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legoRB wrote:Tivoli Gardens ah run red rite now enuh starr......
Embattled west Kingston strongman Christopher 'Dudus' Coke received a fillip yesterday as thousands of vocal residents of Tivoli Gardens and adjoining communities took to the streets supporting him.
The protesters, mainly women and children dressed in white, started their demonstration at the intersection of Industrial Terrace and Spanish Town Road just after 8 yesterday morning.
Initially, they concentrated on the reports by the police that they were being forced to stay at home and that their cellular phones had been confiscated by thugs backing Dudus.
"Dem a talk about our phones take away and if we leave we can't come back and that is a lie," declared one angry protester.
"Anybody can come into Tivoli and see the situation. We can go and come as we want, we can walk peacefully and see mi phone here," the woman added.
Her friend rushed to address the Gleaner team as she blasted the police for their claims.
"We a no hostage, a lie the police a tell because them no like the 'Big Man'. We happy and them fi leave we alone," the scantily clad woman said.
But the focus of the protesters quickly changed as they voiced their opposition to any plan to extradite the man they call 'The President'.
"No Dudus, no Jamaica. Dudus a feed the whole a wi and them fi leave him. The police them always have problems with the Coke dem. If you have a pickney now and him name Coke, by the time him reach 20-year-old them a go accuse him," another protester charged.
The protesters also had harsh words for Opposition Leader Portia Simpson Miller and the party's point man on the extradition matter, Dr Peter Phillips.
"Portia must tell we if the PNP did extradite Anthony Brown and George Flash when them did wanted. How them did have them man deh free and now them want fi extradite Dudus. A just politics them a play," one woman said, referring to two men who topped the police most-wanted list in the 1970s and '80s.
Not about politics
"Dudus tell we fi wear white today and not green because this is not about politics, and the PNP, dem a play politics and Dudus only want peace," another protester said. Green is the colour of the Jamaica Labour Party which the residents of Tivoli support.
With a strong police presence and marshals from the community ensuring that persons did not block Spanish Town Road, the protesters chanted loudly for more than two hours before a shout from one of their leaders saw them heading across Spanish Town Road into the heart of downtown Kingston.
Around St William Grant Park and across East Queen Street went the crowd which was growing by the minute.
Then came the shout "mek wi march to Gleaner", signalling a sharp left turn on to Duke Street towards the North Street offices of The Gleaner Company.
But by then, the police had had enough and after allowing the demonstrators free rein through the heart of the commercial centre, the cops used their vehicles to form a line on Duke Street in the vicinity of the country's Parliament building, Gordon House.
A single explosion from a policeman's gun was enough to convince the protesters that the cops were serious and that it was time to head along Beeston Street down North Street and back into Tivoli Gardens.
Golding's powers questioned
Shouts of "no Presi, no prime minister" and "no Presi no Jamaica," by protesters yesterday, raised the question of the Golding's powers in the constituency he represents.
Presi - short for President - is one of the monikers applied to Coke.
"Imagine, we have more than an 8,000-policeman-and-woman force and thousands more in the army, including the reserves, and the country is held under siege by one community.
"How long can this continue to happen?" the member asked. "What is the plan that is being executed with the forces that we have?"
The JLP member said the Minister of National Security Dwight Nelson's call for calm, along with his reassurance that members of security are equipped to maintain order, seems lame.
Another member of the JLP says the prime minister urgently needs to put the Manatt, Phelps & Phillips issue to rest by removing those who compromised their positions.
"The situation is out of hand, a bold and courageous move is a necessary to start to bring an end to the ongoing issue including crushing the garrisons.
calm alluh self with dem puzzy yardie accent nah
The women behind the dons
They see benevolence rather than crime
BY HG HELPS Editor-at-Large Investigative Coverage Unit icu@jamaicaobserver.com
Sunday, May 23, 2010
A noticeable feature of last Thursday's demonstration in support of Tivoli Gardens strongman Christopher 'Dudus' Coke was that the majority of protestors were women.
In what was obviously a well-organised effort, the women -- most dressed in white T-shirts -- were very vocal in their praise of Coke's benevolence and firmly told the authorities to leave him alone.
They were prepared, they said, to die for the man who the United States Government has accused of trafficking in guns and drugs and for whom the Americans submitted an extradition request in August 2009.
