Mayer Matalon

This biography of Mayer Matalon, an influential Jewish Jamaican, traces his path from humble origins to innovator, public servant, political insider, and leader of his family’s conglomerate, from the 1940s to the end of the twentieth century. Mayer Matalon was not born into the Jewish-Jamaican elite who traced their ancestry in Jamaica back hundreds of years and who were successful entrepreneurs, prominent intellectuals, and politicians. Mayer Matalon’s father, Joseph, was one a handful of Jews who came to Jamaica in the wave of turn-of-the-century Levantine emigration, and his mother, Florizel Madge Matalon, was a young, beautiful, poor Jewish-Jamaican girl. A failed businessman, Joseph’s legacy was eleven children who created their own legacy in Jamaican business and politics. The Matalon siblings built a conglomerate, venturing into businesses and experimenting with business models that had never been tried in Jamaica, enjoying success for the first twenty years, struggling to retain viability for the next twenty years, and fighting to keep the family together throughout. Matalon rose to wealth and prominence through his talent for numbers, his innovative ideas, and his extraordinary emotional intelligence. He was one of Prime Minister Michael Manley’s closest confidantes, in and out of power, and he advised every Jamaican premier and prime minister from Norman Manley to Bruce Golding, with only one exception. That one exception resulted in a sidelining that had a blowback that set Jamaica back decades and that sealed his family’s business’s fate. This is a story of race, class, and power in postcolonial Jamaica. Through the lens of Mayer Matalon’s life, the book outlines Jamaica’s political and economic trajectory over the sixty years before and after independence. This biography peels back the surface layers of the many citations and public accolades, and goes beyond the often uninformed speculation on the Matalons’ beginnings, revealing in rich detail the unusual life of an extraordinary Jamaican.

Reader, I present . . . the humour, craft and eloquence of the University of the West Indies (Mona) Orator, Professor Edward Baugh! Our man of words at Mona is a distinguished poet and actor, a master of gesture, tone and tempo. It is his mission to write and perform the convocation citations to honorary graduates. This book is a spirited collection of speeches delivered between November 1985 and April 1998. The magic of the voice on the page conjures images and sounds in virtual reality. Chancellor, I Present . . . is a public record of one of the most rewarding occasions in the University calender - the drama of convocation. The subject of this book - the honorary graduates - inspire the orator's artistry: singer, statesman, soldier, actor, politician, diplomat, cleric, educator, entrepreneur. The accomplishments of these exceptional men and women are lauded here in grand style. The opportune publication of this book, much requested over the years, coincides with the extraordinary convocation to mark the University's fiftieth anniversary. It is a most fitting symbol of the intellectual vigour of our celebrated institution.

Jamaica was captured from Spain by the British in 1655, and by 1752, the island was already developing an enviable reputation for breeding race horses. The book offers a tour d'horizon of thoroughbred horse racing in Jamaica from those early days to the present, presenting its problems and its possibilities from the point of view of one of the country's most seasoned experts. A special feature of the publication is the Jamaica Derby Gallery. In 2020, the Jamaica Derby will be run for the 100th consecutive year. Race statistics, and with only very few exceptions, a commentary on the race and a representative image are presented, providing for lovers of the sport a unique and fascinating record of a century of first class racing in Jamaica.

The value of this Memoir lies in the objective presentation of several key historical events in specific countries where the author lived and worked, ranging from Canada through Africa and Europe to the Caribbean. George Eaton, Ph.D., was a founding faculty member of York University, Toronto, and at his retirement was Professor Emeritus & Senior Scholar. He was a man known for his clear, objective perspective, and his unshakeable sense of integrity and honour. This Memoir offers extraordinary insights into the inner workings and behind-the-scene activities of post-colonial African and Caribbean economies and their emerging national identities. Eaton’s seminal works entitled The Development of Political Unionism (1961) and Alexander Bustamante & Modern Jamaica (1975) have both been critically acclaimed.

This book offers a detailed picture of Jamaica before and after independence. A 1961 journal sheds light on the political and social context before independence, while a 1968 journal shows how independence dissolved dissident forces and identifies the origins of Jamaica's current two party politics.

Although the seemingly apocalyptic scale of the World Trade Center disaster continues to haunt people across the globe, it is only the most recent example of a city tragically wounded. Cities are, in fact, perpetually caught up in cycles of degeneration and renewal. As with the WTC, from time to time these cycles are severely ruptured by a sudden, unpredictable event. In the wake of recent terrorist activities, this timely book explores how urban populations are affected by wounds inflicted through violence, civil wars, overbuilding, drug trafficking, and the collapse of infrastructures, as well as natural disasters such as earthquakes. Mexico City, New York, Beirut, Belfast, Bangkok and Baghdad are just a few examples of cities riddled with problems that undermine, on a daily basis, the quality of urban life. What does it mean for urban dwellers when the infrastructure of a city collapses transport, communication grids, heat, light, roads, water, and sanitation? What are the effects of foreign investment and huge construction projects on urban populations and how does this change the look and character of a city? How does drug trafficking intersect with class, race, and gender, and what impact does it have on vulnerable urban communities? How do political corruption and mafia networks distort the built environment? Drawing on in-depth case studies from across the globe, this book answers these intriguing questions through its rigorous consideration of changing global and national contexts, social movements, and corrosive urban events. Adopting a grass roots up approach, it places emphasis on peoples experiences of uneven development and inequality, their engagement with memory in the face of continual change, and the relevance of political activism to bettering their lives. It is especially attentive to the historical interaction of particular cities with wider political and economic forces, as these interactions have shaped local governance over time.

Argues that marginalized states and peoples are capable of initiating their own foreign policy agendas.