The comment a few weeks ago by the Chairperson of the People’s National Congress (PNC) stating a preference of giving jobs only to supporters of the party, still resonates. An apology was issued and one can argue over its lack of immediacy given the impact such comments can have in a multifaceted and politically polarised society like Guyana. Another argument can also be made that the chairperson was at the time speaking to party supporters and can be seen as appeasement over their concerns and without malice for wider society.…
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Psychological bases of ethnic conflict
By Ravi Dev Groups placed in the same environment share a universal tendency to compare themselves against each other. When, as in Guyana, groups with reinforcing cleavages of culture, attitudes, race, religion, etc., are thrown into the same society, comparison is inevitable and inescapable. The intractability of ethnicity lies in this fact: each category of individuals with similar traits evaluates itself positively, and others with dissimilar traits negatively. Over the course of time, the process results in stereotypical attitudes being formed, as the cultural or physical or other trait is…
Read MoreSolidifying ethic blocks
Volda Lawrence, Chairperson of the PNC, was caught in a dilemma when she candidly responded to her (and the PNC’s traditional) constituency’s complaint that the good life they were promised has not been delivered, three years down the road by the Government they put into office. She was recorded as saying, when it comes to jobs, “The only friends I got is PNC so the only people I gon give wuk to is PNC and right now I looking for a doctor who can talk Spanish or Portuguese and ah…
Read MoreThe CSME
The issue regarding the slow pace of implementation of the Caribbean Community (Caricom) Single Market and Economy (CSME) again took prominence during the 18th Special Meeting last week at Caricom Heads of Government meeting held in Trinidad and Tobago. During the special meeting held to review the CSME, heads were challenged yet again to take the necessary steps to ensure its implementation is fast-tracked so that citizens all over the Region would begin to experience the benefits of the CSME. The CSME, conceived in 1989 and given various priority areas…
Read MoreSpreading misinformation for a particular purpose
Following the destruction of the once iconic World Trade Centre on September 11, 2001, a war on Iraq was launched. It was premised primarily on information suggesting that Iraq, at the time led by Saddam Hussein, had possessed weapons of mass destruction. That information was also used to convince the United States Congress, its people and allied nations. In the end, Saddam was toppled and the USA for a brief period took control of the country. What happened afterwards came as a shock to many, if not all, around the…
Read MorePNC ethnic politics
Volda Lawrence, Chairwoman of the PNCR, has created quite a firestorm over her comments to her party faithful at a Region 4 conclave to conduct a post mortem on the LGE and to chart a way forward to 2020. Throwing the usual politically correct political platitudes we usually hear in the public pronouncements of politicians, Ms Lawrence bluntly told her audience that when it comes to jobs, “The only friends I got is PNC, so the only people I gon give wuk to is PNC; and right now I looking…
Read MoreVision: A critical element
The life of the 41st President of the United States of America (USA), George HW Bush, is being globally analysed following his death on November 30, 2018. Inevitably, it generally takes death for such discussions which often become outlets for platitudes. That aside, there are a number of things about former US President Bush that have been spoken about glowingly long before his death. Despite being a politician with its unfortunate stereotyping, the decency, as embodied by the character traits he exhibited publicly, has always been a high point that…
Read MoreReviving Guyana’s musical culture
The musical culture of Guyana, like so many other facets of Guyanese life, has suffered a serious decline and perhaps the time has come for various stakeholders to review the situation with the aim of ensuring that the necessary action is taken to remedy the situation. Until about a generation ago, there was far more variety and also stronger evidence of classical music, whether Western or Indian. Today, most of the music which one hears on the radio and television and that is being played in live performances, tends to…
Read MoreOffer horizons to the poor
In Guyana, if nothing else, we should at least have the grace to avoid belittling the poor because of the circumstances of their lives. After all, we all came, in the words of Martin Carter, “from the Nigger Yards” – whether we were of African, Indian, Chinese, Portuguese or even Amerindian origin. The last were also not spared the scorn of not being white. But yet, from each group, there were many who clawed their way out of their degradation through sheer determination and grit, to assert their humanity. We…
Read MoreBudget 2019: What it means for the ordinary man
The analyses of Budget 2019 are ongoing and soon the G$300 billion odd package will be debated in Parliament. Unfortunately, if the past were to be a guide, there will be little or no room for any meaningful change that may be proposed by the Opposition due to the Government’s majority in the National Assembly. The Opposition has already branded the budget ‘visionless and disappointing’, while the Georgetown Chamber of Commerce and Industry (GCCI), having noted that some money will be coming back into the hands of consumers, has expressed…
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