The authority to proceed with that request was signed last Tuesday by the Jamaican Government which spent the past nine months squabbling with the US over the matter, in the process damaging diplomatic relations between Kingston and Washington.
The political fallout, however, appears to be of little consequence to the women of West Kingston who seem more concerned with the fact that Coke has been a benefactor for many years, a man who, they said, ensures their safety, is mainly responsible for sending their children to school and putting food on their tables.
"Leave 'Dudus' alone. Him a law-abiding citizen," many of them shouted as they assembled outside the Denham Town Police Station from where they marched to other sections of downtown Kingston, holding aloft placards and dismissing a claim by the police that thugs in Tivoli had seized people's cellular phones and were holding some persons hostage.
But despite the fervour of the demonstrators, sceptics believe that many of them were participating against their will, arguing that anyone who failed to protest would be disciplined.
That view was partially confirmed by women from inner-city communities who admitted in interviews with the Sunday Observer last week that they often come under pressure from those who wield considerable power.
"My man used to be a gunman. Police killed him a few years ago and me never surprise, because him did a gwaan too bad," one woman from the South St Andrew community of Arnett Gardens said in an interview.
The slain man was a kind of second-tier don who commanded respect in his area.
"Police did raid the house and never find him the first time, and before dem lef, dem tell me say me fi prepare fi him funeral because dem muss kill him. A few weeks after that them shoot him," she told the Sunday Observer.
The woman confessed that she was forced to keep her mouth shut about irregular activities that her man undertook, including drug-pushing and gun-running.
She would prepare his meals, wash his clothes, look after the child she had with him and two others she bore from a prior relationship. Sexual favours, she said, were a regular requirement, although sometimes she would place a virtual wall between them if physical abuse set in.
"Sometime him woulda beat mi and mi woulda just leave the house and go up a mi mother. So him nuh get nuh sex," she explained. "When him wait a few days and see things look too bad, him come back fe me and start apologise, so him stop beat me after a time, because him know seh me wi starve him and nuh give him nutten a night-time. But apart from dat, him tek care a all a we."
Another woman from a West St Andrew community said that women often supported dons and area leaders as they had to comply with the wishes of rough characters, who would often abuse them if they failed to do as they are told.
"Me did have a man who beat me every day. Right now, him haffi run weh from round here, because them say him kill a man from the area," the woman told the Sunday Observer.
"The amount a gun whey me see in a dis ya place from mi live ya, me nuh think say police and soldier have all a dem," she added.
"The man dem naw really trouble you, because you live inna the area. Is only when up dey so a fight gainst dung dey so, that them will shoot dem one another," she said, pointing to the areas to which she referred.
"When I see them with guns, it's like a normal, everyday thing, but is some a dem same guy dey who support we and mek we feel good, send the pickney dem go a school, gi wi money fi do we hair and nail and protect we," she said.
Other women with whom the Sunday Observer spoke confirmed that a strategy used by their communities to protect gunmen was for women and children to go out into the streets when police and soldiers raid an area. The idea, they said, is to prevent the law enforcers from shooting at gunmen as they would be less inclined to fire once women and children are in the way.
"When times tough wid we, is the same man dem go a road go rob so that we can eat food too," one woman from a Central Kingston community said. "We inna de ghetto nuh get nuh ratings from the people who live a Norbrook, Beverly Hills and Cherry Gardens. Dem think seh nobody good nuh come from the ghetto. We cyaan get nuh good work, and so if di man dem inna we area start do some juggling fe help we, everybody from outside just a come dung pon we so."
That mindset, as well as last Thursday's pro-Coke demonstration are not surprising to Anthony Harriott, professor of Political Sociology and head of the Department of Government and the Institute of Criminal Justice and Security at the University of the West Indies.
According to Professor Harriott, women will always benefit from the work of dons and area leaders if their agreement is kept.
"The one yesterday (Thursday) was special in that it is a garrison relationship," Harriott said in an interview Friday. "The women would have enumerated those benefits, being safe from rapists, etc. Plus there are other traditional benefits like free light, etc, so there are tangible benefits.
"The politics of the day would explain yesterday. It is a communal thing and there is a common identity -- one benefits simply by being a member of the group," he argued.
