Jamaica: an island without beach access?
The Take
Al Jazeera
4.7 • 749 Ratings
🗓️ 20 September 2024
⏱️ 18 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Less than 1% of the Jamaican coastline is accessible to the public. People's livelihoods and leisure rely on access to the waters, but locals are prevented from beach access to make room for more all-inclusive resorts for foreign tourists. How are Jamaicans fighting back?
In this episode:
- Devon Taylor, Jamaica Beach Birthright Environmental Movement
Episode credits:
This episode was produced by Marcos Bartolomé and Veronique Eshaya, with Duha Mossad, Manahil Naveed and Kevin Hirten, in for Malika Bilal. It was edited by Amy Walters.
Our sound designer is Alex Roldan. Our lead of audience development and engagement is Aya Elmileik. Munera Al Dosari and Adam Abou-Gad are our engagement producers.
Alexandra Locke is The Take’s executive producer. Ney Alvarez is Al Jazeera's head of audio.
Connect with us:
@AJEPodcasts on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, Threads and YouTube
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Al Jazeera Podcasts. |
| 0:07.0 | Today, Jamaica's beaches have become a battleground. |
| 0:14.0 | We will not stop until the entire Jamaican public is able to access the beach freely. |
| 0:21.6 | Inside the fight by Jamaican residents to decolonize their coastline. |
| 0:27.6 | I'm Kevin Hurttend, and this is the take. |
| 0:32.6 | We'd like to invite you to come back. |
| 0:43.1 | Back to inviting. |
| 0:45.5 | Back to loving. |
| 0:47.6 | Back to life. |
| 0:49.4 | Come back to the vibe that comes alive in Jamaica. |
| 0:55.0 | Sounds tempting, right? |
| 0:57.0 | This is how the Jamaican Tourism Board promotes the island as a destination. |
| 1:01.0 | But there's a detail they forgot to mention. |
| 1:04.0 | In 99% of the beaches, visitors won't get a chance to meet the locals. |
| 1:12.6 | Tourists can pay for exclusive access to beaches at all-inclusive resorts, |
| 1:16.6 | but everyday Jamaicans are increasingly being blocked out of them. |
| 1:20.6 | Most of our childhood beaches are now, you know, reserved for hotel development. |
| 1:26.6 | That's a big problem. |
| 1:28.3 | Yeah, not the best vibes. |
| 1:30.3 | No, hotels and beaches are the new plantations. |
| 1:34.3 | I'm Devon Taylor. |
| 1:37.3 | I am the president of the Jamaica Beach |
... |
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