The Jamaican Dream

[Hopyoneson]

Is there such a thing, alot has been made when I was growing up about the American/British/Canadian dream, but no one seem to talk about the jamaican dream when I was living there, people did just a plot fi go a farrin and mek it big, whe unu tink is there one
and
what is it if it exist, mi will add mi thoughts lata
(mi only disclaimer is mek wi try no bring JLP or PNP in a dis if it no call fah)

[Hopyoneson]

Re: The Jamaican Dream

A letter I read on a caribbean news web site that made me start the post.

Dear Sir:

In reference to Caribbean nurses and teachers being exploited in the United Kingdom, I can speak for English-speaking Caribbean people. The vast majority of us are naive and still don't understand the British, Canadian and American racist capitalist system of labour.

It is obvious that these newly educated migrant workers will be exploited by their European employers. They were not imported to work as equals to the British majority white nurses and teachers, even though they might be par or even have superior intellect to their white British co-workers.

The bottom line is simple. The British government wants cheap labour from new immigrants who are highly skilled professionals.

Being part of a Caribbean educated class does not mean that the British people will accept these nurses and teachers as equal human beings. The same thing exists in Canada.

The purpose of importing migrant workers in those rich industrialized nation, is to save labour cost. Non white people are always targeted, whenever there are vacancies for jobs that the citizens of these rich countries don't want to fulfill, their governments always recruit foreign workers as in the case of our nurses and teachers, who are crying the same old misery against white supremacy.

In order for western Europeans and North Americans to control the world, its people and resources, it is very important for them to educate and re-educate their colonized subjects, as in the case of these migrants Caribbean professional nurses and teachers whom the British want to re-educate.

White supremacy is not all about the KKK lynching a black person anymore. Today's racists are very much smarter than the fore-parents. They prefer to control our minds rather than killing us because they need our productive values to enhance their capitalist greed for more money and profit.

Presently, lots of Caribbean people like me are experiencing some job barriers in Canada. It does not matter how long we are living in Toronto or any other Canadian city, or even if we were born Canadians, the treatment will be the same.

The injustice that is happening to our nurses and teachers in the British work place should be an eye-opener for the next generation of Caribbean skilled workers, so that they will not abandon their society, job and people for the bigger capitalist dollar and pound money.

They must remember the old saying that says: "All that glitters is not gold."

I recommend all Caribbean literate people to read Marxist theory, in order for them to understand the greedy world we are living in.

[Dr.Dudd]

Re: The Jamaican Dream

[ QUOTE ]
Is there such a thing, alot has been made when I was growing up about the American/British/Canadian dream, but no one seem to talk about the jamaican dream when I was living there, people did just a plot fi go a farrin and mek it big, whe unu tink is there one
and
what is it if it exist, mi will add mi thoughts lata
(mi only disclaimer is mek wi try no bring JLP or PNP in a dis if it no call fah)

[/ QUOTE ]
The Jamaican dream is a nightmare for the majority of Jamaicans.

[SandiF]

Re: The Jamaican Dream

Yes, there is a Jamaican dream...

Massa di days when mi used to stand up inna bwoiling sun outta zinc factory inna mi spike heel boot a wait fi di quarter million bus fi come. Mi used to cuss silently and dream of the days when mi can afford fi buy waan likkle cyar. Then the dream of completing higher-education to get the degree, whilst working full-time. Then the dream of owning my own house...it turned out the easiest/fastest way to get a house was to camp outta National Arena for one of Matalon's.

As a younger person living and working in Kingston on a median income, my girlfriends and I used to sit down and talk about "making it" and achieving our dreams in JA. We never talked about 'going to foreign to make it'--we all lived a comfortable enough life, even though high cost of living was impacting. Funny enough, out of my band of friends, I'm the only one who migrated, and not to achieve the dream of a better life, but for different circumstance.

[Ja. Jewel]

Re: The Jamaican Dream

[ QUOTE ]
Yes, there is a Jamaican dream...

Massa di days when mi used to stand up inna bwoiling sun outta zinc factory inna mi spike heel boot a wait fi di quarter million bus fi come. Mi used to cuss silently and dream of the days when mi can afford fi buy waan likkle cyar. Then the dream of completing higher-education to get the degree, whilst working full-time. Then the dream of owning my own house...it turned out the easiest/fastest way to get a house was to camp outta National Arena for one of Matalon's.

