Guyana is either on the precipice of destruction or the cusp of greatness. We must choose and it must not be the destructive path. Burying heads in the sand, thinking things are alright or will get better with this or that party(ies) in office cannot ignore what all know, but only the honest want to admit- our problems are real and they exist primarily in the realm of race more so than class.
Though it cannot be denied the working class deserves a living wage and better conditions of work to improve their standard of living, ours is a reality where race is not absent from class in many areas. Sugar workers are in the majority from the Indian community; bauxite workers, the Disciplined Forces, teaching, and nursing from the African community. In the private sector, primarily retail, from the Indian community.
It matters not whether the demographic composition is choice, historical or present, but the fact that it is our reality and efforts must be made to address the concerns of all. The truth is, though the egomaniac among us will ignore, none of us can speak for the other. Unless you walk in a man’s shoes you cannot identify. Smart leaders recognise this, therefore they seek to listen not dictate and to base policies, laws and programmes after such discussions.
For the good of Guyana, the foolhardiness of talking past each other rather than talking with each other cannot continue. The former approach is not only arrogant but self-defeating because it breathes confrontation as happening. The never-ending penchant for immature politics played by people of matured age and who offer themselves for leadership has become stale and disgusting. Conversely, talking with each other allows for the creation of space and time to listen to each other, to hear what affects the other and to work with each other. This, borne from understanding that respect of self is not without respect for the other because our welfare is intertwined and mutually fated.
Some, in hopelessness, have posited partition is the answer. The possibility of this being voluntarily done is zilch. Africans will claim Berbice given previous presence and Cuffy’s (our National Hero) role in the long journey for freedom (emancipation). Similar claims will be made to Demerara and Essequibo, where major uprisings for freedom were led by Quamina and Damon respectively.
Indians can make a claim of belonging, though coming after Africans, having resisted the cruelty in indentureship in all three counties. Amerindians, who though settled in the hinterlands, reportedly came before all other races and too fought the earliest form of slavery in Guyana. The other smaller race groups can also make not dissimilar claims of resistance and contributions to Guyana’s development. The truth is all are correct.
Some have grown wary of the back and forth and political pettiness/immaturity. Who can tune out or flee did. Consequently, a small nation like ours continues to suffer severe brain drain. This has impacted our ability to develop and be competitive in a global economy. Some seem to revel in the cliché “in the country of the blind, the one-eyed man is king.” They care not that Guyana has become a mocking stock as heads shake in wonderment that the country once known for its intellectual heft has been reduced to silliness.
It cannot be good for national politics and development to shut out or govern at the exclusion of others. It is not only small minded in thinking but says extraordinarily little of those who desire this path. Some must take the highroad. Where there exists unwillingness or inability of elected leaders to do better natural leaders should emerge and fill the gap. Better must come.
