Has colonialism permanently damaged the Guyanese psyche?

Feb 17, 2013 Features / Columnists, Freddie Kissoon

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It was not by accident that one of the most profound analysts on the effects of colonialism on the psyche of the non-white colonial subject was a psychiatrist, Franz Fanon (see his two seminal projects; “White Skin Black Mask,” and the “Wretched of the Earth.”)
The continuing argument is that the colonial subject has had his/her psychic structure destroyed by the impositions of colonialism, so that post-colonial society is psychologically dysfunctional.
VS Naipaul thinks that has happened but most outrageously, Naipaul will die and not accept he is one of the most intriguing examples of the mental effects of colonial destruction.
Noam Chomsky, the brilliant philosopher specializing in language, would tell you that Naipaul could not have had an Oxford accent just three years after settling into England. Colour has been inevitably cited as one of the effects colonialism has had on its non-white subjects.
I always remember the story of four women in Guyana who established themselves as experts in Hindu culture, almost everything about Hindu culture, but married Caucasian men, none of whom were from India or the Third World, and all of whom were Western-oriented.
The great Mahatma Gandhi was supposed to be the embodiment of India’s cultural ethics, but was a shameless supporter of the Hindu caste system and was in love with a Caucasian man.
More on this aspect of Gandhi’s homosexuality (and his anti-African racism and admiration of Hitler) in later columns – gleaned from his letters to his homosexual lover, German bodybuilder, Hermann Kallenbach, and put up for auction at Sotheby’s by the great-nephew of Kallenbach but the Indian Government moved in and bought the entire lot days before the auction.
In one of his letters to Kallenbach, Gandhi told his male lover; “How completely you have taken possession of my body, this is slavery with a vengeance.” (Source: Daily Mail (UK), July 25, 2012 by Graham Smith; BBC- South Asia News, online edition, March 30, 2011 and Joseph Lelyveld, “Great Soul: Mahatma Gandhi and His Struggle with India.” Lelyveld’s book is devastating to Gandhi; see especially the review by Christopher Hitchens in The Atlantic, July/August, 2011)
India, of course, is a most troubled psychological land. Its ancient religious texts were shameless in their pronouncement on the inferiority of dark skin.
Then colonialism came and put the icing on the cake. India today is a land where skin-lightening ointment is a billion-dollar industry and where white skin is literally worshipped. Only white-skinned actors can make it in leading roles in the Hindu film industry.
Back in Guyana, the colour thing has outlived the efforts of Forbes Burnham. Burnham definitely sought to rid Guyana of this white complexion craze.
He must be turning in his grave with what is happening in the advertisement industry in Guyana today.
If a visitor came from another planet and looked at Guyana’s television and read our newspapers, that visitor would not believe Guyana is a country with citizens with dark and brown complexion.
I remember the great Guyanese poet, Martin Carter, shunned interviews for decades and only granted one interview before his death. It was given to a white Venezuelan journalist.
I was surprised to learn that Major General Joe Singh had given an interview to an English travel writer, John Gimlette.
Most western travel writers are bigoted journalists, blatantly condescending to Third World people and basically racist.
Singh complained in a letter in the Stabroek News that Gimlette twisted his words to suit Gimlette’s biased perspective. What did the Major General expect?
Travel writers see the Third World as an area of darkness. Guyanese, of course, would be more eager to talk to an English travel writer than one from Africa.
If you want to see the effects of colonialism on the Guyanese mind, then read the story of a Guyana-born white guy who is in advanced age.
This guy lives in England and comes often to Guyana. He goes to any social event without being invited and no one would ever ask him to leave. Why? He is white.
He can penetrate the most private occasion hosted by the crème de la crème of Guyanese society with his incongruous sartorial appendage, but no one would ask him to leave.
I remember this guy crashed the wedding of an employee of the US Embassy held at the Georgetown Club. He was dressed in beach clothes (as barefaced as that).
And to gain acceptance, he came to the table where my wife and I were sitting. He said to me; “Can’t you remember me, I met you at the Square of the Revolution.” It was all horse dung.
Our meeting at Cuffy Square never occurred. When he returns this year, he will look for the parties hosted by embassies and the Guyanese rich, and he knows no one will ever approach him to ask if he was invited.
I remember Latchmie Kalicharran walked into a cocktail event hosted by the US Embassy in the late eighties, and the Ambassador’s wife politely told her she was not on the guest list.
Our little white guy when he comes this year is going to have a great time enjoying la dolce vita in Guyana. His whiteness will galvanize his non-white hosts to treat him like a king. After all he is a king. He is not dark-skinned.

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