As a younger person living and working in Kingston on a median income, my girlfriends and I used to sit down and talk about "making it" and achieving our dreams in JA. We never talked about 'going to foreign to make it'--we all lived a comfortable enough life, even though high cost of living was impacting. Funny enough, out of my band of friends, I'm the only one who migrated, and not to achieve the dream of a better life, but for different circumstance.

[/ QUOTE ]

Thank you for that, Sandi....a nice taste of Jamaican reality. [img]/forums/images/graemlins/notworthy.gif[/img]

[Pepper]

Re: The Jamaican Dream

Good question....so many in Ja are farrin minded. And even those who don't think of living in farrin, many still long for farrin dollas.

But I would agree with SandiF, the dream of a house and maybe a car is probably tops on the list. Even for many of us who live a farrin, the house on top of the hill is part of our dream.

[Yvonne N.]

Re: The Jamaican Dream

[ QUOTE ]
A letter I read on a caribbean news web site that made me start the post.

Dear Sir:


1.... They prefer to control our minds rather than killing us ... ( evil folks everywhere do that eh?...)


2. so that they will not abandon their society, job and people for the bigger capitalist dollar and pound money.

This is a hard one; the grass will always look greener on the other side.



[/ QUOTE ]

If that's Das K...that's hard reading...

[Hopyoneson]

Re: The Jamaican Dream

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
A letter I read on a caribbean news web site that made me start the post.

Dear Sir:


1.... They prefer to control our minds rather than killing us ... ( evil folks everywhere do that eh?...)


2. so that they will not abandon their society, job and people for the bigger capitalist dollar and pound money.

This is a hard one; the grass will always look greener on the other side.



[/ QUOTE ]

If that's Das K...that's hard reading...

[/ QUOTE ]

mi no understand what yu write, what you been seh [img]/forums/images/graemlins/confused.gif[/img]

[jah_yout]

Re: The Jamaican Dream

[ QUOTE ]
Is there such a thing, alot has been made when I was growing up about the American/British/Canadian dream, but no one seem to talk about the jamaican dream when I was living there, people did just a plot fi go a farrin and mek it big, whe unu tink is there one
and
what is it if it exist, mi will add mi thoughts lata
(mi only disclaimer is mek wi try no bring JLP or PNP in a dis if it no call fah)

[/ QUOTE ]


i hate to say it but...for a lot of j'cans it was to go a farrin & get rich...i don't think the gov'ts (whether pnp or jlp) did enough to promote staying in jamaica as the prime option...then again ppl got carried away with the images in movies & tv & thought farrin was a bed of roses; not to mention economic situations & political violence...

'worry dem a worry dem foreign mind
foreign is a place where ppl come & go/
when some ppl go to farrin they see things they never seen before/
they forget all about their bredrin back a yaad how he's living so poor/
right now he's down there sleeping on cold floor...
look how me black look how me shine/
this is not a secret to keep in your mind/
michael jackson sing the girl is mine/
johnny osbourne sing about rewind/
some man gone a farrin gone guh tun shoeshine/
mi rather do some business pon di frontline'

----<foreign mind>-----junior reid

[Hopyoneson]

Re: The Jamaican Dream

The Jamaican dream does exist in my opinion.

It varies depending on the individual, but still remains relevant whether we are on the rock or some farrin shores. To some I think it represent the physical i.e car and house, to others it is the more the emotion you get whenever anything positive Jamaican is mentioned, while to others it is really like a dream, a fond memory.. that is cherished even more so... based on the stark reality of never going back to your island in the sun, a fleeting memory that is re-lived in brief lapses but once you awakens, it is gone in an instant. I think the dream is not confined to jamaicans only but many non jamaicans have their own Jamaican dreams.

My personal jamaican Dream is described in our national song.....

I pledge my heart, this island
As God and faith shall live
My work, my strength, my love and
My loyalty to give.

O green isle of the Indies,
Jamaica, strong and free,


Jamaica strong and free is my dream, I sang this song many years as a child in the hot sun and dirt without fully understanding its meaning, but it took standing in the freezing cold a farrin to make me trully appreciate those words.

