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Book by John Maxwell
How to Make Our Own News: A Primer for Environmentalist and Journalists
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In Memory of John Maxwell
By Randall Robinson, et al
11 December 2010
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Death awaits us all, of course.Yet there are
some deaths that rip from the earth that
which is clear, that which is visionary,
that which is moral, that which is true.
John Maxwell is one of those whose rare
human beings, one of those rare souls, and
one of those rare minds whose death leaves
us naked. Bare. Smaller.
He is one of those whose death makes the
world seem more jumbled than it was before
because no matter how complex the challenge,
no matter how great the odds, no matter how
mighty the foe, on issues of right and
wrong, justice and injustice, truth and its
opposite, John Maxwell never tired.
Or, at least, he never withheld from the battle the
power of his extraordinarily impressive mind and his
clear, transcendent soul. And so, while he lived,
there was at least the hope that his insights,
warnings, and urgings would be heeded by those with
the power determine the path of nations—and indeed
the world. |
John’s life put into meaningful action the most sacred
precepts of all great religions, and indeed encapsulated
the old Haitian adage that “every human being is a human
being.” John has died. And the Caribbean is very much
the poorer for it. I mourn the loss of John, and extend
sincere condolences to his wife, his children, his
relatives, and all who knew and loved him.—Randall
Robinson
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John
Maxwell—a vanguard of democracy has left us
Prime Minister Bruce Golding has
lamented the passing yesterday (Dec 10) of
one of the Caribbean region's brightest and
most outspoken journalists, John Maxwell.
Describing him as one of the vanguards of
democracy, Prime Minister Golding said that
Maxwell, in his over 50 years as a
journalist, gained the utmost respect for
his fearless and outspoken views and
commentaries.'He lived life passionately and
took that same approach and dedication to
his profession as a journalist who managed
to exercise his craft in every area of the
media leaving his indelible mark. His death
is a tremendous loss to his profession', Mr
Golding said. |
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The Prime Minister has
extended condolence to his wife,
Dr Marjan deBruin, his children, members of his
family, his colleagues in the media and friends.
John Maxwell died after a long battle with lung
cancer.—Office
of PM
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PNP saddened by John Maxwell’s
passing
Opposition leader
Portia Simpson Miller has joined
the long list of persons extending
condolences at the passing of John
Maxwell. According to Simpson
Miller, for many Jamaicans, Maxwell
symbolized the consummate
advocate.She described him as
fearless in expressing his opinions.
The PNP President also portrayed
Maxwell’s wit as razor sharp and his
research acumen unquestionable. She
said the collection of articles,
papers and opinions he has written
throughout his career when collated
would certainly track and document
Jamaica’s Social, Environmental,
Political and Economic Development
over the last fifty years.Maxwell
died after a long battle with lung
cancer.
Maxwell was a columnist with the
Jamaica Observer and was also a lecturer at the
Caribbean Institute of Media and Communication,
University of the West Indies, Mona.—Go-Jamaica |
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Journalists remember 'fearless warrior'
John Maxwell
The
Press Association of Jamaica [PAJ] today
paid tribute to John Maxwell who died
yesterday after a long battle with
illness and more than 50 years working
in journalism, the last two decades of
which were spent advocating for
environmental protection. In a statement
this morning, PAJ president
Jenni Campbell hailed Maxwell as
“one of the longest shining beacons of
the profession, a strident defender of
truth, a fearless warrior for justice
and a stalwart of the profession.” In
his tribute, past president
Desmond Richards, remembered him as
an “indefatigable fighter for press
freedom and the rights of the small man
to access to the media. He is
irreplaceable.”
Claude Robinson, who was John’s co-worker at the
Jamaica Broadcasting Corporation during the
1960s and 1970s, said that he “wore his journalism
on his sleeve. He was brave, courageous and
inquisitive.” |
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Robinson recalled Maxwell as a “believer in the
developmental use of radio to empower voiceless
people”, noting that he pioneered radio talk show
with Public Eye, where he launched a campaign on
behalf of domestic helpers, and ultimately
influenced the introduction of the national minimum
wage policy.
