KWAYANA'S `MORNING AFTER’
Controversial,
timely examination of a "criminal political movement" and the
challenges facing Guyana
By Rickey Singh
AFTER reading his recently-released
`The Morning After’, my long held admiration for Eusi Kwayana has
deepened, despite our occasional, healthy disagreements.
It has been his habit over the years
of making others, including friends, political colleagues and
opponents, uncomfortable by what he writes or positions he adopts.
Not that he deliberately sets out
to cause personal or even group discomfort or anger. It is simply
consistent with his character, telling it as he believes
it to be, in his examinations of sensitive social and
political issues. His commitment to "the politics of truth"
does not easily win him applause.
Yet, those really familiar with Kwayana,
now 80, and his ideas, should also know that, along with Cheddi and
Janet Jagan, and Forbes Burnham - all former "comrades" at different
periods - this once heralded "sage of Buxton" commands a special
place in the turbulent social and political history of Guyana.
It is in pursuit of recording "the truth",
as he understands it, about an unprecedented
post-independence explosion of criminality with a political
agenda, that rocked Georgetown and East Coast villages in
2002, and with his native Buxton at the epicentre of it all,
that largely inspired his writing of `The Morning After’.
Kwayana's "small book", as he has described
the 128-page publication, released in Guyana in June to coincide
with the 25th commemoration anniversary of the life and times of
the murdered Walter Rodney, offers much more than a searing analysis
of a "criminal political movement".
He goes beyond details of the horrors
unleashed by well-armed non-Buxtonian "masterminds" - two of whom are
identified, one currently in prison. He tells with
unconcealed bitterness, how the "criminal masterminds" had
contributed to reducing his home village Buxton to "a
cemetery".
The "war propaganda" of that dark period,
the roles of self-styled "Talibans" and "freedom fighters", an infamous
counter phantom death squad; the persistent exploitation of race
politics, naked political opportunism and corruption, as well as
initiatives for solutions, across ethnic and political boundaries, to
herald the dawn of a new political culture in governance, are all
sketched in what is a valuable contribution to politics and
governance in Guyana.
It is a contribution that is
quite controversial in some sections, and would hardly be comfortable
reading for frontline leaders and activists of either the governing
People's Progressive Party or the main opposition People's
National Congress. Or, for that matter, what remains of the Working
People's Alliance of which the author, was a founder and co-leader.
His incisive observations on what Kean
Gibson offers as, controversially, a `Cycle of Racial Oppression
in Guyana’ - one of three appendices - plus a summary of major
political events in PPP/PNC relationship'; political and economic
aspects of the country's "ethnic problem"; public corruption, and
a note on his very challenging 1961 proposals for "Joint Premiership
with partition as a last resort", are other reasons why his
opponents and supporters should find time to read `The Morning
After’.
Exemplary Two
Whether or not it sits well with their
supporters or detractors, the two Guyanese
politicians whose integrity and honesty, whose patriotism, honesty
and commitment to people for which I had come to
develop great respect over my long years in journalism,
remain Cheddi Jagan and Kwayana.
They knew how and when to cooperate -
in the national interest - while revealing different ideological and
cultural perspectives and approaches.
Like Jagan, Kwayana is one of the more
misunderstood and misrepresented politicians of Guyana. Jagan is no
longer with us. But it is quite intriguing to find Kwayana, in the
course of rejecting some of Gibson's theories in appendix two of his
`The Morning After’, signalling this public message:
"Old as I am, I am willing to pool my
efforts with people who want to reform the political economy of our
800,000 population in such a way that no race, or generation, or gender
suffers, This refers specially to Africans who complain of being at the
bottom of the social scale, but do not like a Jagan to say it...
"Is it not strange", the
author adds, "that, knowing that I am not in search of
government employment, with all the racial problems, mainly economic,
no one in authority has asked me what measures I think are workable? At
least we used to be able to 'pick sense from nonsense'..."
One of the very sad things, tragic in some
ways, about political hustlings, cultural slander and
rumour-mongering in Guyana was the forced uprooting
of Kwayana from the village where he grew up and lived until the
gunmen and their mentors came to destroy Buxton as a village of
"civilisation and heritage". Today he lives with his family in
the USA, his heart in Guyana.
In an eloquent foreward to `The Morning
After’, the Jamaica-born scholar, disciple of Walter Rodney and
author of `Reclaiming Zimbabwe’, Horace Campbell, makes his own
observation why Buxton was chosen "as the site of racialised and
militarised politics".
