Remittances, Deportations and Financial Colonialism in Jamaica - The Makings of a “Great Deal” for the US?
As I walked to the Brewer Bookstore at St. Lawrence University, I remained oblivious to the source of the mischievous laughter that followed. Only when I realized that I was being signaled to - called to by the nationalistic waving of a confederate flag - did I start to ponder the reason for the laughter, a laughter which on the surface seemed harmless, but for some reason echoes in my ears to this day.
Alongside this pondering came the realization that I am not in Jamaica anymore. That I would have to find ways of assimilating and surviving in a completely different, racially charged environment.
In hindsight, I am not sure why such hate-fueled antics shock me anymore. Interpersonal discrimination experienced by people like me is only a reflection of the power relations in the larger international system. Exploitation and discrimination are not novel. To say the very least, they characterize the nature of relationships in the international system and today manifest as forces of globalization in regions such as the Carribean.
Naomi Klein in NO Is Not Enough provides us with insight into how these forces behave, through the exploration of concepts such as “transcending the world of things” and the “shock doctrine”. By examining the current global political climate, which perpetuates these ideas into the operations of the global south, one may richly analyze the impacts of globalization in places like Jamaica.
Brand USA
Emigration patterns from Jamaica are rooted in the history of slavery and colonialism. Cognizance of this historical context helps us to understand the conditions that have allowed the ‘foreign mentality’, or a preference for imported American goods and culture, to flourish.
“Whether legally or illegally, Jamaicans continue to be lured into the trap of better living abroad only to be disillusioned when they arrive.”
Brand USA is complex and has run the gamut of socioeconomic pull factors on Jamaican immigration to the US. Many Jamaicans immigrated in search of employment and education opportunities. This is one of many explanations for the large Jamaican diaspora in areas of New York, Florida, and Baltimore. Pioneers of cultural imperialism were shocked to find what Jamaican poet, Dr. Louise Bennett-Coverley, has referred to as ‘colonization in reverse’. However, this movement should have been expected.
As Naomi Klein expresses, “These pioneers had a different model: Create a transcendent idea or brand surrounding your company. Use it to connect with consumers who share its values. Then charge a steep premium for products that are less about the objects themselves than about the profound human desire to be part of a tribe, a circle of belonging”
This is exactly what the US has done to Caribbean territories such as Jamaica. Whether legally or illegally, Jamaicans continue to be lured into the trap of better living abroad only to be disillusioned when they arrive.
Steep premium
For Caribbean nationals who are able to find employment, the next focus usually becomes supporting relatives back home. A 2011 study conducted by the Bank of Jamaica reports that in 2007, revenue earned from remittances totaled over 15% of the GDP. In 2015, Jamaica received US$2.338 billion in remittances, with US$1.669 billion of that coming directly from the US.
However, Jamaica now finds itself at risk of financial and socioeconomic turmoil as a result of the policies proposed by the Trump administration to tax remittances. In early 2017, Congressman Mike Rogers introduced “HR 1813 - Border Wall Funding Act of 2017,” which proposed an amendment to the American Electronic Fund Transfer Act expected to impose a 2% tax on remittances sent to 42 foreign nations in Latin America and the Caribbean.
If such a bill were to pass, Jamaicans abroad would have to pay the American government for contributing to the Jamaican economy despite the migration of labour and other factors of production, such as knowledge. All of this has massive implications not only on Jamaica’s economic health, but also on the lives of many Jamaicans living in the US, an overwhelming majority of whom are middle class service sector workers.
Years later, even though HR 1813 never made it out of committee, Jamaica remains in a precarious position. With recent efforts to restrict lawful immigration by considering use of public services, willful inequalities persist.
The foregoing is an accurate depiction of the “steep premium” that Klein describes. American culture is constantly marketed to and imposed upon the Jamaican populace through mainstream and social media, word-of-mouth, and institutions that profit from a historical context that perpetuates the “anything foreign is better” ideal.
Scum of the earth
After independence, circa 1962-1980s, 54% of the emigrants from the Commonwealth Caribbean to the US came from Jamaica and were skilled professionals. Seasonal employment, known colloquially as “farm work”, has also been a large part of the employment opportunities for those from rural parts of Jamaica.
“The displacement and marginalization of the deported has inevitably spiked the already high crime rates in Jamaica and increased demands on overburdened systems in place to support the homeless, abused, mentally ill and deported. ”
The Trump administration’s plans to discontinue the expansion of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrival (DACA) program, a policy that seeks to protect childhood immigrants to the US by allowing them to receive a two-year period of deferred action from deportation and to be eligible for a work permit or other modes of documentation, will affect the lives of a majority of these immigrants from Jamaica. In fact, the Jamaican Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade estimates that close to 6000 Jamaicans face the risk of being deported if the program is discontinued. Currently, the cancellation of the program has been put on hold by court order while litigation continues to determine the program’s legality.
