By Ryhaan Shah
There is probably universal agreement about the need for a national culture that would truly define us as Guyanese. Such national identity and culture exists elsewhere, and is the cohesive glue that informs a nation’s character and determines how it deals with international diplomacy and business partnerships, with innovation and development, and with each other within the country’s borders. That national character derives from commonly held principles, ethics and values, and from the laws that govern behaviour and actions. These most often encompass qualities such as honesty, integrity, decency, morality, lawfulness, and acting responsibly for the common good.
While ethnic and racial differences are being singled out and blamed for Guyana’s conflict, the real issue is that, in 52 years, we are yet to stand proudly together under the umbrella of a common Guyanese culture that embodies the best of human nature and gives us more reasons to unite than to follow disparate paths towards discord and division.
If there were ever a national culture that valued principled, ethical and decent conduct, Guyana would not be in the dire situation it is in today, since successive governments, no matter who or what, would, with due pride and respect, uphold justice, integrity and morality, and protect and defend the institutions that are established to act without fear or favour within the framework of our commonly held values.
However, every single day we are reminded that we do not live in such a country. All evidence points to the indisputable fact that being Guyanese means supporting corruption, indecency, racism, lawlessness, and an uncaring attitude that is the antithesis of good neighbourliness.
Had it ever been otherwise, the two important national holidays of Republic Day and Independence Day would always have been celebrated with festivities in which every single citizen can participate with pride and patriotism, because of a culture that supports respect and consideration for others.
Instead, both holidays are marked by carnival-type events that derive from the minority African Guyanese culture, and African Guyanese themselves have never displayed any prick of conscience about the exclusion of every other ethnic group in the celebrations.
Further, the non-participation of other groups, which is based on their respective cultural values and norms of behaviour, is viewed as amounting to racism, and their reluctance or refusal to assimilate into the “oneness” that is touted as “Guyanese” is even regarded as unpatriotic.
In a country where civic pride and culture would include good neighbourliness, national celebrations would, as a matter of course, be inclusionary. This would necessitate consultations and planning that would honour commonly held values, and each ethnic group would actually care that the events should be accommodating and sensitive to their fellow citizens’ cultural norms. This is a very far cry from where Guyana is or has ever been, and the call for us to all be Guyanese without race or ethnic prefixes continues to fall on stony ground amidst the insensitivities and lack of consideration for others that have been indulged and encouraged by successive Governments.
No good example has ever been set by political leadership — or any leadership for that matter — and this past Independence Day even saw an illegal change to the flag itself. Since the country’s flag should be a proud symbol of our national character and be held as sacrosanct, the change executed by the Granger Government emphasises all the negative aspects of what being Guyanese means.
Our tit-for-tat politics with the pendulum swinging back and forth between the PPP and PNC has not allowed for any safe and solid middle ground where agreements can be reached, since the base of each party makes trade-offs that allow for lawlessness, corruption, and every indecency as long as their party is “on top”.
In the name of this racial solidarity, every transgression is forgiven, every principle compromised, and every value relinquished. The end result is a vacancy of human decency on which nothing can be built. What then does being Guyanese mean?
From my recent carnival experience, it means the gross inconsideration of fellow citizens plopping down a huge stereo sound system smack in front of a private residence and in full view of Police, and playing sounds called music at the highest decibel level possible from midday to midnight non-stop. The music-makers and their patrons, the winers and grinders, and the Police who condoned the lawlessness, provided a full-frontal display of what being Guyanese is all about.
Guyana’s tragedy is that there is no hope of even making a start towards creating a national character that would instil us all with pride.
