NEW YORK, USA — On the eve of the 10th Biennial Conference of the Global Jamaica Diaspora Council (GJDC), which kicks off today in Montego Bay, St James, a dissident group of Jamaicans staged a nerve-rattling demonstration outside the Jamaican Embassy in the United States capital, Washington, District of Columbia (DC).

Saturday’s protest demonstration, the third in a series, was meant to send a signal to the Jamaican Government that all was not well on the Diaspora front and to demand greater engagement on popular issues like crime, corruption, and poor health services in their homeland.

Demonstration leaders, Dr Rupert Francis, head of the Diaspora Task Force on Crime Intervention and Prevention, and attorney Wilfred Rattigan, a former special agent with the Federal Bureau of Investigation, said their aim is to pressure the Government to do more to better the lives of Jamaicans.

“What we are seeking are better governance and a better country and future for our children. We in the Diaspora do not consider ourselves better than our people in Jamaica,” they said, reiterating an earlier call to the Government to “work with the Diaspora so that together we can build a better country”.

To further rattle nerves ahead of the 10th biennial gathering, the dissident group pulled a fast one on the Government by registering the domain name, Global Jamaica Diaspora Council, with the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) in the state of Florida.

Herb Nelson Jr is among speakers who addressed the demonstrators.

Efforts are currently underway to register the name in Georgia, Pennsylvania, Connecticut, New York, and DC. The group said California would be its next target.

Last week, as organisers feverishly put the finishing touches to the two-yearly meeting in the Jamaican tourist capital, the conflict took a new twist as the group announced it would be seeking to issue a cease and desist letter going forward to forbid the Government from using the domain name wherever they register it.

Strenuous efforts by the Jamaica Observer to get comments from the Jamaican foreign ministry and the consular services on the domain name registration in the states proved futile, even though unofficial Government sources accused the organisers of trying to embarrass the Andrew Holness Administration to feather their personal nests.

Counter-protestors, including entertainer Mr Vegas, who turned up in Washington on Saturday, chanted: “One Jamaica, Brand Jamaica” and “Rattigan shame on you.”

Clearly shaken by the ongoing protest actions, the Jamaican Embassy issued a statement last week slamming what it described as “a flagrant misuse of the embassy’s name to deceive and lure Jamaicans to attend an unsanctioned event at the embassy”.

The embassy said that it had received information that there were video clips circulating on social media promoting an event to celebrate Brand Jamaica, which is scheduled for Saturday, June 15, 2024 at the embassy.

“We want to make it clear that no event is scheduled for that date at the embassy. We believe that this flagrant misuse of the embassy’s name to deceive and lure Jamaicans to attend any unsanctioned event is disingenuous, misleading, and most of all goes against the spirit of Brand Jamaica,” the statement said.

The statement also reminded that its offices are closed on Saturdays and Sundays.

But ignoring the statement, the protesters from the dissident group assembled outside the embassy and blasted the Government for a number of “broken promises”, “corruption”, “poor health-care services”, “lack of accountability”, “poor governance”, among other issues.

Dr Francis told the crowd that contrary to the disinformation and lies being spread about the group, they were not doing this for politics.

Rattigan accused the Government of reneging on a number of promises it had made to the Jamaican people, “principal among them a promise by the prime minister that within 100 days of him taking office legislation would’ve been introduced to recall non-performing politicians. But guess what, that is not among the proposals in the current constitutional reform programme now underway”.

Rattigan was also critical about arrangements for the 10th Diaspora Biennial Conference, describing it as more of a business conference than a conference to address the real issues which are important to the Diaspora and Jamaica.

He referred to the registered Global Jamaica Diaspora Council as the authentic Diaspora body, saying it would go ahead with plans to host its own conference beginning tonight (Sunday) online, and would be “addressing real issues which are important to the Jamaican people and the future of Jamaica”.

Another speaker at the protest rally, Herb Nelson Jr, a security expert, told protesters that “what we are doing is trying to assist our country”. He and other speakers dismissed as “sheer nonsense accusations that we are mashing up Brand Jamaica”.

Nelson Jr estimated that Jamaicans in the Diaspora remit as much as US$3 million to Jamaica annually, “but we see very little of what is being done with it”.

Both Rattigan and Nelson had some harsh criticisms for Ambassador Audrey Marks, accusing her of not acting in the best interest of all Jamaicans.

Speaking for the counter-protestors, Mr Vegas said he had decided to attend to help highlight the progress being made by the Government in many areas.

Another protester from that group, Alton Plummer, described the main group as “supporters of the Opposition People’s National Party, whose action is likely to seriously damage Jamaica’s reputation”.

Patrick Callum, president of the New York chapter of G2K, the young professionals affiliate of the ruling Jamaica Labour Party, said his group was not there as a counter protest, but rather to highlight the success of the various government programmes.

Earlier protest demonstrations took place in Miami and New York, and additional actions are planned for Toronto, Canada, and London in the United Kingdom, the organisers said.

Protest co-leader, attorney Wilfred Rattigan addressing demonstrators outside the Jamaican Embassy in Washington, DC, on Saturday

Entertainer Mr Vegas (left) with some counter-protestors in
Washington, DC, on Saturday.

Co-leader of the Washington protests, Dr Rupert Francis speaking at the demonstration on Saturday.