By Vidya Kissoon
Vidyaratha Kissoon is involved in the work for gender equality
Red Thread, the Breadfruit Collective, Guyana Trans United, SASOD and the Caribbean Vulnerable Communities Coalition joined with the Faculty of Law, University of the West Indies Rights Advocacy Project (U-RAP), to host a conversation ‘Living Good 2’ on 19 August, 2022. Previous Living Good events have been held in Trinidad and Tobago, Belize and Guyana before the Covid-19 pandemic
The theme of the conversation was Righting Justice, Making Just Communities. Vidyaratha Kissoon moderated the conversation. A recording of the conversation will be available on Caribbean IRN Youtube channel at https://www.youtube.com/user/caribbeanIRN on 20 September, 2022)
Intersectional Rights and Justice
The panel was diverse. Diverse in age, ethnicity, gender identity and sexual orientation. The panelists, though, had common ways of working – educating others, speaking out, and collaboration or “holding hands” to reach the common goal of a just society.
Immaculata Casimero – called Mackie and Mabaaba- lives in Aishalton and is co-founder of the Wapichan Wiizi Women’s Movement. She talked about the lack of essential services for her community, – poor access made worse by Covid-19.
Immaculata Casimero also talked about the experiences of Indigenous women – facing abuse violence, and emotional trauma. The right to a life free from violence is denied to many women.
Her other contributions to the conversation centred around Indigenous rights; dealing with the denial of the right to a healthy environment caused by mining and the violence and trauma present across generations. Her just community is one with gender justice, clean rivers, no pollution and no generational trauma.
Twinkle Aria Paul, a member of Guyana Trans United, shared her thoughts about the fight for equality for transgender citizens. She talked about the Constitutional challenge to the cross-dressing laws previously used to victimize them and shared that currently challenges are being mounted against other discriminatory laws. For her, living good is a journey of self-determination as transgender Guyanese are still excluded from employment, housing, education, access to services and from participation in the general economy.
Wintress White from Red Thread focused on the economic violence faced by grassroots people. She said that wages paid do not compensate for current inflation and she emphasised that cash grants are not a sustainable solution. She was concerned about oil spills and the other environmental impacts of the oil and gas industry and advocated that poor people deserve a good life. Her just community has no economic violence.
Christine Samwaroo is the founder of the Breadfruit Collective. She explained that the Breadfruit Collective was organised as a response to gender-based violence, and the destruction of the planet. The work, she explains, involves visioning and thinking big, while working in intersectional ways with community.
Christopher Martin France is a public health professional who uses his personal experience to advocate for LGBTIQ equality and for mental health awareness. “Living good means feeling good” he said as he talked about how mental health services could be available but not accessible.
Not accessible because they were not affordable, or because the mental health professionals did not understand LGBTIQ+ issues.
Lincoln Lewis is the General Secretary of the Guyana Trades Union Congress. He invoked Article 13 of the Constitution – about organising and participating in the inclusionary democracy. His contribution to the conversation centres around the importance of collaborative efforts and how trade unions can serve as connectors for complementary interests. He feels that in making a just society “we have to start with ourselves”.
Ria Mohammed-Davidson is an Attorney-at-law in Trinidad and Tobago. She felt that she should use her legal training to make equality a reality. Referencing the experience of persons with disabilities, she noted that even with legislation and the signing on to international conventions, many persons with disabilities experience discrimination and face exclusion.
As she asked questions to make us reflect on our interactions with persons with disabilities, I realised that there were no persons with visible disabilities in the conversation.
There was no specific intent to exclude anyone but this is sometimes the nature of community building even with good intentions, to make sure everyone is seen, heard.
The issues raised by the panellists remind me of The Hon. Justice Peter Jamadar of Trinidad and Tobago who wrote that “We need to come to the primary and a priori realisation that, even though I am not you, I am at the same time not other than you; and, even though I am not the earth, I am at the same time not other than the earth.” (Securing Equality for All in the Administration of Justice, Faculty of Law UWI (Mona), 2019)
This realisation of oneness with each other and with the environment is not in Guyanese law, even as President Ali has a One Guyana initiative. The lack of law should not, however, prevent us from coming together for living good conversations, for overcoming the historical violence and trauma and engaging in collaborative and communal actions to build just communities and a just society.
