Kaieteur News of Guyana gave a very good Peeping Tom commentary (Apr 7, 2024) on ethnic organizations and sports Clubs in that country. The commentary noted that all ethnic groups had their own religious, cultural, and sports organizations. They even have their own political parties, except for the Chinese who supported one of the ethnic parties where it felt its interests were best represented. The Chinese and Portuguese have virtually disappeared from Guyana.
As Peeping Tom stated, “the colonial authorities had instituted a system of divide and rule. That system strategically exploited ethnic differences (among the six ethnic groups) to maintain power and control by the colonial masters. By fostering divisions among different ethnic groups, predominantly between the Afro-Guyanese and Indo-Guyanese populations, the colonial authorities hoped that that unity among the colonized was difficult to achieve”.
The commentary added: “ … led individuals to align themselves along ethnic lines to advance their political, social and economic interests. As a result, ethnic organizations emerged as vehicles for mobilization, protection and advancement. This divisive strategy entrenched ethnic identities. It also led to further and heightened competition for resources and opportunities along racial lines, thereby perpetuating a cycle of ethnic polarization and, in the process reinforcing the dominance of colonial powers”.
There was the British Guiana East Indian Association (BGEIA). Africans also had their own organizations. Schools were also ethnically aligned by race.
Peeping Tom narrated: “Even in sport we had clubs formed based primarily on race. The various ethnic communities established their own clubs and recreational spaces. The Chinese Sports was established in 1931, followed by Portuguese Sports Club in 1924, and East Indian Cricket Club in 1930. There was the African Demerara Cricket Club and the African Malteenoes Cricket Club. British Guiana Cricket Club, later the Guyana Sports Club, was formed to allow for persons who were denied entry into what was the Georgetown Cricket Club (a White and white Colored Club).
Eventually, both Chinese Sports and East Indian Cricket evolved into Cosmos and Everest, respectively”,
Later, there was ASCRIA (Association for Social, Cultural relations with Africa) founded by a Pan-Africanist Eusi Kwayana (formerly Sydney King who changed his name. And much later came “
“the African Cultural and Development Association (ACDA) and the Indian Arrival Committee (IAC) would have long been outlawed”.
Politics is also racially aligned. Indians gravitated towards the PPP which is identified as the party of Indians. Africans and Mixed gravitated towards the PNC which is identified as the party of Africans and Mixed. The UF used to be the party of the Portuguese and other Whites and white Coloreds as well as the party of Amerindians. Chinese also gravitated towards the UF because it was a business oriented party and the Chinese were business oriented.
