A NATION is identical to an individual. As we grow, we learn and we leave things behind, things that we will never touch or speak about again. A country is like that. Guyana is now 60 years as a sovereign nation. It is time for us to leave colonially based false philosophy behind. It should have been gone long before Guyana reached 60.
At 60, the state still prevents women from entering certain public institutions if they are wearing sleeveless tops or dresses. I have never seen any cultural or philosophical explanation for this. Guyanese received that cultural taboo from our imperialist rulers and it has been with us since.
One president in the past openly declared that such a relic was unacceptable. This was President David Granger, who was reported on the front page of the Chronicle in 2018, saying that the restriction of Guyana’s dress code was outdated. Granger made the front page of the Chronicle, no doubt happy about what he had said, but never lifted a finger to abolish the restriction. It began in the Chronicle and ended there.
Granger is one of four lacklustre heads CARICOM birthed. There were George Chambers in Trinidad, Bernard St. John in Barbados and George Walter in Antigua. Of the four, I would put Granger last. I recall, a month after Granger made the headline with his rage against the dress code, a school in Campbellville took down the old sign and put up a brand new one displaying the restrictions. The school rightfully didn’t think much of Granger and went ahead with the new sign.
After 60 years of independence, the embrace of colonial philosophy must go in this country and as soon as yesterday. We in Guyana have to judge values based on our own philosophical interpretation of what life requires. I have no bias against male and female homosexuality, but Guyana’s perspectives on the legalisation of homosexuality and same-sex marriage must come from Guyanese and not from the demands of powerful foreign countries.
If there are nations in the world that legislate on the acceptance of homosexuality, then that is their right. It must be Guyana’s right to decide whether it wants such legislation. Guyana, as a country that is 60 years old as an independent nation, must decide if it wants a referendum on the legalisation of homosexuality. That referendum should not be demanded from Guyana by powerful countries.
The story of the abolition of the death penalty brings into question how independent we are. This writer knows that from the Hoyte presidency onwards, the European Union has requested Guyana to abolish the death penalty. And it has done so relentlessly. Guyana has not legally removed the death penalty, but we have not carried out the death penalty for over 40 years now.
As an independent nation, Guyanese must decide if it wants to legally do away with state executions. Many countries have the death penalty that the EU enjoys extremely close relations with. Two such countries are the United States and Saudi Arabia. Are countries such as Guyana being pressured because we are seen as small economies that can be bullied?
In this world, countries make choices based on their own interests and not those of other nations. That has been the pattern of international relations since time immemorial. Guyana and the sovereign nations of the Global South must respect their sovereignty and pursue directions and pathways that are in their interests.
Nelson Mandela was described as a terrorist in many Western countries, but from India right down to Guyana, he was revered as a freedom fighter. There were geopolitical, economic and racial reasons why those nations outlawed the African National Congress and Mandela. The ANC was fighting for the abolition of apartheid, in which a tiny White minority dominated 22 million Africans. It was in the interest of the post-colonial world to help Mandela and the ANC abolish apartheid.
The cycle of apartheid has come full circle. There is apartheid in Palestine, but other nations see the Ukrainian conflict as more important to their security and geopolitical interests than Palestine. And if no other reason should instruct Guyana and the Global South to respect their independence and make their decisions based on their own interest, it is genocide in Gaza.
There is the question to be debated that Israel has killed more babies than the Nazi government did. About 60, 000 babies and children have died in Gaza because of the bombing of their homes over the past two years. But countries that support Israel committing genocide want us in Guyana to abolish the death penalty. Maybe Palestinian babies in their eyes are not humans.
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.