Readers Response

Dear Editor:
In the wake of the latest murder of a young Indo-Guyanese woman, Donna Dojoy, I, some time ago, came across a social media post by a former minister’s daughter, who is a prominent lawyer, who posted something to the effect that domestic abuse is not confined to any ethnic group, religion or class and, more importantly, mentioned that ignorant posts are extremely harmful to those who are suffering from the scourge. It’s probably safe to say that she is implying it’s hurtful to paint all Indo-Guyanese as either being a perpetrator or victim of domestic violence. In my humble opinion, this, especially the latter part of that assertion, is the least constructive sentiment in combatting the infamous and deep-rooted issues of domestic violence and suicide that have plagued our local as well as diasporic Indo-Guyanese population. Any Guyanese living in the tri-state area such as Queens or Newark, or in Toronto or Ontario, would relate to you that police religiously make trips to Indo-Guyanese dominated areas to investigate reports of domestic abuse and worse. The failure to address the ethnic impetus in these cases will inevitably lead to a continuation of these gruesome and heartbreaking occurrences.
Coincidentally, I just read a column in SN, by another attorney, Ms Aminta Kilawan-Narine. The column captured my thoughts verbatim; however, I believe she did not go far enough in capturing the racial elements in cases of domestic violence, suicide and abuse among Guyanese.
It was widely reported that Dojoy’s husband had a profound jealousy of his wife’s infatuation with Bollywood star Hrithik Roshan, which supposedly motivated him to act violently towards her and this had long preceded his infamous murder-suicide. It almost seems appropriate to preface, by highlighting only this week, two instances in India: Firstly, a 23-old-year woman in Uttar Pradesh was set alight on her way to testify against two men who allegedly raped her. Secondly, one of India’s most senior policemen has been forced to apologise after comparing rape to unlicensed betting, which, because it cannot be prevented, should be enjoyed. The way in which this woman was prevented from testifying and the automatic inclination to link unlicensed gambling to rape reflects a warped ideology of the normalisation of these cases.
Editor, considering that reputable publications such as Reuters have ranked India as the most dangerous place for women only a few years ago, their situation cannot be far removed from our local situation for obvious reasons. Just to emphasise, that means India is deemed less safe for women than Afghanistan where the Taliban actively attacks girls for trying to achieve a primary school education, or even Syria, which is embroiled in the largest civil war of this decade. The underlying point is that it’s probably undeniable that a large number of individuals in India and Guyana share these same hideous mindsets.
Unfortunately, it seems that the racial element is even more protruding in instances of suicide. While extensive statistics on these issues are few and far between, the World Health Organization, just a few years ago, proclaimed that Guyana had the highest suicide rate in the world. Furthermore, it was also found that East Indians, who made up 40 per cent of the population, accounted for over 80 per cent of Guyana’s suicides between 2010 and 2013. Editor, obviously the literal answer to that social media post is domestic abuse is not confined to any ethnic group, religion, etc. Of course, any multivariate analysis would show that other factors such as education, wealth, unemployment, alcohol consumption and other various socioeconomic factors have contributed to domestic violence.
However, when there is a much higher preponderance of domestic abuse and suicide rates within the Indo-Guyanese community versus those of every other ethnicity, then that warrants an extremely uneasy conversation as to what kind of values and traditions have allowed these societal ills to withstand the waves of decency and goodness that pervade Guyanese as whole. I would surmise that Indo-Guyanese suffer from, in addition to the aforementioned, a misunderstanding of the caste system, archaic parental practices and a culture of victim shaming.
Lastly, I would commend the good work of those that have fought the good fight on this front, from individuals like Balogun Osunyibi, Dr Richmond-Thomas, Vidyaratha Kissoon, Caitlin Vieira, Gaiutra Bahadur, Dr Mcrae and others.
Sushil Persaud via email

December 18, 2019 issue
Readers' Response
No justification to convert cane fields to aquaculture
*Dear Editor:* In a letter in the Stabroek News of December 8th, Mr Tony Vieira, a former legislator and management executive who has worked in the sugar industry for over 40 years, expressed the view that many tragedies appear to be unfolding at the Guyana Sugar Corporation (GuySuCo) as it closes its sugar estates and destroying much of the fields’ infrastructure for other purposes as at Wales for rice cultivation. He felt that the abandoned cane fields took a generation to develop and they have enormous potential if converted to aquaculture ponds to rear fish/shrimps/prawns with financial returns eight times more than that presently obtained from sugar production. He provided no data to support his claim and further implied that the government should undertake such conversion. The predicament of the sugar industry however, has shown that since independence no political party, PNC, PPP, APNU+AFC, has ever managed a government-owned enterprise successfully. The profitable sugar industry, since nationalisation, has been in a downward spiral incurring huge losses in its operation and has been kept alive only by large government subsidies. The APNU+AFC government has closed five of the eight sugar estates it inherited and it’s only a matter of time before the remaining three goes under as sugar production in Guyana is no more a viable industry and it is unlikely to be so in the foreseeable future because of its current huge debt and the large capital investment needed for its modernisation to return to profitability. The government is yet to make a final determination as to the future of GuySuCo while it ponders to find money to pay the sugar workers and diversify into ethanol and white sugar production with false hopes for a turnaround. Mr Vieira, once on GuySuCo’s Board, suggests that a final determination should be made to convert the cane fields into aquaculture ponds to rear fish and shrimps which will make GuySuCo profitable and service its debt – a pipe dream! Elections are expected to be held early next year and the major political parties have been making claims that once in control, they could turn the industry around and return it to prosperity. This is all poppycock to win votes and the desperate sugar workers should reflect on their predicament and vote for a government which will quickly dispose of the assets of GuySuCo and use the proceeds to compensate them. This is the reality of the situation. Ironically, Mr Vieira, during his management of the Versailles and Houston sugar estates and subsequent guidance of their closures, never suggested that their sugar lands be converted into aquaculture ponds to return the estates to profitability, but he finds it compelling to propound that GuySuCo should do so now. Mr Vieira is an astute businessman and he had concluded that his family’s estates will generate much more money if sold for real estate and other developments rather than conversion into aquaculture ponds, and so it was. The recent entanglement of Houston Estate with the City Council regarding taxes owed has shed some light as to how valuable sugar lands could be to their owners if sold for housing and other developments rather than such trumped-up ideas as aquaculture farming for which there is much to be learned. Charles Sohan via email

