February 4 - JLP/PNP

Yesterday morning we went to Tivoli Gardens High School to see the launch of a computer education program ("Click-a-tutor", a scary, G.W.Bush-approved, online tutoring program for which they have collected "everything a child needs to know in one place" so as to keep them from having to use dangerous tools like Google.) Tivoli Gardens is a JLP (Jamaican Liberation Party) neighborhood, very loyal to ex-P.M and current M.P. Edward Seaga. We were at the launch at his invitation. The presentation itself was mostly boring and little frightening, making this the first real loser of an event that we had attended. However, the school had a very nice computer lab and was renovating a room next door to create a multimedia studio. We made contact with the head of the school and the director of the lab so that we can do our workshops there. (Working with the PNP-led Ministry of Education there is absolutely no chance that they will select a JLP-neighborhood school for inclusion in our project, so we were eager to locate at least one on our own.)

The relationship between the parties is extremely partisan, and even violent, despite a complete lack of discernable policy differences between them. Both parties seem to have good intentions and a deadly attachment to patronage that exacerbates the country's already huge economic problem. On the drive to the school as we approached the border between the large section of PNP neighborhoods and the smaller JLP area, the number of spray painted PNPs increased. Where the two communities met, walls were covered by graffiti scrawls for both parties with many party tags defaced by opposition.

After the presentation, Mr. Seaga wished to show us a maternity ward/nursing center across the road on the site of a basic school (pre-school/primary). Though he didn't state a reason for taking us there, it became clear. Upon entering the schoolyard, hundreds of uniformed, very cute 5 year old children rushed to greet him, chanting "See-ah-gah! See-ah-gah!" They crowded around us and one or two troublemakers came up to my father and said "PJ! PJ!" (P.J. Patterson is the Prime Minister and head of the PNP party--incidentally he is also the first black P.M. of Jamaica, has been in power for 4 terms, and does not resemble my father in any way). Rebecca, Mr. Seaga's niece, knelt to tie the shoe of one little boy who came to greet her. Soon she was surrounded by many small children with their feet stuck out to have their shoes tied by her. She explained to one very disappointed little girl who was wearing loafers that she did not need her shoe tied. We entered the maternity ward where a nurse showed us around. First we saw the intake room, next a small delivery room with two old beds, next a nursery of metal cribs, finally a room with 10 beds for recovering mothers. All were empty and did not appear to have been used recently. The place was small and all the equipment seemed old, but it was clean. Barbara Blake-Hannah, who was with us, commented that it was a much nicer maternity ward that any currently in use elsewhere. Moreoever, it was clear that although other maternity wards in terrible condition were also too overcrowded to accept all the women who needed beds, this one was left empty for political reasons. Although I don't understand exactly how it works (that is, why women don't come here on their own initiative) it appeared that the controlling party was ensuring that this ward remain empty.

As we drove out of Tivoli Gardens we passed a large pile of scrap metal on the side of the street. Barbara told me they used it to blockade the streets. When I asked why, Mr. Seaga explained that it was to blockade out police in order to avoid police persecution. On our way back to the center of Kingston we drove through many areas Mr. Seaga had worked to revitalize when he was in power. They seemed almost abandoned.