Stephanie Black's documentary on Jamaica's economic woes begins with the arrival of a group of exclusively white vacationers into the airport wearing expectant grins on their faces. En route to Montego Bay, their frolics at the beach or around the hotel swimming pool will appear throughout the film as an ironic counterpoint to the economic realities of the other Jamaica, a country suffering from a 30 year IMF austerity regime and multinational domination of the traditional self-sustaining, largely agricultural economy.

Jamaica

Covering events from January - December 2004

This year marks the twenty fifth anniversary of the assassination of Walter Rodney in Georgetown , Guyana . A tireless champion of the rights of working people everywhere, Rodney, in his short lifetime, made his mark as one of the pre-eminent thinkers of the 20 th century.

Rodney was born on March 23, 1942 in Georgetown , Guyana . He grew up in a period of great social and political change in Guyana , a circumstance which made an indelible mark on his life and thought. He attended the elite Queen's College on an open exhibition scholarship, and a distinguished high school career culminated in his winning a further scholarship to the University of the West Indies , Mona , Jamaica , in 1960.

While in Jamaica , Rodney was an active supporter of Caribbean unity, giving his voice to the West Indian Federation in the referendum of 1961. He traveled extensively within the country, becoming well acquainted with its people and speaking out fearlessly in defense of the poor. The outspokenness and passion for justice that marked Rodney's character, aroused the suspicions of the political directorate, and he was closely watched.

On October 16, 1968, news of the expulsion of historian Dr Walter Rodney from Jamaica swept rapidly across the Mona Campus of UWI - Rodney had first gone to Mona as an undergraduate and following his Honours Degree in history in 1963, had gone to the School of Oriental and African Studies at the University of London (SOAS) as a doctoral student. He had then returned as a lecturer in the History Department at Mona, and West Indian Literature has never been the same since.