DEMOCRACY.
In Guyana. For me, it should have been a practice of
tolerance among those entities that strive to govern us, the citizens.
Especially, since there are no dominant ethnic group to give any of the
entities a clear majority. We should
have been a model nation to the world, because we are the descendants of a
people who were brought to these lands as slaves and bonded males and females.
In our earlier existence on this land, our forefathers were
very cooperative with each other-regardless of ethnicities. We have learnt from each other in many ways.
Tolerance and trust should have been our mainstay. Political
parties should have had government subsidies to carry out their work. And equal freedom and finances to promote
their agenda. For it is the people that will be served.
Instead of the desire to have opponents at a disadvantage to
have the upper edge. To spread propaganda. And to deceive the citizens.
Such things erodes the trust among the upper echelon of the
society. It breathes contempt. Such ill feelings do no good for the people of
the country. It weakens us.
A Constitution is the framework of democracy.
Yet, no political leader never found the decency to correct
the one written for this nation by devious men in our past history. Today, it
saddles the country with poor governance and empowers individuals of poor
character to hold high offices in this land – untouched by the laws of the
country. They have awarded immunity onto themselves. There is no none in charge.
Such men and women are answerable to no one. They are a power on to themselves.
Dangerous to the wellbeing of the citizens. Those are the types of political
organizations we have –the PPP, the PNC, and the AFC. There is no discipline in
their structures or perhaps the political parties have no desires to challenge
an inept President or corrupt Ministers or an inadequate one holding a
Ministerial position.
We have seen what the PNC had done with the Constitution
written by them-for their favours. And with the same Constitution, today we are
experiencing terrible governance under the PPP. Political Parties- equally
deficient of moral values to question and challenge. Also, is the AFC, for it shows
they too can be contemptuous; perhaps, it could be their Stalinist’s indoctrination.
For Josef Stalin was a revered Soviet leader admired by both Forbes and Cheddie
and their protégé.
The electorate alienation into the camps of Afro and Indo started
with 1950’s politics. That pattern will continue on in our future unless
something drastic is done to promote trust and willingness to listen to others
rather than ones ethnic group.
What has made the Indo-Guyanese distrustful of the People’s
National Congress? Is it the Split of
1955 whereby the Peoples Progressive Party became factions of Burnhamites and
Jaganites? Could that have been perceived as racism because the Indoes choose
Cheddie and Afroes choose Forbes. Or, is it as the Afro-Guyanese intellectuals
claim that such hatred lies in the teachings of Hinduism? It is true Hinduism
endorses and enforces a caste system in India. However in Guyana, that brand of
Hinduism does not exists. For the Indoes who discriminate against Afroes for no
reason at all, then it must be an inward trait to exercise dominance over
another group of people in a society. Could the possibility exists that the
Wismar Massacre is responsible for the racial divisions in the country? That
incident could have made any rational Indian into a racist. And it did affect
many doctors who tended to the female victims. Unspeakable horrific things done
to the sexuality of the young and old. They were ferried out of Wismar/Linden,
the young and old, men and women –all wounded in some way and laid bare on the
wharves in Georgetown. The dead –their soul departed in fear and desperation.
Years later, in foreign countries, Lindeners would retell of
that day. They said there was moaning and groaning coming from the victims as
they laid in drains and parapits. Also, they were quick to point out that it
wasn’t Lindeners who did those horrible acts. Claiming, “The rampaging mob was
sent from Georgetown-ferried in on the Son Chapman.”
At that era of our history, there were only two men in the
People’s National Congress who could have ordered and enraged such a mob. The
hour long ferry trip from Georgetown did not quell their enraged spirits-riled
up by speeches of hate in Georgetown. The mob hit the docks at Wismar/Linden in
a frenzied state. Raw hate.
The Jews say that God is always speaking, because He expects
the discernment He had placed in the hearts of mankind would hear His words in
the thoughts of their minds. But that day in Wismar/Linden, Lucifer and his
demons was in full force-tribalism of hate spurned on by the beat of
drums-silently in the heads of the mob. Fire. The domain of the devil brought
down to Wismar. What was the reward of the devil to Lindeners for the carnage;
the devil is known for getting humans to cheat, steal, rob and kill. The gains
of the mob were only temporary-the loot was spent in no time, the gold was
smelted, what sexual pleasure could be had from the rape of women and the lives
snuffed out, surely The Almighty will enquire from the murderers.
It has been fifty years since. Perhaps, some of the victims
dead. Perhaps, some of the mob dead. Perhaps, one of the architects of that
massacre still alive in the enclave of the People’s National Congress. The Peoples Progressive Party blamed the
Central Intelligence Agency of the United States of America for the massacre.
