By Curtis Campbell—

Tourism State Minister Damion Crawford believes the move to create a law which will force local artists to refrain from creating music with content that is deemed as being violent is based on prejudice against dancehall music.

According to the minister, who defends dancehall against its many critics, there is no evidence of a correlation between the genre and violence.

The minister, who recently won a selecting clash against Daryl Vaz, says he witnessed several clashes at Sting which were not violent.

He also indicated that it was hypocrisy to say that dancehall contributed to violence when the same is not being said of cartoons, movies and games with violent content.

“It starts from the premise that there is no research, which shows that the consumption of violent media leads to criminal activities. It is merely an assumption, and it is also an assumption that a reduction of violent media will reduce criminal activity,” Minister Crawford said.

He believes the sections of the anti-gang legislation and its target on the music industry is based on the ignorance of some individuals involved. “Most people who have a prejudice against dancehall do not have an understanding of it,” he said.

The minister also questioned what the long-term benefit would be, of creating a law that only impacts the capacity of Jamaican artists to sing songs that are regarded as being violent, when there are other genres internationally that have similar content which Jamaicans are exposed, to such as rap and rock music.

The minister also questioned if there would be a ban on Flow’s cable, Carib Theatre, books with violent content, YouTube.com, among other media outlets that portray violence to some extent.

“Most songs that have violent music have to do with a clash or some rivalry in the music because it’s a competitive field. For example, Vybz Kartel and Mavado’s rivalry which saw the creation of several songs to defend themselves musically. Artists portray themselves as fictitious villains or heroes like Batman, and they don’t literally mean that they are going to kill each other,” he said.

He also believes the ‘no informer culture’ was constituted by the loyalty some Jamaicans have to dons because of the power they wield over citizens, as well as their political ties. According to Crawford, many people tune in to media with violent content, yet they are not impacted, which is an indication that saying violent media leads to violent behaviour is illogical.

“If I say 70 per cent of adults in Jamaica consume violent music, that should mean that 70 per cent of Jamaicans are criminals, and that is not so. Therefore, the logic does not add up,” Crawford said.

Questionable aspects

The minister is, therefore, asking local artists to get more organised and voice their concerns to the public in order to prevent questionable aspects of the anti-gang bill from being passed, because it may have serious effects on the music industry.

Minister Crawford also disclosed that the entertainment registry is already complete and will take full effect by January 15, 2014.

Earlier this year, board member of the Peace Management Initiative and sociology lecturer, Horace Levy, argued that the anti-gang bill, titled the ‘Suppression of Criminal Organisations Act, 2013’, will fail to put a dent in criminal activities, but will, instead, promulgate the long-time tradition of policing along race and class lines.

Crawford