A predominant figure in the Jamaican Diaspora movement in the United States says the quarrel in Kingston over the importation of patties produced in New York by a Jamaican- owned company is symptomatic of an ambivalence that Jamaicans living at home have towards their compatriots abroad.
According to Patrick Beckford, Jamaicans at home appreciate the billions of dollars in remittances from those overseas, as well as their lobbying efforts in support of the island, but complained that their engagement was anti-patriotic and was not fully embraced.
"The larger problem is that Jamaica does not entirely accept the Diaspora," said Beckford, the chairman of Jamaica's Diaspora Advisory Board in the Northeast United States.
Beckford's observation emerged from the events of last week when Jamaica Manufacturers Association (JMA) President Omar Azan lashed when he realized the PriceSmart store in Kingston was selling patties produced by Vincent HoSang's Caribbean Food Delights (CFD) – perhaps the leading producer of Jamaican patties in the United States.
Taking a stand
"We are a country that is known for our patties, we manufacture patties, yet companies in Jamaica are importing patties out of New York to sell here," Azan complained the day of his re-election as head of the JMA. "I am going to be pressing (on this), because if we don't put our foot down, we won't have a country for our children to live in and enjoy," he added.
In light of warnings against protectionism and criticism that Azan undermines the same Diaspora movement Jamaica says it wants to build, Azan has insisted that critics miss his larger point: his organization's promotion of manufacturing in Jamaica.
"It is neither a patty war nor an attack on the Diaspora," Azan said in a letter to The Weekly Gleaner on Tuesday.
"The recent illustration by the JMA on the importation of patties is intended to build consumer awareness and to promote 'Buy Jamaica, build Jamaica'," he said. HoSang, well-known for his philanthropic work in Jamaica, has sought to reduce the controversy, saying that it was not intention to export his products to Jamaica.
Washington State-based PriceSmart, which has 13 club stores in the Caribbean and 22 in Latin America, is a distributor of Caribbean Food Delights products. It recently began exporting some to Jamaica as a market test.
The store had apparently decided to discontinue the effort even before the JMA complaint. In any event, HoSang made it clear that he had no particular intention of competing in Jamaica. Caribbean Food Delights has "a sufficient market in the United States."
Input
Moreover, many of the goods provided by HoSang, such as pepper, thyme, jerk seasoning and callaloo [a popular Caribbean leaf vegetable, also known as amaranth] are imported from Jamaica, based on availability: "We try to buy our spices from Jamaica whenever we can – whenever they have it," HoSang said.
According to Beckford, this kind of attitude and other declarations of patriotism towards Jamaicans are welcomed on the island, but the embrace was completely genuine. For instance, he said, "manufacturers and the tourism industry do not target or support the Diaspora or Caribbean people in general and routinely overlook the human capital the Diaspora has to offer."