True to their Soviet masters, the tragedy became just another Cold War escapade
of blaming the Americans. The British were blamed for dividing the races-with
their motto, “Divide and Rule.” And the devil’s reward to Lindeners! I leave
that for the people of Linden to take stock of their fortunes over the last
fifty years.
It is said, “The public has a short memory.” And those
incidents were forgotten. The leadership of People’s Progressive Party gave
Critical Support to the People’s National Congress on many issues and even
considered Shared Governance.
So why, the distrust of the People’s National Congress still
prevails onto this day? There are feelings that East Indians were marginalized-teaching
jobs were denied and the civil services jobs too.
A PNC party card was essential for any kind of activity.
No country remains the same-British Guiana/Guyana was a
country in transition. Before the arrivals of Portuguese, Chinese and East Indians,
there were only the Amerindians, Whites, Africans and the admixture of those
races. Education of Africans was a negotiated agreement at the Emancipation
Declarations. Church ran schools continually educated African children even
before the Indenture-ship period was implemented in the colony. And when
Indentures came, the Church ran schools were still educating African children
and continued until the People’s Progressive Party decision to rid the colony
of the Church participation in education. It was only natural for those
educated Africans to hold every position/job in the colony. And when the time
came for the children of the Indentured to be educated, it was the African who
taught the Portuguese, the Chinese, the Amerindians and the East Indians. As
the way progress goes, eventually there were more people and of different races
competing for the same jobs. The African started to lose ground-the Portuguese
honed in on their commercial and farming ventures. About a century later, the
PPP challenged the Church ran schools of forcing East Indians to become
Christians in order to get a teaching job in their schools. The church was out
of education. And the PPP rewarded PYO members with teaching jobs throughout
the colony-even if they were poorly qualified. By the time the PNC assumed the
government, Afro-Guyanese youths were underemployed. There was a genuine need
to address the problem-opportunities were made available to them. Besides the
population was increasing and not enough jobs were around.
Another complaint against the People’s National Congress. The
banning of food items. Both Afroes and Indoes complained, each with different
reasons. For the Indoes, it is the food lines they cannot get out of their
minds and the abuses that took place. To stand all day, get to the counter and
to be told the supplies were finished when there were supplies clearly visible.
That was Prejudice. Heaven knows what other demands were made for special
favours from mothers to get a little bit of food to feed their families. The
Indoes craved for dhal, potatoes and wheat flour-they complained about not
having flour to make puri for their weddings. With the banning of food items, a
contraband culture evolved-ran mainly by East Indians. Many became very wealthy
from it. The Police and Army deployed to apprehend Contraband Brigades. The
Disciplined Forces did many things with items seized, but what they did with
wheaten flour remained indelible in the minds of Afro-Guyanese. Bread, somehow
has significance in Christianity. And the sized flour was poured out of the
sacks on the ground and kicked around. Left over bread was never cast aside, it
was soaked into water. In the Caribbean, Guyanese became laughing stock, for
some would purchase bread as one would of Duty Free items when travelling
abroad.
The People’s National Congress made us look foolish in the
eyes of our Caribbean brothers. Today, the People’s Progressive Party does the
same with their corrupt practices, forcing citizens to take refuge among those
who have lost respect for Guyanese.
The decision to ban food items wiped out the merchants of
the Colonial Era. Yes, today there are plenty of food on the shelves. But not
every commodity is for everyone or can be purchased by everyone. If were not
for families living abroad many at home could not even afforded the items. But
Indoes would remark, “We have food now, the PPP give us food again.”
There are times, politician decree but God turns whatever
might have been meant to be bad into good - undo harm. East Indians may have
viewed the decisions by L.F.S Burnham as a personal attack on them. Certainly,
the Jagans gave the impression it was a personal attack. I think it was more of
an attack on the support base of the People’s Progressive Party who happened to
be predominantly East Indians. The international decision to keep the PPP out
of government due to its Soviet leanings eventually made East Indians into
second class citizens in Guyana. One was
either a PPPite or PNCite and a card carrying member.
And East Indians found whichever way to SURVIVE under the
decrees of the People’s National Congress.
Many would go to United States of America. The country
despised by the People’s Progressive Party, labelled with despicable names. A
country that denied equal opportunities to African Americans, yet supports
Afro-Guyanese in the suppression of East Indians.
Strange country, this America. Backing suppression of East
Indians in Guyana and yet open its doors to them for immigration. And they
arrived in large numbers. Parents did whatever they could to get their girl
children out of Guyana and into America. There were cases where East Indian
young men took advantage of the situation. Many were feted with the false
promises of marriage. Some young men even went through the marriages,
consummated the marriages but never filed Immigration Papers for their wives.
For some young men, this was a regular practice when they made returned visits
to Guyana.
