Willow Walk

The Myth and Magic of the IMF

John Maxwell

I reluctantly must confess that I have never heard of any success story associated with the International Monetary Fund in relation to its dealings with any poor or Third World country. Certainly, in its dealings with Jamaica, the record is one of unrelieved disaster after disaster with both political parties fleeing in impoverished terror from the helpful arms of the Fund. I will never forget the spectacle of Mr Albertelli, the Argentinean principal of the 1977 IMF team, as he scuttled away to hide from journalists in the then Sheraton hotel after delivering the coup de grace to Jamaica's hopes for rational development. It was therefore with some surprise that I read in the Gleaner on Wednesday a story suggesting that the Michael Manley government had more or less willingly surrendered its sovereignty to the IMF in 1977. According to Gary Spaulding, Senior Gleaner Writer: "There was no global economic crisis 32 years ago to shoulder the blame for Jamaica's economic predicament, but on Tuesday, January 19, 1977, when Prime Minister Michael Manley told the House of Representatives of his administration's intention to pursue a borrowing relationship with the International Monetary Fund (IMF), his rhetoric closely matched that of the present government." Oddly enough, I remember not one, but several international crises that provided a background for the Manley recourse to the IMF. These included the so-called Arab Oil Shock of 1973 et seq. because of which – according to the most easily accessible source – Wikipedia: "A world financial system already under pressure from the breakdown of the Bretton Woods agreement experienced a series of recessions and high inflation that persisted until the early 1980's, and elevated oil prices until 1986." Among the crises I remember was the devaluation of the US dollar, the quadrupling (or worse) of the price of gasoline and to quote Wikipedia again: "Underscoring the interdependence of the world societies and economies, oil-importing nations in the noncommunist industrial world saw sudden inflation and economic recession. In the industrialized countries, especially the United States, the crisis was for the most part borne by the unemployed, the marginalized social groups, certain categories of aging workers, and increasingly, by younger workers. Schools and offices in the U.S. often closed down to save on heating oil; and factories cut production and laid off workers. In France, the oil crisis spelt the end of the Trente Glorieuses, 30 years of very high economic growth, and announced the ensuing decades of permanent unemployment." If the effect of these crises on the developed countries was so profound and long-lasting it should not take a genius to understand the effect on totally open economies like Jamaica, totally dependent on imported oil and overwhelmingly dependent on imported food. Put briefly, the IMF thought our aspirations were too ambitious and decided to put us in our proper place. I believe that this judgment was both racist and political, made by a bunch of 'crazy baldheads' of the same ilk as are now persecuting Haiti. You can see their point: We had a National Minimum Wage while the English and Americans were still talking about one, we had free education from basic school to university, we had ambitious unemployment relief schemes – the Emergency Employment Programme and the Pioneer Corps, among others, we had decreed maternity leave for every woman worker in the country, including domestic helpers and sugar workers. For the First Time At Last! There was also serious intrigue. Jamaica had prepared a negotiating position with the IMF – a top secret document. Imagine the delight of the IMF and the total discomfiture of the government when this 'Top Secret' document was broadcast on RJR by the leader of the Opposition, Mr Edward Seaga. It was a blow from which this country has never recovered. A Minister and a Permanent Secretary were initially found guilty of breaching their trust. They were later acquitted on appeal. I have never understood why Mr Seaga, a former cabinet minister and bound by the same oaths and undertakings as those in office , was never prosecuted for his breach of trust. He was, however, later excoriated by the Prime Minister of Trinidad and Tobago Eric Williams for his disloyalty to Jamaica when he went to the IMF and World Bank, arguing that they should not help Jamaica. As it was, and as Seaga discovered for himself while Prime Minister, the IMF and its sibling were never about helping Jamaica; and when Mr Seaga had the opportunity in the 80s, he ran away from them as fast as his little legs could carry him. I wonder what my friend Clovis would do now if the current leader of the Opposition were to behave now as Mr Seaga did then?