Ethnic impetus in domestic abuse must be addressed
Dear Editor: In the wake of the latest murder of a young Indo-Guyanese woman, Donna Dojoy, I, some time ago, came across a social media post by a former minister’s daughter, who is a prominent lawyer, who posted something to the effect that domestic abuse is not confined to any ethnic group, religion or class and, more importantly, mentioned that ignorant posts are extremely harmful to those who are suffering from the scourge. It’s probably safe to say that she is implying it’s hurtful to paint all Indo-Guyanese as either being a perpetrator or victim of domestic violence. In my humble opinion, this, especially the latter part of that assertion, is the least constructive sentiment in combatting the infamous and deep-rooted issues of domestic violence and suicide that have plagued our local as well as diasporic Indo-Guyanese population. Any Guyanese living in the tri-state area such as Queens or Newark, or in Toronto or Ontario, would relate to you that police religiously make trips to Indo-Guyanese dominated areas to investigate reports of domestic abuse and worse. The failure to address the ethnic impetus in these cases will inevitably lead to a continuation of these gruesome and heartbreaking occurrences. Coincidentally, I just read a column in SN, by another attorney, Ms Aminta Kilawan-Narine. The column captured my thoughts verbatim; however, I believe she did not go far enough in capturing the racial elements in cases of domestic violence, suicide and abuse among Guyanese. It was widely reported that Dojoy’s husband had a profound jealousy of his wife’s infatuation with Bollywood star Hrithik Roshan, which supposedly motivated him to act violently towards her and this had long preceded his infamous murder-suicide. It almost seems appropriate to preface, by highlighting only this week, two instances in India: Firstly, a 23-old-year woman in Uttar Pradesh was set alight on her way to testify against two men who allegedly raped her. Secondly, one of India’s most senior policemen has been forced to apologise after comparing rape to unlicensed betting, which, because it cannot be prevented, should be enjoyed. The way in which this woman was prevented from testifying and the automatic inclination to link unlicensed gambling to rape reflects a warped ideology of the normalisation of these cases. Editor, considering that reputable publications such as Reuters have ranked India as the most dangerous place for women only a few years ago, their situation cannot be far removed from our local situation for obvious reasons. Just to emphasise, that means India is deemed less safe for women than Afghanistan where the Taliban actively attacks girls for trying to achieve a primary school education, or even Syria, which is embroiled in the largest civil war of this decade. The underlying point is that it’s probably undeniable that a large number of individuals in India and Guyana share these same hideous mindsets. Unfortunately, it seems that the racial element is even more protruding in instances of suicide. While extensive statistics on these issues are few and far between, the World Health Organization, just a few years ago, proclaimed that Guyana had the highest suicide rate in the world. Furthermore, it was also found that East Indians, who made up 40 per cent of the population, accounted for over 80 per cent of Guyana’s suicides between 2010 and 2013. Editor, obviously the literal answer to that social media post is domestic abuse is not confined to any ethnic group, religion, etc. Of course, any multivariate analysis would show that other factors such as education, wealth, unemployment, alcohol consumption and other various socioeconomic factors have contributed to domestic violence. However, when there is a much higher preponderance of domestic abuse and suicide rates within the Indo-Guyanese community versus those of every other ethnicity, then that warrants an extremely uneasy conversation as to what kind of values and traditions have allowed these societal ills to withstand the waves of decency and goodness that pervade Guyanese as whole. I would surmise that Indo-Guyanese suffer from, in addition to the aforementioned, a misunderstanding of the caste system, archaic parental practices and a culture of victim shaming. Lastly, I would commend the good work of those that have fought the good fight on this front, from individuals like Balogun Osunyibi, Dr Richmond-Thomas, Vidyaratha Kissoon, Caitlin Vieira, Gaiutra Bahadur, Dr Mcrae and others. Sushil Persaud via email

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