Josh Ramsammy: A tribute

Feb 13, 2009 Features / Columnists, Freddie Kissoon

Josh Ramsammy is one of the persons I admired when we met when I just twenty years old. He was one of the towering figures in the Movement Against Oppression (MAO). I liked his style, commitment and simplicity. Together with Clive Thomas, Andaiye, and Brian Rodway, he became one of the persons I wanted to emulate.

From MAO, we continued our political fraternity when I became a UG student. We were both there at the beginning of the formation of the Working People’s Alliance. Dr. Joshua Reuben Ramsammy, retired biologist at the University of Guyana and long-standing anti-dictatorship fighter has taken his place among the great human beings this country has produced.

When I heard of his death, I thought I would write the lyrics down of a song I heard when I was pretty young. It was sung by Mary Hopkin and it captures the sprit of the friendships that were forged in MAO and the WPA. In my heart I believe the period of modern Guyana that gave rise to MAO and the WPA is representative of the richest tapestry in the struggle for a just, free and equal Guyana.

Mary Hopkin’s song applies not only to Josh but to the excellent human beings I met in the Working People’s Alliance. Here is Mary Hopkin’s “Those were the Days.”
Once upon a time there was a tavern
Where we used to raise a glass or two
Remember how we’d laugh away the hours
And think of all the great things we would do
CHORUS
Those were the days, my friend
We thought they’d never end
We’d live the life we choose
We’d fight and never lose
For we were young and sure to have our way
Those were the days
Oh yes, those were the days

Then the busy years went rushing by us
We lost our starry notions along the way
If by chance I’d see you in the tavern
We’d smile at another and we’d say
REPEAT CHORUS

Just tonight I stood before the tavern
Nothing seemed the way it used to be
In the glass I saw a strange reflection
Was that lonely figure really me?
REPEAT CHORUS

Through the door came familiar laughter
I saw your face and heard you call my name
Oh my friend were older but no wiser
For in our hearts the dreams are still the same
REPEAT CHORUS
END OF SONG

After the PPP won the 1992 elections and turned its back on the WPA, the end of an era had come. The WPA for all intent and purpose was finished as a dynamic, galvanizing force on Guyana’s political landscape. We each went our separate ways. Many of us migrated. Some exited themselves from political discourse, while others voiced concerns about the PPP’s authoritarian drift.

But there is one inescapable fact of reality in Guyana – the great people in the WPA that made the return to democratic elections possible had become deeply chagrined at what the PPP had become and was psychologically burdened at how tragic was the result of the long struggle against the PNC harsh rule.

Josh Ramsammy quietly removed himself from political activism. I hardly saw him until he became the Pro-Chancellor of the UG. From thereon, we saw each other often and spoke engagingly about where Guyana was heading. Josh Ramsammy was fired as Pro-Chancellor because President Jagdeo and the PPP misconceived who he was; the inner threads that made up his character.

I suspect that they thought he would have taken a pro-East Indian line at UG or would have become pliable. But he was inflexibly anti-racist and nationalistic. That experience at UG was Josh Ramsammy’s biggest mistake. He never recovered psychologically from that experience. I spoke with him not so regularly but fairly often; it was clear to me that he had become introverted.

His psychology was deeply pierced from the things he saw the PPP did while being in charge at UG. For Josh Ramsammy, the world was a cruel place and Guyana was a particularly jinxed nation. Like most WPA leaders, he couldn’t understand how fate could have been that harsh to him and his comrades.

I detected the pain, impatience, angst and pessimism. For him, Guyana was lost. The PPP was as destructive as the PNC He gave up on Guyana and himself. Josh was the first, the very first person who told me that President Jagdeo was heading down the path to dictatorship. He knew this from what he saw as UG’s Pro-Chancellor.

So sad that after 1992, he couldn’t participate in shaping a future for Guyana. An excellent, brilliant, great Guyanese has died. May we never forget what he did for his country!

Latest News

Josh Ramsammy: A tribute

Related

Similar Articles

The Glenn Lall Show|| February, 10th, 2025

Follow on Tik Tok @Glennlall

THE BLUNT OF THE DAY

Sports

Allicock, Amsterdam named in GBA training squad 2025 Caribbean Boxing...

Interesting transfers, Clubs secure firepower...

North East beat Back Circle B; set up semi...

DCC executive laud Savory, Imlach for champion...

Dozens of young chess players participate in...

Shai Hope claims Green Belt and Dispatch of the...

Features/Columnists

Are we better off today than we were before first oil?

OAS Secretary General Election and renewed OAS Consensus

Jagdeo on contract awards

Publisher’s Note

Weekend Cartoon

Bridge Watch

Demerara Harbour Bridge

> Berbice Bridge […]

Josh Ramsammy: A tribute

Share this:

Related

Similar Articles

The Glenn Lall Show|| February, 10th, 2025

Follow on Tik Tok @Glennlall

THE BLUNT OF THE DAY

Sports

Features/Columnists

Publisher’s Note

Weekend Cartoon

Bridge Watch

Demerara Harbour Bridge

> Berbice Bridge […]