Quarterly Jamaica Diaspora & Returnee Update — | Q1 2003

Quarterly Update | January–March 2003 | Jamaica Homes News

Key Takeaways: Q1 2003 in Six Lines

• Two million march in London; Caribbean community joins historic anti-war protest
• Iraq invasion begins March 20; diaspora deeply divided on consequences
• Space Shuttle Columbia breaks apart February 1; global mourning follows
• SARS emerges in Asia; Caribbean communities brace for travel disruption
• Jamaica general election aftermath: PNP fourth term, diaspora engagement expectations
• Remittances sustain island economy through political transition quarter

February 15: The World Says No to War

On February 15, 2003, an estimated six to ten million people took to the streets in more than 600 cities worldwide in the largest coordinated anti-war demonstration in history. In London alone, somewhere between 750,000 and two million people — the precise count was contested but the scale was unprecedented for the United Kingdom — marched from the Embankment to Hyde Park in an extraordinary display of public opposition to the impending invasion of Iraq. Jamaican-British community organisations, churches, trade unions and individuals marched under their own banners and alongside the broad coalition of trade unionists, faith groups, students, families and peace campaigners that made the demonstration one of the defining moments of British public life in the early twenty-first century.

For many in the Jamaican-British community, the decision to march was not primarily about Iraq per se but about a deeper set of values: the rule of law, the authority of the United Nations, the principle that pre-emptive military action without Security Council authorisation sets a precedent that threatens international order. These are not abstract principles for a community whose own history of colonisation makes them acutely aware of what it means for powerful states to act outside legal norms when they judge the outcome to be in their interest. The Caribbean community’s participation in the February 15 demonstration was among the most visible it has been in any single political event in the post-Windrush era.

In New York, Washington DC and other American cities, Jamaican-American organisations joined the US demonstrations, which were also among the largest in American history. In Toronto, the Caribbean community turned out in significant numbers for demonstrations that drew hundreds of thousands across Canada. The global scale of the protest — coordinated through networks that had no precedent in pre-internet political organising — was itself a political fact of the first order, and one that Tony Blair and George Bush chose to ignore in the weeks that followed.

March 20: The Invasion Begins

On March 20, 2003, the United States, the United Kingdom and a coalition of other nations began the invasion of Iraq. The military campaign was swift and professionally executed: within three weeks, US forces had reached Baghdad and Saddam Hussein’s government had collapsed. The looting of the Iraqi National Museum in the days following the fall of Baghdad — during which thousands of irreplaceable artefacts from some of the earliest human civilisations were stolen or destroyed while US forces stood by — was watched with horror by diaspora communities around the world.

In the Jamaican diaspora community, reactions to the invasion ranged across a spectrum. Older community members who had served in the British or American armed forces, or who maintained a strong identification with Western democratic values, were in many cases supportive of the action against a dictator with a documented record of atrocity. Younger voices, and those more engaged with the civil society and faith communities that had organised the February demonstrations, were overwhelmingly opposed. What virtually everyone agreed on was that the consequence of the invasion would be felt for a generation, and that the instability in the Middle East would have ripple effects on the global economy — including oil prices, financial markets and trade — that would in turn affect Jamaica and the Caribbean region.

Space Shuttle Columbia: A Community Mourns

On February 1, 2003, the Space Shuttle Columbia disintegrated during re-entry into the Earth’s atmosphere, killing all seven crew members aboard. The disaster — caused by damage to the thermal protection system sustained during launch — was watched live by millions of Americans who saw the shuttle break apart over Texas and Louisiana on a clear morning. The deaths of seven astronauts — including Ilan Ramon, the first Israeli in space, and Kalpana Chawla, the first woman of Indian origin to travel to space — prompted an outpouring of grief that crossed all national and community boundaries.

For the Jamaican-American community, the Columbia disaster carried a particular resonance. The space programme has long occupied a special place in the imaginations of many diaspora children and grandchildren growing up in the United States, for whom the astronaut represents the fullest expression of American meritocratic aspiration. The loss of Columbia was mourned across American communities, and in the Caribbean diaspora the grief was deepened by the proximity of many community members to the Texas and Louisiana communities where debris fell.

SARS: A New Threat on the Horizon

In the final weeks of the quarter, reports have been emerging from Asia of a new respiratory illness — Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome, or SARS — that has spread rapidly in Hong Kong, Guangdong province and other parts of China since November 2002. By the end of March 2003, cases have been confirmed in more than a dozen countries, and the World Health Organisation has issued an emergency travel advisory. For the Caribbean diaspora communities in Toronto — a major hub for international travel with direct flights to Asia and a large number of workers in the healthcare sector — the emergence of SARS is being watched with particular attention. The implications for community members in nursing homes, hospitals and care facilities will become clearer in the coming months.

Jamaica: PNP Wins Fourth Term, Biennial Plans Take Shape

In Jamaica, Prime Minister P.J. Patterson’s People’s National Party won a fourth consecutive general election in October 2002 — an outcome that was confirmed beyond dispute as the new parliamentary term gets underway in early 2003. For the diaspora community, the electoral outcome matters less than the substance of what a fourth PNP term will actually deliver. Expectations are high, particularly on two fronts: the deepening of dialogue between the government and diaspora communities, and the progress of the proposed National Housing Trust reform that would extend benefits to Jamaicans working abroad.

The most significant development from a diaspora engagement perspective is the government’s increasingly concrete planning for the 1st Biennial Jamaica Diaspora Conference, now expected to take place in 2004. Internal consultations between the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade, JAMPRO, and diaspora advisory committees have been progressing through the first quarter of 2003, and the framework for the conference — its structure, agenda, and invitee base — is taking shape. The diaspora community is engaged and expectant, and the pressure to deliver a conference that produces substantive outcomes rather than a celebratory photo opportunity is already being expressed clearly by community organisations in the UK, US and Canada.

Remittances and Returnee News

Remittance flows to Jamaica have started 2003 on a strong footing, consistent with the multi-year growth trend that has made diaspora financial transfers the island’s most reliable source of foreign exchange. The Bank of Jamaica’s data for the first quarter shows continued growth in both volume and value, driven by the ongoing expansion of the diaspora community in the United States — where new Jamaican arrivals continue to settle in established communities in South Florida, the New York metropolitan area and the Southeast — and by a progressive reduction in transfer costs that means a higher proportion of each dollar sent is reaching recipients.

On the returnee front, the first quarter of 2003 has continued the pattern of growing interest in Jamaica property from diaspora buyers, particularly in the north coast and Kingston markets. The geopolitical turbulence of the Iraq war period has, paradoxically, reinforced the interest of some diaspora members in establishing a foothold in Jamaica as a hedge against uncertainty in host countries. The combination of UK security anxieties, tightening immigration regimes in both the UK and the US, and a sense that Western governments’ priorities have shifted away from the concerns of minority communities has made “having something in Jamaica” feel not just sentimental but strategically prudent. The returnee option, for a growing number of diaspora members, is not a vague dream but a practical plan in the making.

Jamaica Diaspora & Returnee Quarterly Update — Edition 95, covering January to March 2003. Published by Jamaica Homes News on 2 April 2003.

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