ON FRIDAY, I attended a symposium in Washington DC to commemorate Guyana’s 50th Independence Anniversary. Organized by a group of Guyanese in the area, led by Paul Tennassee and Floyd Haynes, the event brought together Guyanese and friends of Guyana from across North America, to reflect on our Independence journey these five decades. I was asked to speak on our Guyanese identity. As I prepared my remarks, I found myself reflecting on how complex identity formation is for plural societies such as ours. Although we have had that conversation continuously, it never goes away.

The instinct of oneness has always been there, but the instinct that flows from our diversity is there also. We have not done a good job at marrying the two; in many regards, we have set the two against each other. For me, this has been one of our great Independence failures.

Each ethnic group in Guyana has had its own struggles with intra-group identity. Amerindians are really a fusion of several tribes. East Indians came to Guyana as multiple ethno-religious groups, and developed a pan-Indian identity here. Africans became Africans on the plantation. The other ethnic groups have had their own identity challenges. So, in a sense, we have quite a task before us as we try to forge a single identity out of our several identities.

The Independence model of “One People, One Nation, One Destiny” is idealistic at best; the intent is noble, but its premise is flawed. We are really a country of many peoples. Our tendency to overemphasize our oneness and deemphasize our diversity has not always been helpful. In the end, we have developed a culture wherein our people are afraid to affirm our diversity and its inherent differences. We label diversity and difference as racism; so that which is most beautiful about Guyana is constructed as ugliness. Our diversity is permanent and beautiful; the challenge for us as a nation is to erase the stigma which we have attached to our diversity. Difference is normal; it becomes destructive when we give bad meaning to it. We have learned — I hope — that the imposition of sameness as a substitute for diversity is in the final analysis counterproductive. Imposed sameness ultimately becomes a mask.

Identity formation is a dynamic and organic process that is linked to our lived experiences. Trying to separate identity from our political, economic and social relations, and from our larger history, is a futile experience. Our identity is a product of all of our relations. In Guyana, we have multiple identities that cannot be wished away; that much we have learned.

For me, our real motto should be “Many Peoples, One Nation, One Destiny.”

THE STATE MEDIA
The state-owned media is not a party plantation. Those who are charged with the day-to-day management of the state-owned media must learn this hard truth. For 50 years, that section of the media was turned against the people, the real owners, in vicious ways. The recent revelation of photo-doctoring to make the President look good is disgusting. There is something wrong with a political culture in which people feel compelled to do something like that.

More than the other newspapers, the Chronicle has a duty to uphold the principles of fairness and inclusion. Its pages must not be turned into manifestations of cheer-leading. Yes, the Government must be covered fairly; but so, too, must others.

And critique of the Government must be an integral part of the coverage. The paper has to move beyond reprinting Government press releases and populating the pages with the faces of ministers. The rest of us matter, too.

The Chronicle has historically been an instrument of dictatorship, and we cannot continue like this. This present Government came to power as a change agent, and the state-owned media must reflect that promise. Censorship must be eradicated. We have suffered that indignity for too long. I hope the Board uses the present moment to chart a new course for the newspaper. If you change the physical look of the paper but maintain the old habits, then you are only fooling yourself.

BEATING THE WORLD
Whatever our feelings about the state of our cricket, Sunday, April 3, will go down as one of the most important dates in our Caribbean journey. The women and men cricketers painted a story of overcoming on the walls of civilization. Those last four balls of the day reminded the world that we, the peoples of these little islands and mainland spaces, are still equal members of humanity. Those victories have put to bed — at least for now — our own anxieties about, and fear of, our capacity to continue to survive in this harsh world.

The conversations in the aftermath of the sweet victories have been misguided. We often talk about, and perhaps imagine, our future in binaries: good versus evil. We reached the cricket bottom because both our governance and our communities lost their way. It is so in cricket, in politics, in economics, and in the society at large. For me, the most refreshing thing about this moment is that our boys seem to have heard the denigrating voice of the master: “They have no brains”. Those victories were carved out in defense of our Caribbean dignity.

Can we turn the moment into a larger statement about our humanity? When Tony Grieg, in 1976, said he would make the West Indies grovel, Clive Lloyd and his men were spurred to the construction of a new history that the rest of the world came to respect us for.

More of Dr. Hinds ‘writings and commentaries can be found on his YouTube Channel Hinds’ Sight: Dr. David Hinds’ Guyana-Caribbean Politics and on his website www.guyanacaribbeanpolitics.com. Send comments to dhinds6106@aol.com