time changing

now stars go missing in the summer sky

while stub-tailed comet promises dire days

no cloud will come to temper the hard blaze

of unforgiving sunrise when the eye

notes every droop and watches as the dry

heart of the kingdom stands revealed the praise

goes far from us to those who would amaze

both child and elder with some easy lie

life changes fast and the urgent voices

that might report the meaning of each tale

fall silent as we have to hurry forth

to new devotions to human choices

anger behind us so that we won't fail

and faces set towards a truer north

Licensed to Kill

John Maxwell

"Why should there be one standard for one country, especially because it is black, and another one for another country … that is white. " In September 2002 the Iraq War was still six months and dozens of lies in the future. People all over the world were still appealing to the good sense of President Bush– a chimera – as it transpired. They thought that they could appeal to reason, to an ethical consciousness, to the general human instinct to obey the rule of law and the mores of the community of which you are a constituent. Some of us were not fooled. Nelson Mandela, for instance, whose words are quoted above, was not taken in by the lies and pretensions of the American junta. I was myself excoriated for my treatment of Bush and his coven. In fact I had revealed what some saw as my prejudice when I wrote, before Bush was ennobled by the Supreme Court: "The real George Bush, if he is appointed President, will use his time to destroy the integrity of the country he rules, starting with the Supreme Court. Then he can start on dealing with the rest of us. That's his job, and as the American Press has made plain, nothing needs to be known about him and his multifarious incapacities because Big Brother in the giant corporations will tell him what to do. We are all in a for a very rough ride." –Democracy? Enough Already! That was written on December 8, 2000, before the hooligans in Florida and their accomplices on the US Supreme Court presented the world with the precious gift of G. W. Bush. Less than a year later, a few days after the 9/11 attack, I wrote "No matter how violent and horrific, the terrorist action on Tuesday remains an act of criminal violence, not an act of war. Various spokesmen and supporters of the US government, including Tony Blair, the British PM, speak of attacking and defeating Terrorism as if there were some central directorate, a sort of Terror International, with identifiable officials and institutions. " Like most of the human race I was alarmed by the reactions of those in power in the US and Britain: " Mr Bush, whose own legitimacy has been questioned,, speaks, even more ominously, of "ending states " that support terror, as if politics were a video-game in which the baddies can simply be zapped into non-existence. One of his spokesmen, a Mr Wolfowitz, is even scouting the possibility of targeted assassinations of foreign leaders. Dead terrorists, of course, can't be punished. Someone else must therefore pay." Many thought that some of these ideas were uttered in the heat and panic of the moment. Some of us were not so sure. Nelson Mandela again: " If you look at those matters, you will come to the conclusion that the attitude of the United States of America is a threat to world peace. Because what [America] is saying is that if you are afraid of a veto in the Security Council, you can go outside and take action and violate the sovereignty of other countries. "That is the message they are sending to the world. That must be condemned in the strongest terms. And you will notice that France, Germany Russia, China are against this decision. It is clearly a decision that is motivated by George W. Bush's desire to please the arms and oil industries in the United States of America. "

as for the rain

enough that yesterdays beyond recount

involved the passage of so many turns

nobody listened to a child's concerns

nor waited long for the adult account

since it was plainly duty to surmount

such little things as every child soon learns

it does not matter soon the forest burns

and not so high will any ashes mount

no obligation seemed so very great

that meeting it did not require our hearts

to open out as sigils of this pain

but this is something born purely of fate

which cannot be avoided by our arts

so we stand here and wait as for the rain

Pimps, Peeping Toms & Frotteurs

 

John Maxwell

 

Some of my readers may have thought I was unduly harsh in my description of journalism as becoming a refuge for pimps, prostitutes, sexually dysfunctional and psychopathic reporters and editors, peeping toms and frotteurs. If you were one who thought me cruel, I would commend you to try to follow the story now unfolding in the British press concerning the man I call the world's voyeur in chief, Rupert Murdoch and his menage of media properties and hacks for hire.

The News of the World touts itself as Britain's biggest-selling newspaper featuring the best news, showbiz and sport exclusives - and- on the web this week it promises the worlds sexiest video and the "50 most shocking celeb photos". Although it is only a dozen or so years younger than the Gleaner, Britain's News of the World, (NOW) a weekly, has always been more venereal than venerable. I remember years ago, reading the NOW's exposes of pitiful prostitutes and the Jamaican pimps who lived off them. The NOW clearly regarded Jamaicans as a scourge and I well remember my amazement at their exposure of one in particular with a name like Eleutherios Christiades – the sort of moniker one expects to find in Ginger Ridge or Salt Spring. These pathetic stories Invariably ended with the prostitute having been paid and ready to play her part, when the NOW reporter, chivalrous to the end reported that he had "made my excuses and left". The NOW seems, at long last, to have run out of excuses for its 'journalism'. Which is sad, for such a crusading, high-minded newspaper, always alert to exposing sinners in high and low places. Like a great many Jamaicans, the zealots of the NOW cannot abide the idea that somewhere, someone may be having more fun than they are – and are determined to get to the bottom of these iniquities and abominations.

