—By Francis Quamina Farrier – on Indigenous Heritage month
September is observed as Indigenous Heritage month by many Indigenous peoples of the Americas, including the USA.
This is also here in Guyana, where September 10 is celebrated as the Day for National Indigenous Hero, Hon. Stephen Campbell. He was the very first Indigenous Guyanese to serve in the country’s legislature (Parliament). Stephen Campbell worked tirelessly for the upliftment of his people, especially for land rights. He died on May 12, 1966, just two weeks before Guyana’s independence on May 26, 1966. Campbell Town which is adjacent to Lethem in Region 9, is named to his honour and memory. (see video on Stephen Campbell at end of article)
For the purpose of this article, I decided to look at the fortunes, or lack thereof, of the Indigenous peoples of the “A-B-C” countries of South America; Argentina, Brazil, Bolivia, Columbia and Chile. Continue reading
Commentary: Looking at the COVID-19 Down Under – by Francis Quamina Farrier
During the past four months I have written feature articles about the COVID19 pandemic focusing on a number of countries. They include Argentina, Bangladesh, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, India, Pakistan, South Africa, Sri Lanka, Tanzania, the United Kingdom, Zambia and Zimbabwe. During the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic globally, I consider it important for Guyanese to know a bit about how other countries around the world are dealing with the pandemic.
That is so especially with our neighbour Brazil, which has an extremely high number of cases – 5 million infected and 147,000 dead. That is second only to the United States with 7.6 million infected, including the president, and 214,000 deaths. Closer home, reports are that there are some infected persons in Brazil who are crossing the Takatu border river from Bon Fim into Lethem and spreading the virus in Region 9. Continue reading →
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