George Floyd

May your demise be an emblem of finality and change to the history of black oppression and racial division in the United States of America, and one which will inspire human equality worldwide. – Ian T. Sebàs –

Swiss Labour Market Is Bias

I read in the newspaper, Tages Anzeiger, today, that the national unemployment rate for Switzerland has fallen to 2.7% and my first reaction was, “Have you ever read more BS than this right here?”

2.7%, really?

“Of the reported eight million, three hundred and seventy-two thousand people living in Switzerland, am I to believe that only 226,044 are unemployed?”

With this number calculating for every young and old person, men, women and children, the published 2.7% is either a lie, a figure to acclaim national false pride or one accounting only to Swiss-born individuals.

As an Ausländer (foreigner), who have lived and relentlessly sought jobs in Switzerland, years at a time, without success, I felt as if it is my duty not to only challenge the published 2.7% unemployment rate, but to highlight a hidden fact, that if this number is indeed true, then foreigners such as myself are not being counted as a part of the Swiss population.

Switzerland’s employment opportunities are as much in existence as the prejudicial gateways to reach them; in other words, jobs are available in Switzerland, but not to everyone, despite being qualified or unqualified.

The labour market in Switzerland might be regulated by Swiss laws and its government, but it is controlled by business owners and private boards; therefore, it is not only the political monopoly which denies qualified foreigners of suitable employment, but it is the mindset of the people, who resides in Switzerland.

And although the Swiss social service and its welfare provisions could be considered a consolation, in Switzerland, where 99% of government aid recipients are Ausländers, it is also a transparent view that a serious bias exist in the Swiss labour market.

Qualified foreigners, such as myself, of colour are ridiculed when an application for a job matching our educational qualification is submitted. We are rejected 99.9% of the time without reasons and the other 0.01%, we are noted as overqualified; either way, we will never get the job.

Most educated Black foreigners are denied suitable jobs and are forced to settle for menial employments, not because other jobs aren’t available, but because it is a great part of the Swiss labour market’s culture that Ausländers, especially Blacks, are only good for unskilled work, such as cleaning.

In Switzerland, if one should look closely, there is an employment tier system, which is blatantly structured by prejudice and some levels of racism.

The tier from an up to down direction is colour graded from white skin to black skin, so you will find the whitest of Whites at the top jobs and the blackest of Blacks at the bottom jobs; these positions equally reflects cleanliness of work and pay grades.

Interestingly, this bias has extended its way into the welfare support system of Switzerland too. In most cases, when an individual is being financially supported by the Swiss government, it is usually required that the recipient participates in a work integration.

Work integration is only a decorative term for slave labour, where the individual works 70% to 100%, doing actual work, but receives no more than a third of what the job would pay in a normal situation.

The bias can be seen where different job sectors, from recycling garbage to being in an office environment, are included in the integrational program; again, placements in these sectors are colour graded, without an income difference.

With these acquired findings, I challenge the Tages Anzeiger and any individual or organization to prove different.

© Ian T. Sebàs 2018

Jamaica for Sale

“Sold to the highest bidder!” is usually what’s heard at auctions, after a number of proposed bids have been crushed by he, who is willing to pay the most.

It has always been rumored that the government of Jamaica is a “sellout”; despite which party is in power, the term “sellout” is usually invisibly affixed among the other fancy initials, which follow the names of politicians.

The Jamaican people are saying that, those in charge, are currently offering the Country for sale.

But the last time I checked, Jamaica was a democratic country, and whether it is being ran by the Jamaica Labor Party or the People’s National Party, democracy is its consistent statue.

In recent times, with the aid of social sites, Jamaicans have been airing their opinions online via blogs and vlogs, an obvious exercise of their democratic right, freedom of expression.

Still, most of these expressions are mere comments on suspicion that Jamaica’s Members of Parliament are making deals with outsiders, selling lands and rights for cash, without given notice to or consent from the Jamaican citizens.

