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May 05, 2010 Features / Columnists, Freddie Kissoon
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The role of the historian is to probe, to be suspicious, to dig deep and deeper, to explode myths and dissolve mythologies and also to expose if the evidence is there. Today, like any other moment when this country celebrates the achievements of its different ethnic communities, myths, stereotypes and non-truths dominate the atmosphere.
This is a country where every ethnic group has superlatives tied around their record but historical revisionism tells a different story.
Let’s start with brilliance and morality in business, in a comparative context. African and Indian scholars have rejected the idea that the best entrepreneurs in Guyanese evolution were the Portuguese.
Why? Because they were white and were the elites that looked down upon Africans and Indians. So we use a sociological yardstick to judge their success in capitalist enterprises. The Portuguese used to think in racially superior ways but they were better entrepreneurs in every respect than Indians.
The Portuguese went beyond family business and into public companies. The Indians had and have no interests in such a modern pathway. In terms of welfare, respect for labour laws and humane treatment of workers, the Indians are millions of miles behind the Portuguese.
After the Portuguese migrated, the only petty bourgeoisie left were the Indians because the Guyanese African middle class chose to remain outside of commercial directions. The myth was thus born that the real capitalist class in Guyana were the Indians. But there was no comparative existence from which to collect data to study the performance of other racial groups.
President Burnham made the situation worse by trying to create a petty bourgeois stratum among Africans but it went horribly wrong because of Burnham’s conceptualization of the meaning of power.
Burnham’s style brought further ridicule onto Africans with the deepening of the stereotype that Africans made terrible businessmen. Look at African ventures after President Hoyte opened up the economy. The level of professionalism among African investors is far greater than what obtains in the Indian workplace.
The study of comparative exploitation is a fertile field for researchers. It will reveal a ruthless manipulation of labour that is far, far greater in Indian employment practices than in other groups. It is outside the scope of this column to offer examples of this comparison but some statistics will shock and disgust readers.
Let’s look at polygamous behaviour among the races. We grew up hearing how African men like to flirt. We are told that they love to spend their money on women. Indian men, we are told, are not like that. This is a myth. The society has come to accept this fiction because different races have different behavioural traits.
An African woman would go to the workplace of her married lover to talk to him. The secret is then let out. Indian women do not embrace such open attitudes. She would prefer always to remain a secret lover. African married men too tend to socialize more with their outside ladies than Indian men.
Take the role of hard labour. This is a long held stereotype that has seeped into the psychology of the Guyanese people. We grew up hearing how Indians get up at four in the morning and work hard in the field and that has been their pattern of existence. This is an extremely one-sided view of what hard work means. It is based on business principles. The African soldier and police who get up at three in the morning and work throughout the day are never considered hard workers. African public sector workers and teachers from the early 20th century onwards never went home on time but would spend many hours late at work. That is never considered hard work.
Finally, politics. Africans because of the saturation of English philosophical values they inherited from sharing the European’s religion and culture tend to be less tolerant of the abuse of power by their leaders.
It took Africans two years after the PNC came to power on its own to rebel against Burnham. By 1970, bauxite workers were confronting Burnham. Four years later, the WPA was born. By 1985, Africans had defected from their President. African Guyanese wanted to see the removal of Burnham and the PNC.
In contrast, after 18 years of Indianized rule by the PPP with graphic signs of fascist overtones, Indians are still to reject the abominable, corrupt and fascist rule of the PPP. This remains a tantalizing enigma for those who want to explain this silence. Is there hope that they will rebel in 2011?
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