An unwilling hero: Josh Ramsammy

Feb 18, 2009 Features / Columnists, Peeping Tom

A lot has been written so far about Josh Ramsammy. A great deal more will be said in the days ahead as his friends and colleagues reminisce on his life.
Josh died last week and was cremated last weekend. Many of those close to him have written glowingly about him and the impact he made on their lives.
Until now, I have stayed clear about writing about Josh because he was the type of man that would never be interested in the eulogising of his life. He was a humble man, introverted in his own way but yet strong-willed and defiant in others.
He gained prominence many years ago in most unfortunate circumstances. It was not the sort of limelight that he craved. In fact, it almost cost him his life.
He was part of a young movement which had spotted early the danger signs of Burnham and where he was headed. This movement was still in its infancy when it was perceived by the ruling elite as a threat.
Josh became of one the earliest political victims of that movement when he was shot outside a bank, an act that was believed to be an attempt to assassinate him.
The name of a PNC strongman has been mentioned in relation to the plot, which has never quite been proven. And so the question remains: “Who shot Josh Ramsammy of the radical Movement Against Oppression?”
One Freddie Kissoon sought to associate himself with that movement. He was not then as fearless as he is now. He was a skinny kid who was extremely timid in those days.
Josh was an important member of the anti-dictatorial struggle, but even at the time he was shot he was not someone who saw himself as a political frontrunner.
His only claim to political fame was that he took an assassin’s bullet and survived. But he was such a humble man that he never made himself a living martyr or hero out of this act.
Josh was far more mature than many within MAO, the forerunner of the Working People’s Alliance. It was a monumental mistake of Walter Rodney to try to cobble from that motley grouping a political movement; it was just too diverse a grouping with strong middle-class connections to lead a revolutionary struggle.
Josh came to grips with his role in politics at the time. Unlike so many others within the WPA, he also came to grips with the betrayal by the PPP of his former political ally.
Unlike what Freddie says, Josh would have come to grips with the ending of his contract at the University of Guyana. He would have understood the mentality that brought the end of his service there, and would have come to grips with the non-renewal of his contract without harbouring any bitter feelings.
A great many of Kissoon’s own feelings are unfortunately being projected onto his assessment of Josh Ramsammy. Josh would never have told Kissoon that the PPP was worse than Burnham in many respects.
That is an invention of Kissoon’s virulent imagination. Had Josh made that statement, it would have been used over and over again by Kissoon while Josh was alive.
I also do not believe that Josh Ramsammy was psychologically devastated by his dismissal from UG. He would not have been. This was a man who knew to deal with such situations and he would have already have measured up the PPP and known what it was capable of, known the small-mindedness of some of its leadership and would actually have wondered how he lasted that long at the University of Guyana.
It was sad to have read the account in yesterday’s newspaper as to why Josh was let go. It is claimed that Josh was let go in the interest of creating peace. Principle was compromised in the interest of peace. Yet the PPP had the temerity to say that Josh Ramsammy was a national patriot.
So is this how the PPP treats its national patriots? It lets them go in the interest of peace? Does it sacrifice them on the altar of expediency?

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