Political Scientist and the Caribbean Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) Talk Show Host Peter Wickham continues to display emotional outbursts directed at UWI lecturer Dr. Kean Gibson. We find it strange that Peter Wickham a political scientist who earns his daily bread by performing scientific analysis would depart from his training when dealing with the matter of racism in Guyana and the real possibility that these learned behaviours can be imported into Barbados given the significant number of Guyanese on the island, legal and illegal.
Dr.Gibson’s response to Wickham in yesterday’s Nation newspaper shows that she is very capable of defending her work and reputation. We have to disagree with Dr. Gibson when she opines that there are not enough Indo-Guyanese in Barbados to destabilize Barbados. The exact number of Guyanese resident in Barbados has been a mystery which has straddled two administrations. The closest we have gotten to a figure from an official source was when former Minister Maxine McClean who had responsibility for immigration matters exclaimed that the government’s best estimate is placed at twenty five thousand. The uncertainty in the number exposes our flawed immigration framework which has been a legacy of the former government.
Although the current government has promised a shake-up at the Immigration Department, and we accept that there have been changes, the disclosure of the outcome of a sub-cabinet review on immigration policy promised by Prime Minister David Thompson appears to be long overdue. Wickham is happy to cloud the concerns of many Barbadians by labelling us xenophobic. The issue for BU centres on how learned behaviour moulded in a racially conflicted Guyana could impact on the social landscape of Barbados in years to come given the inflows of large numbers of Guyanese into Barbados.
The recent attack by political analyst Peter Wickham on Dr.Kean Gibson exposes his agenda for all of Barbados to see. The irony for BU remains that the conversation about how learned behaviour moulded in Guyana can impact a stable society which has a majority black host population needs to be escalated to a national level. BU believes that the academic work published by Dr. Gibson titled ‘The Cycle of Racial Oppression in Guyana’ exposes the chasm of racism which the Guyana government, regional media and and general commentators continue to bury their heads in the sand.
It has been voluminously documented the turbulent political history of Guyana. The Jagan era which was pro-Indian and the Burnham era which countered by being pro-Black. The legacy of the two eras haunt Guyana to this day. The result is an incumbent government led by Jagdeo which seems to have surrendered to its legacy by exporting its people to the world with the expectation that foreign remittances will provide a source of foreign exchange.
Even if Dr. Gibson was thought to have taken a position deemed marginal, biased, ignorant or specious on the subject of racism in Guyana, how can we ignore the independent findings contained in a recent United Nations commissioned report on Minority issues in Guyana? The Guyana government of course challenged the report which was prepared by the UN minority expert Gay McDougall. The report in a nutshell fingers the racial divide in Guyana presided over by President Jagdeo. Bare in mind that Blacks and Indians are the two dominant groups in Guyana and technically can’t be described as minority groups. It makes the McDougall report all the more interesting.
Mr. Wickham you are a political scientist by training, yet you use the radio and TV airwaves to pontificate on a multiplicity of issues. To whom much is given much is expected. In your desire to challenge the researched position of Dr. Gibson, a credited academic, your response should equally be researched. The generous airtime you allocate to Guyana Consul Norman Faria and the silent Ricky Sigh on the racial turbulence unfolding in Guyana continues to puncture your credibility on the matter. What we agree on is the need for there to be a national conversation on this issue. Another example of Fourth Estate failing the PEOPLE.
What is your agenda Mr. Wickham?
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