The choice of that East Coast Demerara
village, said Campbell, "is not accidental since this was the
space from which Eusi Kwayana had laboured for over half a century
to provide an alternative vision of a society based on respect,
love and human dignity....
"The anguish of Kwayana over the violation
of the society, the violation of the space and the political
retrogression, is evident from the pages of this pamphlet..."
In his penetrating examination of the
"criminal political movement" that was linked with the
infamous five armed escaped prisoners, and the numerous
acts of kidnapping, murder and rape, Kwayana also points to
the unfinished task of understanding "the causes and effects of the
violence" of that period.
Kissoon and Hinds
Before Kwayana's very focused approach
to the origin and implication of the "criminal political movement", the
grim, bizarre developments in Buxton and other East Coast
villages, had led the political scientist and social commentator,
Frederick Kissoon, to write a series of articles, first
in the Guyana Chronicle.
Kwayana acknowledged what Dr. David
Hinds, his fellow Buxtonian, who teaches African Diasporan Studies
at Arizona State University, had noted in a letter to the Stabroek
News, that only Kissoon "had attempted an analysis of the weird events
which beset Guyana and in particular Buxton-Friendship, between May
2001 and into 2003".
Kwayana noted that "many have expressed in
private opinions about Mr. Kissoon's series of articles; but it speaks
volumes that no other individual on the scene has thought it fit to
interpret the events. He (Kissoon) takes liberties with individuals,
but I have found the essence of his findings on the East Coast
disturbances, with few exceptions, well-founded and based on
information too detailed in particulars to be discounted. His knowledge
of the personalities in and around the Taliban (group) exceeds mine..."
Perhaps a pamphlet on that collection of
articles by Kissoon should also be printed.
`The Morning After’ was launched at the
same time of Hinds' collection of news articles and essays in `Race and
Political Discourse in Guyana (A Conversation with African Guyanese in
the presence and hearing of Indian Guyanese)’.
His interventions in the local media have
often been controversial, but there is no questioning of the yearning
Hinds also shares with his mentor, Kwayana, for racial unity and mutual
respect.
Kwayana tells us in his introduction to
Hinds' "small book", that the author "is in the forefront of the
movement for ethnic reconciliation on the basis of justice and access
to economic development open to all ethnic sections. His focus is not
removal of a government, but of the political system."
Let Kwayana have the last word on his
offered "small book". In the preface to `The Morning After’,
he explains it as "an essential record aimed at setting down as
much of the truth as can be established with reasonable certainty; at
setting down the sequence of events and the logic of that sequence
and the other circumstances as understood by this author...The Morning
After is a theme which is intended to show that actions have
consequences; that results do follow on the proverbial morning after..."
+ I assume that those with sufficient
interest would know where to obtain copies of `The Morning After’ and
David Hinds' `Race and Political Discourse in Guyana’.
Khan’s Chronicles
Dirty Dancing
By Sharief Khan
DENNIS Chabrol and Julia Johnson are
by no stretch of the imagination Patrick Swayze and Jennifer Grey in
the 1987 hit movie `Dirty Dancing’, but these two prime movers in the
Guyana Press Association (GPA) are raising eyebrows with the fancy
shuffle they are into.
From the public exchanges I have read in
the Stabroek News between these two former close dancing partners in
the GPA, Dennis and Julia are not likely to be seen anytime soon
boogying the night away together at `Buddy’s’ or the `Sheriff’ night
clubs in Georgetown.
I don’t think they are quite up to getting
down with Beenie Man, Usher, Snoop Dog or 50 Cents and the like. But I
won’t be betting any money, either, on seeing them arms in arms doing a
waltz to any of those old time hits by the Drifters, Nat King Cole or
any of the other crooners whose songs will live on.
Getting them to do that again is now
probably more like what the late Otis Redding sang about in his `I’ve
got dreams, dreams to remember’.
Dennis and Julia are now tip toeing around
each other on the GPA dance floor, with Julia cutting up her eyes and
flouncing her skirt at what she calls Dennis’ `dirty’ dancing, and
Dennis getting into what he feels are awesome hip hop moves to show
that her antics just do not bother him at all.
What bothers me, though, is that while the
former GPA head man and the current acting GPA head woman are busy
strutting their separate stuff, the others in the show looking to them
for guidance on the right moves, are skating around on the journalistic
stage like so many unguided little missiles, full of inherent danger.
