Contents - Beth Lesser

porated Rasta symbols, ideas and music into their campaign. Manley portrayed
himself as the Biblical Joshua and carried a stick he referred to as the
‘rod of correction’. Claiming the rod has been given to him by the Emperor
Haile Selassie, Manley courted the Rastafarian vote with considerable success.
But the euphoria of the election victory quickly dampened as Jamaica began
to confront some of its greatest challenges. Manley was a strong supporter
of Third World solidarity and aligned himself with Cuba and other
revolutionary governments, something that set off alarms in Washington, still
shaking from the Cuban Missile crisis. Jamaica’s close proximity to Cuba was
a concern, and the U.S. did want to see communism, or socialism, spread.
As Mark Wignall expressed it in The Jamaican Observer, “In the mid to late
19’70s, at a time when Cold War tensions were being played out right across
the globe between the U.S. and its NATO allies and the Soviet Bloc and its
satellites, Michael Manley’s political direction placed Jamaica, a small island
in America’s backyard pond (the Caribbean Sea), in the cross-hairs of hostile
U.S. policy action.” * The CIA, according to ex-CIA agent, Phillip Agee, began
processes of destabilization in Jamaica. Guns began coming into the country.
“In the period leading up to the 1976 general elections, violence took off in
earnest. It was then no secret that new guns had come upon the Jamaican
landscape, and it was argued that the firepower of the JCF [Jamaica Defense
Force] was inferior to those of the gunmen aligned to the political parties.” **
The inevitable result was an escalating arms race between the two opposing
political factions in which many innocent lives were lost.
GarriSonS CommuniTieS and poliTiCal violenCe
During the ‘70s, life in Jamaica was exactly the way it was described in so
many songs from the period. People were suffering. Jobs were scarce, wages
were low and essential goods were in short supply. In 1980, inflation was
running at 28.6%, with unemployment at 27% with an estimated 50% for
young people *** . The economy was unstable and factories were closing because
the lack of foreign exchange made it impossible to buy parts and raw materials
from abroad. The middle class was leaving as quickly as they could find a
way around the restrictions on taking money put of the country. Because of
the import controls, the shelves of stores lay bare and something as simple as
an (imported) can opener could run you $25 Jamaican in the supermarket. ****
Violence and poverty weren’t anything new to the streets of Kingston. For
* Who First Gave Tivoli its Guns, Mark Wignall, Jamaican Observer, June 27, 2010
** Who First Gave Tivoli its Guns, Mark Wignall, Jamaican Observer, June 27, 2010
*** September two, 1986, The U.S. Message to Jamaica’s Seaga: It’s Time to Keep Your Promise, by
Ashby, Timothy The Heritage Foundation http://www.heritage.org/research/latinamerica/bg531.cfm
**** The music industry suffered also under import controls. Coxsone Dodd had to stop repressing his
material in Jamaica and Jojo Hookim of Channel One had his import license reduced making it hard
to get parts for his jukeboxes and gaming machines
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