Jamaican Diaspora

Living Your Truth

When one book closes, you will realize there is an entire library that needs to be researched. Know that six months from now you will be in a completely different space, mentally, spiritually and financially. That’s the living truth. Understand that values, morals and integrity must never be compromised.

The most beautiful things in the world cannot be seen or even touched as they must be felt in the heart. Let the creator give you strength and courage to overcome any situation. Stand before all your enemies and hold your head to the sky knowing that the most high is with you. Let divine purpose come from within; those who are with you will shine through the dark clouds.

written by Janice K. Maxwell

Politricks Opinion

written by Cheri Avery Black

Nearly 80% of Jamaica youth say they would leave Jamaica for better work and educational opportunities for education and work, according to recent surveys reported by The Gleaner, a large daily newspaper on the island. Why, outsiders ask, would people want to leave such a paradise? Salaries could be a major reason. In February 2016, the Jamaican Parliament, with the People’s National Party (PNP) in majority, raised the minimum wage from $5,400 JMD to $6,200 JMD. This converts to a pitiful $49 USD per work week. Private security guards’ rate was kept lower at $5,500.

The PNP likely took the action to help win an election, but they lost anyway. In 2017, the new government, controlled by the Jamaica Labor Party (JLP), began working on carrying out their campaign promise to eliminate taxes for those making $1.5 Million JMD or less ($12,000 USD a year at the average conversion rate). Few of the people who favor the PNP believed that the JLP would come through with the promise, but in 2017, the government took the first step by eliminating wage taxes for everyone who earned less than $1M JMD or about USD $7,900 USD. (This was raised from $800,000

JMD.) The average annual salary for many white-collar jobs, teachers included, seems to be about $14,500 USD, with nurses getting even less. Tourism revenue accounts for about 31 percent of Jamaica’s GDP, including both direct and indirect expenditures, still only 15 percent of the revenue generated by resorts stays in Jamaica, the rest going a’foreign. The unemployment rate could be another. Officially, the rate has come down from over 15% in 2013 to under 8% in 2019. Yet, many are not counted in this rate.

Strict Austerity Measures

Jamaica has been deep in debt to the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the Inter- American Development Bank (IDB), and the World Bank. In the 1970s, Michael Manley became Prime Minister with the promise not to borrow money from the IMF. However, in the Life and Debt documentary, he talks tearfully about being forced to take their loans after all. This revealing film provides evidence for powerful counterarguments to the so-called benefits of globalization.

The book Confessions of an Economic Hit Man documents how Manley was likely forced to take the loans through a life and death ultimatum, a common practice of the U.S. National Security Administration (NSA). Because of the loans’ high interest rates and other requirements that have negatively impacted development in Jamaica, the debt grew to $2 billion USD! The Jamaican debt payment reached 160 percent of the GDP, with the interest alone equaling more than half the annual revenue of the island, which is only half the size of New Jersey. As typical, these loans came with required austerity measures, called structural adjustments, which included freezing of wages, raising food costs, increasing taxes, decreasing funding for health, social services, and education, thus increasing unemployment, and widening the big disparity between rich and poor.

In 2011, the U.S.-based Center for Economic and Policy Research concluded that Jamaica suffered from the world’s most austere budget demands. Industries such as pineapple, poultry, rice and milk, even potatoes, carrots, and onions collapsed because of forced “free trade,” which allowed subsidized lower quality products from other countries to be sold in Jamaica for less than the cost of the island’s local production. In 2017 news media reported that it was discovered that some rice exported just recently from China was made of plastic! In addition to the industries mentioned above,

destroyed through free trade, Jamaica’s banana industry was the loser in the banana wars between the USA government (representing Dole, Chiquita and Del Monte) and the European Union.

Great Britain had a longstanding trade agreement with Jamaica that subsidized their banana exports as a way of compensating for the legacy of colonialism. Jamaican bananas were more expensive to grow than in places like Honduras where these American-based multinationals easily exploited the cheap wages made possible by a union-free environment, enforced by official and semi-official state repression. Even though these corporations already controlled 95 percent of the world's banana market, they wanted Great Britain's market, too. Their success ensured the collapse of Jamaica's banana industry.

