Accustomed to the Colonial whip

In The Diaspora (this is one of a series of fortnightly columns from
Guya-nese in the diaspora and others with an interest in issues related
to Guyana and the Caribbean)
Accustomed to the Colonial whip
By Jai Parsram (Jai Parsram migrated in 1992 and now lives and works in
Toronto.)
Stabroek News, Monday, September 17th 2007.
http://www.stabroeknews.com/index.pl/article?id=56528999

An outside observer reading about the daily events in Guyana may likely
conclude that one outstanding characteristic of the society is the
willingness by its citizens to jump at each other's throats and beat up
on each other constantly. In the letters to the editor, one sees more
personal attacks and counter attacks instead of objective views and
recommendations on the issues of the day. The recent attacks on Janette
Bulkan, who has raised a number of important questions in relation to
the forestry industry, are a clear example of this trait. Instead of
addressing the issues raised, the responses sought to attack her
personally and in a highly vindictive manner. It seems as though
sharing licks upon the other person will somehow make opinions
righteous even if they are void of reason and facts backed up by solid
research. But this is what seems to happen in the letter columns and
maybe we should expect it to be a place where "licks does share like
peas"! So we move into the news sections and what do we find? More of
the same, the president of the nation beating up on media personnel,
the opposition beating up each other over who should be the leader,
women being disgraced, beaten and killed, adults beating up on each
other over the issue of corporal punishment to children, and there
could be a lot more added to this list, but it is enough to demonstrate
our fixation with the whip.

What are the possible explanations for this attitude, which seems to
have become an integral part of our mental reflexes? Is it because in
our colonial past we were psychologically conditioned to respond to the
whip as the best method of getting work done? Maybe the generation gap
between our ancestors who were slaves and indentured immigrants is not
far enough apart for us to emancipate ourselves from the mental
affinity for the whip. Or maybe, it is something in our more recent
history which is responsible for this attitude.

Our whole relationship with each other seems to consist of attitudes
that are confrontational, disrespectful, exploitative, aggressive and
violent. These attitudes seem to be dominant in our interactions with
each other and can be compared to the kind of social relationship in
some families where the parents have undergone a bitter divorce. Let us
look at what happens when a family is faced with this situation. The
parents are always fighting against each other, they can never agree to
anything, they both want custody of the children and control of the
house, and they are always trying to win the kids over to their side by
constantly telling them that the other side is bad. The children are
faced with choosing one parent over another, they get into fights with
each other over which parent is better, they are not properly cared for
because the parents are too busy fighting, they are left to fend for
themselves and they run away from home.

Does any of the above sound familiar or can it be compared to events in
our political history which may account for this attitude of whipping
and the problems we have in our relationship with each other? Our two
main political parties have been fighting since they split up in the
1950's, they hardly ever agree with each other, they both lay claim to
ownership of the Guyanese people and they are always pointing fingers
at each other in their efforts to win our support. We, the Guyanese
public, have responded by beating up and even killing each other when
it is time to show which party we support, we seek opportunities to
attack each other personally and vindictively whenever the issues being
debated address mistakes or flaws in one of the parties, and we run
away from Guyana as soon as the opportunity presents itself. Maybe it
is time for us to take a serious look at our relationship and make a
concerted effort to free ourselves from self-inflicted bondage. Whilst
we are in the process of freeing ourselves, we should also take the
opportunity to rid our shoulders of the excess, dead weight garbage
bags we have been carrying around for the last four decades or more.