Social Cohesion

Guyana Chronicle Editorial

THE Ministry of Social Cohesion has announced that it is ready to start its work with a Stakeholders Roundtable discussion on September 3. This is a brand new Ministry whose charge is not yet quite clear to the public. As we understand it, the Ministry was created to advance cohesion among the diverse groups in our society. Of course, one cannot speak of cohesion without an acknowledgement of diversity and fragmentation. So the creation of this ministry is a very bold step. It is the first time that a Government has moved beyond rhetoric to actually tackle the problem of diversity and cohesion institutionally. President Granger promised to deal with this issue and he must be congratulated for remaining true to his word. The Minister, Ms. Amna Ali, has said that social cohesion is not confined to ethnicity; it is being broadened to include other forms of difference, such as religious and social. While we welcome this broad conceptualisation, we feel that special emphasis has to be placed on ethnic cohesion. Ours is an ethnically plural society with the different groups arriving at different times and under different circumstances. Hence the challenge to construct a national compact in which these groups could find common purpose and aspiration. While ethnicity is not our only problem, to downplay its salience would be tragic. If social cohesion is to become a reality, it has to be premised on social equality and justice. The biggest obstacle to a national compact is the endemic ethnic and socio-economic inequality that exists in our country. That has to be tackled head on. We often think that cohesion must mean the melting away of differences. But experience has taught us differently. Difference is part of the human experience. It is when difference is transformed into otherisation that social relations spin out of control. The other plank on which Social Cohesion must be premised is reconciliation. While we in Guyana have not descended into the mindless and ceaseless violence that bedevil other plural societies, we have had our experiences of intolerance and triumphalism. The Ministry of Social Cohesion should include in its work some innovative initiatives aimed at addressing the issue of reconciliation. Reconciliation should not be misunderstood to mean erasing the past or ignoring our fractures. Rather it must mean engaging that past with the objective of learning its lessons. Finally, the work of the Ministry would be useless if its target is the elites or stakeholders. The real stakeholders are the ordinary citizens in their communities. If they are not engaged in framing their own destiny, then the efforts at cohesion would be mere routine formality. Over to you, Minister Ali.