Peter Espeut | A Jamaican Hercules

I would like to believe Prime Minister Holness that his government has finally decided to launch a “total assault on gangs” across the island, and that the “Government will use this opportunity to deal with the gangs once and for all”. Should Prime Minister Holness seriously take on this task, he will genuinely have attained national hero status, and he will be lauded by one and all for generations to come.

I am sorry I was not present at the emergency press briefing last Monday (August 12) triggered by the senseless slaughter of eight people at Cherry Tree Lane in Clarendon the day before, to be able to judge for myself whether the government is really serious, or whether this is just more election propaganda.

The press has reported that some deeply truthful statements were articulated last Monday. PM Holness is quoted as declaring that Jamaica has “played with gangs for far too long”. It is well known that many if not most of Jamaica’s 180 active criminal gangs are affiliated with either the People’s National Party (PNP) or the Jamaica Labour Party (JLP), and that there are several well-known politicians of all colours that have more than a passing acquaintance with gang members going back decades.

Just check who attends the funerals of the dons and their posses and crews.

Will this “all-out assault” on gangs include their political and private sector backers, or is it just the foot-soldiers who will be targeted to “tek weh demself”? Will the political garrisons created by both the JLP and the PNP over the years be dismantled in this “all-out assault”? Will the implicated garrison politicians retain their OJs and the title of “Honourable”?

What has caught my attention is the pledge to deal with the gangs “once and for all”. Criminal gangs have first tier, second tier, and third tier leadership. Like the hydra in Greek and Roman mythology, if you cut off one head, two or more heads will regenerate. In second form at Campion College we read (in Latin) how Hercules (Heracles) killed the hydra by cutting off all the heads and cauterising the neck (with sword and fire) so none could regrow. That was the second labour of Hercules, who went on to cleanse the Augean stables as his fifth labour.

Do we have a Jamaican Hercules here?

Or is this a reprise of the election promise that we will be able to sleep with our doors and windows open? Time will tell.

I hope Jamaican forces will do a good job in Haiti dismantling their gangs. Which will happen first: an end to Haitian gangs? Or to Jamaican gangs once and for all?

FAN OF ZOSO

As a sociologist I am a fan of the ZOSO concept. The zones of special operations contain elements of a “state of public emergency” – the clear and hold operations; but what makes ZOSOs different is the “build” component, intended to engender social transformation through social engineering. I believe that it is a sound idea.

After you create a boundary, and clear the zone of miscreants (they are expected to flee because of the heavy presence of the security forces), you send in the social workers, the social psychologists, the development scientists, and the urban/rural planners, who will upgrade the physical and social environment, make sure all the children (especially the boys) are in school, and arrange for skills training and small business startups for the young adults. That should get rid of the gangs once and for all, if only the government would implement the “build” phase.

The two church communities I serve fall in two of the first ZOSOs to be declared, and over the last five years I drive through the mock security checkpoints in Denham Town, Hannah Town and Greenwich Town several times each week. If they are manned (or womanned) the armed persons don’t even look up from their phones when I pass. I can (and do) drive in and out using roads which have no checkpoints. I have seen not one social worker, development scientist, or evidence of any “build” strategy.

Yet shootings and murders continue inside the ZOSOs.

But now the “Government will use this opportunity to deal with the gangs once and for all”. Monday gone (five days ago) PM Holness is quoted in the press as saying: “Every gang member will feel the full force of the State today”. Has it happened? Have I missed something? Have I taken his assertion out of context?

I really do want to believe him.

OLYMPIC BLASPHEMY

The 2024 Paris Olympics will be remembered for its Opening Ceremony in which drag queens mocked Jesus and his apostles at the Last Supper in a parody of Leonardo daVinci’s famous painting.

I did not hear any local officials condemning the blasphemy.

I boycotted the Olympics; I did not watch live or on replay any of the events. Could we do well in this context?

The LGBTQI+ activists know who their main enemy is.

War has been openly declared. Let’s see who wins.

Peter Espeut is a sociologist and development scientist, and a Roman Catholic deacon. Send feedback to columns@gleanerjm.com