Dear Editor,
I am moved and energised by Angelina DeAbreu’s inspiring letter in yesterday’s SN “Attempt at changing ‘narrative’ from what is free and fair elections to ‘we’re in an unfair race dynamic’ is just plain wrong”. It speaks from the heart for many Guyanese who obviously (but hitherto silently) are not defined by, or drawn to, our stultifying primordial loyalties. She gives us genuine hope of saving our country as a governable polity. Her arguments are sound, and she documents the shortcomings of the last government with power and honesty. It is a searing critique, yet it speaks also of possibilities of new shoots, if we could begin to envision the country beyond the chronic fault-lines.
Indeed, Angelina evokes glimpses of the shaping of a new nation nurtured by a generation, less tortured by the burden of ethnicity, and confidently motivated to defy the bifurcated beaten path. They may well dare us to think that this beaten path is for the beaten generations – therefore worthy of abandonment.
Angelina has intervened to challenge us to think beyond the ossified categories – to seek a new vocabulary and a broader vision subversive of the ancient prejudices. It may not lead to a highway to happiness, but a new road nonetheless. She throws a shaft of light to the current darkness.
Our vocabulary is strangled: words have lost their way – their original meaning warped by our stubborn insecurities and resurgent prejudices.
Despite the seeming futility of our political culture, it is refreshing that transformative ideas, however ill-defined, may be coming from a younger, less parochial and universally engaged, generation. They are not tarred by those obnoxious brushes that have corroded our sensibilities and our logic, poisoning our imagination.
It is so refreshing that Angelina has dared to challenge us to think beyond our procrustean mould.
I ain’t giving up yet on the land of my birth, however far I may continue to wander.
Yours faithfully,
Clem Seecharan
