The Christmas season is a time that is usually filled with great joy and celebration. In Guyana we have grand traditions of “breaking up” the house and putting it back together again, visiting loved ones and generally going the extra mile. People from all walks of life and belief systems celebrate Christmas in some small way or the other. As surface level as our famed multiculturalism is, one of the things I have always enjoyed about us Guyanese is our capacity to celebrate with each other around significant religious and cultural observations.
This year, things are sure to be slightly different but the general atmosphere of the Christmas season remains firmly intact. It is admirable how resilient the human spirit is but one hopes that the tests it continues to be put through would not continue to be so frequently disruptive. Sometimes it seems as if we operate in a state of constant stress and disorder.
There have been many unexpected changes and challenges that shook the foundation of our small nation and the rest of the world this year. So while it certainly is good to be happy to have survived the chaos that was 2020, we must also channel our collective energies into realizing new ways of living and being as the new year approaches.
Many things were revealed to me during this period, but amongst the top realizations was just how stagnant we really have been and how comfortable we are in that stagnancy. The conjunctive effects of the political and rhetorical impact of the March electoral deadlock and the COVID-19 pandemic have made clear the very present and well maintained ethnic and structural inequality in our society.
The ethnic fear, insecurity and disdain among the three major races were amplified during this period. While the events, dialogues and beliefs that unfolded made me a little less hopeful of our future relations with each other, I do believe in our capacity for growth. Achieving this growth however, would not be a walk in the park. It takes active personal and collective deconstructive work and I think the refusal to see ourselves as being a part of the problem has significantly limited us in moving forward.
To achieve that we first have to start by honestly acknowledging the issues we have and actively working towards deconstructing them. There needs to be more honesty in acknowledging the issues we have and holding others and ourselves accountable in that process. Many do not want to admit the inherent privileges that they have when belonging to certain ethnicities, classes or social groups. Often, the older generations are thrown under the bus as being the only ones that think or act in ways contrary to our shared humanity.
The reality is that the younger generation is not much different. They too actively buy into the stereotypical myths and beliefs of different races, but no one wants to be seen as part of the problem. We want to believe we are contributing towards meaningful dialogue and change without recognizing our own role in the harmful ethnic hostility and apathy that permeates our country. Automatically viewing each other as enemies has been the norm for so long that it has become deeply embedded within us. On top of our social issues, we have also had to contend with the economic ramifications of the pandemic, which of course tends to exacerbate social inequalities.
Even before the pandemic, Guyana struggled with high rates of under/unemployment and abuse. These rates are significantly higher now and from all appearances, will continue to rise. Those who are underprivileged and aged are the ones most impacted. Several months in and there still appear to be no real plan on how to move forward appropriately. Government following suit with countries veering towards ruin has adopted the stance of personal accountability and hygiene promotion. These are surely places that one can start, but it must not make up the entirety of governmental COVID-19 response.
Guyana has from the inception tried to balance the scales between the importance of life and importance of the economy. Of course as it relates to the economy, it is business interests that always take precedence and when there is a coin toss as to that which is more important, they always win. The rich and the middle class have not experienced this pandemic the same as the rest of the population. This of course drives the response towards it as those who die or get ill are seen as being expendable or being necessary sacrifices in the mythical march towards herd immunity. Personal and corporate interests continue to be prioritized over that of the people that they are elected to serve. One can always hope for a change in priorities, but hope only ever takes us so far.