Free Trade

Imperialistic powers also decided to do the Jamaican workers “a favor” by creating a Free Trade Zone (free of business tax and accountability to the government) that included huge textile assembly plants near the docks. Ships unloaded materials cut in the U.S. and elsewhere, and mostly a Jamaican female work force was paid only USD $30 per week to sew garments for well-known manufacturers. When workers protested against the miserable working conditions and wages, they were fired, with most of the owners relocating their businesses to Mexico- the others bringing in Chinese workers. The Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), a 12-nation pact dubbed “NAFTA on steroids” by opponents, was defeated in the U.S. in 2016, thanks to huge citizen protests.

Yet, it later moved forward, renamed with code-words: Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership, and in 2018, was signed by seven countries, with even more considering membership. The U.S. government is holding out for increased abilities of companies to sue national governments, in particular over strict regulations over oil and gas developments, (via ISDS) among other contested priorities. The “liberty amendments” are another bag of tricks gaining speed down a slippery slope in the U.S. For example, its proponents advocate for a constitutional amendment mandating a federal balanced budget, which sounds as “American as apple pie,” but in reality is a coverup for then dismantling Social Security, Medicare, and other supportive assistance for most Americans, so that the wealthy can live regulation-free and tax-free—an example of what is being promoted by the elite worldwide.

These shenanigans or politricks makes “typically calm” me so mad that I want to lash out! Fortunately, I once saw an encounter that showed me that creative nonviolent strategies are far less messy and lethal and can be more effective than explosive confrontations. I recall a time when an African American friend Jeff and I were in an upscale hotel, standing at a bar having drinks while waiting for the start of a free seminar on leadership. An older White man walked up to Jeff and asked him to bring a drink over to a table, clearly mistaking him for a waiter!

It was obvious to me that the mistake came from a bigoted stance. I hadn’t known Jeff very long but assumed he would blast the man with a charge of racism. I was surprised that, instead, Jeff calmly straightened up and, with what seemed to me like a royal

gesture, motioned to him, saying, “I believe you will find the waiter over there.” The man actually bowed, and without lifting his head, backed away, mumbling a thank you.

What a powerful teaching moment! Recently, Erica Chenoweth, at Howard University, published research confirming that over the past 100 years, nonviolent protests involving at least 3.5 percent of a population, are twice as likely to achieve change as the violent conflicts! I like to change the Republican slogan, “Make America Great Again” (a code phrase deceitfully used to stir up the marginalized masses by the wealthy elite who want to be relieved of ethics, government taxes and regulations), and urge all to Make Americans Think Again, and more recently Make America Greta Again, as a theme urging action counteracting climate deniers. I puzzle about why people can’t see how rights are being taken away, how groups of people are being pitted against each other, and how health is being threatened with the camouflage of code words. Why are people supporting these moves through their votes, or not voting at all? I brace myself against slipping into disillusionment and despair.

One Drop Does It!

Fortunately, consoling words from Bob Marley in No Woman No Cry come breezing into my mind, is helping uplift me back into the One Love vibration. I softly hum my modified version, “Don’ worry ‘bout nuh t’ing. Hmmm...every big, big t’ing gonna be just fine.” Like others who enjoy reggae, I find it impossible to feel any kind of down while listening to it. I further center myself by immersing in a series of reassuring Bob Marley messages accompanied by the one drop reggae riddim (rhythm).

I consciously choose these songs because for me, the musical term one drop (when the drummer and even the bass player skip the expected first beat) also signifies resistance to the status quo ism skism systems...the inhumane powers-that-be that have made life a hardscrabble sufferation for a large majority of people in the world. I resolve that we must “not give up the fight,” but instead focus on positive goals for a more equitable and peaceful world and relax into the faith that Jah Jah will never let WE people down.