Civil Society in Guyana

Jun 28, 2010 Editorial

Arising in the late seventies, the notion of “civil society” took on a whole new connotation from that of its traditional, historical usage. Classically defined as those institutions outside the state, civil society differed from the family in its reach and scope and from the market in its actuating spirit of volunteerism. From this perspective, was developed the role of charities, faith-based organisations – such as the Salvation Army – trade unions etc. These organisations sought to ameliorate objectionable social conditions of one form or another.

Four decades ago, in many parts of the world, but mainly behind the Iron Curtain, these organisations were joined by a new member – the Non-Governmental Organisations (NGO’s) – which defined as part of their social mission, a resistance to dictatorial or authoritarian regimes. Their organisers reasoned that the nature of the political regime – especially as it had to do with the democratic rights available to the citizenry – was inextricably linked to the social conditions that the people had to live under. Maybe not totally coincidentally, these NGO’s received most of their funding from foreign sources. The majority of the assorted “Coloured Revolutions” in eastern Europe –” were engendered through key support from these NGO’s.

In Guyana, interestingly enough, agitation for improvement of the social conditions of most of the populace – who were all pretty much “working class” – came out of the trade union movement. Practically all of our early politicians were graduates of that movement. In the sixties, foreign support for regime change was funnelled through the trade union movement – and its nexus with politics and political change was kept alive into the eighties, when the NGO phenomenon blossomed across the globe.

Sections of our trade union movement were in the forefront of the struggle for political reform in the late seventies and the eighties and were joined by many other civil society organisations such as the Bar Association. Even High School students joined the fray. This era has to be the heyday of civil society involvement in Guyanese political activism – which ended in regime change in 1992.

Today, there have been expressions of deep disappointment from some quarters that believe the quality of governance as presently exists ought to have elicited a level of civil society activity comparable to that of the eighties. The question as to why this has not occurred is an interesting one and begs for some sort of explanation.

Is it, as a supporter of the government might posit, the premise of bad governance, much less that of “dictatorship”, is so seriously off base that even the foreign-funded (and influenced) NGO’s have not taken up cudgels on behalf of the critics? Of course, the corollary to that riposte would be that the present regime is not so unacceptable to the international guardians of democracy that the fervent entreaties from the government’s bête noirs would be answered in the affirmative.

A detractor of the status quo may argue that the present regime has worked assiduously to depoliticise civil society from the moment they assumed office, with the result that the surviving organisations have not only been defenestrated but are seriously anaemic. They could point, for instance, to the vanguard politically conscious civil society grouping in our country – the trade union movement – and describe how through a variety of stratagems they have been brought to heel. Going for the jugular of the checkbook in questioning checkoffs, withholding funding for fiefdoms such as the labour College, favouring friendly unions, and taking a hands-off approach to labour disputes that affect unions judged to be unfriendly; the government has certainly given grist to this mill.

But all of this begs the question that if political parties are recognised and given the space to articulate the concerns of all citizens – be they social, economic or cultural – within a polity that guarantees free and fair elections, why should civil society still be expected to enter the political realm?

Maybe dissatisfaction with perceived shortcomings in governance ought to be expressed more forcefully to the group that has accepted the role for questioning and changing the government of the day – the politicians in the opposition.

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