Dear Editor,
If Hits and Jams can do the bidding of the PPP government by using entertainment to win over our nation’s youth in order for them to support an unjust regime then we can be innovative in bringing about an entertainment group to rival them while educating our youths that the PPP strategy is to get their political support which if successful will continue the oppression, discrimination and marginalisation of Blacks in Guyana.
It must be noted that the Hits and Jams outfit does not have the monopoly on entertainment in Guyana though it currently has an unfair advantage over other entertainment groups because of government support. That group can effortlessly access resources and be the recipient of preferential treatment in the areas of licences and permits etc. However, for any entertainment event to be successful it has to have patrons in attendance. Given that Guyanese youths are already aware of the entertainment agenda to win support for the regime, any competent rival group/s in entertainment will have the opportunity to win significant support by offering our youths the same quality of entertainment.
We recently saw the success of ACDA’s Emancipation celebrations where Capleton performed in the National Park in Georgetown; by any measure that show was a huge success and was supported by thousands of Guyanese. Guyana is a free country. It is a democracy and we cannot sit idly by only looking at what Hits and Jams group is doing and being fearful of their agenda being fulfilled. We must become the alternative in the entertainment sector.
I agree that the PPP’s strategy of using entertainment to win over support is genius and can be very effective if it goes unrivalled. My work is in the area of advocacy but it will be most difficult or almost impossible to ask young people to not seek entertainment wherever it is available. It is not enough to say to young people that Hits and Jams group is using them. Their express purpose for supporting Hits and Jams’ events is to have fun. They want to enjoy themselves. And if we cannot provide equal access to entertainment of their choice they may very well say that they want H&J beyond 2025.
Gone are the days when we could say to young people don’t support something that they are benefiting from without providing the opportunity for them to have similar access elsewhere. Not a soul in this world can say to me not to go to the White Lion to have entertainment and fun when they can’t offer me a Black Lion venue that provides the same quality of fun.
Sincerely yours
Norman Browne
Social and Political Activist