‘Intellectuals’ should stop raising the racial question to create division and discord

Jan 14, 2010 Letters

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Dear Editor,
The recent exchanges between Hinds and Boodram in both SN and Kaieteur News reveal the lengths some will go to denigrate our past leaders and to unleash the burden of racism to either of the two major races in Guyana.
The sheer nonsense Boodram writes about Walter Rodney is not even worth commenting about except to say that Rodney was a Marxist of independent thinking who energized this nation when a crisis in governance of massive proportions was facing the people of Guyana.
Rodney was a brilliant organiser and a very able leader who established his “groundings” with the marginalised people in Jamaica and eventually brought his particular blend of political genius of relating to the masses here in Guyana; he and his associates were quite successful in getting a vibrant, unified and energetic cross-section of Guyanese to demonstrate their willingness to bring needed changes in our society.
For Boodram to engage in histrionics comparing the Marxism of Jagan to that of Rodney and to infer that Walter was really following some Pan-African” Black” vision is so absurd that Boodram should hide his face in shame; Jagan and Rodney were Marxists in a world which was divided by the Cold War but they were both extremely strong nationalists and dedicated to the betterment of the Guyanese masses, but they were from different generations and believe it or not, it counted and still counts in a world where space and time has become compressed.
Boodram is living in a dream-world and his logic and analysis of Walter Rodney is so full of holes, he should retire and come home to really feel what the regular folks feel instead of sitting in New York conjuring up absurdities and sheer nonsense; Walter Rodney was a true patriot, defender of the peoples’ rights and brought new political ideas and praxis to Guyana when he was alive.
Rodney galvanized huge gatherings on the streets, crowds with Indo and Afro Guyanese and this was significant at that point in our history; the fact that the WPA went into decline after his death is instructive in understanding the power Walter held in his hands and Boodram’s comments on this point are race-baiting, because in infancy (like the WPA), if the PPP or the PNC had lost Jagan or Burnham respectively, those parties would also have declined.
A statue should be built of Walter Rodney and placed in the most prominent place we can find in this country – he deserved such a tribute.
For Hinds, Boodram opened up a good chance to bash Jagan again, another time. Hinds’ points are all based on race, race and more race, trying to defend Rodney by “exposing” Jagan to more abuse and even invoking the name of Freddie Kissoon, a known Jagan hater, to get his points across.
When will these people realise that none of them can tarnish the good names of Walter Rodney or Cheddi Jagan with their feeble arguments and even weaker analyses all ensconced in wonderful academic jargon to fool the layman and confuse young people who should cherish the legacy of these great fighters for Guyana.
Instead of Boodram pulling down Rodney while praising Jagan(and visa versa for Hinds), these “intellectuals” should look at themselves and stop raising the racial question to create division and discord in the minds of the Guyanese public.
I personally have heard, on many occasions, President Cheddi talking about Walter in a very positive way and there was no question that he felt that Walter was a real revolutionary and had a brilliant mind; they had disagreements but those were miniscule compared to the betterment of Guyana and anyone who infers otherwise is a blatant liar! .
When are we ever going to move ahead and forget racial inferences into every analysis undertaken by our so-called intellectuals (like Boodram and Hinds), who sit in armchairs in front their fireplaces, smoking their pipes and spouting sheer nonsense in the letter section?
Why do these people choose to pull down great men like Jagan and Rodney with their flawed analyses and their ‘smoking guns’?
Don’t they understand that the people of Guyana, especially our youth, are not interested in the constant racial and ideological bickering; write about the falling standard of living and the hopelessness among a lot of our people instead of the constant blaming and character assassination of our past leaders who were only human and like all human beings, made mistakes.
We have to move on to bring peace, harmony and betterment to our nation and the final line of Hinds’ letter where he writes about “war propaganda” is the most blatant trash I have ever read in your letter section – is he living in the same world we all inhabit? I don’t think so.
Long live Walter Rodney and Cheddi Jagan! Thank God for their contribution to this country.
Cheddi Joey Jagan Jr.

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