Latest update April 28th, 2026 12:30 AM
Diaspora meets to revamp Guyana’s race relations
Toronto — The Guyana Outreach Diaspora Council (GODC) recently hosted a workshop in Scarborough under the rubric “Thus is Life Livable.”
Participants came from across Canada, the United States and Guyana.
GODC aims at engaging Guyanese in the Diaspora and at home “to foster goodwill among all the people of Guyana, so that the next generation can inherit a much improved environment and live under better circumstances to realize their dreams, and not have to leave Guyana the way that many of us have had to do.”
Kenneth Persaud of New York, a former headmaster and university lecturer, delivered the keynote address on “Bridging the Racial Divide.” He focused on fostering tolerance and understanding, and recommended a programme that starts at the primary education level in Guyana.
Imran Bacchus, of Winnipeg, spoke on the need to empower civil society in Guyana, while Guyanese economist Godfrey Frank dealt with socioeconomic empowerment of Guyanese at home.
Peter Ramsaroop, Chairman of Vision Guyana, also spoke, while Dr. Rupert Roopnarine and Andaiye of the Red Thread organization participated via the Internet conference bridge.
Both Imran Bacchus and Peter Ramsaroop advocated a grass-roots approach to educate Guyanese, at all levels of society, of their rights and also of their responsibilities as citizens.
Peter Ramsaroop and members of the The Guyana Outreach Diaspora Council
The common theme of the presenters was contained in the statement: “We have come together to build and protect a free, fair and open society in Guyana, where fundamental values of liberty, equality and community safety are key and balanced, where no person shall be enslaved by poverty or ignorance.”
Kenneth Persaud added that the top priority must be the re-engineering of the mindset passed down from colonial times to post-independence, to the current generation. He said that any Guyanese who thinks there will be progress without racial harmony is thinking like the two men in a boat, in which one said to the other, “Your end of the boat is sinking.”
Economist Godfrey Frank looked at projects that create jobs with local community initiatives and access to financing. He spoke of the need to shift focus to opportunities involving new technologies.
Imran Bacchus commented that the challenge ahead, seemingly insurmountable, is “an opportunity for working people in civil society to take control of their own governance.’’
There was much agreement within the discussion group.
The participants posited that Guyana cannot continue the way it has been going, and that “the time has come for real change; change that will shape the destiny of a great nation of Many People with One Destiny.”
GODC’s view is that “It’s up to us to make it a better Guyana, abroad and at home.”
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