Sacred Duty: Hinduism and Violence in Guyana

Abstract

The current ruling political party, the People's Progressive Party (PPP), which is identified with the Indo-Guyanese population and Hindu ideology, has been accused of encouraging religious and race-on-race violence, and promoting 'a program of victor's justice' (p. 77). [...]Gibson discusses the pros and cons of institutional change in the form of shared governance and partitioning of the country, as well as the call for a strong moral ethic which values and exhibits mutual respect for all persons, regardless of race or religion. A well-documented work, it offers a thorough analysis of what many consider to be the motivation for the mass exodus of Guyanese nationals in recent times: politically sanctioned and religious race-on-race violence.

- Sacred Duty: Hinduism and Violence in Guyana, by Kean Gibson. Georgetown: Guyana: GroupFive, Inc., 2005.

Kean Gibson, a Guyanese national and lecturer at the University of the West Indies, is an established researcher in the field of Caribbean linguistics. In recent times her research has focused on the social and political tensions in Guyana. Sacred Duty follows on the heels of The Cycle of Racial Oppression in Guyana (2003).

In Sacred Duty Gibson continues the exploration of race and violence in Guyana. She first establishes the racial and religious climate of the country by referring to censuses conducted in 1992/93 and 1999. Data from these show that while the Indo-Guyanese population has remained the largest ethnic group in the country, with figures of 49.5 and 48 per cent respectively in the two surveys, the AfroGuyanese population has decreased by almost 8 per cent (from 35.6 to 27.7 per cent). This she considers to be quite revealing as Hinduism, to which 35 per cent of the population are adherents, is the dominant religion of the East Indian population. Guyana is a multicultural society and ever since the English intervention into Guyana in 1953 and particularly since the split in the Burnham/Jagan leadership in 1955, Guyanese have voted along ethnic lines with the religion of the dominant political party prevailing.

This marrying of state and religion, Gibson contends, encourages the exclusion of the 'other' and promotes tense relations between the different racial, ethnic and religious groups. Drawing on examples such as the situation in Haiti, the author illustrates how religion is and has been used by governments to ensure political loyalty and to undermine the opposition's power. A number of Afro-centric religions in the territory - Comfa, Lukumi Orisha and Vodou - along with Hinduism are examined. Critical to these religious doctrines is sacrificial violence. The current ruling political party, the People's Progressive Party (PPP), which is identified with the Indo-Guyanese population and Hindu ideology, has been accused of encouraging religious and race-on-race violence, and promoting 'a program of victor's justice' (p. 77). This has led to the physical and psychological oppression of other groups, and particularly persons of African descent. The latter are viewed as 'evil', 'impure', 'outcastes' and 'demonic'. As such the Indo-Guyanese community has blamed the People's National Congress (PNC), and the Afro-Guyanese population for attempts to undermine the government and for the ever-increasing social and economic problems in the country. Citing incident after incident, the author shows the pervasive nature of violence in the country.

In addition to the religious and other sacrificial violence, there is an increase in other forms - rape, kidnapping, beating, domestic violence. Much of this violence has been used against the Negro population to subjugate them. Protests against these actions have been met by police brutality and racial abuses. Alluding to the situation in Haiti, Rwanda and the Middle East, Gibson calls for an urgent end to the cycle of violence and discusses solutions offered to achieve this.

Finally Gibson discusses the pros and cons of institutional change in the form of shared governance and partitioning of the country, as well as the call for a strong moral ethic which values and exhibits mutual respect for all persons, regardless of race or religion. This strong emphasis on equality is deemed to be what is needed to bring about a 'peaceful revolution' (p. 83). Shared governance would see the end of the winner-takes-all system that currently prevails. However this is not considered as a viable option for the ruling PPP as the Indo-Guyanese fear retaliation from the Afro-Guyanese population, and another sojourn in the political wilderness. Partitioning does not have the sanction of many either, as the Afro-Guyanese are hard pressed to leave the land for which their ancestors fought. Likened to divorce, partitioning is seen as a radical and decisive measure to arrest the country's decline.

Sacred Duty provides a historical look at the factors of violence, race and religion that underpin the political governance and social systems of Guyana. The territory held its latest general elections in August 2006, and in the lead up to these elections many feared that violence would mar the democratic process. This work is therefore very timely. A well-documented work, it offers a thorough analysis of what many consider to be the motivation for the mass exodus of Guyanese nationals in recent times: politically sanctioned and religious race-on-race violence.