The Roop Column – HOLY COW! – PPP vs. PNC – Stop the bickering

May 18, 2008 Peeping Tom

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By Peter R. Ramsaroop, MBA
Chairman Vision Guyana

INTRODUCTION:
This is a never-ending topic, but it is getting worse. This was a GINA Official Release this week: “PPP/C govt. response to global price rise effective, less draconian than PNC’s when oil price hit in 1970s – Min. Persaud” The Minister referred to in his speech this week …the 1975 Budget Speech of the then PNC Finance Minister, Frank Hope, which stated: “By the end of January, 1974…..” Imagine a younger person than me will put out something like this to today’s public. Who cares what the PNC response was in the 1970s? Minister, what we care about is what we are doing today to make our lives better in Guyana.

Every day we listen to others in senior government roles continuing to tell us of the 1970 PNC days. What they fail to understand is that over 60% of the population demographics have changed and most of us now were only children in those days and the Minster that issued the press release probably was not even born.

THE RACE CARD:
We see the race card played daily. Many feel marginalized. Let’s talk about race. You know, we almost never do this in Guyana. We would never sit down with someone of a different racial group and have a conversation about race, racial prejudice and racism. We talk at each other about it. We scream at each other about it, and we are always accusing each other about practicing this deplorable behavior.

The question is, how in heaven’s name will we ever be able to overcome and resolve the consequences of our racial divisions when we cannot even sit down and have a conversation about them.

Guyana is said to be a nation of six peoples. In reality we are a nation of seven peoples, one of those as indigenous to this Nation as those who have been here from time immemorial. They are the product of our inter-racial bondings. They are manifestations that although we act sometimes as though we are, or come from separate or distinct species, we all belong to the only important grouping that lumps us all together colour of skin and texture of hair notwithstanding. We all belong to the human race, and that’s a fact of life we should pay a lot more attention to.

If I were asked to define racism I would describe it as the application of prejudice or bias. But to go a little deeper, prejudice is bias against something or somebody. Most often it involves negative beliefs and opinions about individuals or groups and making judgments about these based on this negative slant. When that prejudice or bias is leveraged into power to deny equal opportunity to individuals or groups in areas that might be related to housing, education, health care and other areas of social activity, it morphs into racism. So basically, racism is prejudice plus the capacity to leverage that prejudice into power.

OUR CURRENT STATE:
Government as they are presently constituted will not give us the political space to compete economically and otherwise. This is what those who want peace and security without justice must realize. For us, justice includes ownership of traditional lands, economic parity in the development of Guyana’s vast resources, and political equity that generates the desired ethnic security, peace, and freedom.
We should never be reluctant to speak out when we witness acts, behaviours or attitudes that are overtly or covertly racist. It is ethical and moral to confront racism. Remember, there is nothing redeeming about walking around with the illusion that the colour of your skin or the texture of your hair makes you better than others who are different.

CONCLUSION: OUR NEEDED AND FUTURE STATE:
With the daily bickering, we are forced to endure meaningless speeches and comments by the people that are supposed to be serving us the people. Institutional racism will not disappear because of wordy and flowery proclamations from any of us. Racial prejudice and marginalization has to be fought vigorously in order to eradicate it. And institutional racism does not depend on there being a policy in place that requires this. We as individuals bring our biases to our work places and meeting houses. We make decisions based on these biases, and we rationalize these decisions by the stereotypical image we carry in our minds of “that other group”.

Guyana as a society is hampered in combating racism by a variety of things. The business of governance, of the distribution and allocation of resources must be transparent for all to see. Claims of marginalization cannot be dispelled by haughty assertions from public officials. The government must be able to open the books and show that such claims have no merit. Guyanese must be able to feel secure in their person, in their properties, in their racial identity. Institutional racism does not only occur when prejudice is incorporated into decision making in areas where major social activity is continuous. Institutional racism is also alive when a distinct group is made a victim of crime and violence in disproportion to its numbers.
Given we are at a major crossroad of our nation transition into the global 21st Century, we the people must bond together in a revolutionary way in order to fight for justice and equality from a system that openly subscribes to “If you are not with us, then you are against us”.

Maybe it is time for a caretaker government versus an undertaker regime.

Let’s stand up and be counted, let’s get it right once and for all, let’s put the systems in place where we can exercise our democratic right to vote, not a system where the term democracy is abused by the cover-up of racism.

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