Dev and Freddie out of line

Sep 20, 2008 Letters

DEAR EDITOR,
I agree with Peeping Tom (KN Sep 16) that Ravi Dev (KN Sep 14) went overboard in his critique of Freddie Kissoon who penned repeatedly that he (Freddie) is “ashamed of being an Indian”.

Dev advised that Freddie should seek the assistance of Dr. Hari to address his problem. As a religious person, Dev should have advised Freddie to consult a pandit, a mulvi or a priest to “jharay” him instead of a psychiatrist.

Dev was out of line. But Freddie (KN Sep 17) also crossed the line in his response to Dev by getting downright nasty and personal and advising Dev to return to NY.

Dev makes an enormous contribution to political debates in Guyana. He is one of the most brilliant Guyanese minds of our time.

Few are as gifted as him as a speaker and writer. He has always been professional in his analysis of social/political phenomena and critiques of other thoughts and writings.

Although many of my colleagues were in glee and justify his salvo against Freddie, I was surprised Dev advised Freddie to visit a psychiatrist because it is not his nature to get personal.

I first met Dev in the mid 1980s in NY to coordinate activities during the anti-dictatorial struggle. We met regularly for lunch during class breaks when I was doing doctoral studies at CUNY.

He was always professional. Dev is not the kind of person who is easily provoked. And even if provoked, he should have ignored Freddie’s rants and misrepresentation of his writings.

As Peeping Tom pointed out and as I and many others have observed and or noted in various letters, Freddie has a tendency of misrepresenting (or mis-paraphrasing) what others penned.

During three visits to Guyana this year, everywhere I traveled throughout the nation, people advised me “don’t bother with Freddie.

He head nah good”. I don’t think they mean it literally. They disagree with some of his arguments and his anti-government obsession and so dismiss him with “he head nah good”. But much of Freddie’s arguments are flawless and often he is on solid ground.

It is when Freddie gets personal, misrepresents the arguments of others, and strays from his arguments that he runs into trouble. Otherwise, he is a very good writer.

I accepted the advice of others not to respond to Freddie whenever he misrepresents what I write or whenever he needlessly and unjustifiably attacks me.

Dev should do the same although it is easier said than done because there is so much that Freddie pens that is not correct.

Nevertheless, I do believe Dev should not suggest the man needs psychological help and equally so Freddie should not attack the man’s personal or family life.

People have complained to me that whenever Freddie loses an argument, he gets down and dirty attacking people personally with language that has no relevance to the arguments they make.

I disagree with Freddie’s conclusion that Dev was humiliated at the polls suffering an ignominious end to his political career. Freddie ought to know that it is virtually impossible to break down the thick walls of the prison of race; Freddie writes on the subject repeatedly.

But Dev did crack the wall in obtaining a seat in the 2001 election – an achievement of few other politicians. So many, including the great Balram Singh Rai, Hoosein Ghanie and Moses Bhagwan, have tried and failed to crack the wall.

Dev’s ROAR chose not to contest the 2006 elections as a separate party and instead went into an alliance with GAP. I thought it was an error for ROAR not to contest on its own. The alliance won a seat against insurmountable odds.

That is not the achievement of a humiliated politician. With regards to returning to NY, Guyanese need to be informed that Dev gave up a lucrative career in business earning triple digit salary that would be the equivalent of millions of (US) dollars in today’s value to return to his native land.

He also could have earned millions a year practicing law as several other Guyanese have been doing in Little Guyana.

Instead, he chose to return to his country to join the struggle for the restoration of democracy – a noble act which so few were willing to follow. You are over the line Freddie! Both you and Dev should know better.
Vishnu Bisram

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