Dear Andy,,

Grateful of your support for SDB in general, and my efforts in particular, I am running this by you before sending it off to destinations yet unknown within the sphere of Namibia.

I haven't checked for typos or edited it yet. Just want to get your general sense of it. I see that both Namibia and Jamaica have mutual consuls in our nations, and I wonder about resulting collusion with our distressing PM. There are direct Namibian coast and tourism contacts, but I'll get to that.

So here goes:



NAMIBIA



Jamaica Needs Your Help



"Jamaica, in the 1970s, like it was in the case of Nelson Mandela's African National Congress in South Africa, FRELIMO in Mozambique, the MPLA in Angola, and ZANU-PF in Mozambique, was a loud and moral voice in support of SWAPO's quest for the overthrow of apartheid and the creation of a non-racial, independent and democratic country. Many Namibians were invited to train in Jamaica." (saw this online. can get reference)


Namibia and Jamaica have close ties. A major street in Namibia's capital has been named Marcus Garvey Way, after Jamaica's most visionary beeckon of African dignity and independence. But in the meantime, Jamaica has been sliding ever deeper into moral decline, as Chinese imperial interests destroy its heritage and international corporatocracy wipes away ever more of its natural and cultural patrimony.


I am the founding administrator of a Facebook group called "Restoring St. Ann's Bay." St. Ann's Bay is the birthplace of Marcus Garvey. Mr. Garvey learned the trade of printing in my grandfather's printing office. My grandfather was also his godfather and lifelong mentor and friend. Born in St. Ann's Bay myself, I feel a great responsibility to maintain the legacies of Mr. Garvey and my own grandfather.


It is with pride that I note Namibia's achievement as being the only country in the world to have its entire coast protected, for I think this also ties into Garvey vision for a great emergent Africa.


St. Ann's Bay, the capital of Jamaica's largest parish, the site of the Spanish first landing, and settlement of Seville in 1506, and Jamaica's oldest capital, has been sidelined by neighboring Ocho Rios, one of Jamaica's leading tourist meccas. It epitomises a sun and beach, all-inclusive-hotel,  and cruise ship style tourism at the expense of history, environment and proper coastal management. A by-product of this tourism model is the despoliation of coastal ecology, loss of the people's access to beach, harm to fisheries, and destructive types of entertainment based on the cruise ship culture.

I am writing you to emphasize one particular development. It is Dolphin Cove dolphinarium, which is being strongly opposed by local fisheries, the marine sanctuary in which it is located, and local homeowners, who's part-time rental to tourists (and quality of life) will be hurt by the trend to degrade sea grasses, clean water, and coral that dolphinaria are known to cause. To say nothing of the inappropriate confinement  and trivializing of one of natures most intelligent wild creatures. .


It is my mission, following in the footsteps of your nation, to turn the entire north coast of St. Ann Parish into a protected coastal district in the spirit of prideful, rigorous Garveyite governance.


We need your help. We hope you can tell us how to circulate our petition against Dolphin Cove--in the St. Ann village of Discovery Bay--widely among coastal advocates and others in your country. Beyond that, we hope for ways to form alliances, as appropriate, with the Namibian government and other relevant institution and communities within it.


PETITION