A Suh It Guh!

Usually, these commentators and moaners are only seeking a ‘like’ to their published comment, online, or an echo in its favor; therefore, the Jamaican Government is never threatened or moved by these publications, which are often closed with, “A suh it guh”.

Ignorance Is No Excuse

Jamaica, like all other democratic States in the world, is governed by law, and in every Country, including Jamaica, ignorance of the law is never an excuse.

Jamaicans are often heard saying, “Mi nevva did kno dat.”(“I was not aware of that.”)

It is clear that the citizens, who refers to the Government as ‘those in charge’ do not understand their democratic rights and powers as citizens.

Fact is, there are a vast number of Jamaicans, who do not know or understand the constitution of the country, a fault of their own. And as long as they remain ignorant, those who know that they are unaware of their rights as citizens, will forever take advantage.

A common practice, seen by most Jamaicans, is giving treatment to representatives of their constituencies as if they (the representatives) are doing them (the citizens) favors, while being oblivious to the fact that the Member of Parliament works for them, and at any given time, they (the citizens) can petition for change.

If Jamaica is in fact being sold to the highest bidder, it is being sold by all Jamaicans, living in Jamaica, and not only by the Country’s government members; lastly, the sadness of this speculation being real, would be that the profits from a sold country, belonging to an approximate six million people, worldwide, would be going into the pockets of less than one hundred.

© Ian T. Sebàs 2018

Who Watches Porn?

There was a big hullabaloo over a British politician, who was discovered watching porn at work; apparently, the discovery happened a long time ago, but for some scandalous reasons, the police officer, who is now retired, decided that it was the right time to make it an addition to the evening news.

Despite having opinions on both, the police officer’s and the politician’s behaviour, the part that struck me the most was the public’s sneered reactions on the whole idea of watching porn.

Watching porn on the job, especially on the company’s computer, is an assumed established prohibition, by most, unless the company’s business is actually in porn, and for this, I side with all, who shunned the politician’s behaviour at work.

But, typical British, they were in utter denial and displayed pure disgust on the idea of watching sex films, in general.

Gone are the days when porn was scarce and could only be attained in magazines and on VHS tapes.

Today, porn is everywhere, we don’t even have to go looking for it anymore, because it is online; porn is so prevalent now, that it sometimes enters our lives, uninvited.

Without strict settings of our internet browsers, search engines will throw porn in our faces from the most innocent search words.

Search words such as tossing salads, pussycat, blowing, snatch, Dick, handy job, 69 and so on will have you apologizing to your colleagues and children, who saw the results.

So, it is clear that not all of us, who watches porn, deliberately searched for its subject or typed known addresses into our browsers.

As much as I have watched porn for reasons of research and could hide behind that guise, professionally, I have equally watched porn out of curiosity and to be entertained; I guess that confession puts me in the 1%.

But what amazes me the most, after watching the news, was the known footprints that viewers leave online versus the percentage of people in the UK, who denied watching porn.

See, years ago, when a person bought an erotic magazine, the only other person, who knew about it, was the cashier, then it was quickly tucked into a brown paper bag, before being hidden in a secret place at home.

Online porn does not offer such privilege. Instead, it displays how many times a pornographic video has been watched, and if the need to know arises, someone, somewhere, out there knows exactly, which home, computer, tablet and or mobile phone was used to view the video; that is the price being paid for watching porn, today, online.

And despite this clear evidence, majority of the people in the UK denied ever watching porn online.

Alarmingly, some of these videos receive viewing hits ranging in the millions and depending on one’s location or porn search keywords, filters allow viewers to find only British porn, and like the viewing hits, British pornography videos are available in abundance too.

Still, despite the British porn-stars and the online footprints, left by UK viewers, no one there watches porn.

Porn – sexual intimacy captured on camera and displayed for viewing pleasure. Porn is legal in most countries of the world and usually ranges from soft to hardcore themes, performed by consenting adults.

