Archives for April 19, 2016
International Day of Monuments and Sites observances
April 19, 2016 By
– National Trust launches Linden Heritage Trail publication
In keeping with the observance of International Day of Monuments and Sites, the National Trust of Guyana
(NTG) in collaboration with the Education Ministry’s Department of Culture, Youth and Sport on Monday launched the Linden Heritage Trail publication – featuring 48 pages of monuments and sites across the Linden community.
A ceremony was held at the Egbert Benjamin Conference Hall at Mackenzie, Linden to mark the occasion.
NTG Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Nirvana Persaud, board chairman Lennox Hernandez, Regional Chairman Renis Morian, Mayor of Linden Carwyn Holland and Regional Vice Chairman Alroy Adolph were among the dignitaries present to witness the historic event, observed under Guyana’s 50th Jubilee theme, “Reflection, Celebration and Inspiration”.
During her remarks, Persaud said the National Trust was pleased to be a part of the publication, which features over 42 monument sites within the community. It also contains a corresponding map that contains the locations of heritage sites and the trail, which begins at Amelia’s Ward along the Linden-Soesdyke Highway.
In relating an overview, Persaud said the aim is to encourage locals in the communities and individuals to consider the importance of cultural heritage to their lives.
“Our vision is that our heritage must be valued or preserved, our history recorded and our people inspired and empowered and I’m confident that this new publication fulfils this… With this special book-launch of the literary heritage of Linden… showcases the history of the Municipality… of cultural, historic, socio-cultural and national importance within the Municipality, including some sites which are no longer a part of the landscape of the locality, that have all contributed to the legacy of the township”, she related.
In his presentation Adolph thanked the National Trust for assisting in the preservation of the heritage sites, while emphasising the importance. He further encouraged those gathered, who also included school children, to not only read the publication, but visit the sites as well.
Meanwhile, Gordon who is a contributor to the publication, expressed disappointment at the small gathering which he referred to as a “sparse sprinkling of people”, as he noted that a lot of effort was put in by the National Trust in making the publication a reality.
He nevertheless provided lots of information on the history of Linden as a bauxite mining community, noting that the community’s heritage is extremely rich.
“Linden has and continues to have a very rich cultural and historical past which equates to any living space in this country of Guyana. We have to understand that this cultural heritage… is rich precisely because of the interwoven nature of the peoples of diverse backgrounds”, he noted.
Holland said there is need to promote Linden’s heritage and to connect the disconnected as the community showcases its wealth and heritage. In an effort to ensure this, he said he recently made a call for all public institutions in Linden to promote a part of the community’s heritage.
“…Our heritage is our link to the future. It is our foundation and you cannot build without a foundation. The future that we aspire to attain, it must be predicated on the solid foundation derived from our exemplary heritage of our people… our heritage is diverse and extensive and its influences are rich and deep…,” the Mayor related.
Similar sentiments were echoed by Morian, who indicated that young people should also be involved in the preservation of monuments and heritage sites.
Following the launch, Holland and Persaud unveiled the photographic scenery of sites contained in the Linden Heritage Trail, following which attendees were treated to a tour of the sites.
Vendors peeved at slow pace of works
April 19, 2016 By
By Rennella Bourne
Vendors of the Kitty Market, which is currently under renovation, have expressed frustration at the slow
pace at which the work is being carried out, since it is affecting their businesses.
Rehabilitation works on the dilapidated market got underway some two months ago, after many years of neglect. Vendors had been relocated nearby to facilitate the process.
However, according to them, the process seems to be taking “too long” to be completed.
Guyana Times visited the market on Monday, where vendors, who were relocated to the eastern side of the market, related their distaste for the temporary location.
According to one of the vendors, C Persaud, the process seems to be moving at turtle pace much to their discomfort.
“I don’t know when they will finish for us to go back in there. Don’t you see they have not gone anywhere with the top much less to start the bottom and that is where we have to go,” Persaud said.
