Tag Archives: ethnicity

Guyana: An attempt to make the national motto a reality – commentary

09/09/2015 – 12:08 am

An attempt to make the national motto a reality

September 6, 2015 | By | Filed Under Features / Columnists, My Column

Memories came flooding back on Thursday when I went to the roundtable on social cohesion. For one, the forum attracted people from all walks of life, all of them serious about trying to get on with their lives in a Guyana that was once one of the most peaceful countries in the world.

Indeed, many of those came from rural Guyana where people look out for each other, where people eagerly rush to help their neighbours and where there was the time when people did not bother too much with locking their homes.   Continue reading →

By guyaneseonline | Posted in Arts / Culture, Associations, Business, Government, Guyana, History | Also tagged , , , , , , , , , , | Comments (1)

Ethnic Division Dilemma – by Dave Martins

08/29/2015 – 12:05 am

Ethnic Division Dilemma – by Dave Martins

Dave Martins

Dave Martins

From a boy of 10 or so, growing up on West Dem, it was there in front of me – the difference between Indians and blacks, what we refer to today as the ethnic divide; I never heard the term back then. Only on my return here did I come to understand the depth of this rift, and the dilemma it poses for Guyana. In the wake of the election, several prominent voices, including our former Speaker Ralph Ramkarran, have addressed the resolution of this topic; Freddie Kissoon in Kaieteur News has recently written a stirring column on the subject, citing East Indian myopia; I urge all Guyanese to read those columns.  Continue reading →

By guyaneseonline | Posted in Commentary, Governance, Government, Guyana, Personalities, Politics, Racial Conflict | Also tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , | Comments (22)

ON ETHNICITY – by Ralph Ramkarran

04/13/2015 – 12:05 am

ON ETHNICITY

Ralph Ramkarran

Ralph Ramkarran

Posted on April 11, 2015  – by

I must confess that I have had an ambivalent attitude to ethnicity for most of my life. My mother was a Hindu and so were all my relatives on both sides of my family. I grew up in the midst of celebrations of Hindu religious festivals, tempered by the dominant influence of the Lutheran Church in my mixed community, as in much of Guyana.  Even though I was socialized as a Hindu and, therefore, considered myself, whatever the reality, as Indian by race, my approach to my own ethnicity was determined by factors that had little to do with high principle.

In my mid to late teenage years after I discovered girls, I unconsciously developed a certain approach on the issue of ethnicity, dictated by my dark complexion and curly hair which caused me to be viewed in a particular way.   Continue reading →

By guyaneseonline | Posted in Commentary, Guyana, History, Personalities, Politics, Racial Conflict, Religion | Also tagged , , , , , , , , | Comments (1)