Freddie Kissoon’s debunking of ‘The West on Trial’

Nov 16, 2009 Letters

Dear Editor,

I refer to Frederick Kissoon’s article in Kaieteur News on November 14, entitled, “The blind man and the black cat: A short history of fascism in Guyana.”

Short of saying the blind man wanted to kiss the black cat, Kissoon pulls out yet another phantom from his malicious, morbid mind as he doggedly gnaws at the heroic history of the People’s Progressive Party (PPP) and its legendary freedom-fighting leader, Cheddi Jagan.

Kissoon says we need a “revisionist methodology” to analyse contemporary Guyanese history; what he actually wants is a blatant bastardization of our history to appease his rage against the PPP and the Jagans.

“Too many, way too many fictions have been passed on to my generation as facts,” he frets, adding: “The main culprit in this perpetual drama of myths, mythology and fiction is Dr. Cheddi Jagan’s autobiography, ‘The West on Trial.’ This book offers a picture of the sixties in Guyana and his party, the PPP from within the tilting windmills of Jagan’s mind and not from the objective horizons of a man in search of history’s purpose. Jagan’s book is a phantasmagoria of mental mirages that denies the average citizen a glimpse into what Guyana was really like 48 years ago.”

I have read “The West on Trial” as well as the memoirs, biographies and autobiographies of countless politicians and statesmen around the world.

Among Caribbean leaders’ memoirs especially I say convincingly, clearly and indubitably that “The West on Trial” stands tall, proud and unconquerable as a colossus.

And no spiteful attack by any moronic academic will ever diminish the historical, journalistic and documentary value of Cheddi Jagan’s landmark book.

I invite everyone who reads this letter to get hold of a copy (don’t steal, please) of “The West on Trial” and see for yourself whether there are “myths, mythology and fiction” as Frederick Kissoon wants you to believe.

In the book, Dr Jagan traces the evolution of the PPP as the main fighting force against British colonialism in Guyana and his own central role in the struggle. He diligently describes the roles of the main players, including the British and American governments, the PNC, UF, TUC, etc.

The book is replete with references, quotations and other forms of attribution to an abundance of primary and secondary sources. There are verbatim extracts from his official correspondence with the British and American governments and with Mr. Forbes Burnham; there are extracts from official colonial government reports and commissions of inquiry; there are extracts from the Hansard of the British Guiana Legislative Assembly; there are quoted passages from local and international newspapers and other publications; and much, much more first-hand supporting evidence.

Quite the opposite to Kissoon’s writings, which are conceived in and delivered from his warped wisdom.

Since the first publication of “The West on Trial” in 1967, declassified government documents in Great Britain and the United States have corroborated virtually all of Dr Jagan’s claims, assertions and arguments.

Frederick Kissoon conveniently ignores these incontestable truths and foolhardily calls for “revisionism.” Coming from Kissoon, one can fairly interpret revisionism to mean reckless reconstruction of the PPP’s noble, valiant and admirable anti-colonial history.

Hemraj Muniram

Toronto, Canada