Indian Arrival Day – 175th Anniversary – May 5, 2013
Arrival Day – commentary
In a society such as ours, social capital is a crucial ingredient in our thrust for development. For our purposes, we can accept Francis Fukuyama’s proposal that social capital is “the ability of people to work together for common purposes in groups and organizations” or alternatively that it “can be defined simply as the existence of a certain set of informal values or norms shared among members of a group that permit cooperation among them”.
This year will be the tenth commemoration of Arrival Day as a public holiday, and maybe it is time that we reflect on the event as far as increasing social capital. For several years before, several Indian-Guyanese groups had been agitating for a public holiday to commemorate the arrival of their ancestors to this land. It was contended that the holiday would assist in nation building by reminding the other groups making up the Guyanese mosaic of their impact and contribution to this land. This was expected, in effect, to increase our social capital.
The issue was debated extensively in the letters pages and editorials of the national press and demonstrated that there were deep seated doubts of the motives of those demanding the holiday. Members of African groups especially felt that the commemoration was triumphalist and, by implication, devalued the contributions of other groups.
The issue was finally submitted to a Parliamentary Committee and after extensive written and oral submissions from groups and individuals, it recommended that the day be declared a holiday. The PNC did not participate in either the deliberations of the Committee or in the later Parliamentary vote on the Committee’s recommendation. It objected to the presence of the then Minister of Home Affairs but noted that it had no problem with the holiday to acknowledge the contributions of “Indo Guyanese”.
But somewhere between the recommendation and the Presidential approval, the holiday was declared and designated as “Arrival Day”. It appeared that the government was looking to widen the significance of the day to encompass other groups that had also “arrived”.
Maybe it was trying to expand the potential of the day to increase “social capital”. In and of itself, there was nothing wrong with the idea but the end-process was quite undemocratic since every group that made submissions on the May 5 proposed holiday had designated it as “Indian Arrival Day”.
It is apposite to note that none of the other groups that arrived as “indentured labourers” in substantial numbers – Portuguese and Chinese – first did so on May 5. There were some objections but the commemorations began in 2004. What has happened since is that Arrival Day, just as had been the practice, is being commemorated exclusively by Indian-Guyanese. Recently, there have been several functions involving the now growing population of Chinese that was specifically scheduled for January 12, the day the first Chinese immigrants actually landed in Guyana.
The question that was implicitly posed at the beginning must now be raised: has “Arrival Day” increased or decreased our social capital? From where we stand, it seems to have increased the internal social capital of Indian Guyanese but not the external ones with other groups in the society. In fact there appears to an undercurrent of resentment by some non-Indians at what they perceive to be an effort to foist the holiday to include them without their permission.
Maybe like Trinidad discovered, it might be best to call a spade a spade: they reversed themselves on “Arrival Day” and quickly made it into “Indian Arrival Day”. Quite interestingly, there has been a steadily growing participation in the commemoration functions there by non-Indians. We can take hope in the course that Emancipation Day has taken here where it is accepted by every group in the county that the event commemorated is on national significance and has lasting significance.
The point is that social capital cannot be forced onto people. Whatever norms are sought to be inculcated, will be more acceptable when all the cards are on the table. Indian Arrival Day, anyone?
Comments
In my opinion, Arrival Day as a national holiday for Guyanese is appropriate versus a declaration of Indian Arrival Day. Whether the date of May 5 is best suitable was perhaps an approved parliamentary decision made in 2004, probably out of good reason that the greater majority of indentured people arrived from India to Guyana on May 5, 1838 in the Whitby and Hesperus . Then later arrivals of Chinese and Portuguese became part of the British colonial machination. It may be even more appropriate for Guyanese to celebrate Indentureship Month in May in order to incorporate all groups of indentured arrivals. It is noted by observation and research that Indians in particular organize special events around the country to mark indentureship arrival, but these events do not in any way exclude other groups of people. The same situation exists in other countries such as Britain, U.S.A. and Canada where the push-pull immigration effect made its groove and tongue for Guyanese.
Indian Arrival or Indian Indentureship 175 years ago on May 5, 1838 has its own nuances in terms of marking this significant historical event. Observation is made that mainly one particular group of Indians, mainly Hindus mark this event in a big way. Other religious groups, such as Muslims and Christians seem to shy away from the event . But Indentureship is not relegated to religious cohorts. The British colonial masters made their merchandise of indentured people from India out of the loophole of the Abolition of Slavery (http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/multiculturalism/black/200_anni.asp) and did not care what religious group the indentured was classified under.
So if we were to take social capital as “a crucial ingredient in our thrust for development”, religious or cultural hegemony should be thwarted to reflect a more diasporic integration for nation building and national unity. Arrival Day should be underscored to let May be Indentureship month.
Correct me if I’m wrong but didn’t former president Burnham declared May 26 Independence day in Guyana. The day that saw the culmination of the Wismar massacre which forced the British to send in troops to diffuse the situation, following a world wide cry for help? Many Indians do not celebrate Independence Day for this very reason.
Is it any wonder then that Indians would want a different day to remember and celebrate their presence in Guyana instead of being deliberately reminded every Independence Day of the vicious and brutal raping of their mothers / daughters /sisters /aunts/wives, and the brutal beatings and killings of their fathers/sons/brothers/uncles/husbands.
I’m all for changing the date of Independence Day …
For Guyana to increase its social capital it needs to stop celebrating this painful and monstrous act that will not heal as long as its remembrance is publicly celebrated as a recognized national holiday .
My condolences to our Native Indians whose homeland we’ve invaded…may you be respected, appreciated, and rewarded for your sufferings too…