A new spirit of real independence

May 23, 2010 Letters

Dear Editor,
The PPP birthed in 1950 continued from where the Political Affairs Committee (PAC) left off; unrelenting agitation for Independence became the number one item on the PPP’s agenda; demands included universal adult suffrage, a fully elected legislature, a Cabinet of elected Ministers, etc.
This feverish campaigning drew the ire of British planters, prompting the arrival of the Waddington Commission; this was a small victory for the PPP struggle against colonial hegemony; a struggle that conceived and gave birth to universal adult suffrage; a struggle that designed the road map for Independence.
The first election under universal adult suffrage happened in 1953 during the Cold War. Not long after, the Colonial Office removed the PPP Government after only 133 days in office; the spread of communism in Guyana topped the list of the British and American Governments’ reasons for the ouster.
Proper scrutiny of the PPP Government’s Parliamentary measures were all working-class based, and not communistic; the removal had to do with American and British vested economic interests, interests quite consistent with the Truman and the Lyttleton Doctrines.
The Colonial Office, dumbstruck by PPP’s enthusiastic campaigning, agreed to initiate dialog, not primarily for negotiating Independence, principally for blocking PPP’s return to power; hence the 1960 London Constitutional Conference. The People’s National Congress showed little enthusiasm for immediate Independence in 1960.
In 1962, to further delay Independence, the PNC conditioned the bestowal of Independence with a change in the electoral system. Great Britain eventually granted Independence to Guyana on May 26, 1966.
The British political authorities in an unabashed show of imperialist intrigue with their American counterparts granted Independence in 1966, not because they loved the Guyanese people; but because of a concerted effort to: keep Dr. Jagan and the PPP out of office; consolidate British and American vested interests; demonstrate the virility of the Truman and Lyttleton Doctrine; infuse the ‘American way’; and illustrate, unwittingly and unintentionally perhaps, the meaning of political opportunism.
Nonetheless, the PPP’s election victory in 1992 cemented the way for real Independence, prompting Dr. Jagan to proclaim that the people have won and “…that for the first time since independence, we have a Parliament which is truly representative of the people…”
This year marks the 44th Independence anniversary; and for the first time in these last few years, through the auspices of the Jagdeo Administration, a new spirit of real Independence continues to envelope this land. And to recapture the spirit of 1953 which is national unity, working-class unity, and racial unity, may very well require an engaging public discourse and consensus.
Prem Misir

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A new spirit of real independence

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