So, I watched obama's inauguration in Jamaica. Strangely, no one watched it with me live (but everyone seems to have seen it). I heard from one of the groups that the annual roots Reggae Fest Concert was basically dedicated to Obama. "Black man in the White House," is repeatedly played on TV. Local news covers Jamaican's talking about how proud they are of Obama, what his achievment represents for for black people, how they feel like they (black jamaican's) finally have a voice (verbatim from local news interviews).
...wait back up, they feel what? They act like they are part of the inner-city African American communities, but they aren't. They don't even have the same culturaly pain from slavery as English slavery ended sooner and was never meant to systematically dehumanize blacks like slavery in the American South. From all the excitement (and Reggae songs have already been written) you'd literally think that Jamaica was part of America.
This got me to thinking. My knee-jerk reaction was to be affronted. Yes, I reasoned, its ok for other nations to celebrate but this is culturally important to America, not Jamaica. Then I thought further, is this only an American achievement? America's global economic dominance has reduced many nations, such as Jamaica, to almost serf status to their lordliness. Like it or not Jamaica relies on America as much as any state in the Union. (Jamaica gets something like 1/3 of its GDP from tourism). But thats just the economy. Jamaica is still part of the Commonwealth meaning (if I get this right), that it, like Cananda, is still tied politically to England. Local government I've senn on TV is equivalent only to state government; same issues, same (rather limited) granduer, same frustrations.
Most disturbing is Jamaica's declining culture. When most people think of Jamaica they think of Reggae, Rasta's and weed. Yet the reality is all of these are declining. Hardline christianity, similiar to what you'd find in an inner city black church is slowly pushing Jamaican to change. a local church has sprung up in the Rasta community I lived in within a year of my last visity. Sadly, these are the types of churches that launched the Salem witch trials and the inquisition. These people aren't for loving thy neighbor but driving out Satan. I guess tolerance can come when all other viewpoints are extinguished. Disney Channel garbage rules the lives of hte kids. High School Musical (and Hollywood) is all they care about. There is no shortage of pride in Jamaica, (see World Cut, Olympics, Cricket) but all are tied to international competitionss. There are some strange holdouts however. There is an almost Yeatsian play being repeatedly advertised on TV.
I'm up in the air. Clearly Jamaica, granted (note granted) independence some years ago could just be trying to figure out what it means to "be" Jamaican. It could, like Ireland, soon become an regional economic powerhouse. Yest most signs are depressing. It seems more likely that Jamaica represents a great failure of globalism, destined to diminish until it is once again subsumed into a larger nationality. In a very real sense Jamaica is not an independent nation but a part of many different nations. Unfortunately, as I have come to believe (and see in Jamaica) this is not a strength but a weakness.
blarg
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
0 comments:
Post a Comment