Girvan’s Cuba

Feb 21, 2009 Features / Columnists, Freddie Kissoon

No one can deny that Caribbean economist, Norman Girvan, is a learned professor. He is a formidable economist and a scholar of regional fame.
But like all human beings, he has his inexplicable moments. This is life. The strange things that people do that defy logic or are hard to understand will forever be present in human society.

Human beings, no matter how erudite and philosophical they are, seem prone to sentiments that lead them to action that conflicts with their deep learning. Sentiments have played a monumental role in the lives of nations and their leaders. The trouble with sentiments is that they get in the way of intellectual analysis and they cloud the vision of those who should know better.

There is no doubt in my mind that the countless learned Guyanese East Indian scholars who admire Cheddi Jagan, and the large number of Afro-Guyanese intellectuals who see Burnham as a great man, locked out from their minds the grave mistakes committed by these two men because of some sentimental journey along the way.

In the case of Burnham, African-Guyanese have a paradoxical attitude. They know Burnham was a visionary who loved Guyana but they are conscious that he engaged in unacceptable excesses. The Walter Rodney assassination is the main stumbling block.
With Jagan, the situation is completely different. People warmed up to him because they saw him as a victim of the West and of Burnham. Those two factors blinded them to his destructive and unbelievable selfishness. More of the role of sentiments in people’s perception of Jagan in another column.

Back to Girvan. Is it a sentimental journey some decades ago that has stayed with Dr. Girvan that prevents him from seeing the glaring denial of freedom and justice that characterise the half century of Castro’s rule?
If a Jamaican Prime Minister (Girvan is from Jamaica) had declared himself permanent Head of State, would have Dr. Girvan accepted that? Can Dr. Girvan tell us why a leader would want to rule for 50 years? Well, yes, if he is making his country a heaven on earth.

Where is the paradise in Cuba under Castro? The ancient Greek had a word to mean the opposite of paradise – Hades. For countless Cubans, their land is Hades. Castro of course has promised his people an Elysium, but Jamaicans are far closer to that goal than Cubans. One day, the great Cuba will produce a Usain Bolt. Jamaica has produced one.

In Guyana, President Bush has been bitterly criticised for his violations by Mrs. Jagan and President Jagdeo, but never a word about the Cuban leader who has prisoners languishing in jail for years, branding them terrorists in the identical way Mr. Bush has done to those he sent to Guantanamo.
Let’s quote Dr. Girvan in Havana to receive an honorary doctorate from the University of Havana: “Cuba has survived the collapse of the Soviet Union … without brutal political repression of the kind we see that we have seen in many other countries.” Now, this coming from a renowned Caribbean scholar is unacceptable.

Cuba has the largest number of political prisoners over a longer period of time than other similar dictatorships in the world. Of course, it is easy to become a political prisoner in Cuba – just let them catch you with a copy of Newsweek in your home, the kind of magazine that Dr. Girvan would buy at an airport while waiting to catch a flight to a capitalist countries, then probably discard when his flight is ready to depart.

On the question of travel, Dr. Girvan wrote recently that he found the hassles to get file the application for an EU visa annoying.
Funny he should write that after he delivered his speech in Cuba. How many persons in Cuba can travel freely to the West as Dr. Girvan does?
Let’s quote Dr. Girvan again: “(The Cuban miracles) can only be explained by the practice of a profound participatory democracy with a leadership that explains everything.”

Dr. Girvan, you are talking nonsense. The Cuban leadership refuses to tell the Cuban people how sick is Castro, what sickness he has and where he is receiving his treatment.
No one in Cuba knows where Castro lives. You call that a leadership that explains everything? If Cubans could apply for visas the way Jamaicans do, Cuba would be empty.

Finally, in his speech, Girvan mentioned the greatness of Walter Rodney. I wonder if Girvan knows that after Walter was assassinated, Castro bestowed Cuba’s highest national award on President Forbes Burnham. Please, Dr. Girvan, ask Castro the next time you see him to let his friend Hugo Chavez leave Guyana’s territory alone.