A living nightmare: My 20 years as a columnist

Nov 16, 2008 Freddie Kissoon

Last month, I completed 20 years as a newspaper columnist. I have been a major commentator for the Stabroek News, the Catholic Standard and the Kaieteur News. I have done about ten columns for the Chronicle under the editorship of the late Anthony Calder. In those two decades, I have learnt more about the people of this country than any politician, businessman, policeman or civil society leader can ever imagine.
If I do acquire the resources in the future, I would like to do a book length manuscript on my experience. Only the laws of libel would prevent such a project. Even though the information would be factual, those that are exposed will still want to hide their narrow-mindedness by resorting to the courts.
Not much could be put into a newspaper column about life as an independent analyst in this country; the notes are too voluminous. But it was a nightmare when I started. It is still a nightmare. Why do I continue? Because it is in my blood; because it is the only life I know; because I feel that is my contribution to helping my country that has never seen even a sustained moment of genuine freedom even before I was born.
Over those two decades, I have revealed bits and pieces of the hazards of writing with an independent mind. Looking over those twenty years, I have evaluated all the governments that have been in power since 1988 and I have been pungently critical of all of them.
My canvas has taken in all opposition parties, the business community, the judiciary, national organizations, national figures, the media, the religious bodies, trade unions, cultural organization; the entire society. It is such a pity that I cannot name names and describe events here, most of which the Guyanese people are entitled to know about.
But using broad generalizations should offer some scope for description.
This is a tragic nation. There are times you see some nasty things in quarters you least expect them and that makes you pessimistic. But as the great Italian philosopher, Antonio Gramsci put it: “The optimism of the will has to override the pessimism of the intellect”.
In my twenty years as a Guyanese independent columnist, I have observed the worst in human behaviour. It may come as a surprise to my readers to know that I have seen good people in the Government of Guyana that are far better than what you will find in the opposition parties. I have found people in the Government of Guyana that have cultivated the same authoritarian instincts as Forbes Burnham and who have no interest in doing good for this country.
I have also met genuine patriots in the opposition groupings that if allowed to participate in power will most definitely help the future of this troubled nation.
I have not lived in many countries so I cannot do a fruitful comparative analysis of hypocrisy in Guyana. But this poor country with a tiny economy and a small population must have the largest numbers of hypocrites per capita.
Since 1988 when I began writing, I would encounter all types citizens who hated our authoritarian government but who themselves were more intolerant than the leaders they wanted removed. This unbearable feature still exists in the year 2008.
Over the twenty years that I have penned my assessments and analyses, I have episodically described some of the nightmares I have encountered. They come from all quarters. This is a country where a person will run up to you, be they old, young, African, Indian, male, female, rich, poor, in the opposition or in the government, in the media or in business or in civic society and heap praise on you for what they consider a courageous and brilliant article. Then months down the line, when you comment on the brazenly wrong thing they have done and for which you received a complaint and which you have written on, you become their worst enemy.
Within the time span of a week, you can change from hero to villain.
In two of my columns many years ago, I held the view that an independent analyst is an endangered species in this land. Most people want you to take a direction in your writing and to leave their territory alone. In their reckoning, you must write on selected topics.
So a businessman wants you to knock the government. But when he is exposed for an egregious violation, he hates you when you write on it. Policemen, magistrates, judges, civil society leaders, religious figures, all of them take angry umbrage when the pen goes in their direction. But such is the danger in independent analysis.

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A living nightmare: My 20 years as a columnist

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