Politics mash up the community': Politics, Violence and Peace at the Community Level

• Author: Amanda Sives
• Profession: Lecturer in Politics at the University of Liverpool
• Pages: 143-170

‘POLITICS MASH UP THE COMMUNITY’ 143 143

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‘Politics Mash up the

Community’:

Politics, Violence and Peace at

the Community Level

CHAPTER

six

Introduction

In this final chapter I examine the specific dynamics and impact of partisan

political violence at the community level. The discussion compliments the wider

narrative in focusing on the ways in which residents from an inner city

community explain violence and its relationship to politics based on their own

perspectives. The original fieldwork was undertaken during the summers of

1995 and 1996. Over this period residents and development workers were

interviewed about their experiences and views of living and working in the two

communities. The choice of area was dictated by access and the level of violence

occurring during the fieldwork. The time I spent in the area was short, many

people did not wish to talk to me and I was cautious about the questions I

asked. In that sense, the narrative is partial. However, it adds to the wider

perspectives presented in the previous chapters by locating the discussion at the

grassroots, among those who live with violence and its impacts.

While many of the people who were interviewed have passed away or migrated

since completion of the research and the writing up of results, I remain cautious

in publishing this information. As one of the people who had worked in the

communities for many years explained, people do not like to talk because ‘they

have been so accustomed to people coming in asking them information, re-

interpreting it and then not only that, but quoting people’s names because they

don’t understand the risk.’1 The names of the informants have been changed in

this chapter, although the names of the communities remain unaltered. It would

be difficult to disguise them because a number of key incidents occurred during

the 1970s and discussion of them and their impact immediately reveals the

identity of the areas.

Before introducing the communities, I want to make a few points about my

own role as the researcher in the process. The desire to capture the voices of

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144 ELECTIONS, VIOLENCE AND THE DEMOCRATIC PROCESS IN JAMAICA

those involved in, or affected by, violence was a goal of the original doctoral

research. At the time, these voices were missing from the discussions about

partisan political violence and from my perspective, understanding the complexity

of violence could only be enhanced by recording the views of those who were

intimately involved in it, whether as practitioners or observers. This does not

mean the following chapter is complete. It is based on recollections of a traumatic

period in the life of the community. It is primarily based on interviews with key

actors rather than a representative sample of residents. However, it provides

richness to the analysis and reminds us that violence is not an abstract process

but one that, for some people, strikes intimately at the heart of everyday life

transactions. The need to position myself within this narrative is necessary

simply for the fact that I am a white, foreign woman, and therefore I had a very

visible presence in the community. I was always an outsider and I remember

being asked several times if I worked for Scotland Yard as people sought to

understand what my ‘real’ motivation was for being there. I did not understand

the connection until, at the end of the fieldwork, someone explained that ‘when

you come from England, dem figure say, “Bwoy, dem come for drugs man,

drugs people she come fe find out about….So dem very nervous…they are

always very tense, always on edge.’2 Gaining access to the communities was

facilitated by the Kingston Restoration Company, a non-governmental

organisation that was undertaking projects in both communities. Through their

key development workers, I was introduced to other members of the community.

I am very grateful to everyone who welcomed me and tolerated my presence,

my ignorance and my questions.

In this chapter I explore the origins and development of the violence as

recalled by the residents. All of the people interviewed stated it began as a result

of a particular dispute between two men that escalated into gang violence. The

political dimension came later and was initially the result of clientelist ties between

the gangs and politicians which reinforced pre-existing gang divisions and

exacerbated conflict. The information given by residents was supplemented

with newspaper reports which helped to contextualise the recollections. The

focus of the chapter is an exploration of the factors behind the division of the

community into two politically homogenous zones. While clientelism played an

important role in drawing the gangs into the political arena, for the residents it

was the violence of the 1980 election and the way in which it shaped political

and communal identities that explains the continuing existence of PNP Tel Aviv