…Caribbean?
Did you notice, dear reader, that in the pics of our Caribbean leaders’ most recent soirees – isn’t that what they are? – Barbados’s Mia Mottley and St Vincent’s Ralph Gonsalves weren’t as chummy as they used to be with our Pressie? Gotta be the embarrassment of being outed for playing both sides against the middle with Venezuela’s ridiculous border controversy! Now, nothing is wrong with them simpering to Mad Maduro for easing their PetroCaribe debts, but claiming to be an “honest broker” deescalating the tensions aroused by the madman – as Gonsalves did – was more than disingenuous!!
But that doesn’t mean we gotta give up on seeking to tie together our Caribbean into a more cohesive relationship. While there has always been a school of thought that we oughta fulfil our “continental destiny” – even our Caribbean brothers never tire of reminding us we’re in South America, and not REALLY Caribbean – there doesn’t have to be a conflict in the two imperatives.
Geography doesn’t have to be destiny!! And culture’s thicker than water!! Look at how the US, Britain, Canada, Australia and New Zealand have their special relationship. Culcha, baby!! Culcha!!
And this is where your Eyewitness feels these leaders should start focusing – culture writ large. Nowadays, culture isn’t just singing and dancing to entertain the plantation massas; it’s a huge business. Let’s take cricket, where the present WI administrators have frittered away our branding! Shouldn’t the leaders get involved to ensure that our cricket regains its number one position in the world?? As the incumbent Chair of Caricom, Pressie – who’s a cricket fanatic – can play a leading role!! As he did with honouring a local cricketer, he can organise a friendly cricket match with the other Caribbean leaders at each of their HoG meetings. HoG is “heads of government”, not the porcine creature that’s neither kosher nor halal!!
Then there’s our music. While Reggae has spread across the world and remains popular – witness the popularity of the Marley Biopic – look at how we allowed, for instance, Nigeria’s Burna Boy to just zoom past us with his Afrobeats!! In the meantime, while our people have developed Chutney – which in actually Indobeats – we haven’t even exploited the BILLION-plus market that’s just tailor made for it!!
During their cricket matches at their HoGs, our leaders should be belting out hits like “Lotay la” or “Dem a watch me” at the drop of a ball!!
Your Eyewitness can go on and on, but you get the idea, don’t you, dear reader? Leaders gotta lead from the front, and since our best product is culture – in which we have a monopoly – they gotta be ready to showcase culture whenever or wherever they have an opportunity.
Shouldn’t they open their UN General Assembly speeches with a calypso??
…people
Most Guyanese don’t realise that, even more than culture, we share our DNA with the Caribbean people, especially Barbados. Right after the abolition of slavery, forty thousand of them came to Guyana – and undercut the bargaining power of the freed slaves. In fact, they were recruited overwhelmingly in the newly-formed Police Force, since they had no qualms in “mannersing” the locals. They quickly intermarried with our locals – but earned a reputation for scampishness.
This was illustrated in a calypso by Lord Kitchner. A Trini and a Bajan, both hungry, decided to scrounge together a cookup – with the Trini providing the meat and the Bajan the rice. But as Kitch recounted, “By this time the pot finish, Trini pick up a dish/ The Bajan say, “No no, no, never happen so!/ If you wanted something to eat, man take a fork and pick out your meat/But if you add one grain of rice, by Christ, I squeeze yuh throat like a vise”!!
Remember the “Guyanese Bench”??
…America
Some folks think that if Trump gets elected to the US Presidency, the US relationship with Guyana would change. Not necessarily!! After Biden squeezed out Trump in 2020, did anything change?? Look how long Sara-Ann Lynch stayed on!!