"There are privileges and obligations, one of which is to protect," added Harriott. "If the don makes money and doesn't let off, then the contract is broken. As long as the don upholds his end, there will not be a problem."
One woman from the South West St Andrew constituency, represented in Parliament by Opposition Leader Portia Simpson Miller, echoed similar sentiments.
Play your role and co-operate, she argued, and you will get support when the time comes.
"Inna this area we feel safe, because man from outside and even dem whey live ya cyaan come in and rape we," she said. "If any rape a gwaan, a when we go out a road and man try a thing. "Up ya so nuh come een like a place like over Seaview (Gardens) where them don't have no don in charge and everybody do as them like. Up ya so we have a one man who run things and when anybody bruk the rules, we report him and the boss deal wid him.
"We haffi support all a man like that because him a do what the Government naa do fi wi," she said.
The source of the don's benevolence is never an issue, as when the women are asked where they believe he gets all his money in order that he can help so many people and do so many things, the answers are usually: "Me no business wid that, boss"; "Den you nuh see seh him have him wholesale and him truck and taxi dem"; and "Him mek nuff money offa him business dem."
Only one woman with whom the Sunday Observer spoke admitted that the dons' funds were derived from the trade in illegal drugs and guns, and even then she sought to downplay its significance.
"Lickle a dat gwaan, but dem man dey nuh mek much money offa dem things dey," said the woman who lives in Spanish Town. "A because some a dem man dey run good business mek dem can support the woman dem so," she added.
A large crowd of mostly women protest in support of Tivoli Gardens don Christopher 'Dudus' Coke in West Kingston last Thursday.
"Police did raid the house and never find him the first time, and before dem lef, dem tell me say me fi prepare fi him funeral because dem muss kill him. A few weeks after that them shoot him," she told the Sunday Observer.
"When times tough wid we, is the same man dem go a road go rob so that we can eat food too," one woman from a Central Kingston community said.
"When I see them with guns, it's like a normal, everyday thing, but is some a dem same guy dey who support we and mek we feel good, send the pickney dem go a school, gi wi money fi do we hair and nail and protect we," she said.
This article was published in July 2001, but still has relevance today in light of the current crisis facing the nation.
Don Robotham, Contributor
JAMAICANS SHOULD pay close attention to the statement attributed to Michael Fuller from Scotland Yard which, according to RJR, states that "there is concern that the recent upsurge in violence in Kingston may soon spread to the United Kingdom. Head of Scotland Yard Operation Trident, Michael Fuller says that British police are bracing themselves for increased crime, as many disputes started in Kingston are being settled in London.
This critical international dimension of the present crisis may be lost on Jamaicans who almost universally seem to be interpreting the recent events in West Kingston primarily through a domestic lens within the framework of two-party garrison political competition. Actually, the stakes are much higher.
The central point to grasp is this: sections of West Kingston have become a major axis of the international cocaine trade from Colombia to London and elsewhere. And this is not only to Brixton. Last week, there was a report in the British press of a crack ring in Oxford controlled by Jamaican Yardies. This is naturally a matter of extreme concern to the British security forces who have formed a special group to address the revival (in the UK) of this very violently dangerous criminal element. I mean by "Western Kingston", not only sections of Tivoli and Denham Town, but also sections of Matthews Lane, sections of Jones Town and other zones of this area across both political parties. Note that I say "sections of."
The point to note about this crack connection (apart from Mr Fuller's statement) is not simply the presence of 'guns and ammunition' in West Kingston, but the calibre of these - AK-47s and other military assault rifles. No political party or political leader in Jamaica today is in a position to obtain weapons and ammunition of this level in quantity, even if they wished to. It should be obvious that it is only the cocaine 'dons' who have the multimillion-dollar resources and connections to obtain these. Wherever such 'dons' are to be found, you will find such weapons.
Dons Demand cover
What the cocaine dons demand from their political connections in return for their support, is 'cover' from raids by the security forces. Indeed, my sense is that the relationship between these dons and their apparent political mentors is a rather tense one, suffused with mutual distrust, liable to explode (in which direction?) at any moment! Who is using who in this dirty game? Politicians think they can ride this tiger, but actually, this tiger's vast financial resources and ruthlessness make it the stronger force by far. The tiger also nurses quite a few deeply held grievances against his 'own' politician, as these politicians know only too well.
