It has become commonplace for persons of African descent to lament the state of their fellow brethren. Mr. Vincent Alexander stands tall in this regards and declares that the plantation, colonial and neo-colonial states, through deprivation and lack of opportunity, is generally the cause of the peripheral (my word) achievement of the black man, since they were built and operated on the premise of inequality, subjugation and exploitation. Though this is mostly the historical setback of people of African descent, Indentureship witnessed a parallel phenomenon as Indians also underwent oppression. So whereas one group see themselves as victims of slavery the other’s assessment is they are the products of Indentureship.
Here is a most lethargic analysis from Alexander: The institutionalized economic relations reduced the Africans to the status of property and all of the inferiority associated with Master and Slave relations. The imposed belief system ingrained an inferiority complex, and the social relations were premised on the inferiority of the enslaved. But this is exactly what Burnham did to the Indians in Guyana resulting in the Cheddi Jagan Airport, formerlyTimheri Airport, to look like the Mumbai International Airport beginning in the late 70’s.
Anyone can trace the African journey from the inception of the slave trade in the sixteen century through Emancipation, Segregation, Apartheid and above all –military dictatorship perpetrated upon their own people right in the African homeland. As an example, Sub-Saharan Africa has 53 countries: 34 are military dictatorships and one party states. Uhuru (the Swahilian clarion call for freedom from colonialism) has not worked to this day. Was Guyana any different under 28 years of PNC fraudulent elections?
Whenever wrong is perpetrated on black people great protests result-and rightly so-however, following the death of George Floyd The Black Lives Matter protests morphed into spontaneous looting BLM looting so therefore, the world will conclude that such protests form a pretext for looting.
It must me mentioned that in the heyday of the PNC the commanding heights of the economy was under black gov’t control, while the cabinet ministers, public service, police, military and para-military all reflected a huge preponderance of African Guyanese whose psyche directed that they should not get mud on their skin as opposed to their Indian counterparts who would wake up at 4:00 am to tend their livestock and fields. Furthermore, the cultural bonds and work ethic of one set of people will always see progress as two pairs of cattle will become a herd in 5 years as opposed to another where in the same timeframe you may be barely able to find the bones from the pepperpot.
Leyland Chitlall Roopnaraine