| Chapter 1: | Jamaican Governance and Citizen Politics in Context |
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and how the poor’s seeming quest for justicecan depart from genuine activism and civil politics, as well as obstruct the building of a real civil society.
Of course, contemporary popular protest can hardly be imagined without the sympathetic lens of the media to amplify and sustain the message and goals of protestors beyond their immediate environment. This intersection between popular protestation and the media is embedded in the ways the media cover protests and portray protestors and the ways in which protestors perform and maneuver themselves to secure their interests within the media spotlight. In the context of the political economy of the media—including the enormous impact of increased competition and the fight for ratings and bolstered by the perspectives of media managers, reporters, and ordinary citizens—chapter 6 examines the role of the media as a communicative intermediary between Jamaican citizen-protestors and the state. By exploring the media’s treatment of protest and protestors, including the growing importance and use of radio talk back (radio call-in programs where citizens discuss topical issues with hosts) as an avenue of complaint, the chapter illustrates how the media can both advance and delimit the goals of protestors.
One of the major planks in this empirical investigation of citizen politics in Jamaica is a focus on the revolutionary changes of power at the community level, particularly the role of uncivil actors in influencing the conduct and nature of citizen politics (chapter 7). This chapter analyzes the emergence and political significance of a network of “dons” and the phenomenon of “donmanship” in urban Jamaica. It argues that the conduct and politics of dons and the character of the social organization over which they preside is not only the embodiment of outlaw community governance but also perpetuates an urban subculture that is marked by a normalization of illegal and uncivil behavioral norms, including violent mobilizations and protests, and frustrates the development of civil norms and political values.
Given that social protest has emerged as the predominant tool by which Jamaican citizens raise their concerns, it is important to ask if such protests actually succeed. In order to address this, chapter 8