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Dual citizens or aliens?
Betty Ann Blaine
Tuesday, May 03, 2011
Dear Reader,
Were it not for the political chicanery associated with the dual-citizenship issue, the matter would (and should) make for meaningful and urgent national discourse. Having hijacked the subject to maintain or wrest political power (depending on which side you are on), it is now manifestly more difficult for a sober, "objective" examination of the issue. It's a pity, since the dual-citizenship matter has deep and far-reaching implications.
Our economy is being propped up by remittances
Our economy is being propped up by remittances
The debate has been made even more complex as a result of the successive court rulings and the various by-elections that have ensued.
What should have been a serious, thoughtful and long-overdue exercise to study the practicality and fairness of the constitutional provision, has now become a hodgepodge of opinions and speculations that have begun to border on the ridiculous. The fact that taxpayers have had to pay multiple millions of dollars to underwrite the by-elections has served to deepen the level of subjectivity on the matter.
It seems to me that the debate's fundamental point of departure must be the history of migration and its impact on the body politic of the motherland, Jamaica. Having maintained the post-slavery/post-colonial socio-economic status quo and "banished" our people to distant lands to seek a better life, we are now embroiled in a seemingly thoughtless debate about the true citizenship of our brothers and sisters who have lived or are living abroad.
And let's be sensible. The issue of Jamaican migration cannot be solely confined to a debate about who is a true-blooded citizen. The problem of our people leaving largely to seek work has had a profoundly negative effect sociologically on the society. From the separation of mothers and fathers from their children to the perennial problem of the brain drain,
Jamaica continues to suffer serious social and developmental setbacks as our citizens, especially our young, continue to look outwards. The point I am making here is that the dual-citizenship argument cannot stand in isolation to the broad range of other concerns related to migration, and if as a society we genuinely intend to grapple with the problem, we need to bear in mind that there are many deep and protracted social and economic factors to be considered.
It cannot be that having forced our people out, we now want to punish them by denying them participation in the political process. It is even more ludicrous when we consider that our economy is essentially being propped up by remittances sent home by Jamaicans living overseas. Is the message being sent that we want their money but we don't want their participation?
As a Jamaican who lived in the United States for 14 years, I believe that my story amplifies the complexities of the problem. As a child of poor parents, I watched helplessly and even enviously as many of my friends matriculated into UWI after high school, but I couldn't. My chance to pursue higher education came when I migrated to the United States, and through hard work and perseverance, I progressed through to Columbia University's MA/PhD programme. It was one of the toughest periods in my life as I worked and studied simultaneously, while remaining the main breadwinner for my family back in Jamaica. During that time I got married and had two daughters who are American citizens.
While I was domiciled in the United States, my heart and soul remained connected to Jamaica, and through my visits home, through Jamaican civic organisations, and through unceasing activism as a student leader on behalf of Jamaica, the love for my country was constantly kindled.
I never attained US citizenship, even when I could, but virtually all of my friends did over time. It was clear to me that their acquisition of citizenship never made them any less Jamaican than I was. In fact, many of them did it for pragmatic reasons and others for political reasons, arguing that as taxpayers they should have the right to vote. Some of them settled permanently in that country.
Every single one of those friends and colleagues contributed to Jamaica in one way or another. In fact, when I founded VOUCH, USA, a fund-raising arm for VOUCH Jamaica in the l980s, all of my friends worked alongside me to support the cause. When I left the United States, they carried on the work of that entity.
Even more important is the fact that almost every Jamaican whom I have met in the diaspora wants to come back home. It is therefore only sensible and reasonable for us here in the homeland to begin examining how we can fully "enfranchise" our own people while ensuring that we preserve our sovereignty and our nationalism. After all, the work that needs to be done now on the dual-citizenship matter is much easier than attempting rocket science.
I have the deepest respect for the Jamaican constitution, but I also appreciate the fact that the thinkers and framers of the constitution could not at the time have envisioned or anticipated the vicissitudes of migration and the complexities of globalisation that are now the reality in 2011.
It is now high time for us to fix the problem properly and refrain from treating our citizens as if they are aliens.
