All leadership encourages their followers to aspire towards progress and in many cases coin the phrase, "Beyond the Horizon." meaning, in the effort of a better future.
Ravi Dev referred to the phrase pertaining to President Desmond Hugh Hoyte and Barama, the Korean Plyboard Company. The title of his speech to the nation of Guyana.
Pre-Independence British Guiana work force were held to the highest standards and those who worked for the Colonial government and Bookers undertook their tasks with diligence. And almost the entire colony worked in that discipline.
All of that culture disappeared in just four years after independent Guyana.
By the time Barama set up in Guyana, the country was psychologically affected. Any and everything was in demand in Guyana, people stole anything. No matter what it was, there was money to be made. Because someone needed it. The purchasers did not care where it came from, clothes on clothe lines disappeared, pots, pans, bicycles, cutlasses and every item that wasn't anchored into concrete, at least couple of feet deep.
Cutlasses were considered a weapon, needed at least three signatures of PNC authorities to purchase one.
The moral of many Indians were low, they drank to the point of intoxication and danced away to the sounds of Babla and Kanchan.
All the gifts of Chinese factories given to Guyana to maintain employment of its citizens eventually became derelict. Buses given to Guyana by the Indian Government, driven recklessly and discarded after a few years.
Certainly, Burnham did not work in those factories neither did he drive the buses. We the people did, the citizens. And the prejudices that prevailed then and now, initiated by we the people.
No politician can make citizens hate one another. As gods they live away from us, the common people.
Ravi Dev:
Barama had problems in maintaining production on the weekend. Friday nights, Saturdays and Sundays, many workers were absent. That attitudes still exists today, in both racial groups. Weddings and partying would take preferences over work.
During the twenty eight years of PNC governance, the Guyana Agricultural Bank did loan Afro-Guyanese sums of money to create venturers. The Bank at its closure reported huge losses. Money never repaid.
The Rice Industry was res-structured. Production fell due to the lack of incentives to grow the crop.
The Sugar Industry was indeed entirely managed by Afro-Guyanese. Many graduates from Bookers Training Centre. Educated as technicians and not managers. The industry almost collapsed until the managing group of Booker Tate took it over.
No manner of shout down will ever discard these historical events in Guyana. I think that is what two of the panelist is attempting to do. Don't want Black People to hear of it.
Vincent Alexander:
Indians did work at the Demerara Bauxite Company. In nineteen Sixty Four, close to 3000 Indians had to evacuated from Wismar and neighboring districts. Referring to the Wismar Massacre.
When PAYE was introduced in the country, every citizen working for a reputable company had the taxes deducted from their wages. Both coolie and black people. And both these races working in the underground economy never paid taxes, even unto dis day.
At emancipation, African villages had to pay taxes, that is true. But you claimed, Indians were living in nuclear villages and never paid taxes. I am sure you are aware of the history of that arrangement. Your discussions are well prepared, that tells me you know but some how not perceived the way an Indian would. So please indulge me.
Indians when they moved off the plantations, lived in many Black villages. Villages, close by Sugar Factories, they continued to work. On the Settlements, the Sugar Company developed, were ran by the Sugar Welfare Fund for their workers. And Bookers paid the government its taxes, colonial and Independent Guyana Government. Services to these settlements were not administered by any government, done by the Sugar Welfare Fund.
I worked at Blairmont Sugar Estate in 1960, the period when Bookers decided to treat its workers a little bit decent. My forefathers must have been happy, considering they worked for one shilling per day from 1838 to 1922. That was a paid sacrifice. Once for All Bonus was extra money to do the thing one hoped to do. I bought a blue tyrlene shirt and a pair of Classic shoe. If yuh old like me, you would know it wasn't cheap.
On the topic of caste, many Indians are Christians and those who are Hindus doan even know or consider castes in their daily lives in Guyana. If anything, the privilege Indians have the mentality as of the Brahmins, similar to your Colored People of Guyana, a full blooded Negro would know of their contempt back then.
On the topic of rice. The internet and YouTube can settle any difference of opinions. It is all right there for us to see. Sam Hinds on a Talk Program said, several Afro-Guyanese in Maichony planted rice and the crop was unpredictable as for yields.
Burma was a plant setup by the PNC government to mill rice, paddy supplied by the rice farmers. And the Indians grumbled about the price of paddy. Eventually, the crop production reduced. The country had limited foreign exchange, so rice was sacrificed.
On the question of land. Nothing stays the same. At emancipation, things were one way and by 1917, the colony had arrived at a different plan, a colonial directive. Sugar increased production, more lands were cultivated. Independent plantations became fewer with larger conglomerates. The British were developing sugar since 1838 to be greater production. That is why there were 80, 000 Africans to 239,000 Indians in the colony. The British owned the place, dey duh wah dey want. Forbes nationalized Bookers and never separated the vast amounts of land owned. Onto this day the government has the lands. Forbes too busy ignoring the Indian People, he nice to dem alrite but his interest were with the Afro-sympathy for enslavement. Despite being overlooked, once the opportunity availed itself, Indians went about working the land without any malice. The world had changed but the British stayed the course and sold Amerindian lands as they wished. Since Ancient times, Indians worked the land in India. It is in their veins, it is what they hoped for. The upper castes are few in comparison to the underprivilege castes who are hundreds of millions whose lands were confiscated by the invading Hindus delegating them as Shudras, Chamars and untouchables. Many who came to British Guiana were slaving to the Brahmins who never held a plough in their hands
No comments:
Post a Comment