Dear Editor,
In our multi-ethnic society with its inevitable competition for resources and the insecurities that flow from that competition, it is a mistake to ignore inter-ethnic dynamics. Our national quest for social, economic and political justice is situated in this basic challenge. Yet that quest rings hollow if we ignore the relationship between nurturing the overarching national community and addressing the condition, desires and interests of its constituent ethnic communities. After all in the process of competition narratives of defence and offence are constructed by groups and form the basis for the power relationships. What often emerges is the myth of innate ethnic inferiority or superiority, which depending on the balance of power, becomes social truisms that direct action by and towards ethnic groups. One such myth in Guyana is the inferior instincts for commerce and less than sterling contributions of African Guyanese to the evolution of the Guyanese economy. How often have we heard that African Guyanese cannot do business or that the emancipated Africans abandoned the sugar industry in the wake of Emancipation or that widespread poverty in the African Guyanese community is a result of laziness and preference for shallow materialism? What about the charges of economic marginalization of African Guyanese and the counter charges of economic equality? One prominent political leader asserted some two decades ago that African Guyanese were at the bottom of the economic ladder. Was this true then? If so, is it still true today? Are African Guyanese villages still viable economic units? How has the Structural Adjustment economic thrust of the last three decades impacted on the African Guyanese economic fortunes? If we accept that all is not well economically with African Guyanese, what should or can be done to repair the situation? We in the Cuffy 250 Committee believe that the answers to these and other questions are important in our stated quest to help in igniting a drive in the African Guyanese community towards socio-economic and cultural revitalization.
Cuffy250 also believes that the stability and progress of a multiethnic society such as Guyana is premised on equality of opportunity in all spheres of our national endeavour. In this regard economic equality and justice must become more than mere rhetoric; they must be a living reality.
But while we continue to wait on the politicians to hear the cries of the people, Cuffy 250 puts its energies into mobilizing communities to begin to take action in their own economic self-interest and self-defence. We are urging our people to use what they have as individuals and communities to provide for themselves and in the process open doors to more opportunities for their children. This is not new work, but it is vital work. Too many families and communities are being devoured by poverty and want while we sit and wait on the promise of deliverance. If one thing can be learnt from the example of the Berbice Revolt of 1763, after which our organization is named, it is that self-activity of ordinary people is a necessary prerequisite for eventual self-emancipation.
Yours faithfully,
David Hinds for Cuffy
250 Committee