Kartel win it

The dancehall clash everyone was waiting for.  Kartel vs Mavado at Sting 2008 and the overwhelming consensus is that Kartel reigns supreme over the Gully God.  It was Kartel coming out in army fatigues signalling he was serious about this war.   It threw Mavado and he starts stumbling and shouting about his microphone levels not being right when it seems he was covering up for forgetting his lyrics.

I’m not surprised as Kartel is the far more eloquent and media savvy of the two, but just because you’re good at battling, does not change the fact that the big hits of 2008 came from Mavado’s melancholic voice as opposed to Kartel’s aggressive lyrics.

Rum lay offs

The US is shedding its car industry staff, the UK’s unemployment increases as high street shops there go bust, Jamaica is laying off workers at the wray and nephew rum factory – god, things must really be bad in JA!!

If ever there were a sign that the Jamaican economy is in serious trouble this is it!

46 workers are reported to have been laid off just before Christmas and they have been protesting outside the factory.  Angry scenes prompted the police to come out and calm the situation.

It is indeed a sorry state of affairs.  Usually in times of downturn, alcohol sales increase as people look to drown their sorrows!  But I imagine that the dent in tourism to Jamaica is largely to blame for the decreasing sales figures of rum.

The workers are complaining that the unions were not consulted and some have been in service for 10-15 years and are not happy with their settlement or the timing of this decision.

Maybe the government of Jamaica should be considering a bailout plan!?

Your money or your life?

An issue which seems to be troubling the government over their decision to reinstate the death penalty, is the worry that foreign governments will stop making aid contributions.

At a time when Jamaica’s economy needs every penny it can get its’ hands on, the coffers will undoubtedly miss this donor money. Senator Ronald Robinson says that this should not stop Jamaica from driving down the capital punishment road.

I have been listening to a discussion among Jamaican prisoners on Freefm radio – speaking from GP, Kingston’s notorious male prison. I posted about this station and what they do on this blog before.

The prisoners spoke a lot of sense.

They raise the point that putting the death penalty on the table could actually increase the murder rate as murderers seek to “get rid” of any witnesses to their crime.

They also say that the justice system is in no way rigorous enough to ensure that innocent men will not die. The interview of these guys speaking will be broadcast on the BBC World Service as part of the Your Story project.

Sting is coming

This is the concert that I have always wanted to go to but never have yet. Every year I’m like, wouldn’t it be great to go, but I still never have. One day, one day.

It is a legendary concert. The proper ghetto concert – not for the faint hearted. Go there expecting some shots to be fired!

It happens in Portmore every Christmas time. Run by the promoter called Leng – proper name Isaiah Laing from Supreme Promotions.

It’s the 25th concert this year and it has been launched by Portmore native, Vybz Kartel (who’s been busy promoting Ramping Shop!)

Laing of course and none other than Renato Adams. Adams is a more than controversial police man. To just get a flavour of how controversial he is take a look at some of these newspaper headlines about him – here and here.

Gosh I could write a very long post about Adams, but this is about Sting.

2004 I was set to go but life got in the way – that year was when Kartel bottled Ninja man in the face and there was a lot of blood.

There is always some beef between the artists that has to get hyped up – but hopefully it won’t lead to any actual violence this year. In the past, the big beef has always been between Bounty Killer and Beenie man – but them two are ready to collect their pension now!

It’s all about Kartel and Mavado nowadays.

I always loved Kartel the best – whenever I have met him and interviewed him he has made me laugh and i’ve always been blown away by his eloquence and sense of humour. I like the guy and I’ve always liked his songs.

But I don’t feel like that anymore – since Mavado, Kartel just seems like old news. Mavado is singing about Jamaica now – he’s got the sadness and the grief in his voice.  Kartel has got the bravado and cockiness and cheekiness which I think is the past. Today’s Jamaica is much more serious. Read more about this years’s Sting line up and details here.

The sun is shining

I have written on this blog before that Jamaica needs to start harnessing the power behind the beautiful sunshine so it was with great pleasure that I read the energy minister Clive Mullings is signing off the final papers to get  a solar factory.  The rotary club in Kingston apparently has solar panels (big deal).  The fact that it has taken so long I won’t moan about too much – but the full scale of what is going on seems abit like a drop in the ocean but at least it’s a step in the right direction.

