Dear Editor,
Mr GHK Lall’s comment on the issue of identity is welcome. (Letters SN, October 22, 2019)
As citizens, we all share the Guyanese identity and, I suppose that in Mr Lall’s world, the upcoming Diwali festival will be merely a Guyanese one. This infers that every Christian, Chinese Guyanese and every Muslim among us will also be lighting diyas this weekend since Mr Lall’s mono-identity world can provide no space for the Hindu Guyanese community to be so recognised?
The just celebrated heritage month dedicated to Guyana’s First Nations, in Mr Lall’s world, would have been simply a Guyanese celebration so it would have been quite impossible for him to see the unique diversity even among the nations of our First Peoples.
Barack Obama was the first African American president of the United States, an achievement of which every African American is justly proud. Or was he, Mr Lall, just another American citizen who became president?
And was Dr Martin Luther King Jnr an African American who fought bravely for the rights of his fellow African Americans? Or was he just another American fighting for justice for Americans?
There are enough similar questions that could fill this newspaper from end to end but I will desist here.
Without the respective naming and identification, so much would be reduced to nonsense. There is, therefore, great relief that there is a body called the United Nations, and that many of the countries of the world, like Guyana, each have a constitution that recognises the rights of groups, communities, tribes, religions, gender, etc., and works to make sure that everyone is given due protection, recognition and respect.
These institutions also effectively counter any move to render the oppressed and marginalised peoples of the world invisible and voiceless and, in the more egregious cases, work to ensure they can live, and live in peace.
To my Hindu brothers and sisters, I wish you all “Shubh Diwali”.
Yours faithfully,
Ryhaan Shah
