Dear Editor,
Racism is caused by race labelling; it is a global problem that is used as the main tool by politicians to secure power and power bases in populations that are weighted down by demographic labels, regardless of the economic and social systems practiced.
Capitalism, Communism or Socialism are all undermined by this unhealthy social construct that feeds off of recognizing another human being as different, in an inferior way.
Alan Watts, a philosopher and writer on Buddhism, Taoism, and Hinduism said: “Nothing exists independently, everything is a thing, only in relation to everything else, therefore there are no separate things, no real selves or souls or egos – and trying to cling to these things is the cause of suffering, discord and frustration.”
Imagine in our Guyana that free and fair elections were held in 2020 and Walter Rodney’s Working People’s Alliance had won the election; let us imagine how Walter Rodney would have governed, with the power bestowed on him by our constitution.
Then our leaders must stop imagining and govern like Dr. Walter Rodney would. Under these circumstances, Guyana would have tangible and meaningful inclusive governance and massive economic growth, regardless of which administration governs.
In the imaginings, we assume the philosophy of Walter still obtains when he was killed on June 13, 1980, and that his philosophy would be the bedrock and priority of the new administration.
Then one immediately gets a sense of how misdirection, wrong paths and racism dominates our political culture, as it has existed since PPP split in 1955.
From whichever demographic we are separated into, I dare say guiltiness will abound amongst our political leaders, as they know they have embraced an anti-Guyanese political culture.
Racism is a disease. Poverty is a disease. Our politicians need to recognize that the cleansing of these scourges must be addressed in a deliberative and focused way.
To rephrase the great philosopher Aimè Cèsaire: Politicians and politics and its various …isms must be harnessed into the service of people and not the other way around, and moreover, absolutely not in a discriminatory manner.
Yours faithfully,
Nigel Hinds