This issue of the provision of cover from the police is becoming an increasingly critical matter for the operations of these dons, because our security forces are naturally under immense pressure from anti-narcotics forces worldwide to crush the hard-drug trade. If only for this reason and quite apart from domestic issues, the Jamaican security forces have to aggressively police these areas, no matter which party is in power in Jamaica. That is why the chief thing that the cocaine dons demand from their political connections to both parties is that ways must be found (either by outright 'bans' or by the mobilisation of mass party support) to keep the police out of their drug strongholds. They can go elsewhere, but not there. What is the use to a don of a politician who cannot provide this cover?
Solidarity
All the cocaine dons, irrespective of party label, are very clear that they share a common interest on this decisive point. That is why the report is so revealing that, at the beginning of the recent incident when there was firing taking place between the security forces and sections of Tivoli (which wear the JLP label), there was some firing at the police from the direction of Matthews Lane (which wears the PNP label). If true, this was apparently a diversionary act of solidarity from one fellow crack don to another!
If we miss this point, we miss the core of the current crisis. This does not mean that the politicians are blameless - far from it. However, behind all the fire and brimstone, some of them must be wondering how on earth they can get themselves out of the belly of this beast. It is very important for the society to find a way of extracting them from this cage into which they have shut themselves.
Professor Don Robotham is a social anthropologist.
V2NR 3.0 wrote:Do you think the same could happen here if it was a Laventille / Sea Lots setting ?
Jamaica: State of emergency in Kingston
]Kingston, Jamaica (CNN) -- Jamaican authorities declared a state of emergency in Kingston after gang members supportive of an alleged drug lord wanted by the United States attacked police stations and blockaded a large swath of the city.
Two police stations were evacuated after being hit with Molotov cocktails, while the status of a third was unclear.
Gang members blocked off a miles-long area of Jamaica's capital city -- mostly in West Kingston -- using vehicles, sandbags, barbed wire and anything else they could find.
The standoff revolves around attempts by the United States to extradite suspected drug kingpin Christopher "Dudus" Coke. Last year he was charged with conspiracy to distribute marijuana and cocaine and with conspiracy to illegally traffic in firearms in U.S. federal court.
On Friday, Jamaican Prime Minister Bruce Golding said citizens should "allow the courts to deal with the extradition matter," the state-run Jamaica Information service reported.
In a statement issued Sunday afternoon, Golding announced an emergency meeting of his cabinet in response to the violence and blockades, the Jamaica Information Service said.
The state of emergency extended to St. Andrew, an area near Kingston, according to the Jamaica Information Service.
The U.S. State Department is "monitoring the situation closely," a spokesman said Sunday evening.
Coke was charged in August by the attorney's office in New York, which accused him of leading an international criminal syndicate known as the "Shower Posse."
"At Coke's direction and under his protection, members of his criminal organization sell marijuana and crack cocaine in the New York area and elsewhere, and send the narcotics proceeds back to Coke and his co-conspirators," the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency said in a release accompanying the charges.
"Coke and his co-conspirators also arm their organization with illegally trafficked firearms," the DEA said in a statement at the time.
Coke is on the Justice Department's list of Consolidated Priority Organization Targets, which the department says "includes the world's most dangerous narcotics kingpins."
The State Department issued a travel alert for Jamaica on Friday, saying that the "possibility exists for violence and/or civil unrest in the greater Kingston metropolitan area."
"If the situation ignites, there is a possibility of severe disruptions of movement within Kingston, including blocking of access roads to the Norman Manley International Airport," the alert said.
Journalist Kirk Abrahams contributed to this report.
Newsday also spoke to a media official who indicated that residents of Tivoli Gardens have been “marooned in” and the homes of those who have managed to leave have been burnt down.
VexXx Dogg wrote:eliteauto wrote:this is what happens when you pu$$yfoot with criminals for political gains, no different from the way local politicians appease them by giving URP contracts and pretty names like community leaders..note how much more emboldened criminals in T&T have become giving media interviews and making youtube vids, this is the future of our country as long as there is the lack of political will to do otherwise and I don't think we have any such politicians with the testicular fortitude to crush crime
the JLP soweth and now they reapeth
X2.
Greypatch wrote:balhead/ohers give me a lil history of the gangs and ther relationship with the PNP & JLP
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