War cries and development

Some men came up to me .. a group of men, Indian, Amerindian looking.. and asked if Mr Alphonso was here. I asked where dey from and dey say dat dey from Ministry of Human Services.

I ask dem if is de PPP protest dey come to, or de women protest. Dey seh de woman protest. I ask if dey sure because I know some of de Government employees and PPP supporters was protesting de cut in de Amerindian Fund

De woman dem I supporting was protesting about ting like violence and suh.. CADVA, Guyana Women Miner's Organisation, and others. Dey had placard wid Break de Silence, Let de Women Speak, and so on. Nice ting which doan really bodda no politician.


So I wuz dere.. watching de action. Near Brickdam and High Street.  All nice and quiet - police say no drum or music so de musician had to go home.

I did hear yesterday dat dere was racial ting going on.

Over de odda side, we some people finishing off dey lunch.. plastic boxes and nice juice.. i seh okay okay.. but I aint see nobody selling food.

Dere was a snocone man an ah doan know if some of last year Amerindian Development Fund help to buy de snocone today.  But I should not be a hypocrite because de nice lady from de mining association share out Cross Bun and Cheese .. and well even if we did not mek dat a requirement.. well i feel dat i should stay a lil b it more. Ow.

We got we picket. Peaceful. Placards.. bout woman must speak and so on. Nice quiet ting.. ah mean, wid de noise was in de placard and not anywhere else.


I watch de people,, a lot of Amerindian, including some Indian Amerindian and one or two Black Amerindian.. mobilising. Den i see some people with paint on dey face like what you does see in National Geographic and pun dem show when dey have culture exhibition.

De placards come out on de odda side, was AFC and APNU get out and dem ting. And ting like 'Woman And children part of the budget '.. which i tink is nice ting like what we side picket have about woman so dat dey should come and join wid we. Some had spelling mistake.. but ah seh dat was okay, maybe some village education budget did get cut 28 years ago and dat person was dere today making sure dat de PNC dont block dem.

Den Granger come out fuh talk to de woman dem. And de noise start.. and de 'war cries when you put you hand pun you mout like in dem wild west movie. It was like eh eh. And a lady , man.. red band pun she head, a kind of shak shak ting in she hand and some paint pun she face.. man.. just like how we used to see in dem cowboy pitchuh bout 'red indians'. I nevah see dat in Guyana before.

But it wuk.. because dat noise lead by de lady and de Indian Amerindian widout paint on de face and de odder leaders drown out de silence of de women who 'speaking out ovah pun me side'

De placard kind of slip out me hand because de chant and de cry kind of draw me in.

I wan fuh gun an ask de lady  is which tribe she from and which language she shouting and is who she warring wid, because de woman side deh hey .. and is true, not enough in de budget fuh women and chirren and de opposition aint cut dem budget.

De nonAmerindian men who organising de protestors looking on.. some ah dem deh behind de parliament barricade.

 People passing we picket and looking at de Amerindians. People passing me and sehin'.. oh lord.. we aint know Amerindians got all dat.. yes dey say Amerindians not "Buck".. I waiting to hear.

And de PPP men in dey clothes.. who not shouting and dancing , dey watching de gyurls dem dat shouting and dancing.. de looks dat you see men does give women when dey dont care nutting bout no development except maybe of dere bodies.

It was amazing.. Kudos to de PPP.. fuh dis protest action. Dey well organised. Yuh cyan guh wrang wid duh.

A man wid New Thriving uniform pass. He looking back and asking whuh we doing. I seh dem is PPP picket, and we is woman picket. I ask he if got time if he cyan join we.
 He suck he teet and seh, yall aint gat wuk fuh do. I feel lil bad .. because how yuh gun explain dat de wuk does sometimes mean standing up (or war crying or dancing like me fellow citizen ova de road) fuh ting dat you tink is right



Dey were shouting 'APNU go away' an; dem ting.

A lady vex., near me.. . she shouting' why yall doan go home. I tell a man I know who does protest wid de APNU protests which are not organised by APNU fuh go and join de PPP protest fuh larn how fuh do de ting.

We women protesters were not shouting anyting.. I ask a black gyurl I know.. i feel fuh dance.. leh we get two chant and go and wuk up a ting.. because is competition hey. An a lesson in protest is dat if you got yuh protest, and somebody else got a more lively one .. den you kark duck and nobody aint gun bodda wid yuh except de politician dem who tink yuh safe.


Yeah.. dis Amerindian Development Fund.. it sneaky, it messy. It include some ting like Bina Hill subvention which as far as I know does go across de political lines.

I want fuh go ovah and ask.. ting arite in yall place.. yall got school and health centre and suh? Everybody happy? But den, ah mean if people who depend pun de money fuh a lil wuk.. losing de money, den dey have every right fuh protest about it.  Accountability doan mean a ting to people who need a salary and doan have no odda options.

But I friken, and I feel like a hole in my stomach at how far people doan really understand about accountability and dem stupidness.

I tek meh Cross Bun and Cheese and I give me placard to de man from de Ministry of Human Services who eye deh pun de PPP people dem. He tek it from me wid out looking at whuh it seh.

De woman dem who speaking out pun dey placard cyan really . It hard fuh speak out ova de voices of people who want APNU and AFC to go away and who like de PPP development. You cyan get more loud dan a war cry from a cowboy picture.



De man who does be drunk and cussing next door to me was on de front page of de paper.. hand in de air.

I ask he if he get pay and suh, and he seh nah.. is he frenz from de hostel who was out dere and he join wid dem. He doan gah fuh get no pay fuh duh.

After de done dey protest de fus day , he seh dat dey had a nice sport  at a shop near de hostel. Dat night he come home drunk like always.