#Andrew Holness

[meghansbest]

The Duke and Duchess of Sussex have a laugh with Jamaican Prime Minister, Andrew Holness during the Bob Marley: One Love movie premiere in Jamaica at the Carib Theatre in Kingston, Jamaica on January 23rd, 2024.

[sussex-sweetheart]

Credit to original owner.

[phillyyardyvibes]

Neoliberalisms Perfect Candidates Joe Biden Justin Trudeau and Jamaicas ...

[bhaskarlive]

Chris Gayle meets PM Modi during Jamaican PM Andrew Holness visit to India

West Indies cricket great Chris Gayle met Prime Minister Narendra Modi during Jamaican PM Andrew Holness bilateral visit to India.

The former cricketer on Wednesday shared a video on his social media from his meeting with the PM, with a caption, “Honour to have met with the Prime Minister of India @narendramodi. Jamaica To India” with the hashtag “OneLove”.

Source: bhaskarlive.in

[presslakay]

Rencontre entre Garry Conille et le PM jamaïcain : la MMS au centre des discussions

Présent à New York pour participer à la 79e séance ordinaire de l’Assemblée Générale des Nations Unies, le Premier ministre, Dr Garry Conille a rencontré son homologue jamaïcain, Andrew Holness. Le déploiement des autres troupes jamaïcaines en Haïti dans le cadre de la MMS a été au centre des ouragans. Depuis vendredi dernier, conduit par une délégation composée de son chef de cabinet, Dr Nesmy…

[x-b-s]

PRIME MINISTER ANDREW HOLNESS RODE THE BUS TO SCHOOL WITH THE CHILDREN O...

[clemsfilmdiary]

Ruby Herring Mysteries: Her Last Breath (2019, Fred Gerber)

Ruby Herring Mystery #2

7/18/23

[harryandmeghansussex]

The Duke and Duchess with Jamaican PM Andrew Holness and his wife Juliet.

[argyrocratie]

"When I first went to Jamaica in 2012 as a graduate student studying the environmental politics of the Maroons, an Afro-Indigenous community who freed themselves from enslavement in the 18th century and established an autonomous society in the mountainous interior of the island, Chinese overseas development policy seemed irrelevant to my work. Yet as my field research progressed over the following eight years, first as a doctoral student in African diaspora studies and then as a post-doctoral researcher, the impact of Chinese infrastructural development and extractive industry on the Jamaican people and environment became increasingly apparent.

The timing of my field work overlapped with an unprecedented surge in Chinese economic and diplomatic engagement with Jamaica and the Caribbean as a whole.

(...)

It is beyond the scope of this article to detail the political economic dynamics and immense social impact of debt in Jamaica over the last 40 years.4 Suffice it to say that the island became a byword for structural adjustment during this period, with every new loan from the World Bank, or default on payments thereof, coming with International Monetary Fund-mandated austerity.

Health and education were notable casualties of this socio-economic assault. By the start of my field research, Jamaican child mortality had almost doubled over the span of a single decade while completion of primary school dropped from 97% to 73% in the same period. This despite the fact that Jamaica had already repaid more money than it had been lent, with continuing debt servicing accounting for a 106% debt-to-GDP ratio according to the latest World Bank figures.

All this is only a small snapshot of the catastrophic outcomes of debt wielded as a tool of neocolonialism.

With the island’s status as one of the most indebted countries on the planet, Chinese infrastructural development was received with fanfare from Jamaican elites, a possible economic lifeline out of the debt trap.

(...)

Jamaican elites may appreciate that they can pay back debts with land, and that China does not directly require broad policy changes like the structural adjustment conditions of IMF and World Bank loans.

However, even with the above and the fact that the Jamaican debt to China is small compared to that claimed by Western IFIs and private firms, Jamaican politicians are growing increasingly wary of the costs of doing business with China. In November 2019, Prime Minister Andrew Holness announced that Jamaica would no longer borrow from China, a scant seven months after formally joining the BRI.