With love,
bab2609@yahoo.com
Read more: http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/colum...#ixzz1LHmJ8GIK
Betty Ann Blaine
Tuesday, May 03, 2011
Dear Reader,
Were it not for the political chicanery associated with the dual-citizenship issue, the matter would (and should) make for meaningful and urgent national discourse. Having hijacked the subject to maintain or wrest political power (depending on which side you are on), it is now manifestly more difficult for a sober, "objective" examination of the issue. It's a pity, since the dual-citizenship matter has deep and far-reaching implications.
Our economy is being propped up by remittances
Our economy is being propped up by remittancesThe debate has been made even more complex as a result of the successive court rulings and the various by-elections that have ensued.
What should have been a serious, thoughtful and long-overdue exercise to study the practicality and fairness of the constitutional provision, has now become a hodgepodge of opinions and speculations that have begun to border on the ridiculous. The fact that taxpayers have had to pay multiple millions of dollars to underwrite the by-elections has served to deepen the level of subjectivity on the matter.
It seems to me that the debate's fundamental point of departure must be the history of migration and its impact on the body politic of the motherland, Jamaica. Having maintained the post-slavery/post-colonial socio-economic status quo and "banished" our people to distant lands to seek a better life, we are now embroiled in a seemingly thoughtless debate about the true citizenship of our brothers and sisters who have lived or are living abroad.
And let's be sensible. The issue of Jamaican migration cannot be solely confined to a debate about who is a true-blooded citizen. The problem of our people leaving largely to seek work has had a profoundly negative effect sociologically on the society. From the separation of mothers and fathers from their children to the perennial problem of the brain drain,
Jamaica continues to suffer serious social and developmental setbacks as our citizens, especially our young, continue to look outwards. The point I am making here is that the dual-citizenship argument cannot stand in isolation to the broad range of other concerns related to migration, and if as a society we genuinely intend to grapple with the problem, we need to bear in mind that there are many deep and protracted social and economic factors to be considered.
It cannot be that having forced our people out, we now want to punish them by denying them participation in the political process. It is even more ludicrous when we consider that our economy is essentially being propped up by remittances sent home by Jamaicans living overseas. Is the message being sent that we want their money but we don't want their participation?
As a Jamaican who lived in the United States for 14 years, I believe that my story amplifies the complexities of the problem. As a child of poor parents, I watched helplessly and even enviously as many of my friends matriculated into UWI after high school, but I couldn't. My chance to pursue higher education came when I migrated to the United States, and through hard work and perseverance, I progressed through to Columbia University's MA/PhD programme. It was one of the toughest periods in my life as I worked and studied simultaneously, while remaining the main breadwinner for my family back in Jamaica. During that time I got married and had two daughters who are American citizens.
While I was domiciled in the United States, my heart and soul remained connected to Jamaica, and through my visits home, through Jamaican civic organisations, and through unceasing activism as a student leader on behalf of Jamaica, the love for my country was constantly kindled.
I never attained US citizenship, even when I could, but virtually all of my friends did over time. It was clear to me that their acquisition of citizenship never made them any less Jamaican than I was. In fact, many of them did it for pragmatic reasons and others for political reasons, arguing that as taxpayers they should have the right to vote. Some of them settled permanently in that country.
Every single one of those friends and colleagues contributed to Jamaica in one way or another. In fact, when I founded VOUCH, USA, a fund-raising arm for VOUCH Jamaica in the l980s, all of my friends worked alongside me to support the cause. When I left the United States, they carried on the work of that entity.
Even more important is the fact that almost every Jamaican whom I have met in the diaspora wants to come back home. It is therefore only sensible and reasonable for us here in the homeland to begin examining how we can fully "enfranchise" our own people while ensuring that we preserve our sovereignty and our nationalism. After all, the work that needs to be done now on the dual-citizenship matter is much easier than attempting rocket science.
I have the deepest respect for the Jamaican constitution, but I also appreciate the fact that the thinkers and framers of the constitution could not at the time have envisioned or anticipated the vicissitudes of migration and the complexities of globalisation that are now the reality in 2011.
It is now high time for us to fix the problem properly and refrain from treating our citizens as if they are aliens.
With love,
bab2609@yahoo.com
Read more: http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/colum...#ixzz1LHmJ8GIK