THE MONTHLY GLEANER | SEPTEMBER 7 - OCTOBER 7, 2023 | www.jamaica-gleaner.com | OPINION & COMMENTARY 9 THE TRAGEDY of the complete destruction of Lahaina on Maui by a raging wildfire has gripped the attention of the world. Hawaiians search for answers to what caused such an unprecedented disaster, why the authorities issued no warning, how the survivors will reconstruct their lives, how to preserve the memory of the historical and cultural significance of Lahaina, and all the versions of questions that people ask in the shock of loss and debilitating grief. The immediate cause of the rapid spread of the fire was strong winds from a storm offshore that fanned the flames lit by broken aged power lines and fed by dry grasses which are not native to Lahaina. The grasses that fuelled the fire had been introduced by the colonisers to feed the cattle on the plantations they established for export. They displaced the indigenous farmers and their traditional farming systems and transformed the natural environment; the wetlands, for example, were filled in. The colonisation of Hawaii is recent, compared to the Caribbean. Jamaica’s plains by the sea were transformed centuries ago into plantations, and in modern times, some have become hotels and golf courses for tourists, and now housing estates. The coastal zone is nowmuch more densely populated with buildings and infrastructure. The conventional wisdom was to reclaim the wetlands for construction and to eradicate mosquitoes. Wetlands are the border between the terrestrial and the marine environment, absorbing water in the wet season and releasing water in the dry season. They were the natural protection against the intrusion of the sea and the drying of droughts. Droughts increase the risks of fire for the food basket of St Elizabeth and the forests. Old and tangled power wires, such as on Montego Bay’s densely populated Hip Strip, present a similar fire risk to Lahaina. Strong winds from a passing storm could fan fires in Jamaica for an even bigger holocaust than Lahaina. DEFENDED DECISION The chief of Maui Emergency Management defended his decision not to sound the siren lest it confuse people and cause an even greater disaster. Hopefully, the tragedy of Lahaina has prompted a review by the Office of Disaster Preparedness and Emergency Management’s (ODPEM) preparedness and communication. Will ODPEM issue alerts in the event of a flash fire or any other sudden appearance of a natural or man-made hazard, and could those warnings confuse the public? ODPEM can enhance its name recognition by reminding the public regularly of its easily accessible communication channels. Civil society organisations in Maui have urged Government agencies to work through community organisations for the most effective delivery of aid to the needy. Many Hawaiians doubt the generosity of the USA government, which they regard as a colonial occupier, and distrust the official channels for aid. Jamaica has limited resources to support community rebuilding after a natural disaster. As in Hawaii, the government should include established and capable civil society organisations in the distribution of aid. Are the tragedies of Lahaina and so many other places prompting a review of the preparedness and capabilities for recovery in all communities? Aged, infants, the disabled, and the poor in general are the most vulnerable people to natural disasters. If as Lahaina indicates that there are now super natural disasters, the rehabilitation and rebuilding of lives will much more challenging. Traditionally, Hawaiians self-mobilise to help each other. How can Jamaican society prepare itself to capture the spontaneous outpouring of goodwill andmutual help that disasters bring out? Is this yet another reason to urgently refocus on an inclusive social and economic development by reducing the inequalities of income distribution and social privilege? PAID DEARLY Lahaina has now paid dearly for the loss of its wetlands and the introduction of non-native grasses after so many years. There are many examples of building in old river courses and floodprone areas of Jamaica that have cost the inhabitants dearly when the waters come. As my grandmother used to say, “Anywhere river walk once, river walk twice”. Is this a reminder for developers to be even more cautious when interfering with the processes of the natural environment? Lahaina was historically and culturally very important to the people of Maui. There will be efforts to record the memories and represent them in the new structures to honour the history and preserve the cultural legacy. Port Royal and Kingston today attest to their respective recovery from their great fires in 1779 and 1795, respectively. Which current Jamaican historical and cultural icons need extra protection from natural hazards? Is there a list of historic buildings, such as the Institute of Jamaica and the Spanish Town Square, whose loss would strike the same painful cultural nerve for Jamaica as the loss of Lahaina has done for Maui? ODPEM earned respect for its work many years ago and became a model for similar bodies in the region. In the era of climate change, natural hazards are likely to be more frequent and more destructive. As with pandemics, the