Dear Editor,
The reaction to the recent anti-illegal immigration policies by the Government of Barbados from the PPP was as can be expected. Vituperative, shallow, facetious, the usual rancorous noise designed to obfuscate truth and reality. We witnessed the same response to the report of the UN independent expert on minorities. A whole heap of noise about the expert not examining the issues of the indigenous peoples, when the UN has special arrangements for issues relating to indigenous peoples, and McDougal’s mandate did not include that charge. Today we are witnessing the same facetious rantings designed to detour attention from the source of the problem relating to an exodus of Guyanese fleeing to Barbados and other small Commonwealth Caribbean territories. Rather than giving attention to the reasons for the exodus, they beat on their chest in public and vent hypocritically about how bad the Bajans are.
Every Guyanese should be in sympathy with the plight of our brothers and sisters, who are merely seeking a means of survival for themselves and their families in these sojourns in Barbados and elsewhere in the Caribbean. And every Guyanese should use what influence they have with the authorities in Barbados, or with any international agency, to obtain relief from these new immigration measures for our countrymen and countrywomen, whether they are illegal or not. For in fact they have become innocent victims in a tragedy of two nations, one very small but economically, socially and politically viable, and the other large, resource rich, but socially, economically and politically hanging on the ropes from low blows by selfish, arrogant and visionless politicians.
For those of us with ancestral links to Barbados what is transpiring today is a tragedy of immense proportions. The link between us as Guyanese, and Barbados, goes much deeper than a relationship between geographic or political neighbors. That link is too important for us to become mice congregating behind the discordant melodies emanating from the propaganda flutes of modern-day political Pied Pipers of Hamelin.
Basic commonsense examination of this issue, will invariably lead one to the conclusion that there has to be something seriously wrong with a society that impels so many of our brothers and sisters to seek a means of survival elsewhere. Yes, people emigrate all the time. But ours is not a case of emigration. When the population of a nation that has been involved in no major wars is almost the same today as it was 20 years ago, the departures amount to an exodus. And the exodus of Guyanese from a nation that, in size, dwarfs the combined Commonwealth territories, to some of these small islands, amounts to an indictment of the administration of our nation. The exodus of people from a nation with infinite arable land, abundant sweet water resources, building materials like lumber, timber, sand, stone and gravel galore, and other untapped resources, is indicative of a serious problem with the management of the nation. That would be the call of the very pundits waxing antipathetically against Barbados today, if their opposition was in power. Their views have become classic examples of moral and ethical relativity, fluctuating in synchrony with the tune of partisan political convenience. For how can any compos mentis individual examine the consequence of the Guyanese exodus to Barbados without being equally concerned over the causes for such exodus? Guyanese at home and abroad need to ensure that they do not fall into the trap of abandoning what is before their eyes, in favour of the shallow and anaemic examinations that pass for political analysis provided by some in Guyana.
Yours faithfully,
Robin Williams
