NATIONALISM is the loyalty or devotion to one’s nation, potentially to the exclusion or trivialisation of the interests of other nations. It also entails a great sense of national consciousness. However, there must be some distinction between fervent nationalism and destructive nationalism.

It upsets me so much when people descend into destructive nationalism. And that’s what prompted my column this week.
I’ve had a few conversations with average Guyanese in the streets of Georgetown about foreigners in the country. And let me just say, the level of xenophobia is just ridiculously high but I’m trying to comfort myself by saying that perhaps- by fate- I spoke to xenophobic persons only.

I can ramble all day but let me focus myself now. Last week, a group of friends and I were wearing shirts that had the International Organisation for Migration (IOM)’s logo printed on them. A random man came up to us and began talking to us, eventually asking us about the IOM.

The IOM is currently seeking to provide some form of redress to the Venezuelan migrants in Guyana and when we told ole Jim boy (I don’t know his real name) that, it was like a switch flipped in his mind and he began expressing his sentiments on that matter.

What amazed me the most about this conversation was that this one man was utterly convinced that all the Venezuelans fleeing the crises in their country are coming into Guyana as part of a grand scheme to take over Essequibo and well, all of Guyana (yes, including the oil).

In another conversation, another person shared their opinion that Venezuelans were coming to take away the already limited jobs from Guyanese.

Now I understand that Guyanese have their reservations on the actions being taken by the Venezuelan government because of their claims to Essequibo and well… everything.
Essequibo ‘is we own’ without any doubt, and any claim to that is practically ludicrous, but what a friend has made me realise is that there is a ‘Power to Power’ conversation and a ‘People to People conversation’.

At the power level, our government is making a strong, international case against the claims from Venezuela for our Essequibo. But on the people level, there is a lot more to consider- you know… like the lives of the people fleeing from a socioeconomic and political crisis? Or fleeing from crazy levels of unrest and violence?

It baffles me how people can be so nationalist, that they think the presence of other people within their country (particularly a vulnerable group of people like these immigrants), would be to the extreme detriment of their own country. Do you know what that reminds me of? Hitler and the Jews, but I’ll digress from that point.

Some friends from Venezuela (who have managed to integrate themselves fairly well into Guyana), explained that there are some Venezuelans who are university graduates working for a meagre wage as salesgirls and janitors here.

Imagine fleeing from your home that’s practically unlivable to come to a country and start over with nothing (really, nothing). Seems bleak? Yeah, now imagine coming to a country filled with hostile people who are convinced that you are going to overthrow their government. Ri-dic-u-lous!

I thought maybe, just maybe, if I put these sentiments in black and white some people might finally see how ridiculous it sounds. And hopefully, they could digress from the xenophobia. Lofty hopes? Maybe.

But then, fate also led me to a re-migrant woman who shared her story with me. She migrated to-surprise, surprise-Venezuela about 30 years ago in search of economic opportunities. And yes, she found those and was able to make a comfortable living with her family for nearly three decades in that country, until the crisis in Venezuela forced her to come back to her land of birth.

But now back in Guyana, she is without a home, a stable job and remnants of the happy family life that she built over the years. When she spoke to me, she couldn’t keep in the tears.

If we can’t sympathise with the Venezuelans that are immigrating, I would hope that we could find some understanding from our own people who are returning home. Let’s extrapolate the sentiments expressed by this woman to the hundreds of Venezuelans coming to Guyana, and the thousands more going to other countries. Does the theory of that grand scheme to take over the country finally seem ridiculous? Or at least, can we understand the plight of the migrants?

These people are fleeing from harsh conditions. They are looking for some comfort. And as my friend says, as much as reasonably possible- we ought to try to afford them some comfort. Better must come.