-ethnic relations body wants to foster greater respect
The Ethnic Relations Com-mission (ERC) will be hosting a special Religious Broadcasters’ Workshop to help foster greater respect and understanding of religious diversity in a multi-cultural society.
Chairman of the ERC, Bishop Juan Edghill said that the content of several of these religious programmes is often not in the best interest of keeping peace in a society such as Guyana. He stated that “verbal spats on the airwaves among religious broadcasters and talk-show hosts, if not curtailed, can escalate into crisis proportion.” The workshop is scheduled to be held on December 2, and over 100 religious broadcasters will be invited.
The body will also be hosting a consultation forum for religious leaders to engage them in discussions as to how they can spread their faith in a responsible manner. The event will be held on November 20, under the theme “Propagating Faith in a Multi-Cultural, Multi-Religious Society.” Edghill told a press conference on Friday that the purpose of the conference is to forge a closer understanding and respect for the various religions and cultures that make up the Guyanese society. He said that recently there has been an increase in actions by religious bodies which are disrespectful to other groups. He criticised the actions of a foreign religious group at a recent Carifesta event. He said that representatives of this group were sharing out religious literature at an event held by another religious group. He stated that although this group was not a local one, it was most likely working under the purview of a local religious body and stated that such a practice was unhealthy.
Meanwhile, The ERC, with the support of the UNDP, has embarked on a series of Inter/Intra Community Dialogue Meetings. These meetings were held during last month. According to the Chairman, the Commission felt it necessary to take the programme to communities in Bartica and to the villages along the East Coast of Demerara in light of the massacres that occurred in January and February of this year.
So far 29 workshops were held. The final Inter/Intra Community meeting will be held on October 21 under the theme: ”Building Trust through Dialogue”. It is anticipated that representatives from each of the previously held community meetings will participate in this forum.
The community meetings on the East Coast, Edghill said, revealed that racism was a problem in some villages. He also said that the meetings revealed that several communities wanted their problems to be addressed at a community level and not just at a national level. He explained that the meetings were very useful in determining problems that were community specific.
In the meantime, the Commission continues to examine the complaints it receives from members of the public. For the year, the body has received 43 complaints and seventeen of these have been investigated and closed. According to the Chairman, the complaints cover a wide variety of issues including employment, land issues and infrastructure-related matters.
