Quarterly Jamaica Diaspora & Returnee Update — | Q4 2002

Quarterly Update | October–December 2002 | Jamaica Homes News

Key Takeaways: Q4 2002 in Six Lines

• Bali bombings kill 202 tourists; Caribbean diaspora in shock across Australia
• Jamaica elects PNP for fourth consecutive term under P.J. Patterson
• Iraq war building at UN Security Council; diaspora opposes military action
• US Congress authorises Iraq force; Caribbean-American community lobbies hard
• Jamaica remittances close 2002 with another record annual inflow
• Returnee investment: Kingston apartment market records strongest year to date

Bali, October 12: Terror Reaches the Holiday World

On the night of October 12, 2002, two bombs exploded in the Kuta nightclub district of Bali, Indonesia, killing 202 people from 21 countries and wounding more than 200 more. The dead included 88 Australians, 38 Indonesians, 27 Britons and visitors from across the world. Jemaah Islamiyah, an al-Qaeda-linked network operating across Southeast Asia, was quickly identified as responsible for what was the deadliest terrorist attack since September 11, 2001, and the worst in Australian history.

For the Jamaican diaspora, Bali carried a particular shock because of the nature of the target: not a financial centre, not a military installation, but a tourist destination full of young people from across the English-speaking world who had gone there to holiday. The attack confirmed what the September 11 aftermath had already suggested — that in this new era of political violence, ordinary life in ordinary places was not insulated from catastrophe. The number of British victims had a direct impact on the Jamaican-British community, which lost members and knew people who were personally affected. Community organisations in London organised memorial services and collections in the weeks following the attack.

The Bali bombings, coming in the same period as intensifying US and UK pressure at the United Nations over Iraq, reinforced the sense within diaspora communities that the world had entered a period of sustained and unpredictable danger. The Australian government’s response — rapid, firm, and internationally coordinated — was watched closely by Caribbean diaspora members in Australia, who form a smaller but significant community particularly in Queensland and New South Wales. The bombings accelerated the already-strong momentum in Australia toward tighter border security and counter-terrorism legislation, changes that would have knock-on effects for the Caribbean diaspora community there.

Jamaica General Election: PNP Wins a Fourth Term

On October 16, 2002, Jamaica held its general election and Prime Minister P.J. Patterson’s People’s National Party was returned to power for an unprecedented fourth consecutive term, defeating the Jamaica Labour Party led by Edward Seaga. The result — in which the PNP won 34 seats to the JLP’s 26 — was greeted with a mixture of satisfaction and sobriety within the diaspora community. Satisfaction because Patterson has, in his years in office, been more consistent than any previous Jamaican prime minister in acknowledging the diaspora’s importance to the national economy and in taking initial steps toward a formal engagement framework. Sobriety because a fourth consecutive term — eight years on top of six — brings with it the familiar risks of complacency, patronage and institutional atrophy that have marked Jamaica’s political culture in difficult periods.

For diaspora voters — Jamaicans who retain their Jamaican citizenship and in theory have the right to vote, though the absence of any overseas voting mechanism means that in practice only those who return physically to Jamaica can exercise that right — the election was followed with attention from afar. Community radio phone-ins in London and Toronto ran extended election night coverage, and the result was discussed in community spaces for weeks. The issue of overseas voting — something that the Jamaican constitution does not currently provide for — features regularly in diaspora advocacy, and the new parliamentary term creates a potential window for legislative reform that community organisations intend to pursue.

Iraq: The War Drums at the United Nations

Through the final quarter of 2002, the Bush administration’s campaign to build international and domestic support for military action against Iraq has dominated global politics. In October, the US Congress passed the Authorization for Use of Military Force Against Iraq Resolution, giving President Bush authority to use military force against Iraq without a further Congressional vote. In November, the United Nations Security Council unanimously passed Resolution 1441, demanding that Iraq readmit weapons inspectors and comply with previous UN resolutions or face “serious consequences.”

