A reverse wave for Guyana and Barbados

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A reverse wave for Guyana and Barbados
Kaieteur News, 8 August 2007

Dear Editor,

Turned tables are part of history's experience; or, as the old people
would say: today for you, tomorrow for me; or, further, the shoe would
pinch just as much if it were on the other foot.

I say that in relation to the current debate in Barbados on the
supposed “influx” of Guyanese nationals and the heightening public
demands that the authorities apply curbs.

Among the strongest allegations is that the Guyanese have come here to
take away Bajan jobs; are accepting sub-standard living and working
conditions, with longer hours and lower compensation; and many of them
are unprotected by industrial and health regulations.

All of this may well be true. However, there are some related critical
factors of which most Barbadians are unaware and which some Barbadians
are conveniently ignoring. In the idiom of the Mudlanders' folklore, a
Guyanese might remark to a Barbadian “do fuh do ain't obeah”, which is
to say “there's nothing wrong if I do unto you as you did, or have
done, unto me”.

Indeed, if the truth be told, the current flow of Guyanese is but a
trickle through the wall of Amsterdam that a finger cannot stem. It
might be best for Barbados if this issue were put to rest, lest it
incites, provokes, encourages a sort of vengeance response that floods
this island with Guyanese who would be coming not as immigrants but as
of right; a right that has little or nothing to do with CARICOM or the
widened provisions of the Single Market and Economy.

To Barbados 's great credit, that country is superb when it comes to
the preservation and protection of historical records. I am fascinated
at times when I see the minute details of that country's life that were
carefully recorded, and how far back they extend.

Those records are a national treasure. They are also a mint for
Guyanese seeking status in Barbados (here); for the parish churches
throughout the land and other repositories have all the evidence that
Guyanese would need for unencumbered entry and extension.

That is to say that there are thousands upon thousands of Guyanese
nationals, both within their own country and in the widely spread
Diaspora, who, if they so wished, could easily prove their Bajan roots
were they to consider themselves being dared to challenge the current
strengthening attitude of exclusion in Barbados.

As I have stated at the beginning, turned tables are part of history's
experience, and that is precisely the situation now with Barbados and
the flow of Guyanese. And, indeed, the shoe is on the other foot, for
in the past, Barbadian workers had done exactly what today's Bajans are
accusing working-class Guyanese of doing in Barbados, even to bedding
their women.

When in the 19th century, black Barbadians, then reeking in
powerlessness and poverty, looked on Guyana (then British Guiana, or
Demerara, as Bajans preferred to call it) as a land of hope and
opportunity, they went there in their thousands (almost all male),
harvesting sugar cane on the plantations, and liberally sowing other
seeds in the villages.

The Bajan flood to Guyana, particularly during the two decades,
1863-1885, is undisputable; and to those who may wish to inform
themselves further, the eminent Guyanese historian Dr. Walter Rodney
(1942-1980) presents some of the facts in his “A History of the
Guyanese Working People, 1881-1905” (The Johns Hopkins University
Press).

Dr. Rodney notes, on page 48, the differentiation in skill levels on
the plantation in which Indian indentured labourers were adept with the
fork, their women mostly comprising the weeding gangs, and their
children taking care of the manuring; but fresh Indian immigrants were
seldom robust enough for punt loading and few were adept at cane
cutting. The following paragraphs are reproduced directly from the
book:

“For this reason, planters turned to the import of labour from other
West Indian territories and from Barbados in particular.

“British Guiana procured labour from the older sugar territories of the
British West Indies before slavery ended. The inflow averaged
approximately 1,075 persons per annum between 1835 and 1846.

“A new phase of Barbadian immigration into British Guiana was opened in
1863; and it continued alongside of high imports of Indian indentured
labour in the 1870s and 1880s.

“Government assistance to planters requiring Barbadian immigrant
workers ceased in 1886, and subsequent entries were infrequent.

“Even at its peak, Barbadian immigration was outstripped by Indian
immigration by four to one; but Barbadians exercised a great influence
on the labour market as direct competition to Creole Africans.

“In fact, Barbadians were themselves Creole Africans and seasoned
agricultural labourers fully capable of strenuous physical exertion and
of performing the skilled task of cane-cutting.

“Barbadians stayed for the harvesting season and accepted work
schedules, wages, and controls that the local villagers were rejecting.

“The changeover from open-pan muscovado to vacuum pan and centrifugals
was most marked during the 1870s and was completed during the 1890s.
Factory operations were concluded within a shorter period as a result
of technological renovation. September through December became the
intense grinding season; and it was at this time that Barbadians were
available.

“Some planters were dissatisfied with the tendency of Barbadian labour
to return home at Christmas, but this would have adversely affected
only those estates which had a long-drawn-out crop season.

“In any event, when Barbadians were at work their labour was
appreciated because it was intense. In 1882, Plantation Uitvlugt
boasted a large gang of Barbadian labourers who worked steadily for six
days in the week. Such a gang had existed for two previous years; and,
on the completion of each harvest, they were rewarded with a feast at
which two fat oxen were slaughtered.

“Since Barbadians proved amenable to a six-day work week, some local
villagers must have followed suit in the struggle for the fixed number
of cane-cutting jobs.

“The Barbadian presence added to that of the indentured immigrants in
reducing planter dependency on the most dynamic and aggressive sector
of the estate labour force. The village labourer then had to be
satisfied with part-time employment on terms that he could not easily
dictate”. (End of extract).

Barbadians, there are two substantial points to note here, with regard
to labour practices and the magic of procreation, both fundamental to
the human condition: (a) your jobs are no more threatened now than were
those of Guyanese black labourers in the 19th century; and (b) your
progeny is widespread.

As Barbadian workers did in British Guiana those many years ago, many
of today's Guyanese artisans in Barbados are out-performing local
counterparts on construction work sites; and some of them on a few
sites that I have seen, at times do a 7-day week, arrive early, eat
lunch on the job, do quality work, and leave late. Some contractors are
known to travel to Georgetown to recruit workers,

A related factor is that there is a growing local preference in
expensive new homes for high-class internal works (floors, walls, bars)
out of Guyana greenheart and purpleheart, which, when well worked,
finish brilliantly in high-gloss lacquer. These are very dense and
extremely hard woods which are intolerant of dull tools.

Barbadian carpenters have traditionally coped with soft pines and the
not-so-hard mahogany, but do not compete well against the Guyanese when
it comes to dealing with greenheart and purpleheart.

Further, a number of low-income Barbadian homes - those who cannot
afford the higher cost of building ‘wall' (concrete) houses - are being
built entirely of the supremely termite-resistant greenheart and
purpleheart (that is, when they are not prematurely harvested and
improperly cured; and it is regrettable that some poor-quality Guyana
material has begun to find its way onto the Barbados market).

But the construction industry is not singular in its accommodation of
incoming Mudlanders. Many come here in a reverse of the Barbadian flow
in the 19th century - they help to cut the island's cane crop, from
which work Barbadian men are increasingly shying away, because of the
strenuous labour required, and what they consider poor pay.

And there is burgeoning Guyanese involvement in other areas of
Barbadian agriculture, with the resultant higher visibility at weekends
at central and village retail marketplaces.

I suspect that there are other factors in this issue that may be
considered much too sensitive for general public debate in Barbados ,
but will in time emerge from their cloistered state.

Hubert S. Williams