ERC relevant body to address issues of national concern

THE Ethnic Relations Commission is comprised of stakeholders across the societal strata, and holds a wide-ranging mandate to address issues of national concern. However, there has been a clamour for the disbanding of this body from the opposition and their media supporters.
Yet practically everyone concedes that Guyana has inherited from the colonials a serious racial divide in the nation; primarily between Guyanese of Indian descent and Guyanese of African descent.
Maturity in nationhood should dictate that Guyanese transcend racial considerations and deal with each other primarily as members of one human family and as fellow Guyanese; but while relationships at individual level between members of different races in Guyana are strong, even where miscegenation has created a creolized amalgam of races that are truly Guyanese, especially during elections season the ugly reptilian features of racism raises its head, poised to strike its poison into the soul of Guyanese nationhood.
While the nation is becoming aware that our development can only retrogress we continue to harbour malice toward our fellow Guyanese – especially on the basis of their ethnicity, the psychology of politics is so entrenched in the Guyanese being that it poisons the architecture of the nation’s identity and causes decay in the framework of nationhood.
However, the incorporation of the Inter-Religious Organisation into the body politic of the ERC, which is bitterly opposed by the opposition – both politicians and media, is integral to this struggle to eliminate the prejudices – real or imagined, that exists within communities that are dividing our nation, so long after we have achieved independence and republican status.
Guyana is a deeply-religious nation; albeit of several approaches to serving the Lord but, by and large, the primary message preached by every religion is one of love and acceptance of one’s fellow human with the fraternity of humankind.  As such the inclusion of the IRO in the ERC is integral to healing the soul of the nation through the various approaches to national cohesion by the latter body.
But those whose agenda is best served by divides in the nation are bitterly to the involvement of the IRO in this process of mening breaches in Guyana’s national tapestry.
The recent two-day Media Encounter facilitated by the Ethnic Relations Commission in collaboration with Guyana Press Association (GPA), University of Guyana Centre for Communication Studies, Guyana Media Proprietors and Owners Association, the Advisory Committee on Broadcasting (ACB) and the Government Information Agency (GINA), concluded with expressions of a sense of satisfaction and the almost across-the-board conclusion that the event was useful, stimulating and beneficially functional.
A release, which was drafted by the various facilitators, stated “The various partners of Media Encounter 2011 considered the participation of approximately 110 persons in the two-day event a positive development, remarking that the robust involvement of students of communication and young members employed in the media augurs well for continued efforts to further improve journalistic standards in order for media to continue to effectively undertake its societal role and better serve the public.
“The emphasis of the ERC on the use of education and moral-persuasion as an approach to interactions between the ERC and the media was commended. Further, it was hoped that ERC and its partners both developed a fuller understanding of the Constitutional mandate of the ERC as well as complexity of the issues that confront media workers.
“While the ERC received input from media practitioners for the conduct of its functions in the forthcoming elections period, the media practitioners in turn called upon the ERC to seek a Declarative Statement from the Judicial Branch in their quest for elucidation of aspects of the Racial Hostility Act. A major emphasis of the media Encounter was discussion of the Representation of the People (Amendment) Act and the Racial Hostility (Amendment) Act.”
The debates at that encounter were, although heated at times, respectful and sound, with various concerns raised and addressed.
The atmosphere of cordiality was pervasive and the boycott by two media houses that operate under the same did not in any way hinder the deliberations and discussions of the participants. 
The success of the media encounter was due to its broad-based involvement from many stakeholders and augers well for maturity in reportage during the forthcoming electoral campaigns, and the general election itself.  If for nothing else, the ERC has served a major purpose in coordinating this event and one hopes that they will not stop there, but will reach out to every community in Guyana for fuller participation in such necessary debates, where respect and cordiality transcends every consideration so that the stakeholders are prompted to pursue their various mandate with the public good being the major concern.
If Media Encounter 2011 is a microcosm of what can be expected in the wider society during Guyana’s elections, and indeed, in a wider sense as a norm rather than an exception, then there can be no reason for Guyanese to see each other as “them and us”, but as one nation working together for national peace and prosperity.

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