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Kaieteur News
Thursday February 07, 2013
=== THE FREDDIE KISSOON COLUMN ===
In physics and dialectics, there is the concept of balance Nigel Hughes, as chairman of the proceedings of a meeting at the Bethel Congregational Church in Beterverwagting hosted by the 1823 Coalition for Parade Ground, made the point that when African Guyanese speak about ethnic discrimination against Africans they receive accusations of being racist. He went on to say that because of this African leaders tend to shy away from the subject. David Hinds was in the audience and the audience knew very well that Hinds has belaboured that point umpteen times in the past and still at it. The very 1823 Coalition for Parade Ground held a similar meeting at the Salem Church on Hadfield and Chapel Street in Lodge (South Georgetown). At that event, I spoke about the non-reaction to something I did twice on my Kaieteur News page. I examined advertisements in both the print and
electronic media and found out that ninety eight (you bet, 98 per cent) of the faces in those advertisement were either light in complexion, very white and are from people outside of the African ethnic mix. To date, not a single organization that functions in the sphere of African rights and African culture has taken up the issue. I asked the Coalition at that Salem Congregational Church meeting to put this on their agenda of pursuits. I hope they do. Let us look at another area of African silence in this country. You can cite more than twenty times (you bet, more than twenty times including as recent as his last Sunday column) over a five-year period where Ravi Dev has called for ethnic balance in the police force. But not only Dev, there are other Indian extremists who openly clamour in the newspapers for ethnic balance in the police force.
Where are the responses to Dev for ethnic balance in other spheres of life in Guyana? If my memory is still intact and if my eyesight is still functioning then I believe I see other important realms of life in Guyana that are so indispensable to national survival that there needs to be balance in those crucial segments of national existence. What is so overwhelmingly sensitive about the security forces that there must be ethnic balance? Where is the balance in commerce, import-export trade, financial houses, land ownership, property ownership, investments in business ventures, agricultural projects, engineering firms, the construction industry, the retail trade in downtown Georgetown etc? No why must there be ethnic balance in the police force and not in these areas mentioned? Here is a reply from people like Dev. The police force is a
public institution and therefore it needs to reflect ethnic balance. On the other hand, things like commerce and investment depend on market forces. The Government has an obligation to restructure public institutions but the State cannot intervene in market forces. Forgive my language, but such an argument is elephant dung There is no country in the world where capitalism is more overflowing than the United States. Yet the US Government in 2010 intervened in market forces, lent the private section billions of dollars and saved the country from collapse. The argument of the Indian extremists is that Guyana needs an ethnically balanced police force for the maintenance of stability. One would think that the same reasoning applies to business, financial
transactions, investment structures and land and property ownership. Enter sociology. Isn’t it the sociologist that tells us that if sections of a society are deprived, sensing gloom and doom, they tend to become desperate? We come now to the A f r i c a n - b a s e d organizations. Where are the replies to Dev and others? Does the answer lie in what Nigel Hughes and David Hinds have posited? African leaders in Guyana are scared of engaging in narratives and discourses that revolve around the dilemma of African Guyanese out of fear of being accused of being racist. So whereas Indian parties under the PNC Government were vocal about discrimination against Indian and operated without fear of
Frederick Kissoon being labeled Indian racist, this boldness is missing in Africans in today’s Guyana Finally, what about the leaders of other ethnic groups? Do they believe that there should be ethnic balance in the police force, the army, the public service, commerce, business, land ownership, financial houses, investments, and the award of contracts. Speaking about contracts; surely in all types of contracts awarded by the Government, there seems to be an amazing ethnic imbalance. But there isn’t even a whisper against this ethnic predominance. The opposite of imbalance is balance. We need balance in all forms of national life in this land.
Former Chancellor Aubrey Bishop dies at 81
Former Chancellor of the Judiciary Aubrey Fitz Ronald Bishop O.R., C.C.H., B.Sc, L.L.M. died last night at 19:00hrs in hospital, where he had been a patient for the past three weeks. He was 81. Born in September 1931 in Georgetown, Mr. Bishop had a distinguished and exemplary career. He was educated at Queen’s College. He was called to the English Bar in July 1963 and later enjoyed great success at both the Civil and Criminal Bars in Guyana. He was elevated to the High Court in 1976; to the Court of Appeal in 1987; became Chief Justice in 1992; and Chancellor and Head of the Judiciary in 1996. Justice Bishop was also a Member of the Caribbean Court of Justice’s Regional Judicial and Legal Services Commission. Immediately upon demitting office, Professor Bishop assumed a full-time Professorship of Law at the University of Guyana and was Head of Department. Professor Bishop, also held a B.Sc. Degree in Industrial Relations and Management, as well as a LL.M. degree. Mr. Bishop was Vice President of the Methodist Church in the Caribbean and the Americas; and a FIFA International Soccer Referee. He has also represented
Former Chancellor Aubrey Bishop Guyana at cricket and football. Professor Bishop was Chairman of the Competitions Committee of the Guyana Cricket Board and a former President of the Guyana Football Association. He started out his football career representing the Red Hammers F.C as a left winger and also represented Queen’s College and the BGCC. He played for Guyana against the British Fleet Air XI (England Army) in 1955. In 1964, he took over the Presidency of the then Guyana Football Association (GFA) from Campbell Adams after serving as Vice President. One of the most respected referees in his time he achieved FIFA status,
becoming the second person after Mr. Deryck Whitehead. Professor Bishop also played hockey and table tennis. Professor Bishop was a Hockey Referee and was approached to referee Rugby but declined. He was also the first Secretary of the Veterans Football Association which was formed in the late 1960s. He was President of the Guyana Football Referees Association and also functioned as Secretary of the Guyana Olympic Association under the Presidency of Justice P. A. Cummings for a number of years. On the recommendation of the Guyana Football Federation, Professor Bishop was accepted to serve a twoyear term as one of the Arbiters on the Court of Arbitration in Sport in Zurich, Switzerland. Professor Bishop was twice honoured nationally, with the Cacique’s Crown of Honour, and the Order of Roraima, Guyana’s third and second highest awards, respectively, being bestowed on him. Professor Bishop leaves to mourn his wife of 48 years, Dr. Carole Maison-Bishop and three children, Roderick, who is a Minister of Religion in the United States; Howard, who works in the Social Services in New York and Beverley, an attorney at law.