Retired Gleaner
Editor-in-Chief
Ken Allen, who along with John were among the
first set of trainee journalists employed by
The Gleaner
in the early 1950s, remembers him as a “brilliant
writer and a lively, bright fellow who was not
afraid of arguing or challenging other points of
view.” The PAJ said that it mourned Maxwell's death
and encouraged his family to take comfort in his
journalistic legacy—JamaicaObserver
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John Maxwell had a special relationship
with Haiti. At Ezili's HLLN he was our
living library, an energy so
knowledgeable and immersed in the life
and history of African people's
liberation journey the world over,
especially the Haiti struggle; an energy
so connected to the Ancestors' goodness,
courage and force, he was them in the
flesh to us. Not since Boukman in 1791
has Haiti owned such a warrior from
Jamaica. He was ours. John Maxwell used
his pen to speak and educate all of us
about struggles for peace and justice in
every part of the world. Certainly, HLLN
and Haiti had no greater an
international collaborator, or more
valuable a resource than the mind and
soul of John Maxwell. On this global
terrain, we pay John Maxwell tribute as
the Ezili Network continues to step up
and face the demented minds vying for
the souls of Black folks in Haiti just
like John always did. It was only when
he got so sick he could write no more
that he stopped. John was 76 years old
when he transitioned, but for weeks
before, I'd been thinking "no way on
earth would John not be writing
something in the Jamaican Observer about
the UN importing cholera to Haiti if he
was alright." |
No way! We missed his voice, we
surely did, even before Papa Legba opened the door
at the Great Crossroads between the visible and
invisible, between perishable flesh and eternal
spirit to usher the irreducible essence of our John
to join the line of
African ancestors going back to the beginning of
time.
He watches over us now, and no
matter how somber our days are now in UN-occupied
Haiti, we know for sure, death is not the worst
thing that can happen to a human being, a life
living on your knees as a mass-produced Zombi is.
John Maxwell's everlasting light and life example
shall guides us so we remain conscious, no matter
the graven images the world's powerful hoarders push
the poor and less powerful toendure. Ginen poze.—Ezili
Dantò
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John Maxwell is dead—The
gladiator-journalist fought to his last
breath—By
Desmond Allen, Executive Editor
Jamaica Observer—John William
Maxwell, the gladiator-journalist whose
biting pen helped to shape a generation
of news men and women, took his last
breath at 5:15 pm yesterday, aged 76.
Maxwell, regarded as the journalist's
journalist, suffered respiratory failure
after slugging it out with lung cancer
which he battled with customary courage
since 2008."He died very peacefully at
home," his Netherlands-born wife of 20
years, Dr Marjan deBruin, said last
night. "John died the way he would have
wanted, not lingering on given his weak
condition," she told the Observer.
Maxwell who spoke openly about his
smoking and drinking, once describing
himself as a member of a group of
university "thinkers and drinkers", had
given up both, saying, "I had done
enough for the industry." But
apparently too late. He fought the
cancer vigorously, including two visits
for treatment in the Netherlands. On his
second visit, he was told by doctors
they could do no more to fight the
cancer, and Maxwell chose to return home
to end his days in his beloved Jamaica. |
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As a
demonstration of the love and admiration he enjoyed,
Maxwell was able to raise US$80,000 in less than a
week to meet the cost of an air ambulance to bring
him home as he could not travel by commercial
airline.
Gordon "Butch" Stewart, who was among those who
helped to bring Maxwell back to Jamaica and was a
long-time admirer of the journalistic iconoclast,
said last night the news had left him in shock. "The
passing of John Maxwell represents an event of
seismic proportions in the journalism profession. I
have known John a long time. He worked alongside my
father who was chief engineer at the then
Jamaica Broadcasting Corporation (JBC)
where the two were inseparable," said Stewart.
Maxwell was born in a house at
Duncans, Trelawny, which slaves a century or so
before had lovingly built for the Baptist missionary
William Knibb, after the anti-abolitionist planters
had burnt his home to the ground. He was born into a
family of politicians. His father was a Baptist
pastor and politician; and two maternal uncles were
(JLP) Members of the House of Representatives. His
mother, the former
Zelma Thelwell, was one of Jamaica's first
fashion designers.
Maxwell won deep admiration among his peers and his
compatriots at large for his fearless journalism, in
which he faced down prime ministers, was fired more
than any other reporter and ended up preparing
future journalists at the
University of the West Indies, Mona in St
Andrew. His journalism odyssey, which began at the
Gleaner in 1959 after he left Jamaica College and
Calabar, meanders through an unending series of
colourful, often controversial anecdotes, pregnant
with historical significance.
"Trenchant, fearful of no one, fully armed and
suited up to do battle at the drop of a hat, Maxwell
is a type of gladiator wielding a merciless pen,"
was how one interviewer described him.
Eli Matalon, the former PNP security minister,
clearly driven to distraction, once described
Maxwell as "an over-educated Rasta". After The
Gleaner, he edited the Public Opinion newspaper
which was owned by the People's National Party (PNP)
but secured his place in the annals of journalism
when he started and hosted the Public Eye talk show
on JBC radio.
