Unity equals development

MOST Guyanese would agree that even with our vast and diverse resources, Guyana is disproportionately underdeveloped. Many may also agree that a major factor in the failure to optimally use our assets is – in large part – the result of our society’s divisions based on “race;” divisions which coincide with, and are reinforced by political fault-lines. It is interesting too, that those “divisions” become obvious only during election seasons; could it be that some politicians deliberately try to divide us for their own benefit?

The socio-political results of this division are the elevation of persons with flawed characters, selfish motivations, and questionable qualifications to positions of power. This happens because political leaders often successfully convince citizens to vote for them based on their race instead of on their merit. And the economic consequence is stratification, inequality, and stagnation.
Guyanese should realise that if this continues, no amount of oil revenues would save us if we do not put away that senseless behaviour.

One would notice that the word “race” is in quotation marks; this is to emphasise that “race” is a man-made construct. In other words, the concept of race has absolutely no basis in fact, and no objective existence outside of the minds of persons imprisoned by racism. And the prison of racism imposes an artificial, self-created limitation on one’s ability to make informed choices.

Let us examine the issue scientifically. Racism or racial prejudice is defined as, ‘the [irrational] belief that each race possesses specific characteristics, abilities, or qualities that distinguish it as inferior or superior to another one (Encyclopaedia Britannica).’ And antagonism or action based on that belief is racial discrimination.
The concept of race (in the English Language) was first concretised in the mid-19th century with the objective of dehumanising Africans, Indians, Indigenous peoples and other persons, in order to rationalise and legitimise the practice of slavery, indentureship, colonisation, and exploitation by European masters.

As it relates to Guyana – both historically and perhaps currently – Guyana’s Indigenous peoples, East Indians, Africans, Chinese and other populations were all considered inferior to Europeans during that hellish, dark era. All our ancestors were all victims of racism. Is it not terribly ironic, and hypocritically illogical, for us now to commit the same sin by discriminating against each other, thereby hindering the unity that we need for our own progress and development? And make no mistake, without national unity we will be too weak and divided to hold our elected representatives accountable.

Fortunately, the truth was revealed. By the early 20th century, intellectuals and scientists such as anthropologist Franz Boas concluded – based on studies of human blood types among others – that such a thing as race does not exist; it has no basis in biology. Instead, it is a fictional form of identity, a fabrication, a made-up thing that some politicians invented in an evil attempt to justify their own selfish, greedy, self-serving interests. Simply put, race is not real; devious politicians made it up. Scientists now know this to be absolutely true, based on recent studies of the human genome.

Basically, the evil fiction of different races was invented by people as a cover for the exploitation of other human beings. And we must never forget that, that evil lie has resulted in inequality, wars, unimaginable suffering, and even genocide.

In summary, the hard fact is, when we choose leaders based on the false idea of race, we are practising racial discrimination. Those choices are necessarily flawed because they are based on a lie. In other words, persons who are self-imprisoned by racial prejudice cannot choose leaders who will work in the people’s interest. Unfortunately, racial-prisoners cannot see beyond the colour of a candidate’s skin or the texture of an office-seeker’s hair. Racial-prisoners cannot hear the message because of the irrational dislike or fear of the messenger. Prisoners of prejudice will ignore evidence of a candidate’s corrupt dealings, history of domestic abuse, tendency to commit violent acts, lack of basic communication skills, record of greed, or propensity to lie and steal, just because the candidate has a certain type of hair. Therefore, racial-prisoners should recognise the problem and work to free their own minds.

In conclusion, we know that development is dependent on citizens making decisions based on facts, logic, and rational thought. It is proven that unity is a prerequisite to progress. It therefore follows that unless citizens choose to abandon the practice of racially influenced decision-making, and free themselves from the prison of prejudice, no amount of pristine forests, beautiful flora and fauna, majestic waterfalls, bauxite, gold, silver, manganese, rice, sugar, or oil can save us from impoverishment, underdevelopment and international contempt.

And no amount of money will be sufficient to save us from our own foolishness.
As citizens, we owe it to ourselves and to our children to immediately reject any politician or political party from the moment that they mention or allude to race. Our personal development depends on unity, inclusion, and cohesion; therefore, our only hope lies in embracing a leader who wants to unite all Guyanese and work towards a better life for all.

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