Dear Editor,
Though it may be an oxymoron, I’m proud to be Guyanese in Barbados. This sense of pride comes as I witness the lavish preparation as Barbados celebrates her 42nd anniversary of independence on November 30.
Guyana celebrated her 42nd independence anniversary on May 26 this year. What is significant is Guyana’s celebration of 38 years as a republic last February 23. That act of attaining full-fledged status as a republic in 1970 was the completion of the process of independence. No longer was the Queen our head of state, Guyana was to chart her own course utilising the best of the models of the past.
Trinidad & Tobago became a republic on August 1, 1976 but retain appeals to the Privy Council, though the Caribbean Court of Justice is located within her shores.
Change is often resisted and one can imagine the criticism levelled at Forbes Burnham for the decision to become a republic and abolish appeals to the Privy Council. It is interesting that the Jamaica Gleaner reported on March 6, 1901 that, “Thinking men believe that the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council has served its turn and is now out of joint with the condition of the times.” Burnham, must have been a thinking man, joined decades later by Caricom leaders.
Caricom countries cannot claim on the one hand to be 100% independent, while on the other, hold on to institutions which say we are not. There must be a complete breakaway from the old colonial ties, such as the elevation to the rank of Queen’s Counsel, reciting oaths of office swearing allegiance to Her Majesty and police forces carrying the title ‘Royal.’
Esteemed Jamaican constitutional lawyer Dr Lloyd Barnett has refused the appointment to the inner bar in Jamaica until the title of Queen’s Counsel is replaced with Senior Counsel. How much longer must he wait?
Some opponents of republican status fear that this would show a slow grab for power and a disregard for tradition and democratic values. Sir Henry Forde, QC, who headed the constitutional commission in Barbados noted, “We have also had the experience of a succession of native governors, all but one of whom have been local Barbadians, and they have discharged their duties with impartiality and decorum and reflected the people’s highest values and aspirations.” Still, Barbados retains the monarchy 42 years after gaining independence.
Guyanese of my generation know of our unconditional independence and view the monarchy as an outmoded and regressive institution that has no real relevance to Caribbean people. How fortunate we are as Guyanese, that “this fair land of ours, has broken the bondage of far distant powers.”
Yours faithfully,
Dawn A Holder
Proud, yes, of breaking the bondage of far distant powers.
But not so proud of the roller coaster ride we’ve been on since then.
You have to creep before you can walk. Even after walking you often fall and injure essential body parts. And sometimes the trail you take, thinking you are running from the cofin leads you straight to the “Jumbie” That is when you hold your head and bawl “oh lard ah wah this now? oh meh mumah. LOL. ISNM
Independence is purely symbolic. Okay, what can any government that benefits from independence tell its citizenry about independence when these governments receive financial and economic aid from their former colonial masters?
And what about those citizens who are fleeing to the very countries that were once their colonial masters?
Are we really free or independent?
In fact, let’s have an honest assessment of how governments of newly independent countries fared since their countries gained independence! Barbados has done well because it maintained a close working relationship with its formers masters, but Guyana has to be a prime example of what not to do after gaining independence!
My dear friend Andy. Your statements are the very thing that the late LFS Burnham was trying to move the nation away from, but the powers of today are the very powers that sabotaged the LFS doctrined for self respect, self reliance, Self sufficient, and financial stability, the vital fabric for nation building.
The Guyanese people are like a baby dependent on it’s mother for everything. We look to our relatives abroad, and the government to provide our daily bread.
No one wants to build Guyana, but they want a lot out of Guyana.
As the saying goes !!! you reap what you soe!!! you can’t eat if you don’t plant. And if you do, you either beg, or pay for your food.
Again I say ” Ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country.
The bondage from which we have been happily freed is ephemeral at best. And being a republic has brought exactly what gains, now that we have been liberated from far distant powers? The country is in far more serious thrall to world markets and foreign investors over which we exert no control (and in whose councils we have little or no voice), to a foreign debt that never ends, to an entrenched political elite which doesn’t do much except blame everyone else, and a collapsed social state where falling standards, poor education, crime, corruption, and murder are becoming the norms.
If “freedom” from bondage and colonialism has led us to such a pass, Madam, I’d seriously question the meaning of the word, because the situation sure seems worse now than then.
I understand your Carribbean independence ’syndrome’. You might want to ask the question of our immaturity to handle our own destiny. Our homeland, Guyana, is of typical importance if only for the fact of our racial divide. Our political leadership fostered a British engineered situation and has escalated it to its worst position for their own benefits of enjoying power, prestige and wealth ….the political class replacing the capitalist class as the bougoise and the people continues to be trampled upon.
You see, quite a few of our unlettered citizens have doubts whether some of our politicans have our interest at heart as opposed to their own power seeking ways. Such sentiments might be seen by the ordinary people as elitist because of experiences of domination by the ’suit and tie’ class in society. I for one feel that Burnham actions, as good as they were for nationhood, were the demise of Guyana. It revealed to us a dicotomy in Burnham’s character….brilliant but weak.
Burnham is not the fault for our demise, it’s the powers within that controlled the rice and sugar industries, the same powers that ruled the leading opposition party. They are the ones who sabotaged and destroyed Guyana’s growth.
Dawn Holder,
I agree with you that the head of state should be the president/prime minister of the country and not the Queen.
Myself and attorney Colin Moore raised this question at a public gathering of CARICOM leader held at York College, New York City, in June 2008.
None of the answered the question.
Also, one week before the Barbados elections, I asked the present prime minister of Barbados, on the One Caribbean Radio interview, if making this change would be a priority if he won the elections and his answer was NO.
all these guys talk tough but they dont want to live in the ones they praise.
their mind is nationalistic but their practice is capitalistic.
Well it is trite” to see what makes some of my fellow, Guyanese Proud, … obviously , some of us continue to have our priorities.. WE pour into Barbados, like a set of beggars and refugees, and dare to feel ‘Proud ” because we became a republic 30, years ago, and since then have had a hard time … . getting flour , butter, peas, and nearly ran out of rice and sugar….. which by the way we produce… not to mention Toilet paper…. but then again , we nearly had no use for toilets, … well they say…. for get the past” perhaps it is easy , for the dear proud Lady,… because she seems young… . but old Dogs like me…. never.. Ibeleive in the saying .. you forget it , then the chance is greater for you to repeat it…
Dawn is still holding on to the the old political sentiment and beliefs, we know better now, Guyana gained political power for the elite, but never broke the bondage of economic control from the far distant powers.
It remains here with us and affects the daily lives of all the people in Guyana, it is an invisible and greedy hand, we do not see it so we continue our lives under the illusion that we have broken free. We have not.
Joe.
One of the mistakes we made as a nation was letting go in one fell swoop rather than using the graduated method which would have allowed us to call upon our past masters for support whenever needed without looking like beggars. If we had used the process of letting go slowly we might have achieved a more stable nation and be at the same level of letting go as we at now . It is good to be a proud Guyanese wherever we may be, but we should also face reality and the mistakes that we have made.
The only mistake we make in Guyana is that we refuse to grow up and take charge of our destiny.
It’s like we want girl friend, but still sucking milk from bottle.
Some of you bloggers still don’t get it. Mental slavery has made a permanent dependent out of you.
Look at China, a few years ago who would have thought that China would be a major player in the world today. It took vision, sacrifice, critisism, and zeal to bring them where they are today.
Look at Cuba. Need I say more?
LFS is not to blame, it’s the ignorance of the Guyanese people.
straight talk .i like that
I could care less for all this baloney. My focus is on where I am going in this life. I can then assist others on the way.