Georgetown Diary

The Ronald Austin Column

Not my Carifesta

For some reason I have been unable to work up any enthusiasm for Carifesta X. And I lost any interest in the event when the Jagdeo Administration set about to do its best to ensure that Mr. L. F. S. Burnham was not recognised as the Founder of the Caribbean Festival of Arts (CARIFESTA). When Carifesta was launched a few months ago, Bharrat Jagdeo avoided all mention of Burnham and his Minister of Culture did the same thing. I found this desecration of history too great a burden to bear. I turned to other things and tried to forget about Carifesta and the frenzied activities to which it gave rise. But, as with most things in Guyana, the dynamics of the situation compelled me to look more closely at what was going on. I happen to know some of the main players in the preparations for Carifesta and from time to time some of them would draw to my attention, items which suggested that all might not be well with this important festival.

If you begin by looking at a cultural matter politically, then you will take political decisions which might, in the end, negate the cultural core of the event. I was never convinced that when Bharrat Jagdeo elected to host Carifesta X, (instead of the much wealthier Commonwealth of the Bahamas) that he was motivated by considerations calculated to promote the development of culture in Guyana. My own belief is that Jagdeo saw an opportunity to make his Government look good and to give the Guyanese people an "ease" from the demanding economic conditions under which they are currently living. This is bread and circuses in the 21st Century. I am not the only one to make this observation; others have done so and I believe that they are right. Motivated by these considerations, and given his penchant for micro-managing everything, Jagdeo placed one of the acolytes of the PYO, Nigel Dharamlall, in charge of the Carifesta Secretariat so that he could control matters through him. The PPP will probably tell you that there are other Directors who are politically neutral and ethnically diversified, but I stand by my position that Dharamlall ran the show under the instruction of Freedom House. And someone of the experience and talent of Keith Booker was sidelined; Booker who knows so much about culture and who was intimately involved in the planning and execution of projects in relation to the first Carifesta. Maybe this was the cardinal sin that he had committed.

But it was not just a question of bread and circuses. It was an attempt to host a major event in a vacuum. I would be hard put to recall anything the PPP has done in the last sixteen years which could be considered preparation for a culturally prominent event like Carifesta X. Mr. Burnham did not host the first Carifesta at a whim. Rather, he sought to reinforce and channel an awakening spirit of nationalism and identity, which he detected in the region, into a major cultural festival. There has been no such thing under the PPP. In fact, the sixteen years of PPP rule constitutes a cultural desert. In this period, Guyana has not produced any great writers, poets or dancers. This has not been a fertile time for the production of magazines, books, booklets or the emergence of a culture of reading or visits to the library or museum. In fact, the background against which Carifesta X is being held is one of violence, corruption, a rising cost of living, growing illiteracy, and a narrowing of opportunities for self-development and self-expression.

Despite all this, I decided to have a look at the opening of Carifesta X. At first it appeared that nature was dead set against the launching of the festival. The heavens opened up and rain poured from the skies for more than an hour before the festival could get underway. And when it did, as far as I am concerned, there was something predictable about it; the same costumes, the same gyrations and the same presentations of decades ago. It was as if the region had not advanced culturally. Of course my greatest disappointment was when the Brazilian women appeared fully dressed and singing English songs. I expected Cardozo to be skimpily clad and belting out luscious sambas, with the appropriate songs to go with it. But, I suppose, in life one has to accept what one is given and not be too disenchanted with what one has to accept.

At this point, I must say that I heard from many sources close to Carifesta that the Government had spent some US$760,000 on the stage to accommodate the dancers and those putting on cultural programs and exhibitions. What was sad, is that having spent this enormous sum on the stage, the Jagdeo Administration could not provide an adequate sound system so that all of the people at the opening could hear what was going on. One of the major disappointments of this opening spectacle was that most of the people at the National Stadium could not hear what was transpiring, as the sound system was poor.

Worse was to come. I kept hearing from different people that the program of events which was published in the local print media was a recipe for disaster. Events were cancelled and patrons not notified. On one occasion, two countries turned up at the same venue to mount cultural programs. And I have it on good authority that the Book Fair, which was scheduled to start at a particular time on Saturday last, had to be postponed. Indeed, it seems that the construction related to the event was still in progress when patrons turned up for the opening. But as they say here: this is Guyana. I can say more particularly that this is Guyana under the Jagdeo Administration. What troubled me most in this morass of incompetence and inefficiencies, was the treatment meted out to some of the cultural lions of the region. I am reliably informed that our Nobel Prize Laureate, Mr. Derek Walcott, was not accorded either the reception or the treatment that was consistent with the dignity of his position. In fact, it was bruited about the city that he had planned to hold a Press Conference to denounce the manner in which he was treated and was only prevented from doing so by top Government officials.

Don’t get me wrong, not all the events were substandard. I understand from those present that the symposium on culture, which Walcott attended, and which Jagdeo participated in was quite well done. Walcott, on this occasion, took issue with Jagdeo that the culture should come after the requirements of development were satisfied. It is the old chestnut that regional Governments have to choose between culture and its economic priorities. What Walcott argued on this occasion and what he said in the past was that the region has no choice but to be able to afford culture. Moreover, Walcott recommended that Carifesta should seek to advertise the best artistes in the region and to ensure that they can support their activities after the festival is over. He elaborated by saying that it does not make sense leaving hotels as legacies instead of museums and libraries. It was noteworthy, on this occasion, that Jagdeo who is one to criticize individuals who disagree with him, had to listen to someone of Walcott’s stature and independence. It must have been a chastening experience for him.

I must also admit that the Banks DIH Superconcert was a dazzling affair. Some of the finest singers and performers took to the stage and entertained thousands of Guyanese. Mr. Vegas was the center of attraction and so was Rupee. The dancing was exceptional and all of the artistes seem to sense the mood of the Guyanese people and gave them, in artistic terms, what they came to hear. And while I am praising famous men and artistes, let me hasten to add that Keith Waithe and Ken Corsbie were also outstanding at the Theatre Guild. In other words, it was not all doom and gloom, as here and there the cultural genius of the region burst through the incompetence and inefficiencies and held aloft a magic light for all Guyanese and the region to see.

As I have said before, this Carifesta was politically conceived and, by definition, was defined and confined by this approach. Among other things, the Jagdeo Administration wanted to hold something bigger and greater than Mr. Burnham’s brainchild of 1972. I do not think that they succeeded. Carifesta 1972 had all the hallmarks of efficiency and cultural freedom. My sense is that, while here and there our artistes and performers slipped the confining bonds, the region did not artistically, on this occasion, rise to the level of 1972. Carifesta X seemed not to have evolved into something new, wonderful and creative as was the hope and expectations of those who first conceived the idea.

Late one evening I was driving past the gardens and I could hear, coming from the Seven Ponds in the Botanical Gardens, rich laughter, which seems to suggest that Burnham had recognized that the PPP had not bested him. In my mind’s eye I can see him, cigar in hand, choice liquor in a quality glass, articulating in that fine, rich and unmistakable voice: "they cannot touch me."