From the length and breadth of this country, we all agree that after 60 years of Independence, Guyana has arrived. It is rich, modern and looks darn good to the eyes of those watching it. The physical contents of this country cannot be denied by even the most insane anti-patriotic person. It will take several columns to document the changed physical landscape of Guyana.
Let’s look at the other side of Guyana’s ontology – the psychic horizon. How far have we come psychologically after 60 years of Independence? The answer is that there is an ocean of chagrin within the collective psyche of Guyana. This should never have been after 60 years of Independence.
I wrote in part one yesterday that the 60-year-old journey is best described by someone who lived through those six decades. But in that portrait, there is an ironic spot and that ironic spot needs extensive analysis in this country today, especially on this very day in the calendar where we celebrate 60 years of Independence.
We who are in our seventies saw how “one, one dutty build dam” and that dam, after 60 years, is a futuristic country. We also saw the ubiquitous pride in being non-White, in being anti-colonial, in believing in our own religions and natural cultures, in our own pathways to developmental goals – in a nutshell, 60 years ago, we believed in who we were.
Today, on the achievement of 60 years of Independence, there are frightening moments of acceptance of the remnants of colonial brainwashing; terrifying moments of self –hate; eager thoughts of us wanting to be what our colonial masters instructed us to be.
It is a nightmare to be driving in Guyana after 60 years of Independence behind a commercial van and on the back door of the vehicle is a White baby face extolling a baby product in a country where the Caucasian race is less than one per cent. It is a nightmare walking your dog on the seawall and as you look at the advertisement board, it’s about a boutique where the clothes are advertised by a woman whose skin is whiter than milk in a country where 99 per cent of the faces of the citizens are not milky white.
It is a nightmare to be behind a customer at the supermarket check-out and the customer in front of you is pushing a trolley in which there is a box of foreign chicken legs so large you think it is a deep-sea monster in front of you. The legs are injected with chemicals that are bound to alter your cell system. This is taking place in a country after 60 years of independence, where scientifically healthier chicken legs are produced by Guyanese companies that employ Guyanese.
Where did we go wrong after 60 years in which Cheddi Jagan, Forbes Burnham, Walter Rodney and Bob Marley took hold of our minds and made us mentally free, intellectually inspiring, and proud to be non-White, Guyanese and West Indian? Did Jagan, Burnham, Rodney and Marley fail us or is that we were genetically incapacitated to understand how their greatness could make us free?
After 60 years of independence, what is the shape of the Guyanese psyche? We can see it in the names of babies. Many African and Indian parents give their newborns English names. Many Muslims and Hindus give their children English names. As for me, if you had put a gun to my head and demanded an English name for my kid, you would have had to kill me. I am a descendant of Cheddi Jagan, Forbes Burnham, Walter Rodney and Bob Marley.
Twenty years ago, I wrote a story in one of my columns. I am repeating it here. I helped in my mother-in-law’s supermarket. A small block away was a Baptist Church ran by American missionaries. I never saw those people buy any soft drinks and snacks that were produced locally. Every soda was either Pepsi, 7-Up, Coca-Cola, or Sprite. Every chocolate was Cadbury, never a West Indian chocolate.
Where did mental liberation go after Independence came to Guyana? I lived through colonialism and saw the domineering colonial narratives. You can still see those debilitating thoughts in today’s Guyana. A major newspaper carried a columnist that eulogized the world’s most sadistic state terrorist organisation – the Mossad of Israel. A major newspaper refused to carry solidarity activities in Guyana for Palestine. And Guyanese, not Nigerians, but Guyanese praise this newspaper.
Where did mental liberation go after Guyanese got Independence? Five months of election rigging took place in Guyana and there were humans in Guyana that wanted that rigging to be successful because they didn’t like the ethnic makeup of the winner. God is dead! Jagan is dead! Burnham is dead! Marley is dead! And I’m not feeling too well myself!
DISCLAIMER: The views and opinions expressed in this column are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the Guyana National Newspapers Limited.