Cheap Chicken ?

The decision has been made to increase the imports of chicken into Jamaica for Christmas.  The ministry of agriculture says it’s to satisfy demand over the busy period and to give shoppers a cheap alternative to locally sourced chicken.

I think it’s terribly short sighted and likely to backfire at a time when food security is really on shaky ground in Jamaica. 

Local farmers  say that they have already factored in the increased demand over Christmas and are obviously very worried about their business.  It would have to be made clear that the import permits are only for the christmas period – but even if they are (which is far from clear) it will be bad for the local economy as money that could have been going into the Jamaican economy is going out – on yet more imports. 

Yes Jamaicans love their chicken – go to any one of KFC restaurants or, as I prefer get some chicken cooking on the red hills road on a friday night in Kingston and ask the people if they would pay a little more for their chicken if they thought this would keep prices on a level.  By damaging the local poultry industry in this way, depresses local income and leaves Jamaica even more wide open to currency fluctuations and yet more rising food prices in the future.

Shotta Youth

Looking at the You Tube video I posted yesterday and the news that a school in Kingston was searched by police and a home  – made gun was found.  Here’s a photo of the policeman showing it to the cameras.

Not only the gun but a total of 34 pairs of scissors – not sure if they confused offensive weapons with craft activities there.

There are a number of issues here worth looking at.  Weapons searches in schools and security measures in place.  In the US, it is well known that there are schools with cameras and metal detectors – although I’m sure that no school in JA would ever be able to afford these measures.

I know of one schoolboy and I doubt very much this is an isolated incident – who was being bullied and a boy came behind him after school with a machete.  In retalitation, the boy asked one of his relatives who was a local gangster to come into school with his gun.  There was a gun run through the school and the boy was expelled as a result.  Thankfully, noone was hurt.

Violence in Jamaican schools seems like an ever increasing problem with the increasing severity of crime at an ever younger age.

Also there is also this home made weapons issue.  I’ve seen quite a few converted guns in circulation.  The one that was found in the school was home made and the one in the You Tube video is also home made.  I guess this happens by converting a replica, but I know of many ingenious methods employed.  Deadly copper shots and even making your own bullets by putting in the gun powder.  It seems that a flow of guns from abroad is not the only issue here.

Jamaican movie? Must be shottas

I saw this video on You Tube – the youth putting their creative power into acting out the role of gangsters.  Abit too well for my liking.

Free electricity? Ghetto style.

Go into any ghetto of Kingston, JA and you will see a mass of cables connected to an electricity pylon.  A spider’s web of power which, every so often zaps the life out of some poor guy who cannot afford to pay his light bill.

The Jamaica Gleaner reports that the extra security measures the electricity company JPS have put in to stop this practice are not working and currently a whopping 12.7 per cent of all Jamaica’s electricity is getting used up this way.

This picture was taken in Seaview Gardens and looks pretty dangerous to me – the lorry is stuck in the live wires and the guy is trying to jab them to get free.

There are reports every now and then of people getting electrocuted trying to connect their cables to the pylon.  They connect and take the wire to their house electricity meters.   You would think all it takes is for the company to send some workers into the ghetto to disconnect?  Probably way too dangerous for them to do that seeing as much of the places are no go areas.   Electricty is expensive in Jamaica.  Solar power seems like a solution worth looking into.

Lesbian love in JA

The Star is reporting there is an undercover lesbian club operating out of Portmore  It was revealed after one of their journalists answered an ad in a sunday newspaper which was advertising a womens’ exclusive social club. 

I have in the past, spoken to lesbians in Jamaica to discuss the differences in attitudes which exist between them and male homosexuals.  Despite having it a lot easier than the men, they did tell me that they had suffered rape as a result of certain men finding out about their sexual orientation.  On the other hand  there were some men (obviously) who will actively enourage it especially if it means they might be able to get a piece of the action.

It should hardly come as a surprise to Star readers that lesbians in Jamaica are networking.  There are sites like RainbowVibes out there which is a gay and lesbian social networking site for the Caribbean and launched earlier this year by a smart lesbian marketing executive based in Jamaica. 

Still I think it might be interesting to actually go down to this club in Portmore as they must have to implement a pretty strict door policy and have to put in extra security measures and did they anticipate this tabloid expose?