|
|
Massive disruptions such as blockading the gates of the university, shutting out staff, and suspending all academic and administrative activity were assumed in many instances to be the most viable route to obtaining redress to our grievances. The negative repercussions of our actions, such as the interruption of classes and the loss of productivity for university workers, rarely occurred to us. If they did, we did not care. To protest was our definition of freedom and thus far too exciting to be burdened by such concerns.
Looking back now with a new and informed understanding and with the benefit of time and academic distance, it is clear to me that although we were fervent, organized, and armed with reasonable and relevant agendas, our activism suffered from youthful exuberance, intemperance, and short-sightedness. Although we were not expected to burn down the university and carry on in a barbaric fashion to get what we wanted, in many instances, we acted in ways which departed from our standing and power as young intellectuals. Jamaican protestors,1 like protestors elsewhere, by and large adopt and subscribe to many established strategies (protests, lockdowns, blockades, and mob violence) in addition to retaining less established strategies at their disposal. Caribbean activism is rooted in a long-standing tradition of active resistance against British slavery, colonialism, and the plantation system. However, the contemporary desire for a civil society requires the assertion of the importance of civility for the conduct of politics and the formation or revival of civil society, taking into consideration each country’s specific contextual circumstances and conditions—social, economic, political, cultural, and historical. Indeed, in light of the search for a more civil politics and a civil society, I posit that the contemporary models of popular protestation that are assumed at all levels of Jamaican society require rethinking and new theoretical vistas. This book is my contribution to the beginnings of this process.
Rationale and Significance of This Book
Despite widespread enthusiasm for and euphoria over the apparent virtues of civil society—including the capacity to enhance democracy and the