He added that he and the other vendors were relocated on February 5 and were told that they would be able to access their new stalls in May.
As one vendor who asked not to be named said, “It looks like Christmas will come and reach us here and pass us too.”
During the visit on Monday, this publication noticed that several stalls were unoccupied as a result of the heavy downpour on Monday.
According to the vendors, the temporary location is costing them dearly since they are not getting adequate sales to sustain themselves and families.
“I did not get a sale for the day here and people don’t even know where we are; I have to be looking for customers on the road to catch my hand a little,” another vendor told this newspaper.
Vendors complained too that the small spaces they were allotted at the temporary relocation area are preventing them from displaying their goods hence hampering their sales.
The Mayor and City Council (M&CC) had estimated that the rehabilitation of the landmark would take three to five months to be completed.
The Kitty Market was established in 1882 at the railway line. In 1970, it was extended after it was taken over by the M&CC. The Market was meant to be utilised by Georgetown’s Atlantic Coast neighbourhoods in the city’s east end including Bel Air, Campbellville and Prashad Nagar.
Book Review: Hillary McD Beckles, Britain’s Black Death: Reparations for Caribbean Slavery and Genocide, Kingston: University of the West Indies Press, 2013.
April 19, 2016 By
Given the recent discussions in the letter columns of the dailies on reparation, I thought my review of the above book might be useful.
Over the past three decades or so, there have been a number of organisations, associations, countries, regions, and conferences on reparations for African slavery in the Americas. However, the call for reparations was uncoordinated and fragmented among the aforementioned institutions and agencies.
Not until the UN conference against Racism, Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia, and Related Intolerance in Durban, South Africa in 2001 that a sound platform for reparations became a serious issue.
Government officials, delegates, activists, representatives as well as academicians from the world over, including Africa, the Caribbean, and Europe, attended this conference. Various positions for and against reparations were discussed and debated.
Professor Beckles’ book builds on this conference and intensifies the call for reparation in the British Caribbean, home to a majority of Africans.
Beckles presents a compelling case for reparation in which he argues that Britain and other European slave regimes should take responsibility, apologise, and pay reparation for three centuries of African enslavement in the Caribbean.
Beckles uses international law as well as morality and argues impressively that African enslavement in the Caribbean was a crime against humanity. He posits further that the link between slavery and the continuous harm and hurt of the descendants of Africans is still prevalent in the Caribbean.
While Beckles’ case for reparation is impressive, one is forced to ask whether the call for reparation will receive support and whether former slave regimes in Europe and in North America will answer in the affirmative. Caribbean countries have wholeheartedly supported reparation through Caricom.
Most African countries have followed the position of Caribbean countries but some have rejected the idea on the basis that there are pressing issues to be dealt with in Africa. Some African countries have taken a neutral position on reparation.
The United States and former slave regimes of Europe and the European Union have rejected reparation. They stated that they will not apologise or pay reparations for African slavery in the Americas because slavery was a legal institution, and therefore they should not be held accountable for a situation that occurred a long time ago. They argued also that slavery was too remote for any recuperative strategy.
Furthermore, “Officials of the British state have also suggested that even if one accepts that a crime against humanity has been committed, the challenge of meeting reparation case is impossible owing both to enormity of the slavery system and to the impossibility of crafting a reparatory response that would be meaningful and would bring closure to the case” (p 167).
The United States condemned African slavery but refused to accept one nation holding another financially liable for a historical situation that happened a long time ago. Britain offered a statement of regret and deep sorrow but refused to apologise or pay reparation for African slavery in the Americans.
What is sad and disappointing when reading the conversations for and against reparation is that the delegates who represented and spoke on behalf of former slave regimes (the United States and Britain) were of African descent. For example, Colin Powell, the US secretary of state, and Condoleezza Rice, a national security advisor, spoke against reparation.
