Mango Walk

John Maxwell

I was a reporter in parliament half a century ago when Norman Manley shepherded through the House, the bill to create the College of Arts, Science and Technology. CAST, now the University of Technology (UTECH) was the intellectual godchild of people as various as Manley, members of the Legislative Council including my own father, and before them Marcus Garvey and others who had for years agitated for a University of Jamaica. The university was a plank in the first PNP Plan for Progress in 1958, At the time the CAST was being debated, the Opposition JLP was waging a campaign which proclaimed: "Saltfish better than education."

The Opposition opposed among other things,  the government's secondary scholarship programme allowing thousands of poor children to go to places like Jamaica College and Munro. The money would have better been spent on food subsidies, they said.  A few years later the same arguments were used to oppose the building of the National Stadium. This opposition was given a macabre twist on the first Independence Day when one Edward Seaga, then minister in charge of the celebrations, attempted to eject Norman Manley from the Royal Box in the Stadium he built.

"What is that man doing here?" he shouted, only to be slapped down by the new Prime Minister, Alexander Bustamante, who had a somewhat clearer idea of Jamaican history than Seaga.

With all this in the background you may imagine my shock at the attempt this week by the UTECH to capture the Trelawny stadium for its campus. 'If we don't get the stadium, UTECH whines piteously, you will be denying 5,000 children the chance to get an MBA or some other meaningless decoration stamped out by the academic mill.

I don't mean that degrees are meaningless, simply that bean-counters in academe have no more right to design the future of this country than anyone else. We can be sure of one thing: of the 5,000 new graduates few if any will have degrees in agronomy, nursing, or any of the practical skills we most urgently require for real development rather than the construction of elegant Ponzi schemes and other scams.

Rooted in Community

When I first settled in Kingston as a new boy at Calabar High School, schools of all kinds were well rooted in their communities. Many Calabar boys came from Jones Town, now destroyed by politically manipulated gangsterism. Wolmers and the North Street schools, St George's and Kingston College, recruited many of their scholars from places like Kingston Gardens and Allman Town.

What was very striking in those days was the fact that almost every school including the elementary  – primary and/or all age – had its own playing field and most offered a variety of outdoor activities, from Scouting and the Cadet Corps to the more usual cricket and football. Calabar and JC offered swimming.

Calabar and Jamaica College both boasted two full-sized sports fields. Between the `jewish cemetery on Slipe `Pen Road and Torrington bridge there were four big playing fields, Chetolah Park,(school) and facilities owned by the Jamaica Public Service Company, the Jamaica Fruit and Shipping Company and another whose name escapes me. Off South Camp Road there were Issa Park and Hannasons among others while Wembley, Lucas and Kensington Clubs served Eastern Kingston. And there were others, all over.

When boys left school many went straight into the world of sporting clubs, playing Minor Cup and Senior Cup cricket or Senior League football. There was a staggering variety of sporting competitions for all ages, inter-schools, inter- and infra-parish and for those who couldn't manage those there was  Business House football and cricket.

 We were a very fit nation, even if many were under-nourished, and given the leadership we had, we thought we would soon fix that.

Instead, after independence the idea gained impetus that property speculation was the essence of development.

Even the schools got into the act. KC captured the Melbourne Cricket Club grounds and many of the rest went either for campuses or for housing development. Green Kingston became increasingly brown and the peace of the city disappeared increasingly  into purpose-built ghettoes, armed to the teeth and ready to rumble.

Jamaican development has tended to be based more and more on the principle that schoolchildren don't vote, and while statistics attest to the building of more schools, these schools have become incubators for ghetto warriors, soulless deep-litter chicken coops  with the minimum space and time for play.

In the late 70s, when the Cavaliers filter plant (at Cross Roads) fell into disuse, as chairman of the NRCA I proposed to Kingston's Mayor George Mason that one or two of the filter beds be transformed into municipal swimming pools, partly to take the place of the no longer sanitary beaches in Kingston Harbour and the broken down Bournemouth Baths. The KSAC would have none of it. Seven Olympic Games later they are still idle, and boys and girls who might have been world famous are busy firing guns at each other or pushing up buttercups in May Pen cemetery.

Counterbalance for justice

The Chinese donation of the new stadium in Trelawny was rightly welcomed by many as an essential sports centre in the west, counterbalancing the admittedly inadequate facilities in Kingston,  and especially useful for the development of athletics and other sports for the deprived schools west of Ocho Rios and Old Harbour. Jarrett Park has always been totally inadequate and never more plainly so than when there is more than one major sporting activity in progress in Jamaica at any time.