One almost had to sympathise with the newspaper's fury when, last year, a high court judge decided that the paper had no right to pay prostitutes to film their client, Max Mosley, in a sadomasochistic romp in which Mr Mosley paid the prostitutes to dress up like prison guards and flog him. The court decided that the NOW had no right to invade Mr Mosley's privacy and ordered the newspaper to pay him damages and costs totalling more than three quarters of a million pounds. The NOW, in its outraged reaction, insisted that public figures must maintain "standards". "It is not for the powerful and the influential to run to the courts to gag newspapers from publishing stories that are true", the newspaper thundered, proclaiming "This is all about the public's right to know". I cannot imagine why the public needed to know that Mr Mosley, like many Englishmen, is addicted to being whipped. You pays your money and you takes your choice, as the saying is, and if no one else is being hurt, the problem would seem to be in the minds of people even more maladjusted than Mr Mosley who are compelled to poke their noses into other people's business and to judge them and scandalise them.

the conquest

this is the kingdom where the true god rules

a horrid realm where every light's a lie

and only pain can fall out of the sky

no gentle beast can rest by shaded pools

instead by harsh noon light predator drools

and angry laughter fills its leering eye

not one of us can choose we must comply

if anyone said otherwise they're fools

you listen and you count each fading beat

of that weak drum you claim to want to hear

there is no other music that is left

nor any other players in this heat

who might give us the music we hold dear

just to remind us that we are bereft

on the black road

we catch the crabs at night on the black road

just shovel them into the waiting bag

until the sweat pools and your spirits flag

 

above the stars signal in arcane code

while you wipe down with an old smelly rag

we catch the crabs at night on the black road

 

that leads us back to where the waters flowed

past all the places where we let hope sag

back into swamp where memories might nag

we catch the crabs at night on the black road

in this gentle rain

you miss the vision in this gentle rain

of what was needed by the hungry soul

since no one here is in their proper role

 

nor is the story ever truly plain

for none of us could ever reach the goal

you miss the vision in this gentle rain

 

of cities built upon an ancient pain

and of the sweetness that they could control

but neither salt nor sugar can console

you miss the vision in this gentle rain

The Piranhas of the Media

John Maxwell

'They ate her alive' was the opening sentence of my 1997 column following the death of Diana, the ex-wife of the heir to the British throne. It continued: 'As she lay broken and covered in blood, as she lay helpless and mortally wounded, they were, as always, professional, shooting fast, furious and careful of camera angle, hoping perhaps to capture her last breath, to profit one last time from her suffering, to take the million dollar photograph which would put them at last on the same level as their prey, enjoying a life of ease and big money. They always wanted to make a killing from Diana. Last Sunday morning in Paris, they succeeded. It is horrible to imagine that Diana's last view of this world might have been the flashing cameras of the cockroaches of the Press.' Michael Jackson was luckier. He died at home, apparently of a heart attack, although if you read the British newspapers the day after – tabloid or 'quality' – you might believe that Michael Jackson was murdered or died of a drug overdose. There was no more evidence of those things than there is that Jackson was a child molester, but to say that is to court ferocious hostility and hate because there are people in this world who KNOW the truth and are not to be contradicted by evidence unless delivered by divine messenger. Jackson died without permission from the media. If one looks carefully at the mass media of the western world it soon becomes apparent that the death of Michael Jackson is the biggest money-making opportunity for them since the death of Diana. The Daily Mirror makes it explicit with a tag-line following every Mirror story on the web. It reads:

"Michael Jackson dead at 50. All you need to know about the King of Pop." And, if like the Times, most of their stuff is second or third or fourth hand, or invented, malicious and libellous, who cares? Jackson is dead and can't sue, and under American libel standards set by their Supreme Court 42 years ago, were he alive he couldn't sue even if he wanted to, because as a public figure, and a public figure more public than any other in history, it would have been almost impossible for him to sue even if he could prove that his maligner knew that what he was saying was untrue but said it anyway with reckless disregard for the truth. With Jackson surrounded by bloodsuckers of every breed, rank and description, from crooked district attorneys to suborned employees and journalistic moles, there was so much crap in the air that it was impossible for anyone – perhaps even Jackson himself – to disentangle truth from fantasy. Public personalities and particularly show business personalities are, ipso facto, all creatures of fantasy. Canute, king of England, Denmark and Norway more than 900 years ago faced a smaller but no less intractable problem. His courtiers may have seen the ocean's tides disobeying the king, but that was no doubt because the King was playing a game.

true gospel

it never matters what you truly think

the prize turns to be only fools' gold

and what is written's just a waste of ink

 

no hero's there to save you on the brink

nor is the story like what you were told

it never matters what you truly think

 

since each of us is just another link

now this whole history is very old

and what is written's just a waste of ink

 

don't whine or argue you'll go in the clink

while all the scoundrels still shall be extolled

it never matters what you truly think

 

as each tortfeasor is passed on the wink

while the examiner will treat you cold

and what is written's just a waste of ink

 

such is the law so just go have a drink

forget about the foolish and the bold

it never matters what you truly think

and what is written's just a waste of ink