In the Diaspora, in the river of Babylon, in the mind of Nietzsche

Jul 16, 2009 Features / Columnists, Freddie Kissoon

I had a chat some months ago with Christopher Ram and I expressed my anger at what women’s activist and one of the former shining stars of the Working People Alliance, Sister Andaiye, has become. Not that I have missed out on what Keith Scott, formerly of the WPA’s leadership and Walter Rodney’s brother-in-law, has become too. He teamed up with the PNC and formed the farce called PNC-Reform-One Guyana. I don’t think Keith views Corbin as his leader from our discussions at the wake for Josh Ramsammy but legally Corbin is the leader of PNC-Reform-One Guyana.
I vented my frustration to Christopher Ram because anti-dictatorship fighters like Andaiye inspired me when I was young. I learnt a lot from people like her. I told Mr. Ram that when the business community bestowed an honour on Andaiye a few months ago, I thought she would have given an outstanding speech on the degeneration of power that makes Guyana today a worse polity than when she fought Forbes Burnham. Andaiye is a woman activist but strangely didn’t utter a word about what poor Varshnie Singh went through with her relationship with President Jagdeo.
If you read my columns over the long years you would know that there are times that I enjoy a moment of satire. I did an article a few years ago in which I wrote of how I dropped dead after reading something that the Government did. In another column, I described how the shock sent hot coffee into my legs and burnt me to the bone so I was paralysed.
Well another calamity struck me while having coffee with my breakfast on Monday morning. Monday morning was a terrible day for me. I slept miserably on Sunday evening because in the afternoon of that day, my back door windscreen of my car was shattered by a brick. All I thought of Monday morning when I got up was where I was going to buy one.
So I completed reading Kaieteur News, picked up the Stabroek News and read “In the Diaspora” column with the title, “The Honduras Coup is the Caribbean’s Business.” What got me into danger is when I read the byline – by Andaiye, Alissa Trotz and Norman Girvan (forget the last one; he’s lives in the past).
The coffee fell on my stomach and burnt me right through so I had to be rushed to the hospital (I’m writing this column in the intensive care unit of the dreaded Georgetown Hospital- yeah, right!).
I insisted that the ambulance take me to three optometrists first because I wasn’t sure I was seeing right. By whom? Andaiye and Alissa Trotz? Why is the Honduras coup the Caribbean’s business and not elected dictatorship in Guyana? Why would Andaiye and Alissa Trotz find time to write about a coup in Honduras and not the terrible, horrible manifestations of power degeneracy in Guyana?
I couldn’t understand it when I read that column a few weeks ago in which the writer was Nigel Westmaas, another shining star from the WPA days. He chose to reflect on the historical ties between Guyana and Barbados. I think Alissa Trotz touched on that subject last week.
“In the Diaspora” seeks to stay clear of elected dictatorship in Guyana. I can understand that Norman Girvan has little interest in what goes on in Guyana; he has an obsession with the mythical greatness of Fidel’s Cuba and Cuba’s Fidel. But surely Nigel, Andaiye and Alissa should pen a few notes on the morbidity of power in Guyana.
Let me say unapologetically that it is hard to understand how three Guyanese who care about this country, two of whom have fought valiantly for democracy in Guyana and suffered because of their valour, can find time to inform readers in and out of Guyana about what is happening in Honduras and not Guyana, their own country.
Maybe Drs. Seelochan Beharry and Anand Daljeet of Canada and Abu Bakr, of France, should be contacted to do a few pieces for the project. They write on things that are wrong about the Government of Guyana.
The best one in the series that I have read is “On petty tyrannies” by Barbados-based Guyanese, Arif Bulkan. Unlike Andaiye, Nigel and Alissa, he had Guyanese politics in mind. He was trenchant and insightful in his analysis of the abuse of power in this land. In fact Bulkan is the only writer in the series who wrote on the President and what he is doing that is wrong, illegal and unconstitutional.
How about this title; “Fear in the Diaspora?”

Latest News

In the Diaspora, in the river of Babylon, in the mind of Nietzsche

Related

Similar Articles

The Glenn Lall Show|| February, 14th, 2025

Follow on Tik Tok @Glennlall

THE BLUNT OF THE DAY

Sports

GBA assembles elite squad for 2025 Caribbean Boxing Championship in...

PanAm Aquatics urges GASA reform, lift suspension...

Alimohamed, Motie stroke fifties as Harpy Eagles...

Mashramani Street Football Championships...

Fitness Express to reward overall winners

Amaya Milk Company backs One Guyana Mashramani...

Features/Columnists

The Opposition is engaged in self-sabotage

OAS Secretary General Election and renewed OAS Consensus

Wanted – ten Guyanese true and trustworthy

Publisher’s Note

Weekend Cartoon

Bridge Watch

Demerara Harbour Bridge

> Berbice Bridge […]

In the Diaspora, in the river of Babylon, in the mind of Nietzsche

Share this:

Related

Similar Articles

The Glenn Lall Show|| February, 14th, 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 […]