As usual, most Jamaicans are not privy to the inter-governmental discussions and deals driving these decisions, but their government’s newfound reticence in engaging with China reflects deeper concerns among BRI partners that the initiative is a debt trap.

(...)

Almost two decades of Chinese loans and infrastructure-led development have left Jamaican workers and farmers as precarious and dispossessed as ever. The hard-fought and generational struggle for Jamaican workers’ power (trade unions were instrumental to Jamaica’s independence struggle) has been curtailed and rolled back by China’s transposed sovereignty.

Furthermore, Chinese mining interests appear poised to pick up where their Western counterparts left off in terms of irreversible ecological destruction and threats to indigenous survival. Certainly, Jamaica cannot bear another 50 years of capitalist exploitation and extractive industry.

If there is any hope in turning this dire situation into revolutionary momentum, it will be in Jamaicans making common cause with the Chinese laborers imported to the country. According to China Labor Watch, Chinese workers on overseas BRI projects are often subject to “deceptive job ads, passport retention, wage withholding, physical violence and lack of contracts” to the extent of constituting forced labor and human trafficking.

In fact, at least one Chinese worker in Jamaica has already blown the whistle on such conditions. Unfortunately, as of the time of writing this article, there appears to be no organized effort to make solidaristic alliances among Jamaican workers, Chinese workers, and Maroons. The Maroons are organized as an indigenous community seeking land and sovereign rights, rather than workers seeking class emancipation, and remain locked in a fractious political battle with the Jamaican state toward those ends.

Furthermore, the cultural and language barriers between Jamaicans and imported Chinese workers are significant. Yet both countries have rich revolutionary traditions. If Jamaican labor militancy and Maroon struggle were able to reconcile and align their interests, while cultivating strategic allies among the heavily exploited Chinese workers, a powerful relationship of international solidarity from below could be forged."

...

[meghansbest]

The Duke and Duchess of Sussex pose with Jamaican Prime Minister, Andrew Holness and his wife, Juliet Holness during the Bob Marley: One Love movie premiere at the Carib Theatre in Kingston, Jamaica on January 23rd, 2024.

[saintmeghanmarkle]

Lady C Tea YouTube 1/25/24 (a few nuggets paraphrased by me)

Greetings from Castle Goring,

Lady C, the gruesome twosome made an appearance for the Bob Marley movie premiere in Jamaica. I am hoping you have something spicy to say about it. A friend of mine saw Harry and Meghan at the Half Moon hotel on Monday. They were being trailed by one photographer so I am sure we will see paparazzi photos of them. According to my friend who saw them, Harry had a scowl on his face and looked miserable. Meghan was loving everything and spoke to my friend. I don’t think Meghan knew who they were. My friend felt pity for Harry. Can you imagine….Harry has said many times he hates photographers yet everywhere they go, a photographer follows them. They were there for the Bob Marley biopic film which is backed by the Bob Marley estate. I hear the movie is very good and worth watching. This film is very important to Paramount Pictures. They had their CEO there, Brian Robbins and his wife, Tracy James. Brian is also the President of Nickelodeon. I understand Meghan was very eager to be photographed with them. Also there was Andrew Holness who is the Prime Minister of Jamaica, who we know was also photographed with Harry and Meghan. Shall we take the gloves off and discuss the nitty gritty? First of all, I was told she looked several shades darker than normal. Several people commented how fake tan she looked and felt she did this deliberately to showcase her African heritage. Many people were offended by their presence. Harry and Meghan were the President and Vice President of the Commonwealth Trust and felt Harry and Meghan could do nothing positive for the Commonwealth – only race bait. I have covered in a previous video how Meghan’s race baiting ruined William and Catherine’s trip to Jamaica. This placed Andrew Holness into a difficult position. Meghan and Harry only took a photograph. By the way, Meghan was not invited to the premiere. She was #6 on the call sheet for Suits. #1 on the call sheet for Suits would have been invited. Harry was invited. Anyway, people are up in arms about this visit – in Britain and Jamaica. People were wondering why there were there at all? They had nothing to do with the movie. Did you notice how Meghan was a good mother for her kids on the night of the Living Legends award? <parody begin> “I am not getting my closeup, you aren’t getting my presence. Just make sure you put John Travolta in his place for dining out on Mom’s memory. Who does he think he is? He is not a star. Saturday Night Fever? Grease? I was the star of Suits. <end of parody> I have spoken to a lot of people. Harry was invited to this premiere – not Meghan. Ironically, this is what the QEII wanted Harry to do. She wanted Harry to visit the Commonwealth and encourage racial inclusivity. The people in Jamaica used to really like Harry and they still consider him a member of the Royal Family. Harry was viewed as a member of the Royal Family attending the premiere. Meghan’s mixed race heritage is helpful for the Royal Family. So very oddly, this came off like a Royal visit. In the 1950’s, Jamaica has at the head of racial inclusivity. Andrew Holness is a politician and politicians like to be #1. He has to take the view that Jamaica should be a republic. He is a centrist and we don’t know what he really thinks about things privately. Most Jamaicans don’t care if the country is a republic or a monarchy because they will still be in the Commonwealth. And the Royal Family is very supportive of Jamaica either way.

