Observing Guyana’s Politics of Race – Dr. Odida Quamina

Observing Guyana’s politics of race

By:  Dr. Odida T. Quamina

NB: This article was first published in the Toronto SHARE newspaper in June 30, 1994.  Here, it has been revised and expanded to contribute to the ongoing discussions with regard to the upcoming elections expected to be held sometime this year in Guyana.

Several events commemorating Guyana’s 28 years of independence (in 1994), provided venues for a number of Guyanese to get together in Toronto. The functions were sponsored and arranged by the Association of Concerned Guyanese with supporting roles played by a number of Guyanese community organizations. They also provided us with another opportunity to observe- at close range- the issues of the race and politics in Guyana and abroad. Much on this discussion (in print and elsewhere) has been the focus of various commentators, observers, analysts, columnists and scholars.

My own interest starts with some earlier experiences while growing up in plantation Mackenzie-Wismar-Christrianburg and later, Linden, after the amalgamation of the three mining communities, Mackenzie-Wismar-Christianburg.

The earliest inhabitants of the communities were Amerindians and with the emerging commercial interest in bauxite mining and production, the social and economic fabric of the mining community gradually took on all the attributes of a single company mining town. Its uniqueness in Guyanese’ society was due in part to its relative isolation from other communities and the economic significance of the bauxite’s revenues to the nation’s political economy…. more

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