Dear Editor,
With the frequent utilisation of social media platforms by youTubers, podcasters, open-source opinionators and other traditional forms of communication, it is difficult these days for serious and objective storylines to find a place above the daily humdrum in society. The objective would be to help people see and appreciate objective reality, and for them to understand and value what is called the big picture. But here’s the thing, however small the space people occupy or amount of needs they have, for them, that’s their big picture.
Though foxes and hedgehogs are not to be found in Guyana, the parable of the fox and the hedgehog is relevant to this missive. The fox knows many things, but the hedgehog knows one big thing and that illustrates two styles of thinking. Hedgehogs relate everything to a single vision or the big picture. Foxes, on the other hand, calculate the benefits and approaches. In the end, it’s not only the optics that matters, equally important is the narrative or message, who delivers it and is able to project it in such a way that it reveals not obscures the big picture.
But there’s another challenge concerning the big picture, if the art of advocacy lies in convincing others to view the world through the lens of a preferred narrative, the art of policymaking requires examining issues through diverse lenses. In seeking to show Guyanese the big picture, a fundamental question to be asked is; are we as a country and people better off compared to where we were say sixty years ago?
The answer to that question must be an unequivocal yes; but only citizens of this country who are in their fifties, sixties or seventies would know that. Unless they did the research or were told by their parents or grandparents, those born in the early 1992, mid-1970’s or early 1980’s would have little or no idea, much less concern about what our roads, schools, hospitals, potable water, public transportation looked like before they were born.
There was a time, in our country, when people had to fetch or draw water from vats or to stand in line to draw water from a stand pipe in a range-yard; or to stand in line to join city or country buses. There was a time when children had to walk or paddle huge distance to get to school, when people lived in logies or tenement yards, when a telephone, refrigerator or radio were luxuries in a home, when the number of motor cars on the roads could be counted on the fingers of one hand; when many had to light a gas lamp, kero-oil wick lamp or candles to find their way around or to read at night. When babies were delivered at homes by midwives; when so many things then are not things now.
Politics and political parties can be game- changers. They enlighten the populace, they make promises, raise expectations and if elected to office, they translate expectations into policies and translate policies into the delivery of goods and services for people. In so doing, they would have taken the big and small expectations of their supporters in particular and the populace in general and knitted them together into a big picture.
There are some, who in their opposition to government dis-acknowledges the big picture instead, they curl up in a world of their own and , disparage those who see and appreciates the big picture. The opponents draw much of their energy from their ability to present a radically different perspective, often at the cost of nuance and a willingness to compromise.
The big picture by definition means integrating insights from different perspectives, giving people the freedom to make their own choices, to earn their own living, with as little state interference as possible. It is more a matter of equal opportunities than equal wages.
We Guyanese now live in a much more fluid world, which has changed the employee-employer dynamic. It is now a case where the once superior employer is now being served by an enlightened employee. Debates about who gets what, how and why need to move past battles about which narrative is right. It is the big picture that should be sought after if we want reasonable answers.
To understand and appreciate the meaning of the big picture requires each and every Guyanese to observe and appreciate how far we have come as a nation in health, education, housing, roads and bridges, public transportation, electricity, potable water supply and our general standard of living. Debates over our country’s oil wealth and the state’s distribution of profit oil are often dominated by those who interpret and evaluate the dynamics and consequences of Guyana’s economic and social development through a single lens.
Our democracy continues to be challenged by a variety of narratives that stress the negatives more than the positives; that our developmental trajectory has produced more losers than winners. Some have warned of the need to protect the interests of the working people and job creation for Guyanese nationals. They have drawn attention to the increasing penetration of immigrants in the labour market as well as advantages that often accrue to rich people and powerful multinationals.
A closer examination of the big picture of today will show that we are at a critical juncture characterised by a world in dramatic flux. During such periods, foreign policy narratives about regional and global developments assume particular relevance because they offer new ways for actors to understand what the problem is and what should be done about it.
It is time for a more foxy approach.