What’s distinctive about our dear mudland is that which made it into a mudland – water, water everywhere, churning into our rich alluvial soil. Brought all the way from the innards of our country by our rivers, and from the innards of the Mighty Amazon via the Atlantic. Yes, we’re the land of many waters – and lots of mud! It was the Dutch who decided to drain our coast so that they could extract the wealth from that rich alluvial mud by planting tobacco, cotton and sugar.
When your Eyewitness looked at those Mash Bands tramping through the streets of Georgetown, he wondered how many realised that each of those streets they traversed was once the ‘middle walks’ of plantations? And that Water Street, where they began, was literally built to help keep out the waters of the Demerara River!! Or that if the Church St Canal hadn’t been filled, there’d be no way they could’ve gyrated through to Plantation Vlissengen, owned by the Bourdas, where the canals and middle walks ran north-south rather than east-west, like in the plantations along the Demerara River! And so they could sashay over to Plantation Eve Leary to let it all hang out!!
And why is your Eyewitness subjecting you to all this “old-time story”?? Well, because we were supposed to be celebrating the “birth of OUR Republic” – and you can’t celebrate “birth” is you don’t at least start with your “Mumma”!! And our Mumma was, is, and always will be those plantations. But we do our darndest to bury that side of our heritage and pick up what?? The hand-me-down carnival culture of Trinidad has its own time, place, and circumstances.
So, exactly what was wrong with those plantations?? Plenty, that’s what!! And if we scratch our psyches just a tad, we’d discover where all that violence, high-handedness, wife beating, rum drinking, and learned helplessness that distinguish us today came from. And maybe if we don’t hide it under our beds, we’d also appreciate and celebrate how much we’ve overcome to get here today. And just as importantly, it could be a wakeup call not to backslide, but resolutely seize the opportunities that now present themselves from under the Atlantic. And have the last laugh!
Those who exploited our forefathers used them and our mud to enrich their countries. We should be reminding our people, with our Republic Day floats, that we can now, at long last, develop ourselves. And it doesn’t have to be dull. Heck!! Acting out real freedom can never be dull, since it comes out of a liberating awareness!!
So, what’s your Eyewitness suggesting? Just that we stop being so goddamn derivative and finally get real. Real Guyanese!!…
Foreign Accent Syndrome
Did you know, dear reader, there’s something called “Foreign Accent Syndrome” (FAS)?? Your Eyewitness was finally enlightened as to why so many of our radio announcers – and of his friends – were speaking weird!! This is republished without any changes: “Firstly, it’s caused by brain damage stemming from a stroke or traumatic brain injury, particularly to the left hemisphere, the one responsible for language and speech. However, it can also be caused by psychological conditions affecting the brain, such as schizophrenia, or bipolar disorder, although that’s just a minority of cases.
“Researchers suspect the voice change is caused by a condition called Paraneoplastic Neurological Disorder (PND), that happens when cancer patients’ immune systems attack parts of their brain, as well as muscles, nerves and spinal cord. Out of the 112 cases observed in a 2019 study, about 7 out of 10 cases were caused by a stroke, and around 20% of them saw their accents return to “somewhat normal”.
So don’t snicker; it’s an illness!!
…scoop on contracts
Your Eyewitness just doesn’t get these claims of unfair awards of contracts. He sees the “requests for bids” in the papers; then the bidders and amounts. These are then opened in full view and announced.
So, where’s the scam??
