THE only honest message of the opposition leader’s assault on the inevitable Copyright Bill lies in expressing his party’s long opposition and contempt towards addressing the livelihoods of creative talents of born-Guyanese. Nothing he said, like the Devil of religion is entirely the truth.  We are 50 years behind the rest of our continental and Caribbean neighbours in this respect. No!  copyright will not close down small businesses; it will reform and enhance their performance. Where this will hurt Mr Jagdeo is that there are TV and radio station owners and executives whom he created that exist on the pretext of a status quo of piracy. I am not a champion of first-world interests, but the local Copyright Bill will force into being meaningful ‘Local Creative Content’ in all electronic media, rather than possessing extreme volumes of peculiarly acquired assets, cash in a third and invest in ‘Local Creative Content’ and earn the initiation towards becoming real and respected executives.  We must develop trademarks in craft, jewellery, visual arts, IT and industrial arts, and these talents must be protected by law. A large number of our young population are semi-literate, due to the collapse of the education system under the PPP, mainly due to the ‘No child left behind system’, without the industrial arts back-up application, and the ‘Troubled Times’. But they have talents. Rather than have hundreds of youth walking and selling rip-off DVDs and CDs, or their talents praised as inmates of our prison system, let’s provide a chance for them to grow. It is obvious that neither does Mr Jagdeo nor the PPP understand that Guyana cannot remain isolated for another 40 years. Possibly, the PPP thinks that they can best survive as visionless politicians in a nation of backward sycophants, but that criminalised, retarded process has gone too far already.  Not one of the current opinion makers have ever reflected on the state of the nation’s talents; they fret, rightfully so, over Local Content in Oil, and their content in politics, but never a word on the existence of the local creative content. This President has provided hope for the struggle of copyright that has been going on for decades. Dr Abiola Inniss last Thursday, October 25, reiterated the sane process towards developing a strategic intellectual property plan for Guyana. Most of my media friends were not there. We all know that the President’s objective will require a process, which Dr. Inniss and all of us in cultural industries do understand; so with/or without the willingness of the opposition to be educated, it needs to begin now.

Regards,
Barrington Braithwaite