Will big businesses help the vulnerable during Corona pandemic?

Apr 17, 2020 Letters

---

DEAR EDITOR,

Reference is made to “Corporate Social Responsibility?” (KN Apr 14). Hemdutt Kumar rightly presents the caption as a question and pointedly asked in concluding paragraph: Are large business partners in development or are they predators? The latter seems more like it based on my experience with seeking assistance from those who control ‘larger’ businesses and from conversations with volunteers who run charitable NGOs to aid the poor and promote national development. I approached many business owners to assist in projects in Guyana to help the vulnerable, but I could not raise a cent. The poor gave of their labour and time. Others related similar experience stating that only a few small business owners and a handful of professionals helped with projects. I am aware Glenn Lall and a few others give generously.
Anyone who studies economics would know that proprietors (with rare exception) of ‘big’ businesses are hardly interested in national development; they are only interested in profits for shareholders or their family members to enjoy the good life at the expense of the middle and lower classes (or the poor). Proprietors of ‘small’ businesses turn out to be the genuine partners in development and are far more helpful in aiding the poorer class. The ‘rich’ hardly or reluctantly gives while the poorer classes pour forth kindness and charities from the heart. Take note of who have been leading the charge to help the vulnerable during the Corona crisis. It is not the wealthy class! The volunteers who seek to help the vulnerable are not from the wealthy class. Those who put their health at risk to help others are not from the rich class. And when the rich gives to the poorer sections of society or to any charitable cause, it generally becomes a ‘showpiece’ for media attention; they invite media for coverage. When the lower or middle class or poor gives, they don’t crave attention. Whenever ‘poorer’ Guyanese from abroad visit ‘home’, they would take gifts (hundreds of dollars worth) for neighbours, friends, families and there is no media coverage. Whenever I visited Guyana, at least six times a year over many years, I took at least two (sometimes three or four) suitcases of items for charity. Do the rich emulate such kindness and generosity when they return from their trips abroad? During the pandemic, one small businessman made shields for doctors that were given free to Georgetown public hospital and it goes un-reported. Small farmers and businesses are taking the lead in giving out assistance to help feed the vulnerable (including those who lost their jobs from Corona). Regrettably for this Corona pandemic, I could only give financial assistance as I am stuck in New York, and I am an educator, not a businessman. A small bakery in Port Mourant gives out bread daily to the poor. A Cambio owner has been very generous to the poor over many years and has come forward to helping financially during this pandemic crisis. Glen Lall of KN helps a lot of people over decades. Another media owner also helps the poor. Both give from their heart but don’t put it in the media.
I remember when we had the flooding some fifteen years ago, it was the working class and the small businesses that rushed to aid stricken families. The poorer sections of society and the working class and volunteers from small NGOs bore the burden to feed and shelter people while the wealthier business class largely shuttered their doors. And when the rich gives, they recover their ‘donation’ as business expense or costs of doing business to lower their tax responsibility; in effect, the larger businesses are not really aiding the victims of calamities out of kindness from the heart. It is all part of business.
And they always seek something in return. Some years ago I went to a cousin of mine to seek assistance for destitute ancestral relatives in a village in India. This businessman, with no children, and proprietor of multiple businesses, among the largest in the country, asked me, how would his giving financial assistance to the poor benefit his business? I walked away never to ask for anything again. I give whatever I can afford.
With regards to the current pandemic, notice who have been leading the movement to assist people: the smaller businesses and working class. The rich, with a few exceptions, are not aiding the vulnerable. People (seamstresses and tailors) stitching from their homes or small businesses are volunteering to make masks that are being doled out for free to the public; some small business owners are making medical outer protective garments giving out to medical personnel. Big businesses are not freely coming forth to help with covering costs of mask preparations or making protective equipments for medical personnel.
It should be noted that big businesses don’t have a shortage of money to donate to corrupt politicians. They give freely because the returns (in acquiring land, business deals, contracts) are larger than what they give. But the middle and lower class and those who give small amounts of money get virtually nothing in return from the corrupt politicians. The ‘small man’ or poor volunteer gives a million times more in free labour and service than the big business, but politicians don’t remember the small man or the poor. Only those who give big money are remembered and rewarded with land and contracts. The poor are made to suffer. Will big business step up to help the vulnerable during the pandemic?

Yours truly,
Dr. Vishnu Bisram

---

---