A wind of change is blowing across Jamaica, and the annual hurricane season is still over the distant horizon.
The extradition request for Christopher 'Dudus' Coke, the alleged drug dealer and gunrunner; and the bloody attempt to arrest him, which left 73 dead so far; and the ongoing security forces operations under the State of Emergency are triggering a major social and political fallout never seen before in Jamaica’s history.
There are calls from all sectors of Jamaican society and within the Diaspora communities for the Jamaican authorities to seize the opportunities offered following the “bloody” events in Tivoli Gardens and other parts of West Kingston when armed militias fought the security forces to prevent the capture and extradition to the United States of Christopher 'Dudus' Coke.
There are also calls for politicians of all parties to leave the security forces to do their jobs without any interference; the dismantling of the garrison communities and criminal infrastructures within them, and the stopping of state contracts going to companies or individuals with gangs’ connections...See
June PDF for more.
High Commissioner to the UK, His Excellency Anthony Johnson (right), congratulates newly appointed Mayor of the town of Rugby , Jamaican-born Don Williams, after his installation at Rugby Town Hall recently.
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Members of the Jamaican Diaspora UK have decided not to cancel their visit to Jamaica, despite the postponement of the biennial Diaspora Convention. The 2010 Diaspora Convention was scheduled to be held from June 14 to 17, in Ocho Rios, St. Ann.
The decision to postpone the meeting had been taken in Kingston by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade, which has responsibility for Diaspora Affairs, one of the main reasons for the postponement was the present civil unrest in Jamaica.
The executive of the Jamaican Diaspora UK held a meeting at the Jamaican High Commission in London, to discuss the postponement of the conference and the way forward. Some delegates expressed disappointment at the fact that they had booked their holidays to coincide with the conference and that they would not now have the main arena in which to push their agendas on issues concerning the Diaspora...See
June PDF for more.
Facilitators For A Better Jamaica (FFBJ) is celebrating the success of its Director, Sanchia Alasia for being newly elected as a Labour Party Councillor for Barking and Dagenham.
This is a tremendous success for the Labour Party which swept clean in the borough, previously an important strong hold for the BNP.
Speaking on the news of her election win, Sanchia said "I am pleased that the hard work done by myself and the rest of the Labour party team has finally paid off.
This was a prolonged campaign, which has
been carefully planned over the last three
years to ensure that the BNP have no more
political power in Barking and Dagenham. I look forward to representing and serving the local community who have elected me into this privileged position."
...See June PDF for more.
The new system of 'earned citizenship' is scheduled to come into force in July 2011.
The government of the UK is changing the way that migrants are able to progress towards obtaining British citizenship. This process is aimed at ensuring that people who want to build a new life in the UK earn the right to do so.
The new system of 'earned citizenship' that is coming into force will create a clear path by which migrants are able to become British citizens. This new system will include a new 'probationary citizenship' stage.
In addition, 'earned citizenship' will aim to ensure that the rights and benefits of British citizenship are matched by the responsibilities and contributions made to the British society. The process will ensure that those migrants who want to settle permanently in the UK will have to earn the right to stay by learning English, paying taxes and obeying the law.
If the migrants are in compliance with the rules, then the British government will support their application. However, the government will take action to punish those who do not. Consequently, the migrants who demonstrate 'active citizenship', that is, they are in compliance with the rules, will be able to become British citizens more quickly.
...See June PDF for more.
The first decade of the 21st Century – 2000 to 2009 - has proven to be a decade of decline for the Countries of the Caribbean Community and Common Market (Caricom).
When the UN Human Development index was published in 1999, four of the 13 independent CARICOM countries (not including Haiti) were rated among the top 50 nations.
Ten years later in 2009, only Barbados and Antigua and Barbuda are among the top 50 having dropped from 29 to 37, and from 38 to 47 respectively. The two others, Bahamas and Trinidad and Tobago, fell from 31 to 52 and 46 to 64. With the exception of St Lucia which improved its position from 81 to 69, every other Caricom country fell in the index indicating that the condition of the region as a whole deteriorated.
Real income in the Caricom area is less today than it was 10 years ago; unemployment is higher in 2009 than it was in 1999; poverty has expanded in many countries, and many Caricom countries now experience debt levels of over 100% of their GDP.
Prices for the region’s commodities also fell. Jamaica, Guyana and Suriname experienced a 50% drop in prices for aluminium, and the price for a barrel of Trinidad and Tobago’s oil plummeted to US$40 from $147.
And, as the decade was drawing to a close the region’s preferential market for bananas in the European Union (EU) was fatally punctured by a deal stitched up between the EU Commission and Latin American producers with the active participation of the Director-General of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) Pascal Lamy, a former EU trade negotiator. Now, neither Caribbean bananas nor Caribbean sugar has much prospect for markets in the EU.
The region as a whole also faces an uncertain future in global trade negotiations under the WTO.
Having conceded the opening of key areas of their economies to the EU under an Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) signed in 2008, the regional countries have no chance of bargaining for more advantageous conditions in the WTO. The picture for international financial services is just as bleak.
In crime and security, the decline in Caribbean circumstances has been dramatic. Between 2000 and 2009, murder rates became higher than in any other region of the world, and assault rates rose significantly above the world average.
The last decade points clearly to the absolute necessity for deeper regional integration; now if Caricom countries are to retain some semblance of control of their economies, their identities and their destiny.
...See June PDF for more.
