Time to look beyond racism and foster collective action

Dear Editor,
The current wave of post-election protests in the country is a clarion call for all well-meaning citizens to, as a matter of urgency, look at the issue of racism as the ‘Achilles heel’ of this beautiful nation we all call home.
Crisis in nations, which not long ago were unified and prosperous has led to forced migration of its citizens to faraway lands where they are no longer welcome. Ethnic and racial violence have never resolved differences but killed the dreams of thriving nations. There is, therefore, the need for us all, to resist attempts by others who wish to see the gains we have made as a nation go down the drain.
It is a call especially on civil society organisations to not take sides but rather use their influence to address an age-old canker that has eaten the fabric of our rich cultural, ethnic and racial diversity as a nation.
We have witnessed for decades how racism is tearing this nation apart, and for the religious society to allow this issue to persist without any form of national reconciliation to address the matter before it metamorphoses into something indescribable would be a failure by those who we the youths look up to for guidance.
For as long as one can remember, our society has experienced an accumulation and incorporation of long-standing racist practices into our social and economic structures. An act perpetuated by Afro and Indo Guyanese. The time to challenge and erode all manifestations of racism is now or never. For far too long, our society has knowingly institutionalised racism within all forms of social life; in schools, communities and the cultural framework of our nation.
This situation obviously does not augur well for the future of Guyana, a country I am very proud of as a national. Where did we actually go wrong? The ‘oil curse’ others might say, but I believe otherwise. I am confident we can look beyond the greed, hate and the dire need of one race to feel superior over the other. The majority of the world is moving beyond racism and so should we. Because of the economic implications, the turmoil and havoc that acts of racism leave in their path remain for decades.
The question we should be asking is Are we ready as a nation to bear the consequences of the acts of racism we are fostering? Or one may also ask if we have taken the bait and bitten more than we can swallow, because as espoused by Mathew Bonick and Anotonio Farfan-Vallespin in their 2016 working paper “On The Origins And Consequences Of Racism”, the colonial powers instilled racism among the population of their colonies in order to weaken their ability for collective action.
We certainly seem to have lost that collective action as a nation, because what is even more revealing is the fact that the two writers mentioned above point to the extractive industries as the ultimate cause of racism in the former colonies. Recent occurrences in Guyana attest to these assertions. In our situation, the main predictors are cultural and socio-economic factors, however, we cannot downplay the fact that racism was deliberately instilled in extractive colonies including Guyana to facilitate the continuous exploitation of our rich natural resources whilst we go at each other’s throat.
The consequences which are with us today are the racial biases experienced by the ordinary Guyanese on a daily basis, the belief that some racial groups have a lower level of abilities than others, hatred and distrust for other racial groups, targeted policies leading to active opposition. At the micro level, we have all seen the impact of racism on our economy, as it acts as an internal tariff to keep prices of goods at different levels, reducing the market size of each racial sub-market and causing the economy to forgo important gains from trade. The impact on our institutions including security and education cannot be overemphasised.
The time to look beyond racism and foster collective action is now. Our problems are not an enigma. We know them and the time to confront them head-on is now. It is at this critical time that we should face our fears and come together as a nation, illustrated by the local Guyanese artistes who at one point competed against each other, let go all grudges and came together to do a mix of the song “One Voice” addressing the nation as Guyanese to build a better, stronger and prosperous Guyana that generations to come would be proud of.
Guyana is a country blessed with abundant resources and so it will be a shame if we the citizens continue to antagonise each other whilst other nations benefit from the minerals extracted from our land and territory. The national dream, which we all aspire to would be fulfilled only if we take collective action to abhor all forms of racism in its entirety.

Sincerely,
Tanza McAlmont