What is Dabydeen to the Caribbean Press?

May 26, 2013 Letters

Dear Editor,
Dabydeen’s response to both myself and Ruel Johnson’s enquiries to the operational construct of the Caribbean Press are but skirmishes and facades amidst loud meaningless proclamations. It is obvious that Dabydeen, whom Janet Jagan dragged from a state of non-existence to the Guyanese Imagination, has no awareness or concern of who is doing what as writers in this country; he merely concocts a superficial list of names to fill the void when necessary. Dabydeen’s ranting has provided a surprising incite to the ordinariness of his nature. When all is said and done, David Dabydeen will be remembered as the man who had written ‘something’ that confiscated the public funded Caribbean Press to distort into the effigy of his neurosis. He is not the first Caribbean soul that the turbulence of the class and title currents of England have mentally deformed.
I need not introduce myself to Dabydeen, it’s irrelevant. Except to say that had I now written my first poetic verse, or the thousand words of my first short story, then I would be entitled to demand accountability of the Caribbean Press. But something is wrong here. I should not be indulging David Dabydeen. Dr. Frank Anthony is the Minister of Culture, Dr. James Rose is the Director of Culture. These are the men who are politically responsible for the entity that is the Caribbean Press. These are the sources that must be held accountable for explanations. The clarifications and public disclosures, its reconstruction as a service to nurture, give relevance and inspiration to unpublished talents, all this and more must be demanded of a public entity, I meet young writers all the time including struggling poets; no longer as before do newspapers carry local short stories. Such competitions are a thing of the past. For as long as the last fifteen to twenty years, a generation has been left out in the creative ‘Why do it?’.
This has become a matter to be addressed in Parliament, through the pages of the print media we now have an understanding of the travesty and the abuse of a public niche institution, the twilight of Dabydeen and the mystery must be concluded. The public office and accommodating reception of the Caribbean Press must morph into an accountable public atmosphere.
Barrington Braithwaite

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