Everyone wanted to leave Guyana.
The Portuguese cited their European heritage and the doors
were open to them in America, Britain and Canada.
For the Guyanese of African and East Indian decent, it was a
struggle to access any type of visa. They religiously tracked every Immigration
Policy decision in Canada and the United States with the hope of being able to
put in an application for a visa-Permanent or Visitors.
An entrepreneurial class emerged to meet demands of many of
the shortages of commodities the Burnham decrees had imposed. It gave rise to
what is referred to as the ‘SUITCASE ECONOMY’. East Indian seamstresses began
by sewing clothes, travelled to Caribbean Islands and sold their products.
Returning to Guyana with filled suitcases of commodities to meet the demands of
the people.
Selling out of suitcases was nothing new for the East
Indians in Guyana. Some did that trade in the Negro villages for decades. The
conditions imposed by the Burnham decrees simply pushed them beyond the borders
of Guyana. The Caribbean Islands became the market place. And the once few
became many, operating out of suitcases, traversing the Islands and Guyana.
TRADERS became their name. And it was no longer only East
Indians. Many Negro women became involved in the trade. At Timehri Airport, an
observant traveller could see the cooperation of these women-Indoes and
Afroes. The decrees of Burnham affected
the Afro-Guyanese as well.
As Guyanese continue to immigrate to Canada and the United
States, they sought ways of helping family and friends in need. It appeared as
if everyone in Guyana needed some sort of assistance. To fill that need, the
opportunity of a booming transportation business materialized. BARRELS filled
with much needed commodities were shipped to Guyana continuously. That venture
made several entrepreneurs very wealthy.
REMITTANCES eventually became a significant component of the
Guyanese economy. Millions of dollars sent by Guyanese living in Canada, United
States and other parts of the world created a consumer class in Guyanese. And
that gave rise to RETAIL BUSINESSESS. The new trend of SUPERMARKETS.
The lives of the people were comfortable again as in the
Colonial Period. And the People’s Progressive Party saw the consumerism as part
of their program of success. Failing to build on the generosity of the
diaspora. And the PPP became complacent.
Why did the American government focused on British Guiana in
1953?
America in the 1930’s had a following of men and women who
were Communists. Rampant poverty, the
lack of having a meal and providing for families was an everyday occurrence. And elites with the Communist agenda saw the
deprivations as an opportunity in promoting the ideology. Trade Unions were
infiltrated. Democracy was under attack in America. And the Pro-Democracy
champions were people of tremendous influences.
There were crack downs.
At the time, Cheddie Jagan was a student in America. It is
written, he was introduced to Communist ideology by a young woman he was seeing
at the time. Stopped stone cold in America. They would wait for years, returning
to British Guiana to pursue their desires upon an unsuspecting impoverished
people.
And they came to British Guiana as a married couple.
Immediately, the norms of an influential colonial people
were challenged-the Negroes, the East Indians, the Chinese, the Portuguese, the
Mixed People. Termed colonial stooges.
There, began the struggles of extremists and moderates in
the Guyanese society. Every opportunity was an assault on the sugar industry-
the major employer in the colony. Obviously, to control the workers by a Trade
Union. Even though one already existed.
Typical of the Communist, lies and deception became their
tools. And the poor began to look at their
White employers with suspicions. The Bible states; “Words are a spirit and
life.” And the words of the People’s Progressive Party has cursed the
country. After twenty eight years in
Opposition, they returned to power to fulfill the curses. Today, after their
rule of twenty two years, what has become of the country? Crimes and criminals
are unchecked. Law and Order disregarded by government officials and elite
citizenry. The Justice System rift with unethical practices. Narcotics and its
shipment destroyed the legitimate exporting of local products. The Environment
is foul with garbage. The Drainage and Irrigation System in derelict
conditions. Cronyism nurtured poor infra-structures of the country. And their
sins are responsible for those in despair who take their own lives-just to
escape the hardships imposed by the People’s Progressive Party.
They are simply a VERY BAD group of men and women in the PPP.
The People’s Progressive Party is void of leadership-it has
a lot of devious people in its midst. So, there is no one in authority.
BECAUSE, each knows the wretched ways of the other.
The People’s Progressive Party lacked the ethics of
governing. And not today, but in fact since 1953.
Why would the British Government suspend the 1953
Constitution? Because the leadership of the PPP had no respect for the laws
written in it.
They gained the confidence of the poor by telling them that
the British were paying slave wages and do nothing to ease their misery. When
in actual fact, the Sugar Welfare Fund was moving people out of the Cottages
into Housing Schemes. There it was, a White person telling an entire Indo group
of Guyanese that another set of White people were causing the misery in their
lives. And they believed.
