Showing posts with label Dudus. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Dudus. Show all posts
Sunday, May 30, 2010

How will Tivoli terror affect JA's entertainment scene?

    That is the question entertainment and cultural promoters and performers must be asking themselves after a quiet week in Kingston, Jamaica entertainment-wise.

    The 'terror in Tivoli' has inflicted wounds not just on the hundreds injured and scores killed, but on Jamaica's economy and Kingston's vibrant entertainment scene.

    The Jamaica Observer reports that a host of entertainment events, from regularly scheduled parties like Uptown Mondays, Weddy Wednesdays and Dudus' own Passa Passa, have been cancelled.

    Larger one-off or seasonal events like the scheduled WI v South Africa test cricket, the final staging of May Daze and the Jamaica Observer's Food Awards, have also been moved, cancelled and postponed.

    Islandista-wise, Saint International's StyleWeek is a major casualty. StyleWeek was originally set for this weekend but the organisers called it off, issuing a statement:
    "After much consultations and observation of the prevailing political climate, we think it's prudent to change the date for this year's staging of Styleweek Jamaica."

    Styleweek is now slated for July 9-11.

    Meanwhile, Caribbean Fashion Week has also taken the same approach- pushing back their event by just a week from its original June 8-14 date to June 15-21.

    Reggae Sumfest, possibly Jamaica's most high profile event full stop, has also had to issue a statement on how they will approach the July 18-24 reggae festival. Johnny Gourzong, one of the executive producers, said:
    "Reggae Sumfest is important to Jamaica’s tourism and impacts positively on the economy and despite reduced sponsorship, we decided it was important to beat the odds and host the Festival this year".

     One 'benefit' is that Sumfest is slated, as always for St.James, on the northern coast of Jamaica, hours away from the epicentre of the violence in Kingston. A drawback, as anyone who knows JA knows, is that St. James/MoBay is not exactly sweetness and light and there were rumblings that St. James would have been a focal point for the unrest that Dudus supporters allegedly threatened to spread throughout the land.

    It will be interesting to see how these two high-profile events will be able to deal with the fall-out from the Tivoli violence.

    The fact that they have chosen just to push them back indicates that there is too much at stake to cancel them altogether but with people so leery of Jamaica in general and Kingston in particular, we can only hope for the best for them ... and for Jamaica's entertainment scene on the whole.

    One thing, Jamaicans are nothing if not resilient. We are hopeful.

Post Title

How will Tivoli terror affect JA's entertainment scene?


Post URL

https://nickiminaj-tdr.blogspot.com/2010/05/how-will-tivoli-terror-affect-ja.html


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Sunday, May 23, 2010

Terror in Tivoli and women's role

    And so islandistas, it has come to this.

    [caption id="attachment_2357" align="aligncenter" width="500" caption="Photo credit: Ian Allen/Jamaica Gleaner"][/caption]

    The ugly, jagged and dark side of the Caribbean's ultimate Jekyll and Hyde island has been unveiling itself in all its horror over the last week as the forces of Dudus have been unleashed against the Jamaican state.

    Dramatic?

    Not really.

    A state of emergency was declared in Kingston yesterday afternoon. The Hannah Town police station and Darling Street police station have been set on fire and their officers forced to flee.

    Police officers have been attacked and their vehicle stolen.

    And there are increasing reports of roadblocks and marauding gunmen stalking both downtown (Tivoli, Denham Town, Hannah Town, Slipe Road) and uptown (Red Hills, Liguanea, Mona/August Town/Papine, New Kingston).

    As we write, reports are coming in that officers of the Jamaica Constabulary Force are trying to reach five injured police officers who are stranded on the grounds of Excelsior High School in Mountain View Avenue.

    More pics and analysis under the cut...

    You would well know that usually the tone and fare here on Islandista is lighthearted but these are serious times.

    Islandistas are the leaders and future leaders of the Caribbean and Jamaica's crisis is all our business, particularly the pivotal role that women are playing in defending Dudus.

    [caption id="attachment_2359" align="aligncenter" width="459" caption="Photo credit: Jamaica Gleaner"][/caption]

    The cries of the women as reported by the papers were striking - and horrifying too. Claims that Dudus feeds them and sends to school their children. Shouts that he is "next to God."



    [caption id="attachment_2361" align="aligncenter" width="409" caption="Photo credit: Jamaica Gleaner"][/caption]



    Seriously? How did it get so islandistas? Obviously, it is not the women who are prowling the streets with high-powered guns but still. It is not for nothing that the proverb is 'the hand that rocks the cradle rules the world'.



    [caption id="attachment_2362" align="aligncenter" width="410" caption="Photo credit: Jamaica Gleaner"][/caption]



    The Observer had a good article on it yesterday, examining the way such women view the dons and how the link between them is built on largesse. Some excerpts:
    ""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."



    What a ting...

    If these women pass on this attitude of craven gratitude and dependence on a don to their children, how will the cyle ever be broken? How can it be broken? What can we as islandistas do through charity, through offering the opportunities these women say they have been denied, through mentorship or leadership to break this cycle?

    Let's start the discussion.

Post Title

Terror in Tivoli and women's role


Post URL

https://nickiminaj-tdr.blogspot.com/2010/05/terror-in-tivoli-and-women-role.html


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