…in rum?
There was a long disquisition in the papers recently of the dangers of demon rum.
Rum has always been a two-edged sword in Guyana. As a by-product from the manufacture of sugar, it provided employment to workers on the plantation and revenues that supplemented sugar sales. But on the other hand, introduced to the workers to drown their sorrows – especially after slavery when they HAD money to pay for it, it became an addiction.
There’s no question alcohol consumption in Guyana is legion. And if measured, might just be another one of those dubious qualifications that give us world rankings. Like so many habits inculcated on the plantations, it became part of the “way of life” of those that came out of it.
One interesting feature is since the African slaves were only given rum at the “crop over” period in celebration – they don’t in general imbibe at the level of the descendants of the East Indian indentureds.
In fact, with the latter group in present-day Guyana – and Trinidad for that matter – “Rum” forms the most dominant topic of song and dance. One wonders if the fella that crooned the hit “Rum till I die” saw the irony of what was the denouement of rum drinking. Among folks in different cultures that imbibe alcohol, there are two approaches that produce completely different behavioural patterns in the imbibers.
There are the Mediterranean drinkers – like the Italians – who consume alcohol as part of their culinary repertoire. In total they may consume as much alcohol as others but generally do not resort to violence when they get “high”. They’re “pleasant”.
The other type of drinkers – and the Guyanese Indians fall into this category – they drink to get drunk. And when in that state get violent. And this is one of the objectionable features of rum-drinking in Guyana with its association with domestic and interpersonal violence that the disquisition objected to.
But the point your Eyewitness – who’s a “social drinker” who’s never resorted to violence – wants to make is, there’s no ineluctable connection between drinking alcohol and violent behaviour. The latter is culturally mediated.
So for those who would abolish alcohol – they need to look at the prior cultural patterns that lead to violence and other objectionable behaviour in some groups.
…till 2 o’clock in the marnin’
The “Rum till I die” ditty signals what some folks think is the purpose of alcohol for those that abuse it and destroy their liver and brains: they’re committing slow suicide.
Now on the sugar plantations, one could understand the frustration created in folks who were dragged from their tight-knit villages in India and now forced to struggle against an oppressive system on their own. Strangers in a strange land who can’t take it no mo’.
But what is it today? Are the conditions of their existence in modern-day Guyana still lead them into a state of hopelessness that make them fall back on rum to numb their nerves? These are questions that should be looked into rather than banning rum shops and bars from serving alcohol past 2am.
With all the interventions that educate folks about behaviour that leads to self-destructive results – like, say, AIDS…couldn’t ministries like social services, public security, communities, etc get together and launch something to discourage violence-related drinking?
Or do we need a CoI?
…in all the wrong places
They say if you want to help an addict, remove him from environments that facilitate the addiction. But the government’s -past and present – are licensing rum shops in every nook and cranny.
Where are self-destructive and violent drunks to go?
