You know what’s special about our dear Mudland? That which turned it into a mudland – without the sand and surf of the Caribbean: rich alluvial mud. Brought all the way from the innards of our country by OUR rivers and around the Atlantic from the Mighty Amazon. Yes, we’re the land of many waters – and lots of mud! It was the Dutch who decided to drain our Mangrove coast to extract the wealth from that rich, alluvial mud by using us to plant tobacco, cotton and sugar.
When your Eyewitness looked at those Children Mash Bands tramping through the streets of Georgetown, he wondered how many realised that each of those streets were 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, they’d be no way they could’ve gyrated though to Plantation Vlissengen owned by the Bourdas. There the canals and middlewalks 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!!
So why’s your Eyewitness subjecting you to all this “old time story”?? Well, because we adults are supposed to celebrate the “birth of OUR Republic” next week. And you can’t celebrate “birth” if you don’t remember 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 that has its own time, place and circumstances – NOT ours.
So exactly what’s wrong with those plantations?? Plenty, that’s what!! And if we scratch our psyches just a tad, we’d discover where all our present rampant violence, high-handedness, wife beating, rum drinking and learned helplessness 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. But just as importantly, resolutely seize the opportunities that now present themselves with the oil gushing from under the Atlantic to get our act together and heal ourselves. And have the last laugh!
Those who exploited our forefathers used them in 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 us. 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 copycatting and finally get real. Real Guyanese!!…
…Foreign Accent Syndrome
And talking about “copycatting”, did you know there’s something called “Foreign Accent Syndrome”?? Your Eyewitness been finally enlightened as to why so many of our radio announcers – and others are 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!!
…contracts?
Your Eyewitness just doesn’t get these accusations of unfair contract awards. He’s 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?? Three-card hustle??
