The Moral Maze

Raffique Shah (Trinidad Express) has written a very insightful piece about the killing of a local criminal and gang leader, Merlin ‘Cudjoe’ Allamby and the collapse of a finance company, the Hindu Credit Union in Trinidad.
(When greed leads to grief, http://www.trinidadexpress.com/index.pl/article_opinion?id=161356920).

We live in a globalised world and it may come as no surprise that in the UK we are also grappling with similar issues like the glorification of gangsterism and the exploitation of the poor.

Hundreds turned out to the funeral of Merlin ‘Cudjoe’ Allamby and the expressions of grief were genuine and palpable and somewhat unnerving. Of course we know not of those who felt exactly the opposite, didn't see him as a hero or felt their prayers had been answered. The dissenters within the community were hardly likely to demonstrate their joy at his passing lest they suffer a similar fate. Bad men survive because of fear and greed, and bad boys because of misguided affection, that's why gangsters like Cudjoe prosper but this issue is not that simple. I am reminded of the scene in the Godfather when war hero Michael is talking about his father Don Vito Corleone to his girlfriend Kay, at his sisters wedding:

Michael: My father is no different than any powerful man, any man with power, like a president or senator.

Kay: Do you know how naive you sound, Michael? Presidents and senators don't have men killed.

Michael: Oh. Who's being naive, Kay?

People like Cudjoe have a following, a constituency because of what they provide in areas of deprivation, a generous benefactor, he even owned a football club. It may not be legitimate but in places long since abandoned by the state and civil society they provide social services, employment and a form of natural justice. In Jamaica so called 'community leaders' provide votes for particular parties and have political backing, it’s an unholy alliance. I'm not sure as to the situation in Trinidad but I would guess at some level of collusion, either by commission or omission, with agencies of the state, such as the police force and other local authorities.

Outlaws have always been larger than life and somewhat mythical figures, bad men (bad boys) tend to be exciting, they have an edge. Amongst the poor and the dispossessed they represent a particular class of entrepreneur, those who literally put themselves on the line, in order to 'get rich or die trying'. It’s also a gender thing; young men (and sadly increasingly young women) tend to put themselves at risk from driving at breakneck speed to binge drinking, substance misuse and various forms of antisocial behaviour. Most tend to grow out of it, mature, however for some it becomes their lifestyle, life long career, or in some instances, short life career - they fail to thrive. It is they who dominate the headlines, we see the photos in the newspapers, and read the scant obituaries; barely out of their teens we look upon their fresh faces and wonder where it's all gone wrong. It is a crisis of our youth, it is the dilemma of the Diaspora, but it is one of our own making.

The young didn't invent greed and consumerism, they didn’t invent drugs or are the major suppliers, didn't invent the bling culture or the screwed up set of values that they live and increasingly die by, but it is they who are caught up in it and suffer. For them life ceases to have value or meaning, it is replaced by the concept of respect which really isn't about respect at all but all about fear of the other.

It is a nihilism that few can identify with and we all struggle to understand.

That does not mean they are in any way absolved for the violence they perpetrate, an explanation is not an excuse. They must atone for the evil that they do, they must pay the price. But it is because of the failure, the failure of parents to discipline, of the schools to educate, of the police to protect, of big business to care about anything other than profits, of politicians to give a damn, that we're in this mess in the first place.

We have shirked our responsibility, we may not be directly involved but how many have turned a blind eye or failed to inform on a loved one? We would do well to remember that, for evil to triumph all that is necessary is for good men, and women to do nothing!

Here in the UK, there are families where kids are the sole breadwinners and mothers (father's being largely absent or when present complicit) just take the money, no questions asked. If the behaviour of our children and young people is revolting it’s because we as adults have set the example they follow. Unfortunately, whilst children may have some difficulty in doing what adults say, they excel in copying what they do. Children by and large simply reflect and respond to the world that's envelopes them. But for some unknown reason we are surprised when they act in such an aggressive and violent way, as if we expect them to somehow be better than us adults. We seem to hold them to a much higher standard than we hold ourselves. It is you, the nebulous 'you', who have abandoned these feral kids, that roam our streets, gun or knife in hand, spreading terror. It is 'we' the not-so-silent majority, the innocent and law-abiding who suffers. We watch our children in whom we have so much invested and have invested so much, succumb to the madness and all we can do is weep.