The plan of the People’s Progressive Party was to rid the
colony of the Brits and hand its administrations over to the Soviets. How they
ever hoped to achieve that-only the Almighty would know. The PPP leadership had
to be naive as to what the Americans and British would do to prevent such an
event from happening. There had to be something wrong to even think up a plan
like that. Especially, since the Cubans entertained
the Soviets in their country. Guatemala was in turmoil-orchestrated by the
Central Intelligence Agency. Arbenz had to flee to Mexico. Allende in Chile was
monitored by the Americans. And Mousadeh of Iran was ousted.
What was the leadership of PPP thinking when they sent the
photograph of Josef Stalin to PPP cells in the villages? Grown men hung the
huge photograph of Stalin around their necks and paraded themselves in the
presence of the Governor of the Colony-as a form of protest. Less than ten
years had passed since Josef Stalin sat with Winston Churchill, Franklin
Roosevelt and Harry Truman as an axis for defeating Adolph Hitler. Western nations witnessed the maneuvers of the
Soviets as they raced to occupy Germany. In the end, occupying East Germany. The world watched as the Soviets dominated the
lives of the Eastern Europeans.
Who in their right mind would think that the PPP would have
been allowed to hand Guyana over to the Soviets?
Just as a today, the PPP of 1953 abandoned their Ministerial
duties in pursuit of another agenda. The Legislature descended into upheaval –
chaos. Diplomacy and respect for Higher Authority trampled, replaced by anger
and plain stubbornness. A line dawn in the Guyanese society, either one was a
PPP or a Colonial Stooge. The situation became as historians compare the
civilizations of the Greeks and Romans. The Greeks, cultured and diplomatic.
The Romans, barbaric and uncouth.
The PPP was never an organization of calmness – always
confrontational. Just as today, propaganda was their stock and trade. Justice,
diplomacy, good reasoning and decency escaped and escapes their minds. A
barbaric group of individuals. For those
of a cultured disposition, the path to Independence was going to be one of observing
all the protocols of a matured society capable of being Independent. Such a path was to be scorned by the People’s
Progressive Party-their objections simply dismissed as, “Colonial Stooges.”
With charged rhetoric coming from the People’s Progressive
Party, a concerned Governor of the Colony called in the Premier for dialogue.
The Governor disclosed, “It appears the Premier is not thinking on his
own-someone else is directing his decisions.”
Who is directing Donald Ramotar?
PROROGUE of parliament is to empower a group of individuals
who do not have to answer for their actions. The PPP tried the same things in
1953-to do whatever they wanted. But there was a Higher Power then to curb
their excessive behaviour. The Constitution was suspended.
Until the Governor read the reasons for the Suspension Order
on the radio. Rural peoples never knew the leadership of the PPP made several
trips to the Soviet block for indoctrinations. They transported and disseminate
subversive literature throughout the colony. Encouraged sabotage and civil
disorder.
Unfortunate for the
citizens. In the rural areas, the voice of the Colonials was drown out by the
PPP. Their message to the Indoes, “We Care.” Similar to the present day, “We
Care.”
Back in the fifties, the “We Care” was to empower the PPP whose
deceitful plan was to take the people into the Soviet sphere.
Today’s, “We Care” is to empower the PPP to continue their
reckless administration of the country-disrespect for parliament, corruption,
cronyism and list could go on and on.
Those “We Care” had and has a price. Jim Jones cared too.
And his followers committed mass suicide.
I ask the voters who willingly give their votes to the PPP.
Do you see the pattern of despair and suicides in the rural areas-your
communities?
Do you really believe that the People’s Progressive Party
cares?
STUBBORNNESS-a natural trait of the leadership of the
People’s Progressive Party. Unwilling to change ideology. Unwilling to provide
good governance. Unwilling to call Local Government Elections. Unwilling to
call General Elections. Unwilling to replace corrupt ministers. Unwilling to re-convene
parliament in a timely manner. Unwilling to lift the prorogue decree.
Stubbornness.
East Indians must understand why the People’s Progressive
Party has to go. If East Indians are part of the PPP stubbornness, then what
will emerge as the Alternative? There is no Linden Forbes Samson Burnham this
time around. He was the lesser of two evils imposed by the British. For we are
truly witnessing an evil and corrupt People’s Progressive Party. The British cannot
choose for us anymore. It is Guyanese who will have to determine the Change.
The PPP have boasted of not ever lost an election. But this
time around, they could. That depends entirely on the People’s National
Congress, Mr. Granger and Mr. Nagamoottoo. Each, separately must weigh their
choices. Either to seek personal ambitions or place Guyana foremost.
Sincerely,
Velutha Kuttapen.
www.timehritoday.blogspot.com
