BY Ashley Anthony In Guyana, there is no argument that most of our society caters mainly to one archetype of a person; i.e. a person with full control over their mental and physical faculties. Whilst a fairly obvious example would be the presence (or rather lack thereof) of wheelchair ramps in prominent buildings, this problem runs deeper than just simple infrastructure. Of course our buildings could be more considerate to people who are disabled, but what about ourselves? In Guyana, and perhaps around the world, the mindset is that if…
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Silencing the Indian
By Ravi Dev Mr Eric Phillips responded to my article that asked the question, “Can the Indian Guyanese speak for Justice?” and claimed, “This shows the malicious degree of deception used by Indian leadership in Guyana”. He then went on to name a number of media entities owned by Indian Guyanese and several individuals of Indian descent who write and comment in Guyana to “prove” his point. First of all, apart from Ms Ryhaan Shah, I doubt the others who were named would take kindly to the notion that they…
Read MoreA new type of literacy
BY Ashley Anthony With this month of September having been designated Education month, there is a lot of discussion surrounding literacy and numeracy rates amongst the Guyanese populace. Obviously, this discourse centers on traditional learning, such as being able to read, yet, in this day, there are other forms of literacy that are incredibly important and need to be emphasized. Whilst being able to read and write are inarguably essential in today’s world, our children should also be technologically literate. There is no debate that our society is changing. Once,…
Read MoreBuilding bridges
Details of the G$146 million Feasibility Study by the Dutch firm of LievenseCSO for the new Demerara River bridge (DRB) have finally been released by the Public Infrastructure Minister (MPI), after a series of leaks that titillated and exasperated the populace over the past month. The titillation was mostly over the news that a financier of the Government’s last political campaign serendipitously owned the land on the western bank of the Demerara River where the DRB will terminate. It is not known when the land was acquired. The exasperation was…
Read MoreWhat’s next for “Dreamers”?
In what could be regarded as a massive blow to the immigrant community in the United States, the Donald Trump Administration last week announced that it has scrapped an immigration programme designed to protect young undocumented immigrants, also referred to as “Dreamers”. The policy, widely known as DACA (Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals) programme, was introduced by then President Barrack Obama in 2012. The programme was mainly designed to protect young illegal immigrants in the US from deportation, and provide temporary permits for work and study. The policy was created…
Read MoreEnd of the Plantation?
By Ravi Dev It appears the days of the plantations, the raison d’etre for Guyana’s existence, are numbered. As one who grew up on one, I really do not mourn their passing, save for the callous way this administration has gone about the job. Surely, we cannot accept the neo-liberalism dogma that decisions rendering 10,000 persons jobless must be made by the “market”. The plantation has been described by some as a “total institution” that acted to socialize, through force and other coercive methods, the workers into an organized “machine”…
Read MoreRetracting the promised bridge
The Demerara Harbour Bridge is conceded by all to have long exceeded its promised life after it was thrown across the Demerara River in 1978. Sections of the purported “longest floating bridge in the world” were floating down the river long before the People’s National Congress Government demitted office in 1992 and in the 25 years since, it was only a rigorous and continuous retrofitting and maintenance schedule by the People’s Progressive Party (PPP) Government and its new successor, has kept it afloat. In the meantime, commercial activity on both…
Read MoreCricket – a true unifier!
By Ashley Anthony Cricket in the Caribbean has a rich and complex history. In Guyana, whenever cricket comes to Providence Stadium, it is as though life has been breathed into the country. Needless to say, cricket is far more than just a game. Cricket can be regarded as a unifier in that it brings the Caribbean islands and Guyana together under the umbrella of the West Indies Cricket Team. Despite disputes amongst the islands, once the West Indies is playing a match, every country supports the team. Cricket has, of…
Read More“When Unity in Diversity?”
By Ravi Dev In my last two articles, I examined the ideas the late Indian political leader Deen Dayal Upadhayaya put forward towards creating a really independent nation in a society that had been colonised for a thousand years. As I followed the hearings of the Commission of Inquiry (CoI) into “land titling issues”, I could only think of how far away we are from being a “nation” by Upadhayaya’s definition, much less an “independent” one: “When a group of persons live with a goal, an ideal, a mission, and…
Read MoreThe GECOM Chair saga
Now that a third list of nominees for the post of Chairman of the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) has been submitted to President David Granger, it is hoped that he (the President) would move with haste and go ahead in making the appointment to this important constitutional office. As reported in the media, the list of nominees submitted last Friday, after another set of consultations and meeting with individuals and stakeholder groups, includes Major General (retired) Joseph Singh; Teni Housty; Sanjeev Datadin; Annette Arjune-Martins; Onesi LaFleur and Krishnadatt Persaud. As…
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