Who is a Guyanese? What makes a person qualify to be a Guyanese?
This question becomes important because we see all manner of shenanigans as various sub-cultures become vociferous in demanding their place in the society.
We as a nation have to rid ourselves of these hang-ups that cause us to hang on desperately onto our dysfunctional past, feeling that our troubled history defines us.
We must see ourselves as a people forged into a nation of six ethnic groups that is in the process of creating a society of one people, one nation, with one destiny. We are a people with a destiny – a future.
This single idea, of defining who we are as a people, lies in the hands of the Minister of Youth, Sport and Culture, Dr Frank Anthony. The Minister stands responsible for defining the national culture.
Instead, we see the Ministry promoting and supporting sub-cultures, with the vague expectation that this would evolve into a mosaic that defines the national psycho-emotional space of the land.
One suspects that the Minister plays politics with the national culture, seeking to satisfy the demands of sub-cultures of every whim and fancy. Maybe this is Cabinet’s view, and the Minister executes it with no real hand in policy formation.
We do not know. What we do know is that Government lacks a cultural vision for the society. This comes across to us loud and clear.
Government sees the Ministries of Finance, Education and Housing as the engines to develop the nation.
This perspective lacks depth of vision. The most important Ministry in government might very well be the Ministry of Youth and Culture.
Yet, we see the Ministry of Culture promoting “cultural events” catering to sub-groups, whether chutney concerts or reggae or hip hop or even ‘gangsta’-style rap. In fact, most of these events cater to alcohol and lewd public behaviour. Most are pop-musical performances.
The Minister defends this policy with faint protests that he supports public literary events like reading and book events, sports events such as the outstanding annual cycle programme of Hassan Mohamed, and the new national fitness walk event.
There seems to be a failure to realize that culture and sports are distinct from each other, though inter-related.
A society is defined by its cultural norms. Georgetown does not in the least qualify as a culturally refined city. We can look at developed cities where lots of Guyanese visit and live – such as New York, Toronto, London, Port-of-Spain and even Bridgetown, Barbados, and see a refined culture that defines the city.
James Lull in his book ‘Media, Communications, Culture – A Global Approach’ deals with this topic in great depth.
“Life is not limited to money and computers, and gaps between social groups should not be addressed solely in these terms. Love, beauty, passion, pleasure, and romance, for example, are not taken into account when we focus on the differences between people strictly in terms of economics, technology, and information. By expanding the analysis into culture, which includes the emotional dimensions of life as well as the rational sides, we open up lots of interesting opportunities”, Lull writes in his study.
The Minister would do well to read those words with care. In fact, this book would inform his task so that he makes a defining difference as Minister of Youth and Culture.
Our leaders should start thinking about leadership as a legacy building journey, not just as a political job of privilege. If everyone in Parliament were to see themselves as building a legacy in the evolution of the society’s future state, we would see a distinct difference in the society.
For one, we would aim for Georgetown, our capital city and the face of the country, to be a place of aesthetic wonder.
The Minister should sit down with a team of experts who think outside of sub-culture sympathies and prejudices, to define a national vision to lift the culture of the land to new heights.
Our nation has outstanding creative writers who write beyond ethnic enclaves, dramatists, playwrights, literary icons, artists, accomplished, educated musicians, and so on, whose skills and talents and ideas must be incorporated into nation building.
Of course we do not want Government to dictate boundaries. A creative person should be allowed to create, freely and fairly.
But we have these great human resources flung far and wide around the world, and even in the homeland (for Guyana is our homeland). Many of these serve other societies well. The Minister could easily reach out at a series of conferences around the world to tap into this wellspring of creative resources. The embassies and consulates could play a dynamic part in this task.
This idea of building a strong, refined cultural fort generates ideas and solutions to our many social problems, as it encourages thinking “outside the box”.
The Government may not see talented writers, dramatists, playwrights, artists and the creative community as more than a fringe group, but studies show that this section of society fuels the creative energy that propels the society into a new civilization. Many great societies become defined over time by their literature and works of art, not their industries.
Culture defines a people, a nation.
We have come to laud mediocrity, and so we hold up our faint efforts at holding art exhibitions at Castellani House, and readings at the Cheddi Jagan Research Centre, and other tidbits around the city as us supporting culture.
We do not need Government to “support” culture, but to develop a national socio-cultural policy based on the idea of building a Guyanese identity that reaches above and beyond ethnic restrictions.
In this approach to building a socio-cultural platform upon which the nation feels its pulse, we need to incorporate the national media. The State-owned media is a huge embarrassment to the country. The State-owned newspaper, TV and monopoly-radio network promotes mediocrity and socio-cultural dullness to the extreme. Minister Anthony must show the courage, will and vision to take this on, and to make a difference.
We expect the nation to vote based on this singular idea of “being Guyanese”. In the same way, we must cultivate our society as a cultural garden that stands out as “the Guyanese nation” in this 21st century global village.
The key to building a socio-cultural platform to define us as one people lies in the hands of the Minister of Culture and Youth.
The future of the nation depends on who we see ourselves to be, and how we transmit this to the new generation – our youth who look to us and imitate us in taking the society into the future. Many youth vote for the first time in this year’s elections. They vote as Guyanese. And our leaders must guide us sensibly into what it means being Guyanese.
Minister Anthony stands responsible for this task.
You can contact this writer at beingshaun@gmail.com