Within the Jamaican diaspora community, opposition to military action against Iraq is strong and vocal, particularly in the United Kingdom where the Jamaican-British community has deep roots in the trade union and civil society movements that have been most active in the anti-war campaign. The argument that Resolution 1441 provides no authorisation for unilateral military action, and that a second resolution would be required under international law before any invasion, is a position that diaspora community organisations have supported actively. In the United States, the Congressional vote in October prompted Jamaican-American community organisations to lobby their own representatives, with mixed results: most Congressional Black Caucus members voted against the authorisation, a vote consistent with the overwhelming preference of Caribbean-American voters.

Remittances: A Record Year for 2002

As 2002 comes to a close, preliminary Bank of Jamaica data indicates that the year will record another all-time high in remittance inflows, continuing the strong multi-year trend. The growth in remittances has been driven by several factors: the continued expansion of the Jamaican-American community, particularly in the Southeast and Southwest of the United States; progressive fee reductions in the major transfer corridors; and a cultural shift within the diaspora toward treating remittances as a regular financial commitment rather than an occasional gesture. Many diaspora families have moved to standing order arrangements, sending a fixed sum each month with the regularity of a utility bill.

The economic significance of remittances to Jamaica cannot be overstated. In a year when tourism, Jamaica’s largest foreign exchange earner, has still not fully recovered from the post-September 11 slump, the reliability of remittance flows has helped stabilise the island’s external accounts and has provided a direct income supplement to hundreds of thousands of Jamaican households. Policy discussions within the Ministry of Finance and with the Inter-American Development Bank have increasingly centred on how to channel a portion of these flows into productive investment rather than pure consumption — a conversation that the upcoming 1st Biennial Jamaica Diaspora Conference will take forward in more structured ways.

UK Diaspora: Race Equality Act Two Years On

Two years after the Race Relations Amendment Act came into force in the United Kingdom — extending positive duties to public authorities to promote racial equality and eliminate discrimination — community organisations are conducting their own assessments of how the legislation is being implemented in practice. In education, healthcare, housing and the criminal justice system, the picture is mixed. The positive duty has prompted more explicit policies and monitoring in many public bodies, but the gap between policy and practice — between what institutions say and what individuals experience — remains substantial.

For the Jamaican-British community, the education of children and grandchildren remains the most urgent practical concern in this area. The persistent disproportionate exclusion of Black Caribbean boys from mainstream schools, the underrepresentation of Black Caribbean students in the top grades at GCSE and A-level, and the persistent poverty of Black Caribbean communities in the inner boroughs of London are all issues that the Race Relations Amendment Act was expected to address more rapidly than has so far been the case. Community organisations continue to press local authorities and schools for the data and accountability mechanisms that the legislation requires but that have not always been forthcoming.

Returnee and Investment News: Kingston Apartment Market Strengthens

The Kingston residential apartment market has had its strongest year to date in attracting diaspora buyers, with several developments in New Kingston, Barbican and Cherry Gardens recording significant proportions of overseas Jamaican purchasers. The appeal of a managed urban apartment — with security, shared facilities and professional property management — as a vehicle for diaspora investment that can generate rental income while the owner remains abroad, and provide a base for visits and eventual return, has driven sustained demand. Developers are responding with products increasingly tailored to this market, including flexible payment structures that accommodate the logistics of purchasing from overseas.

North coast developments continue to dominate the total volume of diaspora property transactions, but Kingston’s growing share reflects a broader shift in diaspora return preferences: increasingly, professionals and entrepreneurs returning to Jamaica see the capital rather than the north coast as the base from which they want to operate. The business infrastructure of New Kingston — banking, professional services, commercial office space — and the social and cultural infrastructure of the city are drawing a cohort of returnees whose primary interest is in building businesses and participating in civic life rather than retiring to a villa. This is a significant development for Jamaica’s long-term economic trajectory and for the capacity of the returnee community to contribute to national development beyond pure consumption.

Jamaica Diaspora & Returnee Quarterly Update — Edition 96, covering October to December 2002. Published by Jamaica Homes News on 2 January 2003.

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