Norman Manley thought that education, encompassing sports and music as well as book learning was the essential factor in civilisation. As an athlete and sportsman himself, he could never have conceived of sports, music or academic learning being in competition.

I believe, as the true father of UTECH, Norman Manley would have been outraged at the suggestion that his foundation should be used to destroy a nascent engine of Jamaica's sporting development. To justify the cuckoo's nest initiative we use the argument used against Hope Gardens: it isn't being properly used!

Whose fault is that?

Our children are to be punished for our delinquencies.

That is real Jamaican justice!

What outrages me is that the UTECH initiative is simply the latest bureaucratic assault on the Jamaican  people's rights to recreational facilities – by institutions who can see development only in terms of balance sheets. The wholesale assault on the beaches of Jamaica by the Urban Development Corporation and by private interests is a similar major act of treason against the public interest. The assaults on Hope Gardens and Long Mountain are elements of the same parasitic mind-set.

It may be useful to remember that while we need playing fields and organised facilities for recreation, rebellions and insurrections create their own open spaces and do not require nor demand planning permission.

Copyright©2009John Maxwell

jankunnu@gmail.com

truth is the lowest form of human freight

it does not seem to have the taste of air

nor are we certain it will bear much weight

no man nor woman ever seems to care

just how things look in the hot tropic glare

nothing much matters we just have to please

the angry critics and late attendees

who may demand the whole thing be reset

or treat our words as symptoms of disease

since there is no pure language of regret

what's left behind is nothing we could hate

just rules and regulations mostly fair

requiring we be done by a due date

so that there is a little time to spare

before we hear the last horn's angry blare

then put our tools down and bid all to cease

in swift agreement with the high degrees

knowing that there are needs yet to be met

but all our duty then will be to freeze

since there is no pure language of regret

the game is ending in one more fool's mate

just one more blundering youthful affair

nothing to bother those high in the state

nor would the general public be aware

of yet another private small despair

there's not one thing that could ever increase

the civic joy or add a single piece

of sorrow that would make the people fret

so tongue's held silent by the mind's police

since there is no pure language of regret

princess you watch as all the refugees

from the last war petition for your peace

insisting that you owe them all a debt

you think  your choice is guided by caprice

since there is no pure language of regret

there is a weight of darkness in each heart

we have been told a legacy of rage

product of history that we assuage

but cannot deny our only sacred art

is to record it and to find its start

on the first ship  upon the oldest page

of the driest book fallen from ancient age

to sum it up recall it and impart

weighty words that make it simply matter

entomb all thought until it is past dead

and will not rise again within our time

what is most needed is the force to shatter

bring out the secrets held within each head

restoring  this whole world to the sublime

now this is where i set the further bound

and will not cross nor will i leave behind

a single thing to show that we designed

the means and method wherewith to astound

all of our fellows nothing i have found

could serve to ease the pain of your weak mind

on this bright day when you are left half-blind

in this last place on the unholy ground

now where i set the limit of true time

you dare not pass nor tell me otherwise

than what i know to be the honest hue

of morning having at last heard the chime

and seen the waking of some fresher eyes

in light that lets all decent folk see true

Viewing France’s situation from both sides she presented them with a compromising attitude and a level head, which was greatly needed in a country full of radicals, which often generated a negative response from men.

According to Burke Europe was founded upon the spirit of gentleman and religion.

Basically having both genders independence enabled into the marriage will make more successful marriages than divorces.

Marie-Olympe de Gouges’ was born in 1748 and in 1793, she was executed for sedation “for having forgotten the virtues which befits her sex.”

President Barrack Obama is an outstanding remodel.

His non bias actions and character have essentially embraced him into power with open arms.

To outcast a cultural because of the color of their skin is morally wrong.

They were looked upon negatively and also very subordinate of men.

Saying that, meaning that women are considered equal to men than before.

During the late 18^th century and the early 19^th century there was much emphasis on the morality of citizens. Any persons living during that time was under extreme pressure to adhere to Victorian morality.

Emma questioned how those who dictated social moirés could place such a limited and finite view on what was considered morally sound.

Society thought morally reproducing, even if the woman did not want to reproduce is right, also even if it harmed the woman, society thought she still should reproduce.

Morally society thought contraceptives or any form of contraceptives were not right as a result they were prohibited.

Being pregnant is not a wonderful feeling.

