Dear Editor,
In his letter, `The struggle for multiethnic recognition and an equal place at the table continues’ (SN Oct. 19, 2021), Swami Aksharananda has courageously brought to the fore, the fundamental issue of what I will refer to as cultural racism and implicit bias against Hindus and other excluded groups by the state and its agencies. Since ideas such as diversity, equity, and inclusion in the public sector are now spreading across democracies around the world, it is time for collective action in Guyana.
Swami Ji raised the issue of “Christian only prayers” at a state function (Ministry of Education) of children. The cultural and religious exclusion of non-Christians is nothing new. As an example, Ashley Anthony, in 2018 wrote an article in which she reminded us: “Every morning at Queen’s College, I started my day with a recitation of the Lord’s prayer. A Christian prayer, prior to my attendance at Queen’s College I had not been exposed to. It always bothered me then, and it continues to bother me now that a public school, run by the Government of Guyana, a State which claims to be secular, practiced such a thing” (Anthony, Complete separation of religion and education. Guyana Times, June 3, 2018).
The Ministry of Education, attempted to divert attention away from the substantive issues raised in Swami Aksharananda’s letter by stating that the prayer used was a “Universal Prayer”. That is in fact an explicit attempt to whitewash the issue. The claim by the government that it is a nonsectarian “universal prayer” should be an insult to all the religious organizations of Guyana. Who put the “universal prayer” together? The government’s role in this matter is divisive and authoritarian and it is merely imagery of replacing a privilege that benefits the culturally dominant section of the society with another privilege, so nothing really changes, it is a continuation of a procedure to promote Christian hegemony. The so-called “universal prayer” is an elitist aspiration of the state and confirms the language of the hegemon as the standard for all children in Guyana, irrespective of their religious and cultural backgrounds. This is a critical issue because the root of cultural racism and exclusion lies in the public educational system and the utterances of officials of the state. I congratulate Ferlin F. Pedro for his critique of the Ministry of Education’s intervention regarding the “universal prayer” and agree with him that “given the diversity of religious views in Guyana” it cannot achieve inclusivity (Ferlin F. Pedro, Government and public schools should be free from religious mandates. Stabroek News, Oct. 22, 2021).
Everywhere one looks in Guyana, one sees that the education system deprives Indian Guyanese of their history, arts, literature, language, religion, and culture. The origin of this problem of cultural exclusion lies to a great extent with Dr. Cheddi Jagan. Going way back to the 1950s, Dr. Jagan and the PPP rather that implementing multiculturalism to accommodate the heritage of all the people of the country, instead embarked on Marxist/ Leninist ideals. It was the prevailing Marxist ideologies that resulted in Guy-ana’s national motto: “One People, One Nation, One Destiny” which is a blatant violation of the reality that exists in Guyana – people of different race, ethnicity, and culture. This national motto has been the most devastating blow to diversity, equity, inclusion, multiculturalism, and religious inclusion at the state level. Within this context, Ryhaan Shah has noted that, “Indians who value their cultural identity are viewed as racists for rejecting the sameness required to be ‘one’”. We have also witnessed other forms of engineering to orient the country to the ideals of the ruling political class – “universal prayer”, “social cohesion”, etc.
Cultural racism is prejudice and discrimination, or preference based on cultural perceptions between people of different ethnic or racial groups and is often fostered by the state. This notion incorporates the idea that some cultures are superior to others. In 2008, there were reports that some of the Georgetown public schools barred Hindu students from wearing their sacred Raksha on their wrists (see for example, Amar Ramessar, School students should be allowed to wear a Raksha. Stabroek News, May 19, 2008). But public schools are allowed to host Christian events, including by Christian missionaries. The government employs Christian only army chaplaincy. Same for the police force. These are examples of cultural racism that disenfranchise Hindus, Muslims, and other non-Christians.
In 1999, Swami Aksharananda identified six strategies of the state to promote Christianity and de-emphasize other religions (Swami Aksharananda, Christian hegemony continues in Guyana, Stabroek News, Sept. 11, 1999). In 1993, Ravi Dev, in calling for a Hindu counter hegemony, wrote: most Hindus are already subtly Christianized by their concepts, vocabulary and world view – they are already crypto Christians.” (Ravi Dev, Hindu counter hegemony in Guyana, Stabroek News, March 14, 1993).
Editor, to the best of my knowledge, there is no official data that is publicly available on government spending on cultural events and programmes in Guyana, but a read of the newspapers often highlights the prevailing cultural racism in Guyana. It is a secret how many million dollars of Guyana’s taxpayers (a multicultural population) money has been spent on Independence Day celebrations, Mashramani, Guyfesta, Carifesta, National School of Dance, National of Music, National School of Theatre Arts and Drama, Burrowes School of Art – all of which generally exclude the Indian Guyanese cultural presence. Newspaper reports show that the government has supported the African Cultural and Development Association (ACDA) – $10 million in 2011, $5 million in 2012, and $5 million in 2015. Similarly, for Emancipation Day celebrations, as reported in the press, the government gave African groups millions of dollars – $7.6 million in 2013, $8 million in 2014, $13.9 million in 2015, and $17.3 million in 2018. Non-African cultural groups have been excluded.
There are examples of the cultural biases everywhere in Guyana. For example, for the 2019 Mashramani celebrations, the government announced that it will provide support for “Calypsonians” (other groups were excluded); in 2018, the government donated “steel pans” to the University of Guyana’s music programme (musical instruments of other cultural groups excluded); in 2020, for Guyana’s 50th Republic Anniversary celebration there was a ‘Jubilee Jazz’ at the “National Cultural Centre” (NCC) that highlighted African culture but excluded others. The NCC venue added salt to the wounds of most Indian Guyanese because Mr. Burnham used the Indian Immigration Fund in defiance of the popular feeling of the Indian population to erect the NCC and subsequent calls for compensation have fallen on deaf political ears. In 2019, the government through the Department of Social Cohesion, Culture, Youth and Sport issued a $20 million grant called the Guyana Fund for Cultural and Creative Industries Programme (GFCCI) – the recipients were predominantly African Guyanese. Also, in 2019, there were “emancipation celebrations” in Guyana with staged “Cultural Extravaganza” supported by the government, but no such thing for other cultural groups to mark their history.
Overall, it seems that political talk of culture in Guyana implies a monolithic identity, not cultural diversity. It is obvious that Indian Guyanese have been indoctrinated by the political class to be quiet and accept their own peril, their cultural marginalization, and their exclusion from the education curriculum in the national and regional sphere.
I propose the formation of the Guyana Council for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (GCDEI) to advocated for cultural diversity at the public sector level. Those few individuals who dared to raise the issue of diversity, equity, and inclusion in the public sector have in the past been subjected to verbal attacks. Politicians of Guyana must be held accountable for not adhering to the Universal Declaration on Cultural Diversity adopted by UNESCO in 2001 – “cultural diversity is as necessary for humankind as biodiversity is for nature”.
Sincerely,
Somdat Mahabir
