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Kaieteur News
Kaieteur M@ilbox
Sunday May 06, 2012
Kaieteur M@ilbox
The question of copyright and cultural industries
DEAR EDITOR, I read F. Skinner’s letter in the Stabroek News on April 26, 2012 which stated the ‘Enforcement of Copyright laws’ as a prerequisite for Cultural Industries. I absolutely agree. However, enforcement will require some Legislative changes in respect to the penalties instituted for breaking existing Copyright laws while extending its reaches to accommodate current IPR categories. These applications are not prohibitive, coupled by education programmes for Law enforcement and Customs. People obey laws only when they are applied. I can assure Mr. Skinner that the document from which the article in Kaieture News on Mon 22, was extracted from, has been distributed to all the parliamentary parties including the State authorities of the said Ministry of Culture. Newspapers are an Archival source of reference so I will also address other aspects of Mr. Skinners’ letter. Cultural Industries: embody a wide landscape of entities and have to be dealt with by cultivating the consciousness of those in authority. True, lawlessness and mediocrity have dominated our nation for the longest while and the PPP Governments have extended it to unprecedented levels. Mr. Skinner mentioned Eddy Grant as an obvious source of venture capital, since a predominant component of the Cultural Industries humanity is AfroGuyanese. The fact is CI will benefit all Guyana because Afro Guyanese do not have a monopoly on creativity, nature does not work that way. However, I know Eddie well; he has visited my home and has seen my work. We have discussed its potential, he has given me pointers but
he is not in the Graphic Novel/ comic book business, this is a dimension that have its own rules. As Skinner indicated; racism, Politics and a chronic self contempt left over from our recent colonial past are some of the hurdles that impede local initiatives. I can testify to that and I will even add an absence of sophistication and outright ignorance as an impediment. As for your reference to the post independence era, the private entities today are somewhat fractured, one has to be careful with who one approaches for venture capital collaboration, or your business can be a focus of money laundering. However, I have entered into Licensing contracts with a couple of businesses. I will give an extended example of the indifference existing here that has frustrated many of my peers pushing irreplaceable talents to depart these shores. I waited some twenty seven months with crossed fingers to have the Library of Congress in Washington USA grant me a Certificate of copyright for a production of the folklore character Brer Anancy and I was ecstatic when I received it. Research and Development [R&D] of any Literature is imperative to its respect and content and in Guyana you have to finance everything oneself, thus, the need for IPR protection. I had no capital to go to press so I attempted to conduct a Concept license arrangement with the Ministry of Education. This was 2009, as I presumed that the methods of edutainment were now common methodology almost
everywhere. Soon enough, from the back and forth movement of letters, I recognized that they were not grasping what I was saying, though from their letters they seemed to approve of the production. Aafter receiving a confusing Ministry letter on 15. May 2009 that was a proof reader’s critique of the work, I wrote explaining that what I was proposing was the application of how a popular concept and characters can be translated into their agenda. My final Letter was on the 27, May 2009 to which they ceased to respond. February 2012 I visited a primary School in South Georgetown on request sent to ACDA to do a presentation of local folklore and History. I had produced and taken five full colour 18x27 posters of Artwork on local folklore and a mural that included Fort Nassau, as we were in the month of Mash. When I addressed the students none of them could identify any item on the posters. One teacher told me in a defeated, embarrassed mood, “ask them about Buju Banton and they will know that.” A representative of the Ministry of Culture was there and I was sorry he left and did not witness this. True to the teachers’ prediction, the next student came up with a Hip Hop something and the students came alive. Incidentally one of the posters was an enlarged page of the selfsame Brer Anancy Graphic novel. The teachers knew what was missing but even they could not anticipate the current stage of deterioration. When my son was in primary school one of the items that
helped his attitude with maths was a Power Rangers [teen Sci-fi TV series j early mathematics book. A product of someone else’s Cultural Industries. On Copyright; Petember Persaud invited me to a presentation on Copyright last Tuesday, I was disappointed at the presenter who claims to teach this subject at UG. This distinguished citizen told us that over the last six years there was a cultural renaissance in Guyana. His audience began to grumble in disapproval I stood up and enquired what was he talking about, if he was referring to the frequent concerts featuring foreign artistes, because that was something totally different going on there. Nothing to do with the development of local Culture, or Cultural Industries. It was obvious that the presenter was comfortable with the current Status quo or did not fully understand the concerns of Creative citizens or empathized with them. The presenter did commend a publisher in the audience whose condescending biases are well known. Most of the younger citizens left before the presentation was over. I want to conclude by assuring Mr. Skinner that I have always looked within myself to help myself. Most of my work has been self published. You mentioned that ‘It is highly unlikely that Government will make this kind of investment. I am frustrated that we are unable to look within ourselves to help ourselves. We are the ones that Continued on page 7
