· September, 2009

Stories about Jamaica from September, 2009

Jamaica: Children & Violence

  30 September 2009

As the government signs a UN agreement aimed at protecting children from being recruited by armed forces, Letter From Jamaica wonders: “But what about children at home? Children don't just hide guns for gunmen, increasingly they are the gunmen.”

Jamaica: utilities hardship

  25 September 2009

Stunner's Afflictions notes the coincidence that the same day Jamaica's power company raised its rates, the Bank of Jamaica introduced the new JA$5,000 bill, the country's highest denomination banknote. “Now we can cover more bills with less notes. That's the only good way of looking at it.”

Jamaica: honouring Usain Bolt

  21 September 2009

Active Voice reflects on how the Jamaican government has honoured star athlete Usain Bolt, and shares information about a new documentary film called Why Do Jamaicans Run So Fast?

Jamaica: development or destruction?

  15 September 2009

Snailwriter reports on the illegal bulldozing of an area of forest near Jamaica's sensitive Martha Brae River. “The situation … well illustrates why the destruction of Jamaica's natural resources continues unabated.”

Jamaica: uncomfortable silence?

  14 September 2009

An incident on a minibus provokes Jamaican Ruthibelle to ask: “What is it about being in the silence of their own thoughts that makes people uncomfortable and uneasy?”

Jamaica: Truth & Laughter

  10 September 2009

“If death is the closing parenthesis on the fiction of every human life, then humor is the asterisk that proclaims the dignity of human life despite the many absurdities”: Jamaican litblogger Geoffrey Philp explains.

Jamaica: Drugs & Politics

  8 September 2009

Jamaica Salt and Letter from Jamaica blog about a move by the United States to extradite local Christopher ‘Dudus’ Coke on alleged drug and ammunition trafficking charges.

Jamaica: Conformity?

  4 September 2009

“The Caribbean is, according to Rex Nettleford, the ideal model of what the world is trying to achieve through globalisation: different people and cultures and races melted into one big pot, sharing the same geographical space” – but to Jamaican blogger Ruthibelle, “it seems…that this quest for one region, for...

Jamaica: The Beauty Battle

  2 September 2009

Although Long Bench is not a fan of beauty pageants, she finds “some of the criticisms about this year’s selection rather disingenuous and void of basic historical perspective. To suggest that a light-skinned woman is not authentically Jamaican – ie. is a foreigner – and therefore should not even be...

Jamaica: Reggae Shows Cancelled

  1 September 2009

As Jamaican reggae artist Buju Banton suffers from the cancellation of international shows thanks to his homophobic lyrics, The Wickedest Time says: “I don't get offended by the music, mainly because its practically a cultural norm…but we have to think about the people we offend.”

Jamaica, U.S.A., Canada: Health Care

  1 September 2009

Jamaican diaspora blogger Pamela Mordecai examines U.S. President Obama's health care plan and says of the controversial abortion issue: “If we truly want women not to have abortions, what we must do is create a social, economic, and moral context that will encourage them to keep their babies.”