Life And Debt Documentary

Life And Debt - Directed by Stephanie Black - 2001

As far as I know, this documentary is the one and only to provide the context or the background from which reggae music came from.

The exploitation that reggae music has suffered from, from day one is just part of a much bigger problem that affects Jamaica.

Stephanie rightly directs her attention to the World Bank and the IMF. The IMF in particular.

This organization takes great pleasure in bringing poor countries to their needs.

Although can you imagine how Greece must feel. The IMF actually felt sorry for them over how badly the EU was treating them!!!

Back to Jamaica. One subject that is only touched on briefly in the documentary is the lack of legal redress.

Anyone who spends enough time around people who claim to love reggae music so much - will often hear "Why don't reggae artists - take legal action against these people who are robbing them." 

This kind of glib statements - have no connection to the real world. There is no legal aid system in Jamaica. And unless a lawyer thinks there is a lot of money involved he/she/they will not take a case on.

It amounts to a denial of justice. And is a green light for those who despite their great love for reggae music - cannot stop themselves from taking advantage of it. Which is also known as abuse.

This of course applies to farmers and producers of all kinds of goods that come from Jamaica.

Some of the criticism aimed at the documentary is that it provides no answers.

The simple response to that is that there are more questions than answers - (one of Johnny Nash's greatest hits.)

Jamaica opens up a freeport - a place that operates with little or no rules - the multinationals pour in, which is the idea.

They employ locals for a time, but then they decide that is still not good enough - they are still not making enough money. So they import foreign labour from the far east. Jamaica has no say in the matter. How can a country like Jamaica solve the problem of people trafficking?