Dear Editor,
Daily I agonize over the tragedy of Guyana. And this tragedy has nothing to do with the governments that have led Guyana for the last forty years. It has everything to do with the collective population of Guyana. A country blessed with an abundance of natural resources, Guyana should have been further along the road to development and national prosperity. But our people are running a mental programme that is outputting racial divisiveness. National cohesion is a prerequisite for sustainable development and economic prosperity.
Politicians and political parties are the creatures of the people. Individuals who have antipathy towards others belonging to another race, or who feel that they are superior, will naturally gravitate towards each other. Like-minded groups are formed and sagacious and crafty politicians, ever alert to opportunities for grabbing political power or amassing personal fortunes, will appear to exploit these groups. And polarizing political parties are formed.
But these politicians and political parties would be nonexistent if, in the first place, individual citizens had chosen racial tolerance and harmony instead of racial animosity. So, the politicians are not responsible for the racial polarization that is hindering Guyana’s swift march to national economic development and prosperity. We, the people of Guyana, stand guilty. The politicians are merely outward expressions and instruments of our expressed and unexpressed prejudices. They occupy positions of leadership only because we have really surrendered – not merely delegated – our power to them.
The solution to the ethnic schism that has been eating away at our body politic is obvious. We need a software upgrade. We, as biological computers, need to start running a new programme. There must be an inner transformation at the personal level. From the silence and privacy of our inner self a new resolve must be born – to perceive and accept people of another ethnic group as members of the same human family. Armed with this new resolution followed up with action, we will have in our own hands the power to transform our nation.
Politicians offering themselves for leadership will have to understand that we, the awakened Guyanese people, want a nation free from conflict and discrimination. And they will not get a single vote from us if their personal agenda is not in harmony with our desire for a unified and peaceful nation. Thus we, the people, will take back our collective power and set a new course and destiny for our beloved country.
Yours faithfully,
Jamal Ali