[neutral]

Re: The Jamaican Dream

If there exists a Jamaican dream then for the majority of Jamaicans it`s a blooming nightmare,the majority of us on this bulletin board are ex pats chasing our dreams from foreign climes,some with no intention to return.
if there really exists a Jamaican dream then it`s probably the sole preserve of a select few,and not mr ordinary Jamaican who finds it a struggle everyday.

[Hopyoneson]

Re: The Jamaican Dream

[ QUOTE ]
If there exists a Jamaican dream then for the majority of Jamaicans it`s a blooming nightmare,the majority of us on this bulletin board are ex pats chasing our dreams from foreign climes,some with no intention to return.
if there really exists a Jamaican dream then it`s probably the sole preserve of a select few,and not mr ordinary Jamaican who finds it a struggle everyday.

[/ QUOTE ]

but who is the ordinary jamaican we all speak of, the people with ambition and health that I encountered all trying to better them self, using them natural abilities to start companies and other businesses, doing well also. The blanket statement thrown around on here of "majority of Jamaicans are suffering" is an outright lie, mi naw tek set pon yu neutral but mi see wid mi own eyes, mi just come back from dung deh mi tek notebook and mi research and mek contacts fi start a small company with my pops and you no need no big board of directors fi get article of incorporation. Mi ask people on yah fi help with info and just do it miself bredrin. Mi chat to people and realize that legal money is being made, people in the country nah suffer and live nightmare, yes life is tough but they are living in a developing country..unu tan deh gwan bout jamaican nightmare. Till it too late. Time of great uncertainty is when you mek dollars due to new opportunity forming.

[RichD]

Re: The Jamaican Dream

[ QUOTE ]
If there exists a Jamaican dream then for the majority of Jamaicans it`s a blooming nightmare,the majority of us on this bulletin board are ex pats chasing our dreams from foreign climes,some with no intention to return.
if there really exists a Jamaican dream then it`s probably the sole preserve of a select few,and not mr ordinary Jamaican who finds it a struggle everyday.

[/ QUOTE ]

no different from the odinary Canadain, american or brit

[neutral]

Re: The Jamaican Dream

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
If there exists a Jamaican dream then for the majority of Jamaicans it`s a blooming nightmare,the majority of us on this bulletin board are ex pats chasing our dreams from foreign climes,some with no intention to return.
if there really exists a Jamaican dream then it`s probably the sole preserve of a select few,and not mr ordinary Jamaican who finds it a struggle everyday.

[/ QUOTE ]

no different from the odinary Canadain, american or brit

[/ QUOTE ]

Dont see a great influx of ordinary Canadians,Americans and Brits tripping over themslves to immigrate to Jamaica to escape their plight.

[neutral]

Re: The Jamaican Dream

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
If there exists a Jamaican dream then for the majority of Jamaicans it`s a blooming nightmare,the majority of us on this bulletin board are ex pats chasing our dreams from foreign climes,some with no intention to return.
if there really exists a Jamaican dream then it`s probably the sole preserve of a select few,and not mr ordinary Jamaican who finds it a struggle everyday.

[/ QUOTE ]

but who is the ordinary jamaican we all speak of, the people with ambition and health that I encountered all trying to better them self, using them natural abilities to start companies and other businesses, doing well also. The blanket statement thrown around on here of "majority of Jamaicans are suffering" is an outright lie, mi naw tek set pon yu neutral but mi see wid mi own eyes, mi just come back from dung deh mi tek notebook and mi research and mek contacts fi start a small company with my pops and you no need no big board of directors fi get article of incorporation. Mi ask people on yah fi help with info and just do it miself bredrin. Mi chat to people and realize that legal money is being made, people in the country nah suffer and live nightmare, yes life is tough but they are living in a developing country..unu tan deh gwan bout jamaican nightmare. Till it too late. Time of great uncertainty is when you mek dollars due to new opportunity forming.

[/ QUOTE ]

Not to contradict what you are saying,but unlike most developed countries Jamaica does not have a welfare system,this can prove a nightmare for the unemployed,and those who are unable to compete for the limited amount of jobs due to lack of qualifications.