Misrepresentations about ancestral land entitlements

Sep 15, 2017 Letters

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Dear Editor,
Reference is made to the missive of Mr. Eric Phillips (KN Sep, 12) in which he vilified five reputable columnists of a certain newspaper and me for debunking his racist claims over land. Instead of calling his critics “racists” for disagreeing with him, further discrediting himself, Phillips could have been civil. He could have invited them for a discussion on how the varied ethnic groups can address the vexed issue of “ancestral” land claim for which he has been advocating for Africans. Phillips is not helping the African cause by dividing the country racially over unsubstantiated land claims.
The descendants of slaves, like those of indentured Chinese, Portuguese and Indians and the native Amerindians, deserve reparations from European powers. But labeling Guyanese intellectuals as racists, just because they critique his unsubstantiated claims, does not help Phillips. Worse, he distorts and misrepresents arguments slandering the names of the five columnists and myself. He engages in a very dangerous game of racial incitement against his detractors and against Indians, Chinese, Whites and Amerindians. Readers are smart enough and won’t be that gullible to his false claims to influence them. Also, his view that Amerindians are not entitled to more land is not endorsed. The fact is all of Guyana first belonged to the native Amerindians who have ancestral claim to the land.
Phillips also pounced on Indo-Caribbean Diaspora Network (www.icdn.today) accusing the website of “peddling an agenda of how Africans are persecuting Indians because of jealousy of wealth or achievements”. This is a figment of his imagination similar to his other fictitious assertions. Phillips has not identified one sentence in any ICDN article that is not a fact.
Phillips accused me of “subtracting from African achievement” offering no evidence to substantiate this extraordinary claim. It is Phillips who is seeking to negate the contributions of Indians, Amerindians, Chinese and Whites in the development of Guyana. He has not penned one positive sentence on these groups. For the record, Blacks started the sugar industry, Indians saved it, and now it is being destroyed (by whom?).
Phillips claimed that Africans moved earth that is the equivalent of 15,000 square miles when they developed 20,000 acres of land for sugar cultivation and are entitled to 15K square miles. Indians expanded the cultivable land to some five times (almost 100K) using the same technology as the Blacks.
Applying deductive logic, then Indians would be entitled to five times 15K square miles or 75K. And since Whites provided the capital (with Africans and Indians providing labor), and the land belonged to Amerindians, then Whites and Amerindians should get much more land than Africans and Indians. The other ethnic groups should also be entitled to land for their role in its development.
Phillips wrongfully accused me of penning that Blacks lacked entrepreneurial spirit. After slavery ended, the planters wanted to get rid of their estates that were losing money. Recognizing that Africans had some cash saved during the apprentice period, the planters encouraged the ex-slaves to buy the estates or villages. This is not to put down Africans, but to show how the planters “duped” them into buying estates that the planters wanted to get rid of. The estate owners could no longer sustain the estates that would have been obtained more cheaply or even for free if the ex-slaves had held out for a lower price. Some of the plantation owners abandoned the estates and went back to UK and the estates were acquired cheaply.
Phillips also erroneously (deliberately) assailed me for the claim that Indians are superior to Africans. It is designed to poison the minds of Blacks against objective commentaries. What I stated was that if Africans developed 20K acres and Indians developed 100K acres, then one does not have to be a rocket scientist to conclude that Indians moved more earth.
Phillips also falsely charged that I wrote that that the “black man should get no land”. I stated unequivocally that neither Africans nor Indians are entitled to ancestral claim of land. I also stated one cannot move to take a person’s deeded land. If you have title to land, present it and claim it. One simply cannot claim land that is titled to others. The law does not operate that way. All groups contributed to the development of Guyana. If one group seeks free land, then all should get.
Phillips should be ashamed for penning untruths and lies. He has dishonored himself and his people for misleading them about ancestral land and misrepresenting arguments made by those who expose his falsities and flawed claims. Instead of alienating ethnic groups, he should seek to bring them together to discuss land issues. It is not too late to redeem himself by writing facts and truths and begin a healing process among the races.
Vishnu Bisram

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