Paul George Jennings Phd

All Politricks Is Local Paul George Jennings Phd

The three-year period since 2016 has seen global political upheaval; arguably unprecedented, since the end of the 'Cold War' nearly three decades ago. The resurrection of 'globalization' - spurred by the intellectual hegemony of neo-liberalism, as political economy in a unipolar world - has resulted in unprecedented, and morally unacceptable disparities in social and economic in-equities. This in turn, has engendered the rebirth of a type of right-wing populism - and demagoguery - not seen since the end of the Second World War. The emergence of 'Drumpf' and his 'random-ism' (or 'rundown-ism'); the BREXIT psychosis; and nearer home the rebirth of right-wing populism in Brazil; have achieved outsize global influence in the 'Information Age', driven by all-pervasive Social Media platforms, such as Face Book with its multi-billion membership - all effectively 'New Media Journalists'. Jamaica, sitting as it does, at the nether end of the continental United States, has zero insulation against the diarrhoeic acculturation by its hegemonic neighbour; even though - heaven knows - we have more than enough of our very own home-made drama (trauma). The month of March 2019 was particularly rich in its dramatic/traumatic content, including: The continuing saga of 'Drumpf' and his uniquely amoral approach to the US Presidency; BREXIT likely to bring an end to May before the end of April; The undeniable stench of corruption surrounding the Jamaican Government; The mendicant approach to Foreign Policy of said Jamaican Government; oblivious to the words: 'Mi Nah Sell Out Mi Friend Dem!', a principle put to song by Jamaican dancehall artiste 'Khago' and clearly abandoned in reference to our 150-year old 'friend-in-need', Venezuela; The catastrophic failure of automation evidenced in the recent consecutive, frighteningly fatal crashes of the Boeing 737 Max 8 aircraft, within the space of five months; The welcome 'changing of the guard' in West Indies Cricket; The seemingly never-ending revelations of sex crimes within the Roman Catholic Church. These all provided rich fodder for contributors to FIWI Forum; a Facebook discussion group of 140 members, established by the author in November 2017. Given their mostly foreboding warnings of negative long-term consequences, the news-events of March 2019 strongly reminds of the eternal line from Shakespeare's 'Julius Caesar'; "Beware the Ides of March!"; essentially the underlying preface to a compilation which sets out to demonstrate that in a borderless world, 'All Politricks is Local'.