alert society will be best able to minimise natural and man-made disasters. Ultimately, households and communities must prepare themselves and cooperate for recovery. ODPEM’s leadership is critical to cultivating constant awareness and increasing the mobilisation of communities for their own self-preparation and self-defence. ODPEM should distil the lessons for Jamaica from the fires of Lahaina, as well as from the many other extreme weather events elsewhere. Michael Witter is a research economist focusing on sustainable development issues. Send feedback to columns@ gleanerjm.com Lessons from Lahaina on Maui Crosses honoring victims killed in a recent wildfire are posted along the Lahaina Bypass in Lahaina, Hawaii, August 21, 2023. Nearly amonth after the deadliest U.S. wildfire in more than a century killed scores of people, authorities on Maui are working their way through a list of the missing that has grown almost as quickly as names have been removed. Lawsuits are piling up in court over liability for the inferno, and businesses across the island are fretting about what the loss of tourism will mean for their futures. AP THE EDITOR, Madam: In every society, the cosmology of a culture is to be found in its indigenous expression, its various art forms, and specifically in its language which is an expression of the ethos of the people. What is language and its function? Simply put, language allows people to communicate and interact and identify and name their environment. Born September 7, 1919, Louise Bennett-Coverley aka Miss Lou knew and understood this, which is why she studied folklore at Friends College in Highgate, St Mary before going to England to study drama at The Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts (RADA), as the first black person and first Jamaican. Miss Lou realized that in order for the culture to be preserved and evolved there need to be documentation of our idioms. Upon her return home, Miss Lou picked up where she left off by working for the Jamaica Social Welfare Commission for the next four years, moving around the island, collecting stories, proverbs, riddles and recording games from 1955 to 1959, while simultaneously teaching drama and folklore at The University of the West Indies. This dual role as collector and teacher allowed her to share and expand upon what she was unearthing in the rural villages and towns of Jamaica. What is often overlooked or not understood is that Miss Lou had embarked on an anticolonial project. She knew instinctively, with towering intellect and razor-sharp wit, that in order to liberate the Jamaican people she had to excavate and disseminate their ancestral fables and contemporary anecdotes. Within this diverse, organic canon of oral history, African culture was embedded and retained, constituting a mercurial, impenetrable (to outsiders) mechanism of resistance to oppression. Language is a form of domination, which is why the British strategically separated the enslaved Africans from the same linguistic group and forbade them from speaking in their native tongue. However, language is also a form of resistance to oppression, and the Jamaican language, which is now recognized globally, and which a few universities in North American has already accepted as a foreign language, has been fundamental in allowing the Jamaican masses to express both their love and resilience as well as their outrage to hundreds of years of brutal, physical and psychological oppression. Miss Lou understood this, so despite ridicule and not being recognized as a legitimate poet, Louise Bennett insisted and persisted in writing in the Jamaican national language. Thus, Miss Lou’s anti-colonial cultural project was not only strategic but supported the anti-colonial and pre-independence movement in fundamental ways as it not only shored up the people’s sense of self, but it also gave them a fluid structure of cultural foundation; feet on which to stand proud and make demands on their own behalf. Likewise, Louise Bennett came to realize that she had to filter and recalibrate much of what she was learning from and among the people, hence she developed a radio monologue, entitled Miss Lou’s View, which ran from 1965 to 1982, three years short of 20 years. What were the content and timbre of these views? What was Miss Lou advocating for? If we were to have access to this body of work, we would be able to extrapolate much about the society then and the various sentiments that were being expressed. A warrior of words, Miss Lou took on Jamaican culture and singularly hoisted it up for the masses to appreciate and respect so they knew demwas smaddy and who dem was being was good enough. Demneva ahfi imitate nubodi. Tenk yu fah mekin we sweet talk get respect Tenk yu fah tekin de time fi collect wi proverbs and riddles Tenk yu fah localizin pantomime Tenk yu fah Aunty Roachy and chattin people bizness Tenk yu fah lovin the best and worse ah we Tenk yu fah bein a proud Jamaican Wi honor yu as wi ancestor Have a boonoonoonus birthday!!! PROFESSOR OPAL PALMER ADISA Cultural and Gender Activist Happy birthday, Miss Lou Louise Bennett-Coverley aka Miss Lou FILE GUE S T COLUMN I S T Michael Witter
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