This Redditors Note: Lady C went into tremendous detail about the people she knows in Jamaica, the politics, and Jamaican culture. She is very proud of her heritage so please watch the video if you would like to hear her entire remarks.

Lady C, there is a comment on Quora that Harry and Meghan are no longer living together. Well as I said, Harry was seen on Monday and he looked miserable. Meghan looked very happy. I don’t like to listen to gossip. I think they are two peas of the same pod. “They are bound by their failings and it’s not that easy to escape from them when HIS children are involved.”

Lady C, so a sick child did not stop them from flying to Jamaica? When will they realize people can see through their lies? People like them never learn. People with their disorders are incapable of learning, it is part of the sickness. People like Meghan think they are so clever and so able to hoodwink everybody. Harry and Meghan are an exhibition in dupes who think they are duping but really they are only duping themselves and each other.

Lady C, are Harry and Meghan trying to undermine King Charles with the visit to Jamaica? It seems they are trying to get work with Nickelodeon. Does think mean they are not able to get work from WME? I suspect Harry and Meghan would have open delight if they could damage the monarchy. I don’t think they could ever destroy the monarchy and I think what is happening is they are only destroying themselves. I don’t think they do anything unless there is something in it for them. They didn’t attend this premiere to hurt the King, they did it to enrich themselves in some way. William Morris Endeavor hasn’t been able to get Meghan anything have they? Nickelodeon knows they can’t turn nickel into platinum. It is a diminishing level for both of them. Don’t think they didn’t go to Jamaica without incentives. And the incentives are becoming less and less. The incentives they would have had 4 years ago would have been much higher.

Lady C, at the Living Legends dinner there is video of Harry being shown his table and you can clearly see him say, “I am expected to sit here?” Could it be that he acted out on the podium? Quite possibly. He was definitely off his demeanor and upset about something. We don’t know exactly why Harry was off that night. Could have been a combination of things including Meghan’s absence. <Parody Begin> H - I have to stay home and take care of the babies. You know the babies that I carried for 18 months a piece. I am a wonder of nature. I carried the babies for 18 months each and returned to the figure I had!!! <end of parody>

Lady C clarified a story that (on the night she danced with John Travolta) Princess Diana really wanted to dance with Mikhail Baryshnikov but he had surgery on his knee and could not dance. Nancy Reagan arranged for John Travolta to ask Diana to dance. She also danced with Clint Eastwood, Neil Diamond, Tom Selleck and President Reagan that same evening.

Lady C says Harry colludes with Meghan for publicity whether he likes it or not. And their appearance in Jamaica created publicity for the movie which is why they were invited. Their presence does not impact Jamaica positively or adversely. Harry and Meghan are all about publicity.

Toodles Sinners!

