Saying that prosperity has replaced equality as the country’s measure of success, the local human rights watchdog has lamented that warning signs are being resolutely ignored.
In its message to mark International Human Rights Day 2021, which is being observed today, the Guyana Human Rights Association (GHRA) said that the most pressing worldwide threat to human rights is the neglect of equality, which together with freedom constitutes the fundamental pillars of human rights. It, however, observed that systematic removal of constraints and regulations in the world of finance and economics has resulted in the global crisis of inequality, which has brought the world to the verge of climate catastrophe.
Guyana, like the rest of the world, it argued, has been subjected to rigorous application of the market economy, a process in which individuals are encouraged to constantly measure their own worth in terms of material progress, focused on doing better than their neighbour. At the same time, it added, mainstream Guyanese politics has abandoned any attempt to provide a shared vision capable of inspiring us to create a better society.
According to the GHRA, official statements signal that prosperity has replaced equality as the measure of success in Guyana. It pointed to the recent consultation document, titled Guyana’s Low Carbon Development Strategy 2030, and noted that rather than a proposal of how Guyana will create a caring, safe, inclusive and healthy society by 2030, the climate crisis is seen as an opportunity for the country to make money by commodifying every natural resource – land, forests, water, ocean. “It is an invitation to the global business community that Guyana is up for grabs,” it said. “This is a looting approach to development – looting from the future, from other species and from other Guyanese has consumed Guyanese politics, which seemingly has no place for intergenerational justice, i.e. how to ensure the next generation and other species inherits all the opportunities and resources this generation enjoys,” it added
It further said that while there is constant talk of the need to reduce domestic violence, suicide, alcohol-related road carnage, respiratory diseases, the warning signs of material success and social failure in many rich countries are resolutely ignored.
“The current generation of Guyanese inherited a combination of vast natural resources and a small population which together with the discovery of oil have created the illusion that Guyana is somehow exempt from the global social and climatic crises the rest of the world must adjust to. A first step in restoring a balance between society and nature would be for each educational institution, business, faith community, sports clubs, professional and trade unions to draw up a climate justice programme for itself and its manner of operating, rather than look for leadership to the political sector,” it urged.
