Ramsammy must have given up hope that his struggles would never bear fruit

Mar 03, 2009 Letters

Dear Editor,
May I extend my sympathy to the family of Dr. Joshua Ramsammy on his passing.
I got to know Joshua Ramsammy during the turbulent fiery period of WPA activism and the many trade union activities in which the bauxite workers of Linden were constantly involved.
I remembered well his presentation at CCWU (I think) when the major unions were contemplating breaking away from the TUC to form the now FITUG, as well as other presentations at political rallies and 13th June Walter Rodney anniversary.
I am not one from his bunch in any way or form whatsoever and do not claim to know him personally, though I did somewhat, and that was mainly because of my association with the WPA, political and trade union involvement.

I must say how honoured I felt when he thought it best to send me a very important document on waste disposal and its effect/impact when the foreign waste project that was being proposed for Linden was creating a storm. With his permission I reprinted and circulated it.
I can only say, like most have said, with all sincerity that of the few times I’ve been around him I found him to be humble, affable, very often quiet and without fuss, qualities which are rarely found in many intellectuals.

All that aside, I want to say a word or two on what I have noted at least two writers have mentioned in their tribute to him: that he had sort of given up/lost hope. Nigel Westmaas in SN Monday, 16th February, talked about “his conspicuous cynicism”.
“His pessimism,” he wrote, “I can only assume emerged late in his life and was a reflection of his experienced sojourn with Guyana’s political and social decay.”

He further likened his cynicism to “been there, done that with little effect; these folks and this process (through several regimes) are unlikely to change”.
There are struggles in which persons from time to time have dedicated their lives to, under no illusions, with the understanding that it might/can be protracted and may not live to see that change, but harbour the belief, the faith, that it will one day come.

Because there is a twinkling of evidence and a spark of hope that dwells in them and sustains them; a voice inside that constantly reminds them that ‘a change is gonna come’.
But if or when the voice dies, the “warrior” also dies.
Clearly according to the writers, maybe Joshua Ramsammy had become battle-weary and quietly resigned himself, took a back seat and silently looked on at the charade as the light/voice inside of him grew dimmer until its final extinction.

Was he grieving on the inside for something he struggled for but finally came to the pitiful conclusion that it will never come, never? Could this have been a stress factor that weighed on him somewhat “his conspicuous cynicism” and quickened his transition?
But he played his part.
Frank Fyffe

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