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author: daisybeach23

submitted: January 26, 2024 at 09:15AM via SaintMeghanMarkle on Reddit

[ingek73]

Harry and Meghan in Jamaica are soft-power dynamite. Britain is left with kryptonite William and Kate

Nels Abbey

At times like these, it’s clear that the Sussexes represent a missed opportunity for a UK that needs friends in the world

Fri 26 Jan 2024 11.25 CET

Left to right: the Duchess and Duke of Sussex; the Jamaican prime minister, Andrew Holness, and his wife, Juliet; and its culture minister, Olivia Grange, at the premiere of Bob Marley: One Love in Kingston on 23 January 2024. Photograph: Jason Koerner/Getty Images for Paramount Pictures,

A popular Nigerian adage says “the cow never knows the value of its tail until it is chopped off”. In many tragic ways, this speaks to today’s Britain. From EU membership, to competent leadership, to low inflation, it seems necessary for Britain to lose things to appreciate their importance.

This week, look at Prince Harry and Meghan being feted in Jamaica. See the soft-power skills they carry with them, and think about that Nigerian adage.

In much of the British media, Harry and Meghan are all-year panto villains. But around the world, they could not be more loved – often for the very reasons they are despised in the British media. They are the soft power we could have enjoyed with the increasingly dominant, increasingly self-confident non-white world, especially the Commonwealth.

It’s not just that they are royals. Prince William and Kate headed to “no problem” Jamaica in 2022, and encountered problems aplenty. As their PR fiasco unfolded, they were derided for shaking hands with Jamaican children through wire fences, and for motoring viceroy-style through crowded streets in a fancy Land Rover. At the nightmare’s end, Jamaica basically handed Britain its P45, informing the royals of its intention to be a republic, to “move on”.

View image in fullscreenPrince Harry larks about with Olympic sprint champion Usain Bolt at the University of the West Indies in Jamaica, 2012. Photograph: John Stillwell/PA

Still, Harry has something the royals he left behind and the likes of Chillax Cameron can never have. He has familiarity, an ease with difference – and he has Meghan.

In 2012, he also had the love of the UK press and public. He was praised for his warm embrace of the then Jamaican PM, Portia Simpson-Miller, and was photographed larking about with Usain Bolt. “He has shown himself to be a natural ambassador, a diplomat in a very real sense – one hug from him has (at least partly) dissipated the bad feeling of generations … It is inconceivable that any other royal could have pulled this off quite so effectively,” gushed the Mail on Sunday.

‘God Save the King’ doesn’t fall from Jamaican lips so easily. Soon we’ll be a republic

Barbara Blake-HannahRead more

But that was then, before the British media’s own version of Orwell’s “two minutes hate” became a thing. Now, much of the press sees Harry and Meghan glad-handing and being glad-handed in Jamaica, surfing the love at the premiere of the Bob Marley biopic, and they don’t much like it. “Meghan and Harry pose next to anti-royal Jamaican prime minister who wants to ditch the monarchy and warned Wills and Kate they’ll never be king and queen of his nation – as Charles undergoes prostate surgery and the Princess of Wales recovers in hospital,” thundered the Mail. “The hubris of Harry and Meghan’s Jamaican photoshoot,” snorted the Spectator. “Crown fools: ‘Provocative’ Harry & Meghan spark royal row as they meet Jamaican politicians plotting to oust Charles as head of state,” jeered the Sun.

Britain understood Harry’s value and soft power in 2012, so what changed? Answer: Harry fell in love with, and married, a Black woman. That could have been a boon for this country, here and abroad; instead it’s a might-have-been. And what might have been to our reputational benefit is what has been happening in Jamaica.

The UK headlines and sour grapes tell you one thing: we messed up and we know it. Meghan was, and remains, soft-power dynamite, and all we have now is the soft-power kryptonite of Wills and Kate and the Windsor “firm” that spurned her. Still, that’s us: we never miss an opportunity to miss an opportunity.