The GPA has been around for quite a while
but has been dogged by political intrigue and is yet to find its
rightful role in a society struggling to consolidate its place in the
fold of democratic nations.
I was integrally associated with the GPA
for several years during which it came close to carving a niche of
pride with an ambitious programme of trying to set and lift standards
of professional journalism.
But then a rot set in and it wasn’t long
before a once proud organisation became moribund and the flock it was
meant to guide left to their own devices.
Instead of battling to discover and dig
into its true role, like Kevin Costner in the 1990 classic movie
`Dances with Wolves’, the GPA for years danced around in a daze, more
like dancing with the dead, when it should have been trying to find its
real dancing feet and getting into the flow.
But then came a resurrection of sorts and a
born again GPA limped on to the stage a couple of years ago, Dennis and
Julia arms in arms with a band of other latter day crusaders. The band
leaders vowed to lead the lost flock into the promised land where they
could all once more happily dance the nights away and the faithful
waited with bated breath.
Alas – it was not long before Dennis found
out that he was not in stride with the other dancers in the GPA top
brass and soon they were slipping and sliding around the dance floor
leaving the amateurs more bemused and confused than before.
And an obviously bruised Dennis shuffled
away from the limelight but promising to keep a close eye on the antics
of his erstwhile buddy dancing partners. Dennis feels the performance
of the others leaves much to be desired and while he wanted his
misgivings to be kept in the dark, someone pushed these into the light
of day – and Julia has been fuming since, really angry that someone
would dare to question her dancing abilities.
And while she’s tapping her shoes in fury
(not tap dancing!) and Dennis is into his hip hopping pretence, the
lost sheep are bleating.
Lunchtime lectures might by fancy
window-dressing but are not really the diet the lost sheep need to get
on track.
They need much more to chew on and the REAL
CHOICE facing the GPA is trying to raise standards in the profession,
to try to hone the amateurs into real pros and not to dance to anyone’s
tune.
There are far too many untrained,
unskilled, untutored people being let loose in the trade and the
inherent dangers are manifold. While watching stuff like the Dennis and
Julia shuffle, they are likely to lose sight of the need to study and
follow the steps of the true professionals.
Those in charge of trying to help the GPA
find its feet and get a firm grip in an increasingly slippery landscape
need to urgently stop the dalliance and focus on the real issues at
hand.
Have they, for example, been seeing,
hearing and taking serious note of those who are fast taking hold of
what is spouted on radio and TV?
I was once told when I worked with local
radio, that my voice did not have the timbre needed to be on air. This
was a source of some amusement to me later when I was a correspondent
with the BBC, the former CANA Radio, BBC Caribbean Report and several
radio stations in the Caribbean.
Now I hear so-called announcers on radio
and watch and listen in astonishment at `stars’ on TV and wonder how in
God’s name are they allowed on air.
Many of the voices do not even have cork
wood, much less timbre and a lot of the faces are not camera friendly.
I listen and in my amazement wonder if they
get elocution lessons. Some sound like kindergarten kids learning to
recite `Ìtty Bitty Spider’ and other nursery rhymes.
Some sound as if they have a frog in their
throat and others are like squeaky little mice in a cheese-feeding
frenzy on the airwaves. And there are some on radio who speak a
language only they seem to understand.
In most other countries, news people and
others do not get on air unless they pass muster – there are some basic
standards they must meet before they can get even into the little
league and they have to excel before being thrust into the big league.
But rank amateurism has almost taken over
the electronic media here and journalistic standards are woefully short
in the newspapers.
It’s time for the GPA to stop trying to
dance around the quagmire threatening the profession and for Dennis and
Julia to kiss and make up and get on with the real dancing.
I am looking forward to seeing them
together soon at Buddy’s, the Sheriff or any night club they choose –
just give me a holler and I’ll be willing to show you the latest from
Beenie Man, Usher and the others!
NEW APPROACHES
Weekly viewpoint by Robert Persaud
People should always understand the
outlook and positions of the different political parties, especially
the one which occupies the seat of Government. In this regard, the
entire nation and even the international community were privy to the
deliberations and outcome of the 28th Congress of the People’s
Progressive Party.
This was not an activity shrouded in
secrecy or double-speak. The deliberations were open and what people
heard and saw is what they are and will get from the major partner in
government. There was no backroom dealing and/or scheming. There was no
plotting or planning to deceive the nation or anyone else. The
country’s only national party came open and clean. It demonstrated the
type of democratic maturity found only in a genuine national political
movement.
