Dear Editor,
Earlier this week, the Guyana Bar Association called upon the President of Guyana, Donald Ramotar to disassociate himself from the latest slew of racist editorials and letters published in the state-owned paper, the Guyana Chronicle. In its open correspondence to Mr Ramotar, the association notes:
“The Guyana Chronicle’s failure to prevent such letters from being published, as well as explicitly encouraging such statements in its editorial suggests a dangerous, unlawful and offensive state of affairs. This matter cannot be easily brushed aside. At a time when our major political parties have an obligation to continue to reach beyond ethnic differences, these publications seek to empower the minority of Guyanese who practice racism and strengthen the latent racists among us.”
To date, the Office of the President has not seen it fit to issue a response, at least publicly, which is where it matters. The Bar Association is neither a political party nor some unhinged fringe group but a reputable civil organization, and the Chronicle isn’t some independent tabloid but a state-owned entity which falls under the direct responsibility of the Office the President and the direct control of the People’s Progressive Party.
The racist editorial and letters and the President’s effective endorsement by his silence on the matter not only expose the core of the party in power, it also speaks to the critical issues that have defined Guyana for the past half-century of self-government.
The time has come to establish an agenda for the future, a ‘Beyond 2016’ agenda that recognizes the need for a new blueprint for the next 50 years, one that is based on two basic precepts: Deconstruction and Reconstruction.
On the agenda for Deconstruction we need to first focus on the exclusionary divisiveness that has underwritten our entire sociopolitical and consequently economic history, particularly after Independence.
It is that exclusionary divisiveness that has led to the culture of impunity that existed under Burnham, as well as the relatively more rabid culture of impunity that has been created by Mr Jagdeo and is extended by his successor Mr Ramotar.
The result of this impunity was then and is now a society characterized by regressiveness of the sum conditions for human development, whether it is lessening freedoms in the post-Independence era or it is the current shrinking and inequitable economic opportunities in the midst of a corruption-fuelled ‘growth.’
Consequent of and consecutive to the deconstruction of the exclusionary divisiveness that has crippled us is the construction of a model of inclusionary citizenship.
This is where culture comes in, the identification of who we truly are and how we relate to each other, and how we can fix the ways in which we relate to each other. Most importantly, a collective inclusionary citizenship allows for greater and more meaningful participation in the democratic process, so that citizens cannot only directly [s]elect honest and competent people to manage their affairs, but they can easily sanction the corrupt and incompetent, ie, the basic mechanisms for a greater accountability than exists at present. It is this accountability that will define how truly progressive public policy is both conceived and executed.
We cannot continue with the current scenario. The exclusionary racism as embodied in the Chronicle editorial and many aspects of de facto government policy provides the imprimatur for the disregard of even parliamentary mechanisms which results in flagrantly visionless economic planning like the Marriott or Amaila or the sole-sourcing of drugs to New GPC while we continue to bleed critical human resources and mothers are dying for the want of basic post-natal care in our main hospital. This is not a sustainable situation by any measure.
We need to take concrete steps towards ending exclusionary divisiveness which leads to the end of impunity which stops the regressiveness that has taken over this society; at the same time, we need to build inclusive citizenship which leads to greater accountability which in turn results in progressive policy and action.
Over the next two years I will work on expanding these core ideas, both in abstract and practical ways. It has already begun with the Janus Cultural Policy Initiative having at its core the mandate of seeking to explore who we truly are as a people, where we are as a society, and using that as the basis for plotting the path forward.
In speaking about the Initiative and what its ultimate goal is, I tend to quote the movie Meet Joe Black in which the publisher William Parrish, played by Anthony Hopkins, says, “I’d hoped to create something, something which could be held to the highest standards. And what I realized was I wanted to give the news to the world, and I wanted to give it unvarnished.
The more we all know about each other, the greater the chance we will survive.” The truth is that what we have told ourselves about each other throughout the past fifty years has been a body of lies, of half-truths, of chauvinistic myths all of which need to be confronted and deconstructed if we are to survive as a nation.
Next month we have planned what I conceive to be the most critical aspect of our project, a three-day conference on Culture and Citizenship.
As much as I wish that this could be the national conversation that starts our reconceptualization and reconstruction of ourselves as all equal and valid citizens of Guyana, I recognize that the most can come out of it is merely the first jottings of the formula for the catalyst for change.
That said, a first step is necessary. At the end of August, we are inviting everyone to the drawing table to take part in this first step. Please join us.
Yours faithfully,
Ruel Johnson
Janus Cultural
Policy Initiative
