New York’s “Little Berbice” in Bridgetown

In Barbados, there is a rising tide of suspicion against Guyanese East Indians. I do not read blogs (real people must express themselves to other real people, if not, then the whole relationship is farcical and the minds involved in such invisible exchanges will become perverted) but I understand that some Barbadian blogs contain very nasty material on Guyanese Indians—material that comes close to race hate. 

It is unfortunate that Guyanese Indians are running out of their country again. And this time, the citizens of one of the smallest nations (in both land size and population) in the world are complaining of being deluged by them.

Guyanese-rounded-up  Guyanese-deported  Guyanese-nabbed  Barbados airport

One letter writer wrote a long letter in the newspapers here in which he called on me to denounce these race-baiting blogs. He complained that some of them cite my Kaieteur News articles. I had every intention of replying to this writer (I am glad that he has the courage to write in his own name and he should be respected for that) but I am taken up with analyzing so much that goes on here that I truly forgot to pen a comment on his request.

Exactly what is going on in Barbados? The situation is not easy to assess. Many factors have to be taken into consideration when arriving at judgement on Indian bashing in the Barbadian media.

Trivenie_Badrudin Boodnarine-Singh Pisan-Stall $30M-heist-Muneshwer  Lilman-Sookdeo

Before we discuss the Barbados situation, one should sadly reflect on what is taking place in the East Indian community. The Indians left en mass in the seventies and eighties. The illegal methods to secure a visa overwhelmed the foreign embassies; the Canadian High Commission buckled under the traffic. It moved its consular service to Trinidad, never ever to think of bringing it back even in the light of President Jagdeo’s proclamation that Guyana has the most open economy in the Caribbean.

The deluge at the Canadian High Commission was massive. Two of its consular officers were engaged in sex for visa, participated in sex orgies and eventually were jailed in Canada for their illegal activities.

Despite the PPP coming to power since 1992, Indians have restarted the exodus train. Canadian self-sponsorship and Caricom’s CSME have aided the movement of skilled Guyanese out of this country.

Barbados was bound to show a reaction because its land space and population are too small for there to be an influx of Guyanese without an ethnic backlash.

There are complications in Bridgetown that do not exist in Ontario and New York. Here is where one has to understand the Bajan problematic. First, Barbados is a neighbour of Guyana; news between the two countries travels fast.

There are sections of the Bajan society that believe that the PPP Government discriminates against African Guyanese. This is bound to stir suspicion because Barbados is predominantly African. The reaction is that Indians have an Indian Government that favours them so why should they come to Barbados and tilt the balance.

Secondly, the stereotype has come into play that Indians will come to Barbados in large numbers, set up shop and within a short space of time become a separate community with their own values. The Bajans refuse to think in similar terms about the Grenadians and Vincentians. The deciding factor is ethnicity.

Politics comprise the third explanation. In the US, the African and Indian Guyanese have settled in different parts of New York. There has emerged a small PPP constituency in what is commonly referred to as “Little Berbice.”  The PPP leaders touch down there and the dollars are stitched to the garlands.

African Guyanese in Brooklyn live alongside many Bajans who migrated to the US over the decades. They both know about “Little Berbice.” News gets around. Barbadians in Barbados know about “Little Berbice” in New York. The question uppermost in the minds of Barbadians is could there emerge another Little Berbice in Bridgetown.

Commentators and academics in Bridgetown have not helped the situation. For them the process is untenable in that Indians are coming to Barbados to live and when they remain on the island, they show support for the PPP.

Accusations have been made against Guyana’s Honorary Consul on the island that he operates more like a party man than a civil servant who does his work with objective neutrality. Of course, the letter writer didn’t serve the cause of Indians in Barbados well when he wrote his long letter of racial bigotry against Guyanese Indians in the Barbadian media.

Those very “bigoted” Bajans would point to the letter writer himself, who left Guyana a long time ago but openly supports the PPP. The nagging question remains – why are East Indians leaving in such large numbers?