President Ali urges CARICOM to ensure region’s culture reflects unity, positivity

Leaders of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) have been urged to prioritise ensuring the region’s cultural heritage is portrayed to the world as a tool of unity thereby promoting positive living to protect future generations.

Chairman of CARICOM and Guyana’s President, Dr Mohamed Irfaan Ali made the passionate plea in his address to the opening of the high-profile, 46th Regular Meeting of the Conference of Heads of Government of CARICOM at the National Culture Centre (NCC) Sunday evening.

As he focused his attention on music, the head of state emphatically articulated that the region must not promote lyrics that endorse violence, but lyrics that can instill positive change among the populace.

“As leaders of this region, we have to take this situation very seriously and ensure that lyrics of this region is the lyrics of Bob Marley, the lyrics of positivity and the lyrics of positive living and positive change,” he underscored.

The CARICOM Chair pointed out an instance whereby a Caribbean artiste was blocked from performing in Guyana due to him being on the International Criminal Police Organisation’s (INTERPOL) red notice.

For context, a Red Notice is a request to law enforcement worldwide to locate and provisionally arrest a person pending extradition, surrender, or similar legal action.

And so, President Ali is obstinate that the region’s culture cannot be captured in this troubling narrative.

“We have to lead a revolution on this narrative and reposition our culture in the way it was conceived, that is for positive living and positive upliftment. This is not about anyone or against anyone, this is for our region and for our future of the young people in this region,” President Ali underlined.

He also highlighted the importance of investing in one’s culture as it is a common thread that brings people together.

Those in attendance were told of Guyana’s conscious decision to invest in its culture as a tool and mechanism of unifying and telling a story of who Guyanese are as a people.

“We owe it to the generation ahead of us to keep our culture alive and invest in this culture, because that culture is what distinguishes us from every other region,” theCARICOM chair stated.