert democratic authority against undemocratic power is important. The problem in Jamaica is the inability of the state to impose its legitimate authority in certain areas and against certain people.
Referring to an even greater situation of civil war in Colombia, one report put the problem cogently. It said, "Unless the authority of democratic institutions is strengthened, there will always be organisations, groups or persons who will continue to profit, whether they adduce political motives or not from the absence of authority in order to wield arbitrary power over the population, extort in return for 'protection' and grow rich from the illegal drugs trade."
Jamaican democracy is not a secure democracy. It is exposed to a range of violent and corrupt activities such as terrorist-style violence associated with the drug trade, illicit finances or 'dirty money', the traffic of arms, ammunitions and explosives, extortion and homicide.
These acts take the form of open violence against people; the corrosion of institutional integrity when such institutions are corrupted by these forces; and the loss of trust in these institutions when they collaborate with these forces or fail to acknowledge and deal with the problem.
One report, critical of Bangladesh for its failure to establish democratic values, the rule of law and good governance said that, democracy is meaningless if citizens have no security of life and property and if thugs and criminals of every variety have things their own way.
THE WILL TO ACT
This last point is an important one about leadership. Many feel that these problems exist because of the lack of 'political will' to deal with them squarely.
Political will can be defined as credible and demonstrated intent on the part of political actors to attack a problem (like corruption) in a systematic way. When people do not believe that authorities are serious they lose trust and faith in the political will of those authorities.
These authorities, by the way, include civil society watchdogs and stakeholder groups along with elected and appointed political leaders.
Members of Parliament/caretakers, state agencies, business persons, communities and the police must demonstrate clear and credible intent to act decisively and systematically.
Political will in other words must be a collective will since the problem of extortion and corruption is more largely a collective problem.
In the case of extortion, the public perceives that a number of different actors collude, wittingly or unwittingly. They include business persons, state agencies, parties and MPs/caretakers, the police, communities who all play the game of the don and his armed gang.
All of these actors will admit that the problem is a growing one and has now reached dangerous proportions. And that it has been around for a long time and it is a part of the criminal enterprise that has overtaken many communities and intimidates politicians and business persons alike.
It is now costly to bear. It adds great transaction costs to business (in the form of security costs), adds to the state of and dimensions of violent crime, and empowers dons who engage in wars to expand territory and to control politicians and communities.
It further stresses the credibility of Jamaican institutions. There is already a great degree of distrust in the police, parties, Government, MPs/caretakers, and business.
Other institutions suffer credibility problems as well. We would have expected to hear from human rights organisations since criminal extortion is a threat to the human rights of all those who are against it or even the innocent political actors who end up on the wrong side of it.
Or, from trade unions since it involves hiring and firing and labour rights; and the media, since it is a matter of great public concern about which information and public exposure are needed.
Democratic security requires that there be credible, active and courageous civil society. A silent society is prone to intimidation and abuse. It is easy to form a civil society organisation but much more difficult for its members to have the courage to speak up.
SECURING DEMOCRACY
We can sometimes be naive about democracy. Democracy is self-protecting if all citizens or enough of them can be trusted to respect its rules of law and order, peaceful resolution, respect for life, and so on.
But this has never been so and this is why even the strongest democracies have police forces, intelligence services, and laws for the purpose of keeping a watch on those citizens who are a threat to the democratic way of life.
United States democracy, for example, has the largest police and intelligence services, the largest prison population and the largest number of crimes among the industrial democracies.
Democracy can suffer when we uncritically romanticise 'the people' and demonise 'the state' and 'the politician'.
We fail to discriminate between those among the people who are enemies of democracy and those politicians and members of the state (including members of the police) who are the real friends of democracy. If we cannot distinguish between the friends and enemies of democracy, we will not be able to secure our democracy against its enemies.
Extortion and the various forms of corruption are grave threats to our institutions those of democracy, the market and community.
It can only be fought by restoring credibility to those institutions that have already been compromised.
The Prime Minister's strong stand against extortion must be followed up by mobilizing democratic security and those in the frontline must have the courage to join that stand.
Robert Buddan lectures in the Department of Government, Mona, UWI. E-mail: Robert.Buddan@uwimona.edu.jm