Beckles’ contribution is not so much that he shows former slave regimes are reluctant to apologise or pay reparation. This is expected because to apologise for slavery would mean guilt and subsequent financial compensation which amounts to 7.5 trillion pounds.
Beckles has done remarkably well to first, have contemporary leaders of former slave regimes recognise and respond to the horrors of slavery, and second, to mobilise and internationalise the call for reparation.
Because of Beckles’ book, the call for reparation, like slavery, is the newest common thread that binds Africa and the African Diaspora. One suspects that the call for reparation will persist, and perhaps someday it will be decided in the international court of justice.
Meanwhile, the book will be useful to professionals, researchers, and to the descendants of African slavery in the Americas
([email protected]). Review was first published in the Journal of Third World Studies (2015)
APNU/AFC “knocking from pillar to post” – Rohee
April 19, 2016 By
The A Partnership for National Unity/Alliance For Change (APNU/AFC) has been criticised by People’s
Progressive Party (PPP) General Secretary Clement Rohee for its abysmal failure to implement a clear-cut economic plan and social model to improve the livelihood of the Guyanese working class.
“The APNU+AFC coalition administration has been knocking from pillar to post in an aimless attempt to find an appropriate development model to build on what the PPP/C left behind for the advancement of the socio-economic development for Guyana. Thus far, it has failed ignominiously to do so,” he told a news conference at Freedom House Monday.
During the press conference Monday morning, Rohee concluded that the government has no interest in focusing on economic and social development but rather on meaningless projects including beautification and celebratory initiatives.
“The Granger administration for its part, rather than focusing on economic and social development to benefit the Guyanese working people, resorts to stealing votes at both the General and Regional as well as the Local Government Elections, beautification, celebratory and alternative capital projects in an effort to show that they are different from the PPP/C as if such projects really matter,” Rohee stated.
Rohee also posited that the persistent corruption scandals rocking the Granger administration has resulted in growing disillusionment and dissatisfaction on the part of its own supporters in particular and the Guyanese people in general.
He said the socio-economic model based on the programmes and policies of the PPP/C served to sustain persistent growth rates resulting in consistent improvement in the lives of the Guyanese working people in general but more particularly, for single-parents, pensioners, young Amerindians and workers in general.
Rohee reminded that President David Granger had promised to craft a long-term national economic strategy but to date, nothing of the sort has been presented.
“Nothing of the sort has come to pass though almost one year is nearing with the APNU+AFC in government. Instead, all that has happened is the snatching of votes from the electorate, the monstrous salary increases, racial and political discrimination, corruption scandals, victimisation and the persistent witch-hunting of persons who do not please the Granger administration politically nor ethnically,” Rohee stated.
He also reminded that during his inauguration, President Granger had stated, “The fight against poverty cannot be won through handouts but through providing jobs.”
But Rohee pointed out that contrary to his declaration, “Granger himself has been handing out buses, bicycles and boots while at the same time neglecting large numbers of young people, some of whom “Voted like a Boss” hoping for change but who, much to their regret have not seen any benefits coming their way since the APNU+AFC assumed office.”
And Rohee predicted that nothing better will come once the APNU+AFC continues to govern the nation.
Kuru Kururu man remanded on drug charge
April 19, 2016 By
A Kuru Kururu man on Monday appeared before Chief Magistrate Ann McLennan in the Georgetown Magistrates’ Courts after he was allegedly busted by Police with cannabis.
Twenty-seven-year-old Andell Solomon of Kuru Kururu, Soesdyke-Linden Highway, pleaded not guilty to the charge which stated that on April 14 at Kuru Kururu, he had in his possession 1000 grams of cannabis for the purpose of trafficking.
Police Prosecutor Deniro Jones told the Court that the analysis report for the case was currently outstanding. As such, Solomon was remanded to prison. The case will continue on May 12.
City Constable, accomplice remanded on B&E charge
April 19, 2016 By