The Caribbean, especially  its  English-speaking  isles, is  traditionally known for its rich mosaic of cultural  diversity   usually expressed in its peculiar inimitable style. The calypsos, the carnivals, the poetry; and, of course, the varied  creole languages which only the Region’s people can uniquely express  – all go to form that unique Caribbean experience.
A particular aspect of  this Caribbean  cultural expression has been the calypso art form, that in many of its pieces  commentate  all aspects of the Region’s  political, social and economic life. It is reasonable and practical  to point out, also, that   many would have made  reference to the  saucy,  salacious aspect  of life, as it pertains to the  Caribbean experience. While this has always been a  general fact of the calypso, one should agree that it has been done in a  very subtle and sophisticated manner, that would not have offended listeners’ sensibilities.
But over the decades, there have been other Caribbean art forms, derivatives from the calypso. Beginning  with the Jamaican reggae that has become internationally famous, thanks to some of its worthy ambassadors, and musical groups, such as the late icon Bob Marley and the Wailers, who undoubtedly have been credited with its rise and recognition; the late Peter Tosh; Phyllis Dillon; and Toots and the Maytals, just to name a sample. But it is the Dance Hall genre, mainly emerging over the last  two decades, that has been perhaps the dominant export throughout the Region, inclusive of Guyana, and which lyrics have been cause for daily concern and condemnation.
Frankly, the lyrical content of this musical expression can only be described as   wholly offensive to women, since it is about advocating her physical and sexual subjugation  by the male. In fact, its description of such dehumanisation   is expressed in the crudest of manner, reminiscent of  the early caveman treatment of his woman. Maybe, one can excuse such behaviour then, given the very primitive state of man.
But not these very modern times, the age of technology, with tremendous advancement in human knowledge as it pertains to  among other things, of greater intelligence and rational social  behaviour in  man’s inter-relationship with the female.
For a Region that has  evolved from  the historical entrepot of plantation slavery,  in which the female slave  was physically and psychologically brutalised just as the male in similar captivity, and which also records her as being both  sexually exploited and subjugated by the colonial master, forcing her to submit to his debouched immorality – how can its cultural artistes, be so ugly, filthy and utterly derogative,  many of whom “big up” the “sistren”, even vowing to protect them from harm, while in the same  breath destroy their dignity?
Undoubtedly, those brave men and women who gave their lives for freedom  would be very much embarrassed, and ashamed, if it were possible for them to have been here, listening to songs that daily brutalise the dignity of  the female to  another  form of servitude. And this extends to women of all ethnicities, and  of all social classes, wherever they may be undergoing this  dark  vulgarity.
It is against this background that the forthright demand by Women and Gender Equality Commissioner Nicole Cole,  that two particular songs be removed from the airwaves, be understood. While one represents  mostly the tenor of what is editorialised, the other, that now represents the established trend of extolling the virtues of rum,  is just as evil, since it is  an inherent part of the scourge of domestic violence, the other half of this evil twin orgy.
There have been several statements against songs of these types throughout the years, as there has been a recognition that they both are offensive to women, and an interlinked chain in her condemnation to violence of both kinds, by male partners.
One would have thought that with the numerous reports of both prevalent  types of violence against women in Guyana,  a condign campaign, beginning with a strict ban of such songs from being sold to the public; played in public, whether  by the popular music carts,  public transportation, private vehicles;  at public occasions, and even by individual citizens, would have been an established strategy in order to rid  society of so-called cultural expressions that are prejudiced, as it is dark and filthy. It is the type that is a desecration to good cultural expression and an insult to all women.
The still continued presence of these songs, unashamedly aired publicly, makes zero all the numerous efforts on the part of the State, to sensitise  the nation to sexual abuse and domestic violence.
Let the campaign against such an outrage commence!