Jamaica, like most third world countries, is awash with many NGOs. These organisations run the gamut from advocating transparency, gender rights, LGBTI rights, Black rights and so on and more often than not are extremely visible and well-funded. They are often seen engaging with the State, pressuring the State or putting on workshops so as to ‘better inform’ the citizenry, an action which is something that, on the face of it, no well-thinking person can object to.
So, in the end, what is wrong with these organisations, what is wrong with these groups doing what can only be described as credible work in canvassing, engaging and educating citizens?
On the face of it, nothing. In an ideal world such actions and groups would, without thought, be greeted with open arms and the general call would be made to engage them. We unfortunately don’t live in utopia, and the groups which, on the face of it, promote good, decent issues and even publish half decent work are almost always compromised and in such a critical way that it makes any good work they were doing immaterial and marks them as enemies of people truly seeking a lasting change — a change which can only be achieved through defeating imperialism.
Groups such as the NIA, CAPRI and many others may do ‘decent work’, but publishing a report, for example highlighting poverty in Jamaica and ways to solve it are made meaningless and suspect when the group doing it not only accepts money from entities such as USAID or the British and EU equivalent, but promotes State Department talking points and agents who overthrow democratically elected governments seeking to implement the very same measures laid out in the reports. It is pointless demanding greater transparency and more democratic process if your financial and political muscle comes from a group which has as its agenda the destruction of movements and parties seeking to enact such laws.
jamaicachange 