Feature: Guyana blames T&T "Chutney" for alcholism, domestic violence

Officials in Guyana have said rising domestic violence in the country appears to be increasingly linked to Trinidad and Tobago's chutney, which promotes consumption of rum.

And the Chairman of Guyana's Advisory Committee on Broadcasting (ACB) is preparing to warn television stations about airing mostly Trinidadian chutney music.

Evan Persaud confirmed on Tuesday that the ACB plans to suggest that music that celebrate alcoholism should be discouraged.

Help and Shelter, a Guyanese non-governmental organisation that supports victims of domestic violence, has reported that 17 per cent of the 335 reported cases of domestic violence for 2010 were associated with alcohol consumption.

Volunteer Kevin Massiah told the online publication Demerara Waves "We really need to come away from the fact of fuelling fire unnecessarily because promoting music of that nature is really having an effect on our society."

Permanent Secretary of Guyana's Ministry of Human Services noted that some songs that pass as entertainment "glamorise" violence.

Trevor Thomas has urged civil society organisations and ordinary citizens to collectively and increasingly speak out against various activities that promote immorality.

However Thomas does not support any kind of ban on the music which would violate the constitutional right to freedom of expression.

"At the end of the day, we cannot just legislate negative social behaviour," he told reporters.

The issue has been raised in Trinidad and Tobago as well by Dr Surujrattan Rambachan, who is now the country's Foreign Minister.

“The rum songs are creating a level of social chaos in that rum is seen as what people must turn to in order to deal with their problems,” Rambachan said earlier this year.

“I take great offence to the rum-song culture...We must do something to stop it.”

Rambachan said it is unacceptable to use art forms of entertainment to encourage the intoxicating effect of alcohol. “We are the architects of the destruction and defiling of ourselves as a people by our intransigence and our support at chutney fetes for rum songs,” he said.

Programme Specialist at the United Nations Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM), Tonni Brodber, told a gender-based violence workshop for youths that the Caribbean has "extremely high levels of violence especially for a region that is not at war."

Broadber offered statistics to illustrate her point, noting that 25 per cent of Guyanese women have experienced domestic violence. In Trinidad and Tobago the figure is 30 per cent and it's up to 67 per cent in Suriname.

Guyanese media reports say within the last two weeks, a drunken man stabbed and chopped his wife before committing suicide. And in an incident last Saturday a man stabbed his wife and attempted to burn down their house.

Source: Demerara Airwaves