Some of us were strangers to each other, but had come to listen, share and converse maybe even find actionable solutions.
Speaking up, Speaking out
“Do you think that we have an easy-going culture when it comes to tackling topics about minority groups..?” a young man asked the panel.
Easy-going; defined as relaxed, casual, comfortable, maybe even dismissive. We seem to make a joke about things, get angry on social media for two minutes, complain and then things remain the same.
Immaculata Casimero, whose work involves educating people about their rights and how to enforce those rights, told the young man that many people are silent and they need to speak up to assert their rights.
Lincoln Lewis added that people appear to be easy-going because they do not understand their history, and that there are many divisions. He invoked Article 19 of the Guyana Constitution which guarantees freedom of expression and the right to share ideas. He called on persons from minority groups to join the unions as well.
I think of the transgender citizen who was a union representative but who did not get any representation when her employer terminated her employment. Maybe this call is the opportunity for the unions in Guyana to look at how they deal with issues of discrimination against different sections of the population. And to speak out against all forms of discrimination.
Wintress White said yes, Guyanese are too laid back. She said that many people do not want to deal with issues until the issues ‘come to their door.’
She recalled Red Thread’s work on domestic violence, and how some sections of civil society did not want to be involved until they recognised they also had problems in their communities.
Red Thread, which constantly speaks out, has regularly been criticised by supporters of the various governments. Still they have hosted ‘Speak Out’ events and produced material to give voice to those who might be silenced.
Their most recent ‘speak out’ is a video “Who feels it, knows it” (https://youtu.be/77_a4AQYWH4) which includes Margaret John, a resident of Mahdia in Region 8. She advised the advocates to put on the “bush cow skin” to prevent people’s comments from hurting. Her encouragement to Red Thread would be encouragement for anyone who is trying to work on equality in Guyana. A young religious leader I know has had to block Government supporters from his social media as they attack him for speaking out about a road issue.
Christopher Martin France explained that a personal voice can be helpful. He noted that after he went public with his mental health challenges others connected with him to deal with their mental health. Consequently, he has been able to encourage them to seek help.
Christine Samwaroo explained that many might feel that they have no voice and not understand their personal power. She talked about how the Breadfruit Collective works inter-sectionally and about the need for integrity in collective action and in building partnerships.
Ria Mohammed-Davidson pointed out that easy going is not necessarily bad. It has its time and place, she said while recognising that there are many people from Guyana and across the Caribbean who are disrupting systems of oppression and challenging the status quo. She encouraged collective action and collaboration among the groups who are working on different justice issues.
Collective action, collaboration, community building
Lincoln Lewis said that he has urged trade union leaders to work with others to bring about political, economic and social change. He stressed that the Constitution is only good if citizens activate and demand the rights.
I hear his call to work together and for the trade union leaders to recognise the marginalised workers. I think about Red Thread standing on the fringes of the May Day parade to call for the rights of domestic workers to be respected and for the recognition of unwaged caring work.
Maybe this call to hold hands across different struggles will be an opportunity to have the domestic workers and others integrated into the trade union movement, maybe it will prevent discrimination against a transgender or other LGBTIQ+ citizen or a citizen with a disability who is seeking employment.
Community building is not only about struggle.
A woman asked about self-care while dealing with violence and the denial of rights. The panel shared ideas about looking after personal health and well-being, and setting boundaries and switching off. They also talked about working in the collective and healing in community.
Wintress White specifically noted that many women were taught to put others first and that self-care is a luxury. We heard from Karen DeSouza of Red Thread that they check in with each other – different from when the focus was just on the ‘work’ and the struggle.
This conversation has woven together human rights with a focus on gender justice, disability justice, justice for Indigenous citizens, justice for LGBTIQ+ citizens, economic justice, environmental justice with self-care and healing.
Immaculata Casimero recommended that speaking out does not have to be a big thing. We need to talk to each other about our issues, and find solutions.
Doing living good conversations in different places with different people.
