Jamaican Till I Die!

My Grandmother on my mother’s side was of Indian origin. Neither her or my Grandfather on the Mother’s side came from money and in fact they were very poor. I learned more from my Grandparents on my Mother side, as opposed to my Grandparents on my Father’s side. They came from money and when they needed something they simply just buy it. But when my Grandparents on my Mother side wanted something they either go without, make due with what they have or use their hands and make it (tun yu ann, mek fashion). My Grandparents on my Mother side, were the most imaginative and innovative people I have ever met. If you put them in the middle of a barren desert they would have it growing food in the matter of months. These days whenever I need to solve a problem or going through hard times, it is My Grandparents on my Mother side who I draw strength from. To be honest when I was younger I never really appreciated her but now, not a month goes by without them running across my mind and often ...

Cheo Hodari Coker Executive Producer of Luke Cage was asked in an interview about why he selected and featured Jamaica in Luke Cage, he described Jamaica as and I quote "Jamaica has always been the island of Pride, Power and Resistance ". He went on in details to describe the historic progressive position of Jamaica and Jamaicans on this planet. For such a small country we have been known to punch above our weight and a lot of people throughout our history see that as a threat. Take for example Haiti, they were a symbol of Pride, Power and Resistance, the first country to gain their independence but Haiti was never allowed to succeed and how could it, when it represented a threat to the white power structure. Time Index: 6:05 The other day a prominent member of the political class spoke out about the racist right wing movements happening in the UK, EU and USA and how Governments of those countries are implementing racist policies to appease racist people and some peop...

One of the country’s top Economic adviser is advocating that we should do away with Food Security and open the flood gates to imports. This is what happens when we buy into the theoretical Economic Principles. We all understand the concepts and principles of Comparative Advantage and Free Trade but the devil is in the implementation. What happen to countries with too few Comparative Advantage? How do they survive or even afford imports even if it is cheaper. This leading Economic Adviser is advocating that we should not be too concern with Local Production and Food Security because protecting Local production will increase the cost of living and lower the standard of living. What he failed to realize is that without local production, we would not have local employment, unemployment would increase. Local Production increases employment and increases wealth distribution and without employment and wealth we would not have the money to even buy cheaper imports. This is why I call them...

Such a shame because we invented the term and concept of Yard and Yardie to mean something wholesome and comforting. It was invented out of love for our Nationality, Island and people. In Jamaica the term yard is used to identify a place of safety and comfort. You are out on the road and something happened and the first thing that comes to people’s mind is “Mi A Go a mi Yard, cause a pure almshouse out yah” so we retreat to the comfort and safety of our beloved yard… “hey that is why me stay a my yard more times” ...because bad things always happen outside of your yard. Then Jamaicans travelling started identifying each other in that comforting manner, “hey yu a Yardie?” was all its takes for the conversation and familiarity to start to flow. After a while everyone wanted to be a Yardie, even people who were not from yard and had no connection to yard started pretending to be Yardie, because it was cool to be a Yardie. I have been in some remote faraway places only to hear som...

August 6th 1962 Jamaica Independence 2018 - Happy 56 Year Old Jamaica! In the scheme of things and compare to other countries we are still in our infant stages. There are those among us who believe that Jamaica was a better place before Independence. There are those among us who believe that under crown Colonial life was far better compared to life since Independence. I am here to say that those among us who believe that life in Jamaica was much better under British rule, before Semi-Independence, when Jamaica was a full crown colony, are totally ignorant and delusional about life in Jamaica before Independence.  Perfectly brainwashed by our colonial masters, and their descendants who controlled the whip hand of life. In fact echoing the colonial master’s position that life was better under colonial rule and even during slavery is not wrong on the part of the Colonial Master because their life was perfect, top of the food chain living in luxury at the expense of the Black popu...

Wrote this in 2018 - Not sure why it was unpublished If there is anything good going on in Jamaica we will never know it because the average Jamaican do not like good news about their homeland and if you try to highlight anything positive they will always counter that with something negative. Bad negative news about Jamaica travels around the world 1000 times faster than any good news because we see good news as a fluke and bad news as the norm. In fact I doubt good news about Jamaica would make it outside of Jamaica. Fear real or imaginary can be profitable. If you can put the fear of God in people and tell them in order to be safe all they need is to buy this or buy into that, then you would be stinking rich and full of power. Fear is a very valid marketing tool used to herd fearful people into doing what you want them to do. Corporation use fear to force people to buy their product and services. Religion uses fear to grow their congregation and increase the size of their collectio...

Even before the 2008 recession Jamaica struggled to finance it oil imports bill. During 2008 recession oil prices peaked at US$147 per barrel and if it was not for the PetroCaribe Agreement Jamaica would have suffered more than we did. The PetroCaribe agreement allowed Jamaica to buy crude oil from Venezuela by paying only a part of the cost upfront. The PetroCaribe agreement allowed Jamaica to pay 50% down payment for oil shipments and the other 50% paid back over 25 years at 1% interest rate. This deferred 50% was invested directly into the PetroCaribe Development Fund thus converting sovereign debt into a receivable asset used for Infrastructure development. The fund is the largest domestic investor in renewable energy and independently financed a 45-megawatt wind energy project in south-central Jamaica. Written into the PetroCaribe agreement is an objective that member states should gradually reduce their dependence on fossil fuels. Since 2005, the amount of Venezuel...