Some pornographic videos are illegal to be produced and or viewed, including those with under-age and non-consenting performers; a legal responsibility is required from both viewers and producers.

Sex has always been a powerful subject of interest to humans and because of this, our existence continues to regenerate.

Humans are among the few creatures on Earth, who uses sexual intercourse for pleasure and the only known creature to find pleasure in watching others have sex.

And for this reason, online porn will forever receive hits in the millions, despite our denial.

© Ian T. Sebàs 2017

© Ian T. Sebàs

Jerk Chicken – Wrong Bang

Jerk Chicken is definitely one of Jamaica’s most renowned foods, alongside ackee and salt fish and patties. But if truth be told or faced, Jamaica’s Jerk Chicken, in the twenty-first century, deserves a “wrong bang”.

A Wrong Bang in Jamaican patois is a red X, given to failed, wrong or discredited results. Keeping in line with it’s definition, I have titled this article, Jerk Chicken – Wrong Bang, for a variety of reasons, starting with the fact that 90% of jerk chicken being prepared and sold in Jamaica and around the world are being done wrong.

Being Jamaican does not make a person knowledgeable or professionally versed in this particular area of cooking, but as for myself, a Jamaican born in the 70’s, I was fortunate to be around when the original practice of creating Jerk Chicken was still rife. And I say ‘creating’ instead of ‘cooking’ because that is what the original Jerk Chicken represented: creative food.

Jerk Chicken is one of those many meals that require great labouring, but consumed in minutes.

At face value, it appears to be an unfair investment of labour versus eating, but knowledge of its unique and delicious taste kept the creative tradition lingering among old-schoolers for centuries until its current status.

The practice known to me was usually done outdoor, it required a minimum of four sizeable rocks or cement blocks and pimento sticks to create a makeshift fire-bed, a few sheets of zinc metal and the following:

• Pimento
• Scotch Bonnet peppers
• Black Pepper
• Dark Sugar
• Nutmeg
• Scallion
• Thyme
• Onions
• Cinnamon
• Garlic
• Ginger
• Salt

After all these ingredients were acquired, the chicken would be rubbed vigorously before leaving to marinate for varied lengths at a time.

Jamaican Jerk Chicken, originally, is a ‘no filtered’ meal; by standard, it is a meat with peppers and spices embedded in it.

Recent times have brought the innovation of bottled Jerk Seasoning and a decline of sourcing individual natural ingredients; this was the first step in changing a creative cooking style, which had stood among Jamaicans for generations.

Pan Chicken, a new Jamaican practice, is an imitation of the U.S. barbecue chicken style, which uses Jerk Sauce instead of barbecue sauce and is often advertised as Jerk Chicken.

This was the second biggest blow to the infamous Jamaican Jerk Chicken and its culture. Pan Chicken practically created an easy way out of the hard labour required for creating Jerk Chicken, by using metal barrels, known as drum pans, in Jamaica, to create makeshift barbecue grills, eradicating the culture of rocks, cement blocks and some outdoor cooking.

This new practice has managed to dwindle a rich creative signature, which normally required a minimum of twelve ingredients, two hours of fire-pit preparation and constant monitoring, to a mere three-step: (1) A makeshift barbecue grill (2) A bottle of Jerk Seasoning and (3) Chicken.

And along with the dwindling of the required labour and ingredients, came the dwindling of a longstanding and original taste; Jerk Chicken has vanished.

As Jerk Chicken and its unforgettable taste loses its presence to the changes in practice, its origin is being furthered insulted and discredited:

Recently, while visiting Jamaica, I went to one of its highly recommended Jerk Huts and ordered a quarter pound of Jerk Chicken, and while eating, what I would describe as bland, dry, grilled chicken, I asked “Is this Jerk Chicken?”

Someone replied, “Yes!”

My next question was, “Why is it so dry?”

They replied, “You didn’t ask for sauce!”