Anecdotes captured in a New York Times article by Marc Lacey paints a bleak picture of life in Jamaica for deportees. Many of them feel completely out of place, are blamed for spiralling crime rates, and are treated like the “scum of the earth”. The displacement and marginalization of the deported has inevitably spiked the already high crime rates in Jamaica and increased demands on overburdened systems in place to support the homeless, abused, mentally ill and deported.
A new kind of colonialism
According to the IMF World Economic Outlook, in 2016, Jamaica ran a public debt of 118.9%. Imports exceeded exports by USD2.5 billion and included “food and other consumer goods, industrial supplies, fuel, parts and accessories of capital goods, machinery and transport equipment, and construction materials”.
An overwhelming 32.6% of imports, as per usual, came from the US. While Jamaica exported 24.4% of its goods that year to the US, these goods included “alumina, bauxite, sugar, rum, coffee, yams, beverages, chemicals, apparel, and mineral fuels”. While this information does not account for money and assets on the black market, the discrepancies are undeniable.
Many Caribbean territories depend on global powers like the US for imported goods, many of which far outweigh the cost of exported goods, as with importing metals versus exporting spices. With a conversion rate of USD$1 to JMD$130, the continued financial colonization of Jamaica is evident.
The vulture’s great deal
“You hear lots of people say that a great deal is when both sides win. That is a bunch of crap. In a great deal you win - not the other side. You crush the opponent and come away with something better for yourself.”
The above is a direct quote from Donald Trump’s 2008 book, Think Big: Make it Happen in Business and in Life - a book which Klein describes as an instructional manual on how to become a vulture.
There is no argument that as the President of the United States, Trump has perpetuated the country’s application of this philosophy to international affairs. Thus, it is not without reason that my heart dampened when I read the news of how President Trump was “upbeat” about relations with Jamaica and looked forward to “working with the Andrew Holness-led administration on bilateral and regional issues”.
The power relations are evidently skewed against Jamaica, though, to attain a ‘great deal’ for the US.
The cruel step-mother
Jamaica’s relationship with the US (and other powers like the UK) has always followed a similar path.
“How can those on the losing side of the deal voice their lived realities and mobilize? Like many people of colour and minority groups in the US, how do Jamaica and countries from the global south overcome oppressive institutions rooted in the legacy of colonialism and exploitation to recover their dignity?”
The US is Jamaica’s cruel step-mother. She takes what she wants and makes us do the dirty chores and hard work . Occasionally she rewards us for good behaviour, but not before scolding and chastising us.
This is globalization.
My notes from high school define globalization as “a historical process that entails the increasing integration of, and interaction between countries as national borders become less significant”. The general spirit of globalization as I have heard and seen it explored is in keeping with this definition. The concept speaks to integration that is cultural and socioeconomic in nature, and supposedly benevolent.
Ironically, the divisive rhetoric of President Trump capitalizes on the increasing evidence that globalization is a great deal only for the select few, while his decisions and actions perpetuate this reality.
The question of the hour then is as follows:
How can those on the losing side of the deal voice their lived realities and mobilize? Like many people of colour and minority groups in the US, how do Jamaica and countries from the global south overcome oppressive institutions rooted in the legacy of colonialism and exploitation to recover their dignity?
A good servant but a poor master
Even before President Trump’s blatant ignorance of tact, statesmanship, and compassion, globalization has always been a narrative of exploitation. The dominant and hegemonic powers would argue that it is one of growth and development, but this is not entirely true.
It is clear that my own positionality as a woman of colour who was born and raised in Kingston, Jamaica, has influenced the tone of this essay.
Objectivity is hard. There is, nonetheless, a clear distinction between ‘pointing fingers’ and stating the facts as they are visible and credible because of one’s own lived experience with the full impact of the topics in discussion.
American cultural imperialism has greatly influenced Jamaican culture. Jamaican culture, in the past decade, has also risen to greater fame and popularity with well-known Jamaican celebrities such as Usain Bolt (and others who profit from monetizing our culture such as Drake and Rihanna). Globalization as experienced by Jamaicans and many others is neither absolutely positive nor absolutely negative.
Perhaps it would be helpful to think of globalization as a fireplace.
It is full of color and cozy. Beautiful to look at and experience, especially during the winter. Then, what do we do when the fire catches fabric nearby and sets the entire dwelling ablaze? Do we look on and say, “At least things are warm,” or do we try to contain the force to a reasonable degree?
We must keep the fire burning but we cannot allow it to destroy everything in its path. We do this by being mindful that globalization makes a good servant but a poor master.
As Klein recommends: “…call on all those seeking political office to seize this opportunity and embrace the urgent need for transformation. This is our sacred duty to those...harmed in the past, to those suffering needlessly in the present, and to all who have a right to a bright and safe future.”
Banner image: Kindergarten school in Kingston, Jamaica. (Photo: Meca-Gaye Francis)