The God the true Christians serve has His own timing DEAR EDITOR, I am responding to a recent letter by Mr. Pantlitz concerning the question about the Church being dead. Mr. Pantlitz, there is much truth in what you have written and I understand your frustration. The Church is not the
building or the various administrations of the “Church”. Jesus the Christ is the Head of the Church and wherever two or more are gathered in His Name, there He shall be and whatever they ask in His Name will be fulfilled. Further, whatever they bind on earth, is bound in Heaven and whatever they release on earth, is released in Heaven. Christianity is about having Christ in you and not necessarily warming the pews/benches in the building called the Church, on Saturdays/Sundays. Many a true Christian has objected vociferously also by letters, to the discrepancies
within the “Church” and elsewhere. The God whom the true Christians serve, has His own timing since ours is not His, to deal appropriately with the perpetrators. Pedophilia, adultery and fornication exist also in other religious circles and in some cases, these acts are successfully hidden from the public. Witchcraft is an act of adultery against God as well. What, Sir, we must do, is to agree in prayer, calling down the Wrath of God upon the perpetrators of the aforementioned un-Godly acts. Stephen Michael Monasingh
Much work is required to present Guyana as an overall attractive tourism product DEAR EDITOR, I have just returned from a short holiday in Guyana after 11 years - and had a very enjoyable time, getting together with friends of old. In fact, in the departure lounge at the CJI airport, I was reunited with a colleague and friend I had not seen for 60 years. The friendly lady smiled at me and pointed out a comfortable wide, curvedupwards seat. We started to chat and she mentioned where she had spent her holiday. I said that I once knew a family from that area and mentioned their surname. Imagine my surprise and joy when she identified her maiden name and I found that I was actually speaking to my friend - neither of us had recognised the other! We were like children all over again. The world is round keep on walking and one day we might all meet again. My holiday was an eyeopener. Georgetown, our once pretty city, seemed ‘overgrown’ with general rubbish and building rubble. It is difficult to envisage a reversal of environmental conditions - it seems to be taken for granted that empty spaces need clutter. The neat, prim houses, occupied by proud owners, are now dwarfed by unsightly concrete structures architectural nightmares.
Much has been said about encouraging tourism; but to attract tourists, the infrastructure and conditions have to be ‘right’, the product must be attractively packaged and presented. Instantly springing to mind is the pricing policy. Hotels need to be more flexible about currency choices. As with the departure tax (incidentally the highest I have come across so far), one should be allowed to pay in Sterling, US dollars or Guyana dollars; also in Euros. Confining payment to US dollars, if resident in the UK or Europe, is not the most convenient route for Europeans to take. Local phone calls lasting less than, say, 15 minutes should be free, as part of hospitality. Years ago I stayed at a guesthouse with several young volunteers from overseas, working in various disciplines. As a matter of routine, after a busy day’s work, they looked forward to their ‘dialup-and deliver’ pizzas and at weekends for a taxi to take them around. Could the tourist industry imagine the strain on these youngsters’ pockets if they were charged by the minute for ordering a meal or taking a trip along the coast? Fortunately, these calls were all ‘on the house’ Continued on page 7
I am alarmed that the... From page 5 reporting on the retention of the Lotto funds and its unauthorised use. Since the Auditor General has not requested such an opinion, he may choose to disregard it. Alternatively, he can seek an independent opinion, and should that opinion support the views of the Attorney General, it would be appropriate for the Auditor General to seek a judicial review of the matter. I should mention that the Attorney General is part of the Executive, and in the event of any disagreement by the Audit Office with the Executive, the Attorney General is likely to be placed in a difficult position to pronounce in favour of the Audit Office. Arguably, any attempt by the Attorney General to pronounce on any disagreement with the Executive could be interpreted as a conflict of interest. The issue of other state-owned entities retaining revenues that are considered public funds should also be addressed. If such entities are collecting agencies on behalf of the State, then the moneys collected net of related expenses should be paid over promptly to the Consolidated Fund. An example is the Guyana Revenue Authority which pays over gross to the Consolidated Fund its takings for each day but has a separate budget to meet its expenses. In the case of the Geology and Mines Commission and the Guyana Forestry Commission, these entities do retain moneys collected by virtue of their respective Acts of Parilament that creted them. However, mechanisms should be put in place for periodic transfers to the Consolidated Fund of the accumulated surpluses or part thereof. After all, they are state-owned entities, and to the extent that they record accumulated losses, there is recourse to the Consolidated Fund to bail them out. It follows therefore that accumulated surpluses should find their way to the Consolidated Fund. Anand Goolsarran