"People a bawl ova Dem lite bill" Watching the social media and Jamaica on the "black out Friday" initiative launched against the JPS.
Source: “Wish List For Chris Tufton”-Jamaica Gleaner, July 21, 2011
Today, there is a social media drive that Jamaicans should wear something black to protest against the rising cost of electricity bills and the stronghold that the utility company the Jamaica Public Service (JPS) has over the pockets of the Jamaican people. I know that when I lived in Jamaica people were complaining about their electricity bill but I wonder if this latest campaign will be different. Are people’s pockets finally “bussing” at the seams? Has the monopolistic hubris and total disregard for people’s pain displayed by the JPS finally gotten unbearable? Is the social media just an easy place to throw out an idea and see how it flies through cyberspace? Or are Jamaicans ready and willing to protest in non-traditional, albeit, non-violent ways?
I ask that last question because I know that the social media offers a new way of protest that Gandhi could not have envisioned when he promoted non-violence. It is a way to mobilize people, share ideas, share a common concern and plot an action to effect a change, virtually. It is quiet, it has peaceful intentions and it has proven to be effective in at least one popular presidential election campaign, the ousting of governments (a virtual coup d’état) and disaster outreach programs. Could this work in Jamaica a country where the traditional form of protest involves burning things (buildings, tires, garbage etc.), blocking roads, using children, women and even dogs to hold placards and chant “weird” sometimes “shocking” statements and even using violent means to send a message and make a point. Could this work in a country with a rich history of more aggressive than passive resistance, rebellion and revolt? These ‘traditional’ forms of protest over the years have a good track record of achieving the protestor’s objectives, I would say about 75% of the time. Back in the early 90’s my small community of Maggotty wanted telephone lines, they blocked the roads and a few months after land phone was ringing all over Maggotty. Who can forget the 1999 gas riots in Jamaica? On another note, lest not forget that only about 55% of the Jamaican population has access to the internet (ITU, 2010), therefore, this social media ‘thing’ is only a craze to a sector of a little over half the population.
Lately, there has been some evidence that people are logging on, looking in and becoming citizen activists for a better Jamaica. The media and social media in particular has the indelible power to take an idea or a campaign and broadcast it globally to effect immediate change or at least call attention to a problem. Most recently, a humble fellow in the countryside of St. Thomas, with a strange “twang” was able to call attention to the demise of his community when it rains heavily, the river “come dung” and “nobaddy canna crass it” because there is no bridge. I believe the latest report I heard is that the community may soon have a bridge.
So who knows what will happen today dubbed “black out Friday” the protest against the Jamaica Public Service? I admire this campaign; my only concern about it is whether it was a great idea to ask people to wear black on a hot day in a tropical country? I know that many who may join in this campaign and wear black may work in cool AC fed offices, but what happens if the JPS cut off the light and you have no fan and no AC who suffers then? I think that would be the person dressed in the piece of black clothing. Good Luck, my people!
Comments