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A National Day of Recognition
Editorial…
Kaieteur News- Today is Arrival Day- it is a public holiday, and maybe it is time that we reflect on the event as far as increasing social capital. For years, all the Indian rights groups and even the main opposition PNCR have thrown their support for the day to be officially declared as Indian Arrival Day. The one group that has not budged is the People’s Progressive Party. Every year around this time the letter pages of newspapers are littered with articles on this very subject.
For several years before, several Indian-Guyanese groups had been agitating for a public holiday to commemorate the arrival of their ancestors to this land. It was contended that the holiday would assist in nation building by reminding the other groups making up the Guyanese mosaic of their impact and contribution to this land. This was expected, in effect, to increase our social capital. The issue was debated extensively in the letters’ pages and editorials of the national press and demonstrated that there were deep seated doubts of the motives of those demanding the holiday. Members of African groups especially felt that the commemoration was triumphalist and, by implication, devalued the contributions of other groups.
The issue was finally submitted to a Parliamentary Committee and after extensive written and oral submissions from groups and individuals, it recommended that the day be declared a holiday. The PNC did not participate in either the deliberations of the Committee or in the later Parliamentary vote on the Committee’s recommendation. It objected to the presence of the then Minister of Home Affairs but noted that it had no problem with the holiday to acknowledge the contributions of “Indo Guyanese”.
But somewhere between the recommendation and the Presidential approval, the holiday was declared and designated as “Arrival Day”. It appeared that the government was looking to widen the significance of the day to encompass other groups that had also “arrived”. Maybe it was trying to expand the potential of the day to increase “social capital”. In and of itself, there was nothing wrong with the idea but the end-process was quite undemocratic since every group that made submissions on the May 5 proposed holiday had designated it as “Indian Arrival Day”.
It is apposite to note that none of the other groups that arrived as “indentured labourers” in substantial numbers – Portuguese and Chinese – first did so on May 5. There were some objections but the commemorations began in 2004. What has happened since is that Arrival Day, just as had been the practice, is being commemorated exclusively by Indian-Guyanese. Under the David Granger Coalition administration there were deliberate efforts to have designated days for the Chinese and Portuguese. —Portuguese Arrival Day on May 3rd, Chinese Arrival Day on January 12th. These were gestures of respect, and they were not unappreciated. The PPP government, since its return to power in 2020, has quietly folded all other observances into the one May 5th affair.
We believe there ought not to be any impatient discussions, no surges of passions, none of the pressing convictions over a name: it must be the reality. Indians in Guyana have paid their dues, earned their place, and it is a grand one. So, why not let it just be, without this hesitation, with leaving behind the inaction, those ingredients that contribute so much to misperception.
Guyanese of Indian heritage should not be forced to beg on their knees, or raise their voices, or lift their fingers to get their messages of concern across. Jack should be given his rightful jacket. In the identical fashion, there must be the idea that Indians are due their National Day of Recognition. Recognition that is specific to their history, recognition that takes joyful note of their presence, and recognition which captures the essences of their place in the pantheon of Guyana’s rich, diverse, and dynamic peoples.
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