John Stuart Mill lived during nineteenth century England (1806-1873).

As a fighter of women’s liberation, Goldman proposes that, Comstock’s form of morality causes a natural decay that seeks to hinder a woman’s growth by limiting her freedom.

Also, according to the text, the male must establish himself before he could come to know her passionately, but only after marriage, could he have sex with her.

For it, restricts especially the women from exploring her natural human nature.

For the past 222 years, the Constitution has been altered, and it will not cease to stop now, nor will any alterations come to an end in the future.

The purpose of the act of Federalism is because all issues that affect society are not also viewed in a national scoop.

While the morals of these men were in good taste for that time period it is inevitable to believe that the term “We the People” really included diversity of all the people, be today we hold this to be true.

There has been a long debate over whether the Constitution is a document of originalism or if it is in fact living.

Luther Martin (one of the fifth teen men who didn’t sign the United States Constitution).

As time slowly progressed blacks went from not being mentioned in the constitution to slowly and slowly progressing on to the Constitution.

Plato based most of human’s drive on reaching a level in which they could connect with the holly spirit or ensure a positive position with in Heaven.

When the groups goals are as one the society then can implement centre moral practise that, can transfer into generals to come.

For example: In 1955 at the early age of 14, Emmitt Til was drastically and brutally awoke by being drugged out his bed and killed in Mississippi for talking to a woman. His death was then justified in the eyes of his killers because the woman he spoke too was white and unacceptable in their eyes.

This is why I say “If you the remember that past you will soon repeat it.”

The republicans and the general public main objective is Capital grain by any means necessary, no matter what race you are.

With the average time for a 30 second broadcast being $25,000, the common man cannot run for office.

Minorities and women have different challenges with subliminal exceptions from the government, but history has shown that they fought for what they believed was fair.

Homosexuals want the same rights as heterosexuals especially since there is no outlaw against sexual preference.

It is sad to say but people whom are not living in America believe in equality. There are differences in perspective views, which is still not the problem.

Most politicians are lawyers which of course makes lying a necessity in their field.

Gender bias, sexual harassment, and work place neglect were all the underlining truth of working women. This is an issue that stumbled into the 21^st century.  This is also an issue that was exclusively for white women, it was true for women in general.

Thus far in the data that I have collected I have come to agree and disagree with it’s substance for several reasons.

Birthed in the 3^rd decade of the 20^th century, the year 1929 to be exact, German philosopher Jurgen Habermas, took his first breath.

With a focus on creating a structure similar to Marxism, Habermas visualize communication which then exemplifies a designed community.

If the current President Barack Obama were to be assassinated, people all over the world would want to turn to ciaos.

Dr. King’s goal was to frustrate the issues to the point where it became an issue for the people who made the issues.

White women did have a certain inequality in the view of white men, but it was not the same monstruous.

It is naive to compare the two struggles when in fact the white western women treated non-Caucasian races poorly to coincide with the white male.

Being colonized is not a form of equal rights.

After a while it became evident that what the republicans where selling was not the solution to the problem, in fact it was broke. So Obama sold the people the idea of Change!

Why does voter turnout the US rank low among developed countries in?

Therefore it is power struggle and that divides the people and the vision of unity becomes dizzmo, and the common goal of making American a better place goes out the window.

This create doubts after all this become disbelief.

Most of the time their cries fell on death ears because of the harsh laws and exams that were administered before the voting process could even begin.

But for rainy day there is a silver lining in the clouds with a beautiful rain bo to follow for many blacks Obama was like a breath of fresh air.

To the Hispanic immigration was the flue to their fire.

The foremost target of internet has always been communication.

Due to close living quarters individual privacy was loss and deprived.

This particular non violent method of music to combat oppression was also used by Count Ossie.

Although the founding fathers of the United States Constitution set to make America a republic country, the fathers believed “democracies were dangerous and unworkable”.

There are many reasons why the United States of America has such low ranking in voter turnout; three of the most noteworthy are due to the government’s decorum, illiteracies of politicians and how the votes are calculated; if these issues are address there is a great possibility that the voter turnout will increase significantly.

Citizens believe that the government needs to focus on conveying the message of bettering, the country, state or city rather than focusing on airing out the dirty Landry of their opposing candidate.

Blasphemy is also a very important one, no body should be able to talk bad about anybody or be able to discredit a person’s name, the only thing we really own in this life is are reputation.

Speech is the one thing separating man from beast and America from the rest of the world.

