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THE PROBLEM IS CLASS

Jan 12, 2010 Features / Columnists, Peeping Tom

One of the nauseating traits that have developed because of the nature of our politics is the rigid divide and compartments in which we judge others.
We have two main political parties in Guyana, both of which draw the bulk of their support from one or the other of the main ethnic groups. The PNC support base has historically been Afro-Guyanese. The PPP, since the split of 1955, has been supported primarily by the Indo-Guyanese section of the population.
These cleavages have caused a great deal of problems for Afro-Guyanese who wish to be associated with the PPP and for East Indians who wish to join with the PNC, now the PNCR. Once a prominent African is seen as associated with the PPP, he is labeled with all manner of tags. The same happens if a prominent East Indian joins up with the PNC.
But what is even sadder is that the viciousness against these individuals derives mainly from the rank and file supports of both parties. We have seen all too often in this country the nastiness that is directed against individuals who are perceived to have gone against the grain.
We have seen how some Indian leaders within the PPP have been alienated and slandered by PPP supporters. Similarly, we have seen how Afro-Guyanese who are associated with the PPP are treated with hostility.
Right now there is a concocted controversy about a mining concession. And it is heating up primarily because some persons see it as an opportunity to get at one individual who they dislike because he is now associated with the PPP. Never mind the individual got the concession during the final days of the PNC rule. No, the fact that he is no longer associated with the PNC but has gone over to the PPP, makes him the eyes of some people a target for bad-mouthing.
Within the mining, forestry and agricultural, when we deal with personalities, we are deflecting from the source of the problems. The problem, for example, in the mining industry has nothing to do with the acquisition, partnership, joint venture or sale of interests in the concessions granted years ago to any individual.
The problems within the sector are better considered in terms of who are the primary beneficiaries of concessions and how concentrated are concessions in the hands of a few individuals.
We have always had a great deal of minerals in this country. And for centuries, it has been exploited. Yet, Guyana still remains a poor country. So for all the gold, all the diamonds and all the other precious minerals that have been taken out of Guyana, it has done scarcely little for the vast majority of people of this country.
For all the millions of tons of bauxite that have been dug out of the mines at Linden and Everton and Kwakwani, where is the wealth is those communities? And we can go on in the same vein about timber. How many trees have been felled over the past one hundred years? And what has that done for the ordinary citizen?
The President of Guyana has a vision. That vision is that we can actually earn from not cutting down our forests.
But even if that vision becomes a reality, in whose hands will this money end up? Do you really believe that things will be any different than it was in the heyday of state capitalism/ co-operative socialism? Do you really believe that the present model of economic development that Guyana is pursuing will allow the ordinary citizen to become a millionaire overnight as a result of those funds?
This is the problem that we face. The problem is one of class and not of race. The problem is who benefits. There is one class that has always benefited, regardless of which government is in power. They held sway over the PNC and they are holding sway under the PPP.
In the meantime, the working class is fuming over someone obtaining a concession. Instead of demanding that the resources of Guyana be used more for helping poor people than for the rich, the working class is allowing itself to be divided along racial lines. And while they are doing this, the propertied class is smiling all the way to the bank.

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