I wish to ‘block a sound’ (Rastafarian ‘to say’) on Mr Sharma Solomon’s letter ‘Economic security for Linden is not a hopeless dream’ (Sunday Stabroek, November 29). It was meritorious and like Mr Frank Fyffe’s letters demonstrates that there are still people who care enough to think beyond themselves. Theirs is an example which needs to be multiplied thousands of times over.
I wish also to comment on the issue of job creation and foreign investment as a means towards economic security, and immediately add that the only plausible avenue to economic security for a community such as Linden is its own involvement in the production and distribution of the goods and services which it consumes. This type of activity must underpin its economic activities. Outside investment then becomes a bonus. The history of Linden lends support to this theory as neither the successes of Demba nor Omai have lent to our economic security.
I also opine that Linden’s economic security is rooted among others in the correction of three specific and non-specific legacies of the town as a mining town. Firstly, the bauxite industry’s non-desire for its workers to be economically secure; secondly the general mis-education of Africans in Guyana into believing that a good education and a good job are the virtues of life; thirdly, poor community leadership, which is mendacious at the least and virtually non-existent at best. As I reflect, Linden seems to be more a reference to a geographical space than to a community of people with shared ideas of any sort, clear social objectives or a well-defined economy.
I concur with Mr Solomon when he says that many of our young people wish to participate in some meaningful way to the town’s development. For this to happen there must be social and political activism which transforms our education. An education, which teaches us to postpone the gratifications derived from entertainment, and invest in producing and distributing what we eat and wear which will serve the town better than other overtures, green or not. It will be different when we forego for ten years and invest in productive endeavours, the billions of dollars spent each year on non-productive activities such as Town Week, the Kashif and Shanghai football tournament, various questionable religious expenses, fashion shows and partying. It will be different with the kind of teaching which will tell us that our brains and brawn together with the capital generated from the foregoing, will allow us to make or acquire and distribute the things we use; that Linden can become a net exporter of goods and services.
The economic, job and financial insecurity of the people of Linden is a legacy of the Demba days, when imagination and creativity meant to get a job with the company.
It informs the structure of the town’s political economy which still depends on this insecurity to maintain the status quo.
It is the liberation of the creative energies of those same youths who roam the streets that is the solution to our economic insecurity. It is also about ten thousand of us becoming Stan Smiths, Baljits, Barrows, Singhs, Majids, Roys and Dartys.
Yours faithfully,
Jonathan Adams
