Imani Tafari-Ama | Barrelling Beryl, climate crisis and politricks

In Jamaica, when we were little, we learned a nursery rhyme that summarised the span of the hurricane season:

June, too soon

July, stand by

August, it’s a must

September will remember

October, it’s all over.

By all meteorological accounts, barrelling Beryl, a category five then a category four hurricane, was unprecedented in being formed in June. She slam-dunked the Caribbean with ferocious winds, swiftly falling rain, and surging sea swells. From Barbados to Carriacou, Grenada; St Vincent and the Grenadines, and Jamaica, nowhere that the huge hurricane targeted was left unscathed.

For centuries, the Caribbean islands’ shores have been assaulted by the untamed fury of passing weather systems. Anecdotal evidence suggests that in the killing fields of sugar plantations, one of the few moments of respite from enslavement labour was during a storm. It is a small wonder that we have a special reluctance to head to “work” when it is raining. And although the island was under a hurricane warning for a few days, the insane traffic jam in New Kingston on the eve of Beryl’s arrival was a hard act to follow.

The traffic gridlock was directly related to the deafening silence that echoed in the business district on the morning following Beryl’s departure. Perhaps I was the only one who expected any business to be operating uptown. Downtown Kingston still managed to have some activity going on.

Hurricane Beryl also revealed the gaps in the public services that we take for granted in everyday life. It was expected that the Jamaica Public Service (JPS) would disconnect the power. However, the explanation from Winsome Callum, director of communications at the JPS, that they had to await the nod from the Office of Disaster Preparedness and Emergency Management (ODPEM) to initiate power restoration was surprising. Surely, the tail should not wag the dog. Happily, power was restored by late afternoon.

KUDOS

Kudos to the drain cleaners and the local government authorities that power their operations. They ensured that threats in several hotspots for flooding were restrained. New concerns arise. At time of writing this article, Beryl was heading to Mexico and possibly Texas, determined to continue setting a streak of new records.

For insurance purposes, hurricanes are sometimes regarded as Acts of God. However, modern policies may take into consideration property loss resulting from elevated sea levels that cause flooding and other property damage, earthquakes, and weather-related events deemed to be of “natural causes”. Such acts are treated as exclusions, resulting in no coverage of such risks or else the charge of extra payments for such extraordinary coverage.

Are natural disasters all that natural, though? If Beryl is evidence of the manmade climate crisis caused by global warming, consumers could make a case for coverage for damage caused by the threats faced by so-called small island developing states (SIDS) like us in the Caribbean. I take exception to the concept of SIDS because as historian, the martyred Dr Walter Rodney hammered home, these states are not “developing” along the continuum created by colonialism, enslavement, capitalism and imperialism. On the contrary, vulnerabilities exhibited by these states are due to their underdevelopment by imperial European and North American powers, past and present.

Speaking of Euro-American politricks, we are living in the age of what Bob Marley would call giving your more to receive your less. This shortchanging exists in so many realms that it is easier to have a deficit in outcomes than it is to feel that the result one desires is what is actually what is presented. This is what social movements for equality and justice have been preoccupied with for centuries. I get the feeling that – famous last words – the system is rigged.

UPCOMING ELECTIONS

The upcoming elections in North America bears this out. Before the mushrooming of the genocide in Gaza, and even during the early days of the war, public opinion seemed in favour of a Biden-Harris winning ticket. First, there was talk of picking Joe Biden, the Democratic president as the “lesser of the two evils”. This argument was advanced by those nervous of President Trump’s promise to be a fascist dictator if he were to return to the White House. That narrative also satisfied the political souls of those Democrats that were not opposed to the “ironclad” support that the Biden administration has offered to its Israel partner in the Palestinian genocide.

On the other hand, President Trump seemed to stumble momentarily, with the 34 felony counts he racked up with the Stormy Daniels affair. But that turned out to be a storm in a teacup. President Trump has overtaken the sitting president in popularity polls. He also leveraged his victim voice and raised multiple millions from sympathisers and his base, which claimed that the legal system was unfair. The recent six to three ruling that he has political immunity as president has strengthened his hand.

The first presidential debate was a moment of political reckoning for Republicans and Democrats alike. Beyond the stakes that had been presumed settled up to that point were the turncoats. Those calling for changes to the Democratic party’s leadership before the scheduled November polls were inspired to ring the alarm as a result of the lacklustre exchange between the tried and proven presidential veterans. The obvious signs of absentmindedness on Biden’s part and Trump’s restrained but relentless subversion of Biden’s integrity resulted in rapid calls for Biden to step aside.

The political stalemate in the United States (US) was accentuated by the release of Julian Assange after 14 years of an intense battle by the WikiLeaks founder to avoid extradition to the US. He was threatened by the US for revealing damaging evidence of war crimes committed by the USA in the successive wars they initiated in Iraq and Afghanistan. Fifty-two-year old Assange took a plea deal to retain his freedom to return to Australia after the dramatic battle over freedom of the press. You know what they say though: truth is the first casualty of war.

This outcome echoes the inevitability of persecution for those who challenge the authority of a de facto superpower. Similarly, with sixteen named storms left to come in the hurricane season, even more preparations than were made for Beryl are in order.

Imani Tafari-Ama, PhD, is a Pan-African advocate and gender and development specialist. Send feedback to i.tafariama@gmail.com.