Guyana Faces Serious Racial Problems

Press, Volume CVI, Issue 31145, 23 August 1966, Page 22

Guyana Faces Serious Racial Problems

(N.Z.P.A.-Reuter) GEORGETOWN (Guyana). The independent nation of Guyana has now to face—and solve —alone the sensitive problem of racial politics. After the independence celebrations of May 26, the impartial observer of the Guyanese scene was left wondering how long the difficult task of reconciling the two largest racial communities —the East Indians and the Negroes—will take. The Opposition leader, (Doctor Cheddi Jagan) leader of the majority of the more than 300.000-strong East Indian population, sounded an ominous note in the historic State opening of Parliament on Independence Day. At a moment when he should, according to protocol, have been seconding an address of thanks given by the Prime Minister (Mr Forbes Burnham) Dr. Jagan made a bitter attack on the coalition Government. The Guyana constitution, which came into force on Independence Day, he declared, “perpetuates division in society and enhances minority rule. “The constitution has failed to lay the foundation for national unity,” he said. “The fundamental rights which the constitution seeks to safeguard are in great measures non-existent, and the Government has provided evidence in great abundance of its intention to render all safeguards worthless.” . The integration of the two races, not necessarily culturally but within the social framework of the new nation, is absolutely essential for the future peace and stability of Guyana. Only a little more than 11 years ago the now Opposition Peoples Progressive party led by Dr. Jagan represented a step towards racial unification between the Indians and

the Negroes, with an African leader, Mr Burnham, as chairman of the party. But a formal split between Dr. Jagan and Mr Burnham in February, 1955 started a process of reversal which, according to observers, has continued until today. The racial and ideological differences—Dr. Jagan was a confirmed Marxist, Mr Burnham was not—appeared to be the main causes of the split although there is also believed to have been a clash of personality between the two racial leaders. The culmination of the racial friction occurred , in 1963 and 1964 during which many members of both races were killed. British intervention in the colony ended the clashes and riots, imposing a state of emergency which is still in force. A high-ranking Guyanese diplomat remarked during the independence celebrations that a national government of the major parties must come about soon. But talk of coalition between Mr Burnham's People’s National Congress and the Opposition Peoples Progressive party has been heard since before the General Election in December, 1964, when Mr Burnham's party and the minor United Force Party of Mr P. S. d’Aguiar formed the present coalition. Polling under a controversial proportional representation system gave Mr Burnham’s party 22 seats in the 53-seat National Assembly, Dr. Jagan’s party 24, and the United Force, seven. Since that time, three of the Peoples Progressive Party members have deserted Dr. Jagan and are now independents, in Opposition. A fourth deputy, the former Education Minister, Mr Cedric Nunes, is still detained under the state of emergency regulations. A national government should include leading figures from the minor United Force, but Dr. Jagan is opposed to

merging on any terms with Mr d’Aguiar’s party, which he considers reactionary. Under the coalition government led by Mr Burnham, Guyana has seen almost 18 months of relative stability with little racial violence. But the state of emergency continues, and Dr. Jagan mocks the constitution which should be based on consultative democracy. He claims that Mr Burnham pays no heed to his suggestions. In his speech at the state opening of Parliament on Independence Day, the Prime Minister said that the Government will continue to bind up the wounds “which have been inflicted by recent difficulties in our society.” He promised that the Government would “pursue urgently the rehabilitation of displaced persons and others who have suffered so that all of them may be better able to contribute to the harmonious progress of Guyana.” Still “Squatting” After the riots of 1964, many East Indians were moved out of Negro communities where trouble had started, and many Negroes were moved out of East Indian townships to resettlement areas. Many still remain where they “squatted” as a temporary measure in insalubrious social environments. The future of Guyana lies in the hands of the two leaders of the main ethnic divisions. At the present rate of birth, the East Indian population will outnumber the Negroes by far more than the present 120,000 before the next General' Election in November, 1968. If that election is not to be fought along racial lines, Mr Burnham’s Government will have to work hard to convince the East Indians that the real aim of his coalition government is to make Guyana, in the words of its crest, “one people, one nation, one destiny."