For those who are unclear about the broad
framework of the governing party and its link to national policies
would do well to access relevant documents which are available on the
internet – www.ppp-civic.org. An important document presented by
the party’s General Secretary Donald Ramotar captioned: `For a
Democratic and Prosperous Guyana’ spells out the National Development
Programme which is being implemented by the PPP/C administration and
reflects its various policy statements. The main planks are: rebuilding
democratic institutions; diversifying the economic base; rehabilitating
and further developing the physical infrastructure; pursuing stable
macro-economic policies; and fighting poverty.
There is little or no excuse for anyone to
claim ignorance of what the ruling party stands for or the path being
charted by the administration. Those who may seek to lift particular
references to various analytical tools and play these up in the media
are either still in a bygone era or are not enlightened enough to know
that these are used at nearly all universities in the world for the
proper understanding of economic and politics.
The document also dedicates an entire
section that looks at the issue of enhanced inclusive governance under
the title – the national democratic choice. The section on economic and
social issues does reinforce the administration’s commitment to a mixed
economy with the private sector playing a pivotal or lead role. “The
private sector must be encouraged to play a leading role in the
country’s growth and development… Encouraging investment: mainly in the
productive sector of the economy and developing all aspects of the
productive forces, more particularly, the human capital.”
The articulation of this national path no
doubt sets the tone for the coming period, and will ensure that there
is accurate and correct understanding of the true nature of the
government.
President Bharrat Jagdeo, in his
presentation to the Congress, amplified on a few of these themes.
According to the President: “Unlike some,
we do not see this through a political prism; we will support every
single legal business which can improve Guyana’s economy. I want every
Guyanese to have access to a legal and decent job; anybody who helps
achieve this is welcome to invest in this country.
“I won’t pretend, however, that we are at
the end of the road in this area. Despite massive progress in recent
years, we still have to continue the fight against corruption. I want
to see unnecessary red tape and more support for small businesses and
farmers who want to set up enterprises. I want to see better services
given to those who want to expand from traditional agriculture and into
more value-added activities like agri- and aqua-processing. I want to
see new areas become vibrant parts of the economic sectors such as
information technology and tourism have particularly exciting futures.
“I want to see this because this is a
fundamental part of our vision for this country…Within the next six
years, and a re-elected PPP/C administration will encourage and steer
our economy to an even higher plane of activity – building on the
progress to date to support our farmers and business-people as they
expand into new sectors and markets. Investors from Guyana and around
the world will see this country as an internationally competitive place
to do business. Everyone with a good business idea will find that this
government will not stand in their way.”
The coming months will see an
intensification of the debate on the different political platforms as
we head closer to the national elections. In this competition, we all
must ensure that sticking to facts is an overriding feature. But it
would be naive to believe that those who flock certain circles to
spread lies and hates would less than active.
The governing party has shown the way how
parties should conduct themselves. And it is time other parties take a
page out of its book. Governments in the region are already using
Guyana as a model.
The Guyanese public is tired of old and
backward politics. They hunger for a more positive and constructive
approach to political life. The new, positive approaches to politicking
introduced by the administration augurs well for the country and the
region. A recent commonwealth meeting of government and opposition
parties underlined these imperatives. Let’s all work and build a new
modern political culture.
RACE RELATIONS IN PLANTATION GUIANA
1831 – 1905
By Citizen Kampta Karran
(continued from last week)
SCHOLARS of the 20th century included
the study of nineteenth-century race relations in their work. Prominent
among these are historians. Robert Moore [1970] did his Ph.D. thesis on
the relations between East Indians and Negroes in British Guiana for
the period 1838 to 1880. Brian Moore [1987] produced a very useful book
which deals with race, power and social segmentation in colonial Guiana
for the period 1838 to 1891. Walter Rodney [1981], in looking at the
history of Guianese working people for the period 1881 to 1905, also
called attention to what he termed “racial contradictions” especially
between the Indians and the Africans.
The experiences of separate racial groups
during the nineteenth century were also covered in the literature.
These include: collected essays on a single racial group as in McGowan
et al. (eds.) [1998] Themes in African Guyanese History; books by a
single author on a racial group as Mary Menezes (ed.) [1979] The
Amerindians in Guyana 1803-73, Raymond Smith [1956] The Negro Family in
British Guiana, Noel Menezes [1986] Sc
