No more war inna Babylon by Barbara GLOUDON .....IN the 70s and 80s tribal war was rocking Jamaica. George Nooks sang "Mi nuh waan no more a dat," but war did not end easily. Comrades and Labourites would no more think of sitting down to a meal together than the proverbial lion and lamb finding a mutually acceptable restaurant.

 Friday, February 13, 2015   

IN the 70s and 80s tribal war was rocking Jamaica. George Nooks sang "Mi nuh waan no more a dat," but war did not end easily. Comrades and Labourites would no more think of sitting down to a meal together than the proverbial lion and lamb finding a mutually acceptable restaurant. Trench Town and its long-time enemies in other communities were not prepared to cross Spanish Town Road, no matter the quality of the menu. Families were separated, some from birth -- brothers, sisters, cousins, all kept to their side of the divide. "Everywhere is war," was voiced by Marley.

Prime Minister Portia Simpson Miller toasts Dr Omar Davies
 at the celebration of his 21 years as member of parliament
for St Andrew Southern.

Along the way, a new world was being created if you took note of names like Zimbabwe, Mexico, Havana, Angola, Top Jungle, Bottom Jungle; new addresses for the postman. Somewhere along the way, a Trench Town school invited me to be their graduation speaker. There was no evidence that there were any other invitees to bring words of hope, but I couldn't resist. I agreed to go if I could get a police escort. When I got to the appointed meeting place, Spanish Town Road and Collie Smith Drive, not a cop was in sight. Along the street, debris of a grim variety barred the way. It was blockade time.

From behind a pingwing macca fence on one side of the road, a man peered out and asked, "Wha yuh want?" From the shelter of my car, I called out my reason for being on his turf. Another man behind a zinc fence joined the questioning, posing his query: "Wha yuh want round yah?" Satisfied with my answer, he advised the man next door to "pull the block". As the word was relayed from one fence to the next, little by little, the blockade was removed to gimme pass. more