We must pledge allegiance to the nation and not to one political organization

Apr 13, 2015 Letters

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Dear Editor,
As a son of our beautiful nation Guyana, I cannot help feeling the energy of the people as I watched the political scene unfold with such enthusiasm and hope in creating a government of national unity. As I watched the sea of people waving their colorful flags of yellow and green for one party and red for another, listening to the beats of the tassa drums and watching the various ethnic dances, I found myself, as an outsider living in the U.S.A, wondering what it would feel like to be experiencing this political movement as it is being experienced by my Guyanese brothers and sisters on the ground. I also wonder what is it that is driving people to be so energized and expressed such jubilation and enthusiasm as they rally around their political party.
As I asked myself these questions, I could not help but to wonder if the people are happy because they see hope for a better life with the newly formed Coalition party, or if they felt a sense of loyalty to one party or the other, or are they exercising their democratic right by demanding a Government that is lean and clean, or one that reflects their ethnic identity, or are they being a true patriot of the land, and if so what does it meant to be a patriot of Guyana.
A true patriot is one that loves and stands by his country all the time and supports his government when they are acting efficiently and speak up against them when they are not. It is here I then realized that for most Guyanese, we do not know or experience what it is to be a true patriot of this nation. For decades our loyalty lies with one or the other two major political parties: PNC or PPP that symbolizes largely our ethnic background. As Guyanese our allegiance and loyalty is not to the country but to the political party that we can ethnically identify with.
As an Indian, growing up in Guyana, I couldn’t help feeling guilty and sad at the same time that all my life I was deprive of the opportunity to experience what it felt to be patriotic. As a child growing up in Guyana, my patriotism was stifled in more than one ways. I follow the footsteps of my parents and their parents and aligned myself with the PPP party because it represents the Indian in me.  It is now I realized that my actions and loyalty to PPP was not based on issues related to good governance but moreso one based on my race or ethnicity. Looking back at my childhood I now realized that I was indoctrinated into the realm of racism in Guyana and was deprived of experiencing the true meaning of democracy and patriotism. Growing up in a mixed race village, I could see the same race indoctrination in my black friends. Our allegiance and loyalty was to one party or another and was decided from birth and passed down from generation to generation based on our race or ethnicity.
My racist actions were even more evident as I watched the game of cricket and would always find myself cheering for India, Sri-Lanka, Pakistan, and Bangladesh teams and never that of West Indies because those teams were a reflection of my identity based on my ethnic background. I often wonder if it was the same for my Black friends who I played and went to school with as they cheer for West Indies.
I realized that the major political parties in Guyana, PNC and PPP, were a symbol of racism in Guyana that cultivates and foster a nation for many decades that is racially divided. It is for this reason I believed that in order for the people of Guyana to be re-branded as Guyanese first and not be further racially divided, the institutions that symbolize racism or ethnic identity; the PNC and PPP have to be demolished and removed from the vocabulary and psyche of the people.
We have witnessed progress with the multi-party coalition of APNU attempting to remove PNC from further fostering a race base party. However, the PPP remains and continues to openly claim it’s branding as an Indian party, continuing the race based allegiance. “To insist on racial divisions, on racial differences, in an already divided people, is to place obstacles in the way of public and individual happiness which can only be obtained by bringing people together as a nation” (Jose Marti) .
APNU +AFC offers the Guyanese people an opportunity in a lifetime to come together as one people working for one common good…the happiness and wellbeing of its entire nation people.
Patriotism for most Guyanese is in the context of political party allegiance and not to the nation as a whole. As we move forward, the leaders of Guyana have to take the initiative to cultivate an environment where the people pledge their allegiance to the nation and not to one political organization. By doing so, the Guyanese people can begin to look at the current situation of their living conditions, and the country in an objective manner and not one based on race or ethnicity.
Guyanese have to learn how to be patriots of their nation first, before aligning themselves with an organization that will enforce and instill ethnic division and racism within them. If we all become patriots of Guyana first, it will be clear who we choose to lead our country because our reasoning and objectivity would be based on good governance, accountability, transparency, integrity, and most of all unity. As a people of this nation we were taught to look at ourselves from our ethnic origin first rather than our nationality.  The results placing our ethnicity above our nationality led to racial division and a creation of two Guyana…An Indian Guyana and a Black Guyana.
No country can prosper with such division of its people, we have to reclaim the way we should see ourselves first…as Guyanese.
C. Persaud

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