Thoughtful pieces by Ravi Dev and Freddie Kissoon

Oct 20, 2009 Letters

Dear Editor,
I am replying to very thoughtful pieces written by Sunday columnist Mr. Ravi Dev (Kaieteur News, October 10) in which he stated that “Democracy is not coffee – it does not come in instant” and Mr. Freddie Kissoon’s counter piece that Democracy is Coffee (October 12).
What Dev was saying is the PPP administration could not institute substantive democracy in a flash, like making instant coffee, given our history of totalitarian rule post 1968. All the institutions of the state and most of those in civil society had been corrupted beyond recognition.
In the disciplined forces, for example, all officers had to swear personal loyalty to Burnham. The Public Service was forced to attend indoctrination classes by his henchmen. Religious organisations such as the Maha Sabha were co-opted and their officers paid out of Congress Place. The same held true of Muslim and Christian groups. Elections were rigged so that voting became a joke.
There was the farce of the 1978 Referendum to enact a Constitution to make the dictator’s power “legal”. Newspapers were denied newsprint. UG was degraded. Leading democrats like Eusi Kwayana and Rupert Roopnarine were intimidated. Walter Rodney and Father Darke were assassinated. We could go on forever, but readers get the idea.
Dev argues that even the most well meaning new government would have had to clean the Aegean Stables before Guyana could have reached the stage of, say, a Barbados or a Trinidad. Democracy takes time to build – even in the best of circumstances – as Harvard scholars Fareed Zakaria, Huntington and Schumpeter had argued.
The inimitable Freddie Kissoon countered that “Democracy is coffee” and that it can be installed in an instant. As an example, he cited the election of President Obama – and the changes he has instituted or tried to institute.
Is Freddie really saying that Obama inherited the decade-old institutions of a dictatorship from George Bush and wiped the slate clean in an instant? I, and a whole host of people, never supported George Bush and his neo-conservative administration, but isn’t it stretching more than a little to liken Bush’s government to a “dictatorship”?
Zakaria did call the US of the 90’s an “illiberal democracy” but a “dictatorship”? When was this dictatorship constructed? Pray tell Freddie!
The comparisons of transition in Guyana with the US are inappropriate. Yes, Dr. Jagan could have cleaned up Guyana and put away those who broke the laws during the dictatorship, but he opted not to do so. Similarly, Obama could have locked up those who broke the laws during the Bush year, but he has opted no to do so for obvious reasons.
Freddie followed up with his continual misapplication of Zakaria’s work by claiming in his piece, “East Indians reject elected dictatorship” (October 16) that, “I, (Freddie) have always argued, using the theory of Zakaria that Guyana has an elected dictatorship.” As I, Vishnu Bisram, have pointed out before, this was not a theory of Zakaria’s, but a conclusion Zakaria made after observing that several elected governments descend into dictatorship across the globe. This was an empirical observation not a theory. A theory explains observed behaviour. Freddie, my friend, didn’t you pick that up from the many books you read? Any type of regime can, and have, changed into dictatorships. That is not new?
The point that Zakaria made was that it may be better for America to focus on building the institutions of what Dev called the “substantive content” of a liberal democracy in its ‘democratising mission’ overseas. In other words, Zakaria was restating his PhD mentor Huntington’s theory that some nations may not be ready for democracy “right away”. Liberal institutions and a middle class, they proposed, should take precedence – even by a benign dictator. Huntington and Zakaria even supported the idea of a brief dictatorship.
Is this Freddie’s belief also? That we should be tutoured, a la the British colonialists, who claimed we had to be “groomed” and that we were not ready for democracy. Is Freddie saying Guyana should be a benign dictatorship? This is the thought of a fascist. No Freddie, I do not support your idea of Guyana being transformed into a dictatorship so we can enjoy democratic stability. We already experienced 28 years of dictatorship. Now, we must build democracy.
Vishnu Bisram

Latest News

Thoughtful pieces by Ravi Dev and Freddie Kissoon

Related

Similar Articles

The Glenn Lall Show|| April, 7th, 2025

Follow on Tik Tok @Glennlall

THE BLUNT OF THE DAY

Sports

Berbice ease past Demerara in low-scoring match

Upper Demerara suffer 8 wicket loss as Lakeram...

Joshi is the new National 2025 Women’s Chess...

Kares Engineering renews title sponsorship of One...

Harpy Eagles looking to put old rivals to bed,...

Windsor Estates reigns supreme at AmCham Golf...

Features/Columnists

The geography of pettiness

The U.S. “Joining” the Commonwealth: an unreasonable expectation

Police violence – life is cheap in Linden

Publisher’s Note

Weekend Cartoon

Bridge Watch

Demerara Harbour Bridge

> Berbice Bridge […]

Thoughtful pieces by Ravi Dev and Freddie Kissoon

Share this:

Related

Similar Articles

The Glenn Lall Show|| April, 7th, 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 […]