It is time that we begin to give serious thought to how we will get what is due to us

Sep 02, 2011 Letters

Dear Editor,
As the nation begins its celebration of the government-sponsored Amerindian Heritage Month I can only wonder about the state of the Amerindian Peoples in Guyana today and ask the question: what do we have to celebrate from the government’s perspective?
It has revised the Amerindian Act which virtually gives the administration free reign over the land and other mineral and natural resources of which the Amerindian peoples have been “guardians” for thousands of years; while at the same time, placing restrictions on the scope to which the Amerindians themselves can exploit these resources for their own benefit.
The PPP has infiltrated and imposed a value system on many of these communities which continues to induce significant shifts in the world-view of its members which only serves to align them with the dominant (PPP) value-system, at the expense of their own.
The institutionalised process of assimilation of the Amerindian peoples is alive and well. The government continues to institute measures and policies geared to achieving the objectives it has set for itself as far as Amerindians are concerned without genuinely consulting with the communities. The most recent examples of this are the implementation of the LCDS Project and the Solar Panel Project.
From our perspective, we do have a lot to celebrate. We have our resilience as a people to deal with the hardships which we still endure today, even after all the governments in my lifetime have “intervened” on our behalf.
We have our traditional, “cultural” knowledge which continues to serve us in good stead as we negotiate our lives and that of our families and communities in the 21st century, and all that this means.
We have our lands, which possession and control continues to be the obsession of and ultimate target for appropriation by the PPP, but which they can only happen if we allow them to continue to pursue this agenda; which is being done with the help of some from our own communities.
We have history on our side, but we have to do some serious soul-searching to determine whether we will continue to allow others to define and interpret that history to our continued detriment, or whether we will interpret it and use the new understandings to act in a manner that is appropriate with the natural status bequeathed to us by this history.
These are some of the things which we as a people have to celebrate. But celebration (kayap) has its place. And historically, as a people, we only really celebrate when we would have achieved enough to warrant the use of scarce resources for celebration.
The final question I will ask is this. Have we as a people achieved so much that it warrants celebration? I think not. However, we must use this month as one of reflection on the way forward. We have much to do to bring our communities to at least even par with other segments of society.
Let us quietly celebrate our heritage as we were taught to by the Elders. We have nothing to celebrate about as far as what governments have done for our communities in my lifetime. The crumbs which they have thrown at us over the years really amount to our share of the national pie which all governments are morally obliged to provide for their citizens.
Figuratively speaking, Amerindian communities have had to make do with the crumbs from the national dinner table. It is time that we begin to give serious thought to how we will get what is due to us. We must stop accepting crumbs from the national dinner table and ensure that we can eat as well as everyone else does.
This is what we have to think about as we “celebrate”. I wish all Guyanese, and especially my Amerindian brothers and sisters, a reflective Amerindian Heritage Month, 2011.
Hubert Wong

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