On November 19, a newspaper report told us that the executive director of the Jamaica Broadcasting Commission, Cordel Green, had asserted that there were mercenaries in the country's pop culture. He is right.

The previous day, the announcement was made that a highly proficient, successful and efficient marketer had been seconded from the private sector to head the state institution charged with the preservation of traditional Jamaican culture and cultural forms. Her mandate is to lend "her experience to the promotion of the essence of the collective Jamaican 'brand'. For that, Grace Silvera is indeed an excellent choice.

upcoming revision

Two days before Green's announcement and Silvera's appointment, an internet news report from the Ghanaian Times announced an upcoming revision of Ghana's cultural policy. It quotes their Chieftaincy and Culture Minister Alexander Asum Ahensah as saying, "The time has come to give the cultural sector a new direction that will take into account a policy guideline to enhance the capacity of the creative industries and their goods and services."

The juxtaposition of the three news stories is an indication of the conundrum faced by developing nations that have chosen to adopt a neoliberal approach to cultural industries within what is being called the 'cultural economy'. If policy emphasis is placed on the 'business' of culture without equal emphasis on its 'development', governments are 'officially' facilitating and participating in the development of that mercenary culture that Green has complained of. How can we then complain if mercenaries are being produced by statute and policy?

tough situation

It is a tough chicken-and-egg situation. Cause and effect, good for the goose - good for the gander ... what comes first - marketisation or culturisation? Personal and corporate responsibility is important, but our policy directions must also be clearly thought through. We must examine all sides of the vibrant stories.

It is my hope that with all the talk about cultural brands, and trade in cultural goods and services, that training, development, archiving and support of thousands of creative practitioners who have been seeking the attention of respective governments for decades, receive at least equal policy attention and resources. Because, without proficient symbol creators, there will be fewer cultural symbols or brands to sponsor; save, of course, for those created by mercenaries across creative disciplines, large and small, who all claim that what they produce is "what the people want".

I am, etc.,

DEBORAH HICKLING

UWI