Dear Editor,
Heritage Month celebration is once again here so kindly permit me to share some reflections and suggestions on this special occasion for the sake of history, the memory of those who played a useful role in its early visioning, and for the young and others so they would know the significance of the Indigenous peoples of this beautiful land of ours.
Before and after Columbus many came seeking what was not theirs. During that period and up to the present, we have survived the bitterness of disadvantage, which is still present in our communities.
Over time there have been different levels of activity which contributed to the evolution of Amerindian Heritage Month. It began with the idea of having a National Day for the First Peoples of Guyana. To justify this plan, the name of Mr Stephen Campbell, who was our first Indigenous parliamentarian, and the date 10th September, were suggested to Mr Vibert DeSouza who was then Minister of Amerindian Affairs. Minister DeSouza embraced, supported and implemented this celebration. This activity was launched at Annai Village on the 10th September, 1993. This function was well supported by twenty communities with dancers, archers, cotton spinners, runners and footballers, and there was fire-lighting, dancing and singing, etc. It was a show of unity among our people and a demonstration of their skill.
Minister DeSouza called for all to embrace our tradition by working together and growing in confidence to capitalize on opportunities to highlight and expose our hidden talents in craft, pottery, archery, languages, art, music, stories, dances, games, beverages and foods, as well as to protect the environment and our identity. Our tradition, he said, will make a meaningful contribution to national development.
The celebration was a success because of the messages and the atmosphere of togetherness.
To add traditional flavour to our heritage, we were blessed with a young, intelligent Indigenous woman as our first female Minister of Amerindian Affairs, Ms Carolyn Rodrigues-Birkett, who expanded and added a woman’s touch to the activities by showcasing our Indigenous beauties.
To continue the expansion of the celebration and Amerindian development Minister Rodrigues was able to put in place the first batch of real community development officers, promoted our Amerindian Heritage Pageant, instigated the revision of the Amerindian Act, caused September to be Heritage Month and started the community development projects. While much is needed to be done to strengthen the Amerindian Act of 2006 and to settle our land claims, I must admit that at least we do have a document that we can work with and could revise and bring up to date. The formation of the National Toshaos Council (NTC) was one of the high hopes and still is. Support for Bina Hill School for learning in North Rupununi, is critical for building the capacity of our people. As the old saying goes, ‘Teach a man to fish and he will be able to feed himself and others in the future.’
During her period as Minister of Amerindian Affairs, Ms Rodrigues-Birkett had a team that related together effectively, and funds were made available to support development in a more organized way. While all was not perfect we enjoyed the celebrations, since we looked forward to meeting and discussing issues with government, donor agencies and village leaders. Those years are still remembered as probably the best in terms of Indigenous celebration.
Minister of Amerindian Affairs Pauline Sukhai seems to have a different agenda which is bent on dividing our communities. At our last celebrations in Karasabai Village, this was evident as she, together with President Donald Ramotar and team came out ‘red and dread’ to the celebrations, attacking the opposition. This is not the atmosphere one would expect at a heritage celebration. This is political campaign, a blatant disrespect for our cultural heritage. A new group known as community support officers has been formed to bypass the village authority. This is a membership drive in the name of Amerindian development. This is just a smokescreen to keep us looking at the gifts so we do not see the real issues: our land claims, revision of the Amerindian Act, appropriate education, better communication, access to a developmental bank or an indigenous bank, etc. Our land issues continue, our natural resources are being exploited, as are our young women, without any respect. The same old story since Columbus arrived.
Many of these expensive machines which have been distributed are now causing conflict in the villages or they are broken and awaiting replacement. The Ministry of Amerindian Affairs has caused our communities to be divided and disrespected. Intimidation and victimization is the order of the day.
I wish to call on all Toshaos and leaders from the interior of this country, especially those from Region 9, to take this opportunity to make their voices heard. Heritage Month, as I understand it, was created as an opportunity for leaders, artistes, elders, young people and friends to come together for reflection on the activities every year and make the necessary representation at the NTC. Indigenous rights must be a priority; this principle has been violated. There needs to be settlement of all outstanding land claims, better roads and transport, a better communication network, better health care, better education with highly trained teachers, a better power supply. Talk about Moco Moco and Nappi, wind generated systems and better solar systems before talking about Amaila. They should demand scholarships for young lawyers, among others. They should allow their imaginations to flow with regard to the showcasing of our culture, and request time with donor agencies to see what might be available for projects. They should try to make the RDCs respected for regional development, and find out about benefits from gold, lumber, tourism and all natural resources. They should find out more about the LCDS, and whether we would really be benefiting in the long term.
The Toshaos should find out when the NTC will become a truly representative body with its own secretariat and be ready to represent its constituencies, and discuss our issues with the Indigenous Peoples Commission and let them work. The communities in the interior are also made up of other people and we need to come together to attack the issues rather than the personalities. All of us who travel on the roads, or are being charged high prices for power, or poor health services, etc, feel it, so let us use this opportunity to make our cases heard so that we can continue to enjoy heritage. We should not be misled by those who do not know our ways of life.
If after twenty-two years the government cannot settle our land claims, fix our roads and our power supply, set up proper communication linkages, give us a technical institute and have a respected regional authority, then it’s time we give another group a chance at the helm of this beautiful country. We can do it by coming together, celebrating our culture with others as we had started out to do many years ago.
We should think about the unity of our communities and take action to reunite and do something for our future. Happy Heritage celebrations to all.
Yours faithfully,
Sydney Allicock
Region 9
