Jamaica Diaspora Annual Roundup 2006

Annual Review | Published: 31 December 2006 | Jamaica Homes News

Key Takeaways: 2006 in Six Lines

• Portia Simpson Miller Sworn In as Jamaica’s First Female Prime Minister
• 2nd Biennial Jamaica Diaspora Conference Concludes in Montego Bay
• Day Without Immigrants: Largest US Civic Mobilisation in a Generation
• Lebanon-Israel 34-Day War Tests Diaspora Humanitarian Networks
• Saddam Hussein Executed by Hanging on 30 December in Baghdad
• US Democrats Sweep Midterms; Nancy Pelosi to Become First Female Speaker

The Year in Review

2006 was defined above all by two historic firsts: Jamaica’s first female prime minister and the United States’ first female Speaker of the House. Portia Simpson Miller’s swearing-in on 30 March — succeeding P.J. Patterson after fourteen years — was greeted by diaspora communities with a mixture of personal pride and strategic assessment. Her administration’s first major test was the 2nd Biennial Jamaica Diaspora Conference in June, which she hosted in Montego Bay with a more structured set of commitments than the inaugural 2004 conference. The Biennial’s maturing architecture — working groups, implementation timelines, accountability mechanisms — reflected the growing seriousness of the institutional relationship between Jamaica and its global communities.

In the United States, the spring produced the largest civic mobilisation in decades. The immigration demonstrations of March and May — culminating in the 1 May Day Without Immigrants boycott — drew an estimated two million participants across American cities, asserting the scale and irreplaceability of immigrant economic contribution. For Caribbean-American diaspora communities whose family members navigated the US immigration system, the demonstrations were a moment of visible solidarity. The Senate’s passage of comprehensive immigration reform in May raised hopes that were ultimately deferred when the House and Senate could not reconcile their positions before the year’s end. The November midterms swept Democrats to control of both chambers; Nancy Pelosi’s election as Speaker would make her the first woman in the role and the highest-ranking female elected official in American history.

The 34-day Lebanon-Israel war of July-August tested diaspora humanitarian networks and Caribbean nations’ multilateral positioning. Pluto’s demotion to dwarf planet status in August generated unexpected global public engagement with questions of scientific classification. Saddam Hussein’s execution on 30 December — contested in its timing by Muslim communities worldwide — closed the legal chapter opened by his December 2003 capture. Annual remittances to Jamaica closed 2006 at approximately US$2.0 billion, a milestone that marked diaspora transfers as Jamaica’s single largest source of foreign exchange. The approach of a Jamaica general election — with Bruce Golding’s JLP mounting an increasingly credible challenge to the PNP — shaped the political backdrop as the year ended.

Jamaica Diaspora Annual Roundup 2006 | Jamaica Homes News. Compiled from four quarterly editions published April, July, October 2006, and January 2007.

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