Sauce?! This was mind-blowing to me; the only sauces I had ever seen accompanying Jerk Chicken, were ketchup or pickled-pepper sauce, but this person was not referring to either of those two sauces.

Jerk Chicken is now served separately from the ingredients and spices, which should be a part of its marination, allowing natural succulence.

Sadly, Jerk Chicken has long left the island of Jamaica and its culture, replaced by replicas, bearing its name.

This revelation is a great shame that such an original and delicious food will not be experienced by the extended generations of Jamaica and visitors to the island, and although this ugly truth is seemingly out of my control, I hope that my article provides guilt to those, who are aiding the change, and the original practice of Jerk Chicken will resume.

© Ian T. Sebàs 2018

© Ian T. Sebàs

Life Last versus Lost Life

“Does Jamaica finds pride when its death toll outnumbers the previous year’s?”

Logically, that should be an absurd question, but a closer look will quickly void all views of lucidity.

While most countries of the world, in particularly Japan, takes pride in the growth and maintenance of its population and utter shame in death tolls, when it comes to Jamaica, it is unclear about its feelings towards the deaths of Jamaican citizens.

A blatant disregard of human life was recently aired on Jamaica’s television, CVM, gained extended views on social media and caught my attention when it was posted on Facebook.

The video which showed a blurred image of a man, who was shot, laying on the ground and struggling to stay alive, while surrounded by police officers, made me sick to my stomach as I watched in disbelief and listened to the voices of off-cam bystanders, uttering their resentment for what they were witnessing.

It is one of the most inhumane and disgusting footage I have ever watched, online, and the Jamaica Constabulary Force should be condemned for such stance.

I say “one of” because this follows a video footage, which was also posted online, recently, by teenagers in the USA, who giggled and uttered words of disregard, while filming a drowning man.

It appears that the teens were high on drugs and or alcohol, at the time, and although this does not justify their actions nor provide a clear understanding, those factors coupled with their undeveloped, youthful brains could at least bring us to a perception’s stalemate.

But I refuse to put responsible adults, who are trusted to serve as a part of a country’s national security, in the same category as ignorant juveniles.

Police officers are put in place, by government bodies, for citizens and visitors to feel safe within a country, and by safe this includes, serving as a refuge and protecting life, by all means necessary; thus, to stand by and do nothing as a fellow human being bleeds out profusely, making no attempt to aid him, must warrant being a crime, somewhere between the pages of Jamaica’s constitution.

Life should last as long as we can aid it to last, and the life of a human being should never be last to consider.

If a violation of this opinion is not a crime, in respect of man-made laws, it is certainly a moral crime among humanity, and as a Jamaican, who is proud to be from a country, which is considered one of Earth’s paradise, for having exquisite beauty, a unique culture and some of the warmest human beings on the planet, my level of patriotism has been surpassed by my pride for Jamaica, when they should be level-pegging.

Pride, in my opinion, means a personal happiness and bragging rights received from an embraced ownership of anything perceived as good or positive.

Patriotism, in my opinion, means a loyal citizen, who stands by his or her country and calls it home, despite its growth’s directions.

Over the years, gangster-style policing in Jamaica has created more mistrust and criminals, in the Country, than it has decreased crime; whereas, the citizens have no faith in the due process procedures, and often take matters into their own hands, despite being govern by democratic laws.

Police, often kill alleged criminals in Jamaica, which creates a wondering, if they too (the police) doubt the due process of Jamaica’s courts system and are playing judge and jury.

Considering my definitions and my uneven declaration, which is undoubtedly equally shared by many other Jamaicans, the government of Jamaica has a job to do, and that job is to make all Jamaicans, near and far, see Jamaica as not just a place where they are from, but to see it as home.

Home in the fullest sense of the word; home, a place where we feel most safe and secure.

© Ian T. Sebàs

© Ian T. Sebàs 2017

Race Card, Racism or Coincidence?