The news that 20 Members of Parliament (MP’s) from both sides of the political aisles – along with three Mayors – were part of a delegation to a People of Indian Origin (PIO) parliamentarian conference hosted by the Government of India, was a very welcome development. For years, since the beginning of the millennium, India has sponsored what had been annual “Pravasi Bharitiya Divas” – Overseas Indian Day – on January 9; the day on which Mohandas Gandhi had returned to India in 1915 from a 20-year stay in South Africa.
There, not so incidentally, he had invented and honed the techniques of non-violent resistance – “Satya Graha” or “Truth Force” – which was to inspire colonies across the British Empire in Guyana and Africa in their struggles for independence. An integral aspect of British colonialism was to transport “natives” from its colonies in Africa, India and even China which was nominally free, to provide labour in other colonies. First it was slave labour from Africa and then indentured labour from Portugal, India and China.
This massive movement of human bodies across continents resulted in the creation of “Diasporas” of people from these latter countries. In the case of Africa, the “countries” as we know them had not even been created – ironically by the colonials who divided up the world without any “consultations” with the natives. The word “Diaspora” was first applied to the Jewish people who had been scattered across the globe in several expulsions starting in pre-historic times and extending into the twentieth century.
The slave experience in the colonies and the severe underdevelopment of Africa inspired the first consciousness of a new “diasporic” thinking in modern times. This was not surprising in light of the modern nature of race and racism that developed during the enslavement of peoples from Africa: a common oppressive system creates to a large extent, a common view of the world and a common identity. The First Pan-African Congress (PAC) was organised in 1900 in Britain and attracted delegates from the US, the Caribbean and Africa.
The most fateful was the fifth PAC held in Manchester in 1945 just as WWII had ended: the attendees were to return to their countries to lead the latter to independence. The Conferences then shifted to Africa from 1974 by which time most countries there had achieved independence. The movement was accepted by the African Union (AU) and the last and 8th PAC was held in Accra, Ghana in 2015. There is presently a call for a 9th PAC.
The Chinese and Indian diasporic communities were comparatively unorganised until the last quarter of the 20th century as the originating countries began to develop economically. Deng Xio Ping, in 1980, for instance, overturned the hands-off attitude to overseas People of Chinese ancestry and actively encouraged them to return and assist in China’s drive towards industrialisation and development. The policy proved so successful, that almost every other country with Diasporas started to emulate it – including Guyana.
India belatedly entered the arena as mentioned with its PBD meetings in 2003 but these were primarily “meet-and-greet” gatherings emanating from previous efforts of non-governmental organisations such as the Global Organisation of People of Indian Origin (GOPIO), that were dominated by “Non-Resident Indians (NRIs) who were very focused on exploiting business opportunities. After the Government of PM Narendra Modi took office in 2014, the PBD’s were scheduled biennially and involved focused constituents that contributed to the formulation of policies that strategically addressed the needs of both the overseas communities and India.
That the PBD involved Shashi Tharoor from the Opposition Congress Party was a very powerful signal that the Modi Government would not transfer its domestic partisanship on the Diaspora stage. This is a welcome example to those parliamentarians from Guyana who represented the Government and the Opposition. Domestically, there may be differences in approach to any or all issues.
But ultimately there is only one country, Guyana, which they must all develop.
