Last Saturday, more than 300 Guyanese gathered in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, to celebrate Guyana’s Golden Jubilee. Minister Joseph Harmon, who was the Guest of Honour, was moved to comment that the event was “indisputable testimony to the love which the Diaspora have for their country” even as he invited overseas Guyanese to contribute more directly to the nation’s immediate and long-term development efforts.
Truth to tell, the diaspora have, for years now, been making a near immeasurable contribution to the land of their birth, through various forms of advocacy, business promotion, remittances, support to non-governmental and community-based organisations, professional and old students’ associations, voluntary in-kind services and donations of all kinds. But one supposes that Mr Harmon is talking about a more structured approach to channelling the considerable human, technical and financial capital of the diaspora back to Guyana.
Interestingly enough, on April 8, members of the diaspora had organised a more academic activity, The Guyana Conference: Aspirations for Real Change – 2016 and Beyond, at the University of the District of Columbia (UDC), in Washington, which dealt with issues such as, Governance, Transparency and Accountability; National Identity – Moving Beyond Race; and The Role of the Diaspora. One of the key objectives of the conference was to develop a roadmap for deepening collaboration between Guyanese in the diaspora and at home, something which the organisers are reportedly finalising at present.
According to the online Guyana Graphic, Ambassador to the United States Bayney Karran called on Guyanese to come together in “a renewed spirit of patriotism,” prompted by the occasion of the Golden Jubilee, to “work together with a common vision for a common goal and toward a common good… our cohesion as a nation.” Presumably, he meant all Guyanese, abroad and at home, for neither group can reasonably claim to be more patriotic than the other.
Now, many of us would be familiar with Samuel Johnson’s famous pronouncement that “patriotism is the last refuge of the scoundrel” even as his amanuensis James Boswell sought to give the assurance that Dr Johnson was not indicting patriotism in general, only the false, self-serving brand. Indeed, pure patriotism, the love of one’s country, is something to be admired and Dr Johnson himself gave as an example the patriotic parliamentarian “whose publick conduct is regulated by one single motive, the love of his country” and who “has, for himself, neither hope nor fear, neither kindness nor resentment, but refers every thing to the common interest.”
Mr Karran was more lyrical in his conference address: “Patriotism, however defined, cannot be mere enthusiasm for the soil and the symbols. It has to be a loyalty to the dream and the destiny, a loyalty unworthy unless hatched within the nest of our loftiest ideals. Those who share a common place, a common history and a common future can purchase a greater good by paying with the currency of compromises and accommodations. Such a price a patriot would unhesitatingly pay. He sees this as an investment, and not as an obligation.”
To put it less elegantly, patriotism is not just about the optics surrounding the symbols of nationhood: saluting the flag, respecting the coat-of-arms, standing to attention for the national anthem, even placing one’s hand on heart in imitation of the Americans, reciting the pledge or declaring as loudly as possible one’s love of country. True patriotism is all that and more; it is something more profound, simpler even.
Patriotism is about loyalty lived and practised: loyalty to family, friends, fellow citizens and country. It is about respecting ourselves and each other, caring for our natural environment and our surroundings, building our institutions and respect for the rule of law. And it is about speaking up when mistakes are made, finding ways to reconcile differences and offering constructive criticism to work towards Dr Johnson’s “common interest” to build our nation together.
At its most basic level, throwing rubbish out of a car window and wanton disrespect for our surroundings are about the most common examples of a mindset that gives the lie to professions of patriotism. Fortunately, we are seeing the results of the ongoing clean-up campaign and pride is being restored. This attitude must be sustained for without this basic sense of responsibility and literal love of our natural space, we cannot progress.
“Who among us is willing to pay these instalments? How can we summon the will?” asked Mr Karran at the UDC event. We all should be willing and able and we should respond, as patriots, by practising what we preach and rededicating ourselves to the little things and to our country, in this Golden Jubilee year.