Limiting the rights of gays and lesbians is just a present day form of slavery in an effort to oppress a group who is only discriminated against because of their non-traditional lifestyle.

Black people had to hide in order to learn and were often brutality abused if caught in any activities that would bring them advancement.

Women face exclusion in every aspect of life. They are not allowed to have the same jobs as men, speak derogatory in public or private life, or have sexual occurrences like a man.

For example, Mack H. Jones, a Political Scientist, articulates in his literature “Responsibility of the Black Polecat Scientist to the Black Community” that the black Political Scientist should feel obliged to represent the African American community.

Due to the efforts of Martin Luther King and others, my rights are protected in the Constitution and that will continue to be significant until the end of mankind.

Europeans entered into Africa and inflected constant oppression with no known knowledge of the people.

The city of Nashville, Tennessee has undergone many racially challenging obstacles.

How many residences live in the house with the students?

Don Imus whom plays the character “Kramer” from the hit television show “Senfield” is also known for his statement regarding the black women whom play professional basketball, where he referred to them as “Nappy head Hoes” are current visible examples of racism.

Therefore the fruits become bitter due to many individuals have yet to learn the lessons of the past.

The republican party is full of middle and upper class white people whom don’t pride their selves about the issues of the poor. The democratic party, which represents the lower class people, stand for equal by all cost.

President Barack Obama has made an impact on the United States in several ways that most Americans thought would never happen. With his race being of African descent, it changes the way the public looks at society.

In history, racial discrimination has always contradicted what the Constitution wrote in order for there to be equality along with horrible stereotypes.

The election of an African American does not disregard the somewhat devastating conditions of the black race.

With so much power being bestrode on American citizens being knowledgeable about all situation that effect America even Foreign and defense policymaking is a necessity.

Department of Defense is located in the Pentagon building close to Washington,  D.C. created in order to reduce underserviced rivalry which was believed to have reduced military effectiveness during World War II.

But looking at the past, even all the way back to 1714 when Christopher Columbus “discovered” America even though the Native Americans where already settled in present day US.

Giving money out sometimes leads to its long term dependence.

Actually, most recipients of welfare go to elderly, blind, disabled people and mothers with young children.

Americans believe that freedom of speech is a form of expression that everyone should be able to express how they feel without any restrictions or limitations on it.

Political theory is a unique in that everyone has different philosophies and interpretations on what it is. The complexities of understanding political theory and its direction in the modern world are that it is ubiquitous.

He galvanized African Americans through a time of crisis but his flaws weren’t necessarily modern world complexities but more of complexion.

King helped orcastrate numerous boycotts as well as the voter rights act of 1963.

His principles of truing the other check on dealing with violence.

He showed the brutness of injustice, but it could be argued his lack of aggressiveness and rebelliousness made was a weakness.

To thinks that all races can live together and are equal was outrageous at the tine.

While Rawls reshaped the idea of justice it was Karl Marx who reshaped classes and the core principles of society.

The key factice of political theory is understanding that there are many views on theory.

Their acts of courage as well as their willingness to be unselfish with their knowledge have whisked our world to a new domain.

But his thoughts were still echoed in the world throughout history.

Freedom assimilates with Liberty which is in a condition where an individual has the ability to act according to his or her own will.

Barack Obama is the newest president of the United States of America, and all eyes are on him to take this nation to great lengths that they have never seen before.

Bad English sometimes does not have a clear meaning to others.

Bad language can bring about many problems.

Sigma Freud focused on freedom and basically how civilization put limits on one’s freedom.

Blacks and whites have been compared and contrast since the beginning of time. Why do people separate the two when we are all under one nation?

The point is that Ida B. Wells, Emma Goldman and Marie Olympe de Gouges were either white or black and this is not a reason to put them in a category based on race.

Bob Marley wanted equal rights for black people and he wanted blacks to free themselves form anti slavery.

in time you find that silence is absurd

when you've been faced with truths that are not plain

from legend we construct the final word

what once was told is what you never heard

from all the echoes of the moral strain

in time you find that silence is absurd

when in the face of the avenging herd

the thing that human truth can soon attain

from legend we construct the final word

given by some harsh god who had conferred

on mortal folk the benison of pain

in time you find that silence is absurd

but speech is harder and the price incurred

by either is not one we can sustain

from legend we construct the final word

and having spoken find our choices blurred

by the dim light that passes through the rain

in time you find that silence is absurd

from legend we construct the final word