…on “Arrival”
Yesterday “Arrival Day” was commemorated in all three counties – mostly in celebratory mode, but exclusively by Indo-Guyanese. Yesterday, your Eyewitness suggested if the other ethnic groups – who indubitably also “arrived” – feel their arrival was noteworthy, they too would have petitioned for its recognition. And yesterday’s events just confirmed their disinterest in the day. Why?
In the editorial of yesterday’s edition of this newspaper, the objective facts on “Arrival” after Emancipation were outlined: and this included Africans from the West Indies (42,513) and Africa itself (13,355) who in fact far outnumbered the total number of Portuguese (30,685) and Chinese (14,189). The 55,868 persons of African origin who arrived AFTER Emancipation is more than half of those slaves that were freed in 1834 – some 82,000.
Maybe one reason for Afro-Guyanese leaders not to acknowledge and not to also agitate for the arrival of so many of their ancestors is because this would undercut their polemic that is still used to divide the peoples of this country. That “the arrival of Indians after Emancipation undercut the bargaining power of the newly freed slaves”. That it did –- but so did the “arrivals” of Africans.
If we remember this latter fact it would force us to contemplate the reality that they were all pawns of the colonial state and planters who only wanted cheaper labour to produce sugar. They even tried folks from Malta (208), the US (70) and the Azores (164). But we should remember too that the planters themselves were faced with competition for their sugar markets from lower-cost producers – and were facing ruination. To them, seeking cheaper labour meant survival – it was a “rational” decision.
When a decade ago, the EU decided to cut the price of our sugar by 36 per cent – based on the same “free market” argument explaining their “humanitarian” decision to import sugar from other, “poorer” sources – our Government also had to make adjustments. The modernisation of Skeldon was analogous to the vacuum pan technology, the new ploughing technology, etc the planters introduced – in addition to cheaper labour.
We also lost labour here because there were other opportunities for sugar workers to gravitate to. Today we too are faced with making hard decisions on sugar.
So on Arrival Day, we should all commemorate our arrivals, and use the occasion to remember that we all “come from the nigger yards” – as our great poet Martin Carter put it: brutal, maybe, but profoundly true.
Arrival Day should not divide, but rather unite us, to create a nation in which we can all hold our heads high.
…on departure
It’s rather ironic as we wrangle over “Arrival Day”, the population of Guyana has remained constant for the last four decades. Even shrunk marginally. What gives? As countries develop economically, their birth rates drop proportionately. Educated and wealthier women and men just don’t want all those “pickneys” around. We’ve seen this in the developed countries where the birth rates’ve dropped below the 2 per family it takes to keep a population from declining. So has our economy done as well to produce this effect?
You know it hasn’t! Our population’s stagnation is due to our folks migrating to those same developed countries losing populace. Our loss is their gain – not that Donald Trump thinks so. But then, there’s the question whether he actually “thinks” at all!
So with us commemorating “arrival”, we should also spare a thought on “departures”. There are at least as many Guyanese – if not more – outside Guyana than inside. Recently, Minister of State Joseph Harmon made a pitch in Florida for some to return.
Not gonna happen. You can never return home – for more reasons than just economic.
…on drug shortages
The Ministry of Health’s shooting itself (and the Administration) in the foot by insisting there’s “no drug shortages”. Every voter who’s shown up at a hospital or clinic knows otherwise.
Their eyes will be cleaned by 2020?