Nels Abbey is a writer, broadcaster and former banker. He is the founder of Uppity: The Intellectual Playground

[battyaboutbooksreviews]

April 2024 Young Adult Book Releases

🦇 Good morning, my bookish bats. I hope you have a good book, delicious latte, and sweet snack within reach! No TBR is complete without a few young adult novels, and plenty were released in April! Here are a few YA releases to consider adding to your shelves.

[ List Under the Cut ]

🩷 April 2 🩷 ✨ Your Blood, My Bones - Kelly Andrew ✨ What If... Loki Was Worthy? - Madeleine Roux ✨ Fate Be Changed - Farrah Rochon ✨ No Going Back - Patrick Flores-Scott ✨ The Reappearance of Rachel Price - Holly Jackson ✨ Darker by Four - June C.L. Tan ✨ Draw Down the Moon - P.C. Cast & Kristin Cast ✨ The Black Girl Survives in This One ✨ Wrath of the Talon - Sophie Kim ✨ Every Time You Hear That Song - Jenna Voris ✨ Otherworldly - F.T. Lukens ✨ Misdirection of Fault Lines - Anna Gracia ✨ Something Kindred - Ciera Burch ✨ Hearts Still Beating - Brooke Archer ✨ Call Forth a Fox - Markelle Grabo

🩷 April 9 🩷 ✨ Teenage Dirtbags - James Acker ✨ Canto Contigo - Jonny Garza Villa ✨ Dragonfruit - Makiia Lucier ✨ The Final Curse of Ophelia Cray - Christine Calella ✨ Fog & Fireflies - T.H. Lehnen ✨ Against the Darkness - Kendare Blake ✨ The Darkness Rises - Stacy Stokes ✨ Right Here, Right Now - Shannon Dunlap ✨ The Last Love Song - Kalie Holford

🩷 April 16 🩷 ✨ To Gaze Upon Wicked Gods - Molly X. Chang ✨ Merciless Saviors - H.E. Edgmon ✨ Deep Is the Fen - Lili Wilkinson ✨ This Is Me Trying - Racquel Marie ✨ Calling of Light - Lori M. Lee ✨ Pretty Furious - E.K. Johnston ✨ Dear Wendy - Ann Zhao ✨ The Lady of Rapture - Sarah Raughley ✨ The End of Always - Rebecca Phillips ✨ The Kill Factor - Ben Oliver ✨ The Breakup Lists - Adib Khorram ✨ We're Never Getting Home - Tracy Badua ✨ The Harrowing - Kristen Kiesling & Rye Hickman ✨ King of Dead Things - Nevin Holness ✨ Sheine Lende - Darcie Little Badger & Rovina Cai ✨ The One That Got Away with Murder - Trish Lundy

🩷 April 23 🩷 ✨ Song of the Six Realms - Judy I. Lin ✨ Off With Their Heads - Zoe Hana Mikuta ✨ Blood Justice - Terry J. Benton-Walker ✨ Kill Her Twice - Stacey Lee ✨ Dark Parts of the Universe - Samuel Mille ✨ Finally Fitz - Marisa Kanter ✨ The Merciless King of Moore High - Lily Sparks ✨ Out of Blue Comes Green - M.E. Corey ✨ A Whisper in the Walls - Scott Reintgen ✨ Homebody - Theo Parish ✨ Punk Rock Karaoke - Bianca Xunise

🩷 April 30 🩷 ✨ To a Darker Shore - Leanne Schwartz ✨ The Vanishing Station - Ana Ellickson ✨ The Last Boyfriends Rules for Revenge - Matthew Hubbar ✨ What's Eating Jackie Oh? - Patricia Park ✨ Sound the Gong - Joan He ✨ Playing for Keeps - Jennifer Dugan ✨ Not Like Other Girls - Meredith Adamo ✨ The Notes - Catherine Con Morse ✨ I'll Be Waiting for You - Mariko Turk ✨ Pillow Talk - Stephanie Cooke & Mel Valentine ✨ Saint-Seducing Gold - Brittany N. Williams ✨ Where Was Goodbye? - Janice Lynn Mather ✨ The Lilies - Quinn Diacon-Furtado