An often exasperating host, Maxwell opened his
microphone to thousands of powerless domestic
helpers—many slaving away in shameless households—by
inspiring a National Minimum Wage. In later years,
he built up an even greater following with his
weekly column, Common Sense in the Sunday Observer,
which he used to wage a long, often biting campaign
for the recognition of Haiti.
Maxwell is survived by his wife and two children,
Matthew, director of a small corporate communication
company, and Katy, a film animator, both from a
previous marriage.—JamaicaObserver
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John Maxwell: A gladiator wielding a merciless
pen
By
Desmond Allen
John Maxwell Table
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Media and Violence in Jamaica
Edited by
Marjan deBruin and Claude Robinson
The
review of research on the impact of
media and violence on children and
juveniles is particularly noteworthy and
supports the intuitive understanding of
the influence the media must exert in
the development of what Garbarino (1995)
calls the social maps children construct
and which guide their behaviour. Many
children today cannot sit still for ten
minutes without an I Pod, an MP3 player,
a Game Boy or a TV movie and the
explicit portrayals of murder,
person-on-person violence and violent
sex acts in films, television, video
games, and the lyrics of popular songs
convey images of violence as being part
of the normal pattern of interpersonal
interaction and relationships. |
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When violent events and known
violent offenders are given prominence in the print
media and interviewed on radio as well as
television, mixed messages are sent to children who
now see violent behaviour as a means of capturing
public attention and gaining prominence. The
de-sensitization of young people to violence and its
effects is an important outcome of such exposure,
and it can irreparably damage their psychological
and emotional development.—Emerita Professor Elsa Leo-Rhynie, Former Principal, The University of
the West Indies
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Sex at the Margins
Migration, Labour Markets and the Rescue Industry
By Laura María Agustín
This book explodes several myths: that selling sex is completely different from any other kind of work, that migrants who sell sex are passive victims and that the multitude of people out to save them are without self-interest. Laura Agustín makes a passionate case against these stereotypes, arguing that the label 'trafficked' does not accurately describe migrants' lives and that the 'rescue industry' serves to disempower them. Based on extensive research amongst both migrants who sell sex and social helpers, Sex at the Margins provides a radically different analysis. Frequently, says Agustin, migrants make rational choices to travel and work in the sex industry, and although they are treated like a marginalised group they form part of the dynamic global economy. Both powerful and controversial, this book is essential reading for all those who want to understand the increasingly important relationship between sex markets, migration and the desire for social justice. "Sex at the Margins rips apart distinctions between migrants, service work and sexual labour and reveals the utter complexity of the contemporary sex industry. This book is set to be a trailblazer in the study of sexuality."—Lisa Adkins, University of London |
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Sister Citizen: Shame, Stereotypes, and Black Women in
America
By Melissa V.
Harris-Perry
According to the
author, this society has historically exerted
considerable pressure on black females to fit into one
of a handful of stereotypes, primarily, the Mammy, the
Matriarch or the Jezebel. The selfless
Mammy’s behavior is marked by a slavish devotion to
white folks’ domestic concerns, often at the expense of
those of her own family’s needs. By contrast, the
relatively-hedonistic Jezebel is a sexually-insatiable
temptress. And the Matriarch is generally thought of as
an emasculating figure who denigrates black men, ala the
characters Sapphire and Aunt Esther on the television
shows Amos and Andy and Sanford and Son, respectively.
Professor Perry
points out how the propagation of these harmful myths
have served the mainstream culture well. For instance,
the Mammy suggests that it is almost second nature for
black females to feel a maternal instinct towards
Caucasian babies.
As for the source
of the Jezebel, black women had no control over their
own bodies during slavery given that they were being
auctioned off and bred to maximize profits. Nonetheless,
it was in the interest of plantation owners to propagate
the lie that sisters were sluts inclined to mate
indiscriminately.
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The White Masters of the
World
From
The World and Africa, 1965
By W. E. B. Du Bois
W. E. B. Du Bois’
Arraignment and Indictment of White Civilization
(Fletcher)
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Ancient African Nations
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Enjoy!
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The Death of Emmett Till by Bob Dylan
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The Lonesome Death of Hattie Carroll
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Only a Pawn in Their Game
Rev. Jesse Lee Peterson Thanks America for
Slavery /
George Jackson /
Hurricane Carter
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The Journal of Negro History issues at Project Gutenberg
The
Haitian Declaration of Independence 1804
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January 1, 1804 -- The Founding of
Haiti
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12 December 2010
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