Race relations

Apr 01, 2023 Editorial

Kaieteur News – We have to visit and revisit race relations in Guyana, since it is of such significance to the continuity of this society as a peaceful, constructive group of people.  To repeat what has been lived with for all of our existence, we are our own worst enemies.  In what could be the best time in our history, we are at our worst, at our weakest.  Guyanese animosities and enmities now have neither time nor place, not even the space for calming down and considering that we are being ripped-off and stripped bare by local and foreign exploiters.

We take the time, we make the effort, to address our racial issue, and we could be a people united against our exploiters.  Our exploiters impoverish us, keep us wound-up like a coiled spring, so that we are ready to jump up, lash out, and maim fellow citizens held as devilish enemies.  Where are we going, where can we go, with a mentality like this?  How strong are we, when foreigners scalp us and remove our wealth by the tanker full, empty our bank vaults, and all we are content to do is to beat into submission our neighbours and our competitors for power, and a place around the table of our national patrimony?

We need a plan, our circumstances call for a structure, our nation requires a programme that is well-thought out, comprehensive, and all-inclusive.  These were among the pieces of what Opposition Leader Aubrey Norton called for recently, when he said that we need a race relations plan.  In lending his voice and weight for enhanced race relations, Mr. Norton said that “a national anti-discrimination agenda must focus on achieving harmonious race relations, women empowerment, equality of opportunity for all, and the minimizing of all forms of racial discrimination (“Norton calls for national plan on race relations”, KN March 22).

We think that this is a timely call, one that has immense benefits for this country, and all Guyanese.  Instead of fighting each other, we would serve our nation better, and our families and fellow citizens in a way like never before, when we come to the clearest realization of where this country is poised today.  We are being called an oil power by some, while many of our citizens are powerless in their fight against hunger.  We are an oil power, as rated, but we do not even have the power to address the lopsided and haemorrhaging nature of an oil contract that ruins our prospects, diminishes our present.  This is our reality, in all of its impotence and limitations, and we have to find ways to get out of this trap.

As much as there is appreciation for Mr. Norton’s call, our political leaders (included he himself) must go beyond words that give off the right sounds in public.  There must be those actions by leaders in the PPP/C Government and the APNU+AFC Opposition that signal a new maturity that is evident, a powerful sincerity that can be felt and believed, and the genuine commitments that are tangible, which could lead us out of the local racial swamps to somewhere else.  The Opposition must turn a leaf and engage the government at every forum and every opportunity.  Similarly, the government must be open to responding to overtures from the opposition, so as to explore a better road for all of our citizens to travel in mutual understanding, appreciation, and respect.

We have had and heard postures and words before, like those stood for by the Opposition Leader. President Ali himself has been pushing his idea of ‘One Guyana’, a good thing on the face of it.  However, what this country needs more is sober and profound leadership initiatives relative to bringing the races together, but which have been resisted by the big two political groups for most of their histories.

If the President and Opposition Leader are about what is authentic, then Guyana can get somewhere.  Both must realize that harmonious race relations will not move as it should, with one hand leading the way.  It must be a joint effort, one that is serious and compelling in its strength.  We need harmony, if only to guarantee our prosperity.

• Editorial, exploiters, Guyana, Opposition Leader, President Ali