– From a cultural perspective

The International Decade For People Of African Descent cannot escape observation at this time in the context of its serious cultural inclusion towards posterity.
A simple look on the OAS website on the ‘DECADE-IDPAD’ will reveal a list of souls past and current of the Americas whose contributions have worked independently towards this current mandate. Also included is a list of Guyanese who have pursued the humanities and the arts and their constant endeavours for the rights and aesthetics of Afro-Guyanese, like Bishop Randolf George, Kofi, our national hero, Walter Rodney, and yours truly.

Now, to the creative producers locally, and still around, are a few of us who have gone to the point of registration of fixed entities, companies etc, in this no-man’s-land, where creative people are concerned. Though we have had successes, it was truly a no-man’s land in many cases of conflicting nerve testing challenges and experiences.
A few of those creative people are cultural cross-overs towards developing that current decolonised ethos of where we are today. From the long-after-abolition conflict of psychological warfare towards the impositions of subliminal complexes. It was not a pleasant conflict of isolation and frustrations, but we persevered.

There are two important aspects to this historical United Nations mandate in discussion now. Both are bound towards the same conclusion: how posterity will determine the very participants of this mandate and assessing both those who overlooked and produced works. All will be judged by the quality of what was executed during the duration of this mandate, and its conclusion. Of course, that is how evaluations are constructed. Therefore, clarity with engagement should be the primary factor in opening doors for participation.

I am a founder member of ACDA, a successful local Afro-based organisation. I already have access to participation through that status. I have concluded that the company that I registered to envelop my creative works with since 1992 is more suited for this occasion, drawing inspiration from accomplished works that went national under that business name. The type of projects that I have currently prepared have also never been attempted locally or within the Caribbean.

I must confess that from conception, I did not realise the weight of the work and intellectual resources (books on various support inputs across time, as well as local models and tools since the advent of the PC and related software) that had to be accessed, applied and rewarded to produce the next authentic pages captured for graphic presentations.

To measure what the UN Mandate intends is to allow the standards we now have to be emancipated from tireless dreams of possibility to ‘the’ made-possible, at an enabling start. Thus, it is necessary for an open approach to participation by serious creative institutions collectively referred towards presenting their participation in both the imagery of art, music, and literature, as well as bearing in mind industrial creativity under protection. Accompanying this article is the link to the OAS Page cited.
https://www.oas.org/en/media_center/the-decade-for-people-of-african-descent.asp