…in Guyana?
There’s this self-confessed “zero credibility”, newly returned pastor who’s been regaling us with his ruminations on every topic under the sun – and then some. In his most recent foray, he opined that Guyana has no “soul”. And this “soullessness” is the source of much of what ails us. Now there’s been all sorts of handwringing about our national “condition” during the stocktaking precipitated by the Jubilee Celebrations – but this is new.
A national soul!! Acknowledging that for sure he’s not as knowledgeable about “souls” as the good pastor who harvests them probably is, your Eyewitness thought these ephemeral entities were confined to individuals. And their possession by individuals didn’t necessarily guarantee them – much less a country – “peace on earth” or an angst-free existence. One even heard of “tortured souls” – especially in the artistic community.
And that reminded your Eyewitness – who his regular readers would know is a fella of eclectic musical tastes – of that genre of music his father just used to lap up – Soul. Conceived in the travails of the African-American oppressed community, “Soul” was born from the “gospels” Black folks sang in the Churches they formed when Christian brotherhood with the whites was denied them.
Sam Cook and Ray Charles were the progenitors of “soul” and was followed by Motown soul (remember Little Michael Jackson?), southern soul, funk and dance music to hip hop and contemporary R&B that’s keeping us on our feet right now. But surely now that “soul” has drifted so far from its Gospel roots, the pastor couldn’t possibly be alluding to heartfelt sentiments in song.
So is he talking about what that notoriously dense German philosopher Hegel called “zeitgeist”? Which wiki simplifies for us as: “The spirit of the age or spirit of the time – the dominant set of ideals and beliefs that motivate the actions of the members of a society in a particular period in time.” But while the good pastor use the word “soul” as in a metaphysical entity, he insisted its possession would’ve saved us from violence, thefts, political skulduggery, political assassinations etc etc.
But with “zeitgeist”, whatever is …IS! And it’ll be expressed – according to Hegel – generally through the arts. So what does our “arts” say about our “spirit of the times”? Well “in song” the Indian community gave us “Rum till I die” and its derivatives… and from the African side we have Dancehall and its variants. In dance we have “dutty wine” followed by “backballing” – which one Minister insisted in demonstrating in public during the Jubilee Float parade.
So really…should we be surprised at the nihilistic pass to which we’ve arrived?
…in exploiting children
Some folks seem to think the phrase, “Suffer little children” means to make them suffer…not that one should be considerate towards them. We all know of the massive cover-up of sexual abuse of kids – in every society in the world. UNICEF calls for protection against paedophiles in its convention on the Rights of the Child…which we’ve signed on to. This Eyewitness takes a tough line against sexual exploitation. Don’t hang ‘em high though…castrate them.
But the International Labour Organisation (ILO) is against another form of exploitation against children they’d like to eliminate. With them being a LABOUR organisation it has to do with labour. To a hammer, everything’s a nail? So this Sunday is World Day against Child Labour.
Now while we have to be against all forms of exploitation – this Eyewitness, who laboured long and hard in various jobs as a child – hopes we don’t throw out the baby (kids who contribute to the survival of their family) with the bath water (exploitative conditions).
…on prison death responsibility
So after all the sturm and drang, of the Inquiry into the 17 prison deaths, it is pronounced that it’s the prisoners who’re mostly responsible for the tragedy.
So can we say they committed suicide?
