Amerindian Heritage Month

Sep 05, 2023 Editorial

Kaieteur News – Amerindian Heritage Month is here, which should mean a time of joyful celebration as this nation honors its First Citizens. No doubt, there will be a series of official functions, and political figures jostling each other for space, and to make their usual speeches. The President is going to have something to say with one of his now well-orchestrated performances while the Leader of the Opposition is sure going to be concerned at the thought of being left behind, and have his own version of rich words to share. The content of their speeches will have some flavor about how much the Amerindian Guyanese people are important in the traditions of this country, how much they have contributed and grown, and how much of a vital role they have to play as Guyana breaks new ground with its discovery of oil.

We wish it were so, for Guyana would be aided in its national development visions, and the Amerindian community, as a whole, would be given genuine opportunity to lift itself up. Consultation with reality, however, paints an ugly picture of a people poorly thought of, seen in a certain way, and dealt with in a most clever manner. For behind the surface sheen, and smooth talk of leaders, many Amerindian communities still live in a state plagued by heavy poverty, limited economic openings for upward mobility, and with the twin evils of alcoholism and sexual abuse rampant. Politicians are pleased to play at being fools while this is the overall grim condition of Amerindians from government to government.

To corroborate the conditions of Amerindians communities, the World Bank, an international organization known for the quality of its studies and the completeness of its reports published a damning one of what it found in Guyana. The World Bank identified general conditions here, but then highlighted the appalling state of economic and social conditions, particularly in remote Amerindian communities, which helps in the proliferation of sexual abuse against young Amerindians, alongside the attendant scourge of alcoholism negatively impacting the lives of Amerindians as a whole.

To make matters worse, Amerindian communities have found themselves to be battlegrounds for the two dominant political forces, as both try to jockey for their own handpicked people to be in place in democratic organs, where they wield unchallengeable power. The result is that their councils have been hijacked, and their leaders pulled this way and that, and with only a few benefiting. The National Toshaos Council has been wracked with claim and counterclaim by the warring political parties in Guyana, with our First Citizens reduced to helpless pawns caught in the crossfire. Even leaders who speak out for their people on crucial issues are branded as belonging to the rival political force. Perhaps, it is time that scrupulous and genuine leaders in the Amerindian communities step forward, and consider organizing so that they could aspire to that state where they are positioned to represent their people in a better way.

A prominent present example, which is a national eyesore, is what is taking place in the Chinese Landing community. Amerindians have been intimidated, exploited, and humiliated, while the government, finds it is better to be suddenly and conveniently adopting a partialhands-off approach.

On a separate note, because of the recent razor thin electoral margins, Amerindians find themselves in a peculiar position. On the one hand, their people are courted and swayed for political gain by one or the other competitors in the broad local arena. But on another, and despite their sensitive and advantageous swing vote perch, this is a people that is still looked upon by Guyana’s political behemoths as sluggish and trapped in a time warp. That is, imprisoned by their traditions, and people who are ripe for any kind of plucking and using. The record of Amerindians is littered with this reality, where they are given to and then gamed for any low political objective, and oftentimes they are none the wiser until after the fact. With Amerindians being the fourth largest segment in Guyana’s population, with some 75,000 citizens, it is doubtful that they can do worse, if they make a concerted effort to strike out on their own politically.

Amerindian Heritage Month, communities, Consultation, Editorial, performances

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Amerindian Heritage Month

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