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An appeal to Shivnarine Chanderpaul: Don’t accept that gift

Apr 30, 2010 Features / Columnists, Freddie Kissoon

I called the Pegasus Hotel twice this week to speak to Shivnarine Chanderpaul but he was out. An arrangement was made on Wednesday for me to see him at the Stadium and at a practice session the next day. UG work and Labour Day commitments prevented me. I am still going to make an effort to see him. If not, a copy of this article will be sent to him to reach him before Sunday.
The Indian Arrival Committee (IAC) has done a terrible, hideous injustice to Chanderpaul. The IAC has agreed to honour Chanderpaul’s contribution to East Indians of Guyana and will make a presentation to him at the National Park this Sunday. This is a gargantuan insult to a great Guyanese cricketer.
He should be furious with this racist organization that is seeking to use his name and image for narrow racist reasons. Let me be brutally frank with Chanderpaul – if he accepts that honour he will lose face among more than three million African-Caribbean citizens who see Chanderpaul as a Caribbean man and not as an East Indian.
The IAC timed the accolade to coincide with the ICC T/20 World Cup Cricket so it can reap maximum publicity from the event. On four levels, the occasion can be condemned. First, Chanderpaul has not contributed a specific value to the East Indians of Guyana. He has played for Guyana and the Caribbean. How then can you interpret that as a special value endowed to East Indians?
Within this context one can ask the question which race in Guyana should honour the contribution of Fogarty’s Store, Banks DIH, The Stabroek News, Kaieteur News, Citizens’ Bank, Courts Furniture Store, Farfan & Mendes, Republic Bank, GBTI, Courtney Benn Construction Services, School of the Nations and hundreds of other institutions.
The question that must be asked of these companies is this: Does Banks DIH serve one race in Guyana?  Does the Bank of Nova Scotia serve Africans only?  Do East Indians bank at GBTI only? Did Courtney Benn build bridges only for one race in this country? Do East Indians only buy the Kaieteur News and do Africans exclusively support the Stabroek News?
The answer to these questions is commonsensically simple. Courtney Benn constructs wharves and ferries and builds schools for the Guyanese people and not for one race group only.
Banks DIH’s customer net takes in the entire country. School of the Nations serves the Guyanese population. Guyanese of all races buy the two independent dailies.
The context is the same with Chanderpaul and Sarwan. They play for all Guyanese. Sarwan was advised a few years ago not to fall into the ethnic trap when a cricket match was organized with East Indian players only. Wisely, he opted out.
Secondly, Mr. Chanderpaul has never established himself as a cultural activist or a cultural ambassador. He does not get involved in those kinds of ethnic things. One then, has to question the motive of the IAC. The IAC honour would have been logical if Chanderpaul was a nationally known contributor to East Indian cultural institutions in this land. The guy is an introvert who hardly moves around in Guyana. He doesn’t live in Guyana.
Thirdly, African-Guyanese know that the IAC is a racist body funded by the Government and forms a tripartite bulwark for the perpetuation of Indian rule in Guyana. The other two are the Government of Guyana and Dharmic Sabha.
The Dharmic Sabha and the IAC are closely intertwined and the Hindu leaders of the IAC are the main players in the cultural organization called the Kendra which is run by the Dharmic Sabha.
The only person in Guyana that stands to lose credibility when African-Guyanese see that photo of Shivnarine Chanderpaul being hugged on stage by some of Guyana’s most notorious racists will be Chanderpaul himself.
Fourthly, the IAC’s subtle strategy should be rejected by all sports officials and sporting personalities in the Caribbean because it is a nasty attempt by a group of power-hungry and racist politicians to use the name of one of the finest cricketers the West Indies produced for narrow political and racial purposes.
The election season is upon this country. The IAC and the PPP timed the event for this particular period. Chanderpaul should ask himself why the event didn’t come before.
I would ask those who love Guyana and respect Chanderpaul to talk to him and tell him to stay away from what will be a big mess in his life if he goes on that stage Sunday afternoon.

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