Myth of the good garrison

Don Robotham, Contributor

AN URBAN myth is being born: the myth of the good garrison. Let us, therefore, consider the apparently benign aspects of this good garrison, which, on closer examination, turn out to be not benign at all.

The good garrison is a spatially defined local community for which the following services are provided: free public housing to persons of a single political persuasion; its own maternity clinic; its own basic schools; its own primary schools; its own high schools; its own trade-training centres; its own community centres; its own sports facilities and clubs; its own churches and religious entities; its own cemetery; and its own 'social' (i.e. stolen) water and light. Everything is provided right to hand, from the womb to the grave.

The second aspect of the good garrison is that these services are provided through the political representative. The political representative, whether member of parliament (MP) or otherwise, first obtains the public housing and settles people of a single political persuasion there. Then, the politician follows up with the above-described social services.

The upshot of this model community system is that - to illustrate with a hypothetical People's National Party (PNP) example and with apologies to the late prime minister - a resident of such a model PNP garrison would have been born in the Michael Manley maternity clinic; gone to the Michael Manley basic School; then onwards to the Michael Manley primary School; thereafter to the Michael Manley High School; then to the Michael Manley Trade Training Centre, and later to the Michael Manley Community Centre. She or he may even end up engaging in rituals at a religious centre thought to be imbued with the 'spirit' of Michael!

Good-garrison residents begin regarding Michael Manley as a demigod and themselves not as full and equal citizens of Jamaica but as 'Manleyites.' One hundred per cent and more voting for this 'Little Jesus' is guaranteed. The loyalty is not to the party, or to a set of principles. Loyalty is purely personalistic - to the particular local politician. Michael Manley, whatever his vanities, would have been the first to denounce such a system.

Enforcers

Given the naturally individualistic instincts of Jamaicans, the good garrison dares not rely on revivalist mind games and techniques of social control alone. It needs enforcers - those who will not hesitate to bury you alive if you are so foolish as to deviate. Therefore, the evolution from an apparently benign to an evil empire, complete with its own CCTV system, is no accident. It is the inevitable outcome of the model itself. For, the enforcers did not come later; they were present at the creation - essential for the initial bulldozing.

The dominant social force in the good garrison (obviously not everybody) is the lumpen. The women keep the keys to the various centres and are organisationally reliable. The young men are all over the place and are assigned the role of 'shottas.'

Balkanization

The model garrison is a formula for the balkanization of Jamaica into a collection of separate fiefdoms. Since residents have all services provided at their doorstep, there is little reason to leave. Minimal social relationships are maintained with other members of Jamaican society. Ties of national citizenship are cut and any common bond throughout the society withers, even among the poor, not to mention among the rich, the middle class and the poor. Divide and rule becomes the rule.

Inside the good garrison, civil society is liquidated - no one can lead a life as an independent citizen in any respect. Every service and every act is political. If you go to the maternity clinic, it's political; likewise if you go to the primary school and the community centre. If you don't go, that, too, is a political statement, fraught with unpredictable consequences. There is a total dependence on the politician, who is the Great Provider. If you enter the apartment of residents of a good garrison, you will see photographs of the Great Provider adorning every wall, sometimes even in the bathroom. Each good garrison is a model slave plantation in which the slaves are 'provided' with free housing and free food and 'social' water and light by 'Bucky Massa'. It should come as no surprise, therefore, that the dominant social psycho-logy in the good garrison is a 'bucky massa' one, punctuated every now and again by the inevitable episodes of rebelliousness, as the slaves 'lick out.'

Private sector's role

The good garrison is not solely the creation of the state and the politician. It is also a creature of the private sector. This is because many of the services provided by the MP are financed by big names in the private sector, foreign and local. The key device here is the political foundation or 'trust.'

The political trust is the vehicle by means of which private-sector personalities finance their favourite local politician, across the political divide. They may build and staff the clinic. Or they may put party workers on their firm's payroll. Or they may make large contributions in kind to street dances and other events associated with political gangsters. They may take on the football club. Or they may award construction contracts to a 'clean' construction company, which promptly passes on lucrative subcontracts to companies associated with known gangsters of the favoured political persuasion, with a wink and a nod. There are one thousand and one ways which private-sector entities have found to support garrisons with real resources. None of this comes under Contractor General Greg Christie's purview.

The discussion of corruption has focused on the public sector. But there can be no garrison without massive corruption in the private sector. Regulating the contributions to political parties is the tip of the iceberg. Underneath, there is a huge mass of pollution bigger than any oil spill! For example, as most people know, one does not just waltz into Kirkland Heights or Norbrook and buy property. You have to go through real-estate agents and developers. Who are these agents and developers? They must be named and shamed. Likewise for the lawyers, accountants, doctors and others. Likewise for those private-sector elements, foreign and local, playing games with subcontracting and support in kind. These practices are akin to racketeering, my distinguished uptown ladies and gentlemen, and one day your number may come up. Beware of your 'passa passa' flirtations - they are already coming back to bite you! Follow the money.

No defence

It is no defence of the good garrison to reel off a list of its so-called 'achievements.' The Nazis loved to do this. The amazing German highway system was built under Hitler, they said. Likewise for the VW beetle. Scientists and artists of world renown - Hahn and Heisenberg, Furtwangler and von Karajan - flourished. So what? Like our 'garrisonites', these good Germans would have achieved even more, without the system.

Our most outstanding achievers - Asafa Powell, Usain Bolt, Bob Marley - were not and could not have been products of the obsessive command- and-control garrison system. The iron hand of a political godfather would have snuffed out their talent. God forbid that they had been made to suffer the fetid atmosphere created by a profoundly demeaning paternalism masquerading as 'caring'! Dismantling the garrison must first begin with dismantling the good-garrison concept and the loathsome self-hating mentality which it deliberately fosters and on which it feeds.

Social-service provision must be flung wide open, starting with the allocation of places from the GSAT, outside of the existing zoning system which simply perpetuates the enclave mentality. Citizens, starting with our children, must not be bottled up in the name of community, class, or colour. The provision of social services through politicians must be banned. No more political trusts, no more sneaky subcontracting, no more 'licki licki.' We need deep changes and we need them now.

Professor Don Robotham is a social anthropologist. Feedback may be sent to columns@gleanerjm.com.

Myth of the good

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