22 Sunday Oct 2017
Posted in Poetry, United States
Tags
Corporate greed, Economy & Life, Free Market Capitalism, Government, Soul of a Nation Poem by Rosaliene Bacchus
HE craves adulation
Look only at me, he tweets
I am a billionaire
I am the god you seek
HE makes men great again
White supremacists rise up with glee
All I want is loyalty
Have no other god but me Continue reading
21 Sunday Oct 2012
Posted in Economy and Finance, Guyana
Tags
Bishop Francis Alleyne, Collective violence, Government, Guyana’s rum culture, Living in a bubble, Need for change, Plutocrats, Police brutality, Politics
Excessive Use of Force by Police – Guyana
Source: http://www.barbadosgazette.com
Guyanese continue to use violence to resolve persistent political, socio-economic conflicts facing our nation. Roman Catholic Bishop Francis Alleyne, in an opinion column published in Demerara Waves on 17 October 2012, wrote: “There has to be another way…to address honestly the sharp disagreements and roiling controversies that plague (the nation).” He called on all Guyanese to “share in the uplifting and the progress of this nation of ours…in a spirit of genuine commitment and steadfast dedication…”
The World Health Organization defines violence as “the intentional use of physical force or power, threatened or actual, against oneself, another person, or against a group or community, which either results in or has a high likelihood of resulting in injury, death, psychological harm, maldevelopment, or deprivation.”
I grew up and came to adulthood during a period of continual violence when, as a nation, we maimed and killed each other in our fight for independence from Great Britain and in the turbulent years following independence. We secured our homes from kick-down-the-door bandits with wrought iron grills and guard dogs. My psyche has especially been scarred by the rape of young girls and women in Wismar (May 1964); the burning of the home of the Abraham family, killing the father and seven of his nine children ages 6 to 19 (June 1964); the killing of Father Bernard Darke SJ (July 1979); and the assassination of Dr. Walter Rodney (June 1980). You, too, may have your own scars from violence propagated against you, your family or neighbors. Guyana’s rum culture – a legacy of our colonial past as sugar and rum producers – perpetuates the violence in our homes and beyond.
Somewhere along our journey in nation-building, we learned that violence is the best solution for resolving our differences. Violence begets fear. Fear begets control. Control begets power. Power begets omnipotence. Omnipotence begets entitlement. The omnipotent plutocrat, oligarch or dictator lives in a bubble of his own creation. He loses sight of the real world and of his inherent frailties as a human being.
Instigated by excessive force and brutality of the police and hired thugs, collective violence for conflict resolution between factions of government destroys property; reduces production; hinders the movement of people and goods; disrupts business transactions; scares visitors, tourists, and investors; drives away local talent and skills; and deters involvement by qualified professionals in the Diaspora. Ultimately, violence adversely affects our economy and our place in the regional and world economies. Violence prevents us from moving forward.
I agree with Bishop Alleyne: “There has to be another way.”
The World Health Organization makes the following recommendations for preventing collective violence: reduce poverty, inequality, and access to weapons; accountability from decision-makers; and government adherence to human rights.
In the case of the “roiling controversies that plague” Guyana, I believe that the ruling party must first look beyond the bubble and acknowledge that there is need for change. Only then can our government and its people work together towards bringing about change.
09 Sunday Sep 2012
Posted in Guyana, Social Injustice, United States
Tags
“You are Involved” by Martin Carter, British and American Corporations, Corrupt politicians, Disillusioned voter, Foreign debt, Foreign reserves, Government, Police arrest, Republican and Democratic Parties
Source: http://www.flickriver.com
Last week, I witnessed an arrest outside my office in Los Angeles. The handcuffed adult Latino man sat motionless and subdued on the sidewalk. He did not appear drunk or on drugs. A small gray duffle bag, with a red formée cross, lay nearby. Was the cross a gang symbol? Was he a wanted criminal? Whatever his crime, I figured it must be serious to involve five cops, in three police motor vehicles and a motor cycle. For half-an-hour, they conferred with each other, spoke on their phones, and took photos. After escorting the man to a vehicle, they all left the scene.
The arrest disturbed me. I thought of millions of Americans who have lost their jobs and homes, and face hunger. They wait, handcuffed and subdued on the sidewalk, for our government to do its job of implementing solutions for our economic recovery.
I recalled my own helplessness as a young working mother in my native land, Guyana. When my friends in the civil service complained of compulsory donations to the ruling party and compulsory volunteer work at a government-run agricultural project, I had felt immune as a private sector employee. My time came when the Deputy Prime Minister visited the foreign-owned bank where I worked. During his two-hour speech, he reminded us of our role in nation-building. The tension in the bank’s lobby left me with a nauseous migraine headache, lasting three days.
With dwindling foreign currency reserves to pay our foreign debt, the Guyana government banned the imports of consumer goods, including wheat flour, and froze foreign payments for imports already shipped and awaiting clearance at the port. As a team member in the Foreign Exchange Department, I witnessed our clients’ devastation and loss of business.
Frequent blackouts, intermittent water supply, food shortages, and increased crime became the new order. Rice and sugar, valuable export products, became hard to get as our government strove to increase export sales and earn foreign currency to buy oil and other vital imports.
In Guyana, where the ruling party rigs elections to stay in power, our votes for change have little effect. In Brazil, voting is compulsory and becomes a tool for corrupt politicians who buy votes of the uneducated poor population and those of the working class seeking more secure government jobs. In the United States, millions of Americans do not exercise their right to vote. Some of you, like me, are disillusioned with both the Republican and Democratic parties governing our nation. Corrupt politicians pander to corporations – with US dollar reserves far greater than small developing nations like Guyana – that put them in power.
With the US government hijacked and handcuffed, we cannot sit motionless and subdued on the sidewalk awaiting our fate.
In the 1950s, while British and American corporations contrived to put the party of their choice in power in an independent Guyana, Martin Carter (Guyana, 1927-1997), in his poem “You are Involved,” rallied us with his words:
all are involved!
all are consumed!
