Normalcy in Linden

Aug 19, 2012 Editorial

Recently, there has been a surfeit in the usage of the term ‘normalcy’ as it refers to what was going on in Linden following the killing of three protestors. The President said he would not visit Linden until ‘normalcy’ was returned. Businesses, Amerindians and travellers pleaded for a return to ‘normalcy’, while the Chairman of Region 10 retorted there will ‘never’ be a return to ‘normalcy’.
While ‘normalcy’ has obviously become quite a contested term, maybe we can turn to the man who is credited with introducing it in place of the more traditional ‘normality’, to appreciate its import. In 1920, Warren G. Harding was campaigning for the US presidency directly after WWI and his campaign promise was to “return normalcy to America”. Derided at the time for what was thought to be a neologism, the word caught on – and at least seems quite acceptable to Guyanese.
But in the wake of the just initialled agreement, does it mean ‘normalcy’ has been achieved? Or do we succumb to the pessimism of the Regional Chairman? Fortunately Harding offers some help in answering this question. Before his nomination, he had declared: “America’s present need is not heroics, but healing; not nostrums, but normalcy; not revolution, but restoration; not agitation, but adjustment; not surgery, but serenity; not the dramatic, but the dispassionate; not experiment, but equipoise…”
We do believe that Harding’s advice might serve Linden well if heeded by our warring politicians. Linden’s problems are fundamentally economic ones – all leading from the need for it to wean itself away from once being a company town. When bauxite was doing well, so did the town. But with nationalisation, we lost our competitive edge on both our superior calcined bauxite and the metallurgical ores, due to our inability to meet delivery schedules.
The people of Linden would know that it was not easy for the government of Guyana – whether the present or the previous administration – to find a buyer for the bauxite company. Our bauxite is under so much overburden that the cost of extraction will always be substantially higher than in other locales. We do not need agitation, but adjustment to that reality. Bosai has already stumbled on contracted deliveries and this has to evoke fears of a repetition of our historic failures in this area.
Of recent there has suddenly been talk of ‘hitting back’ by representatives of the WPA, but Linden needs restoration rather revolution. The economic base must be broadened to provide employment from other sources than bauxite. But the Region 10 Chairman’s dismissive comments about the call centre and Bosai versus purportedly legions of investors waiting to invest, suggest the offerings of nostrums rather than normalcy.
Politicians have to begin to level with Lindeners. Take the issue of the subsidised electricity. Whatever the antecedent conditions, surely Lindeners as Guyanese can understand the need for conservation of usage. The subsidy on a fixed minimum for those with a demonstrable inability to pay is a more realistic option than the present open-ended subsidy now costing the nation over $2 billion annually.
The government must also level with Lindeners and all Guyanese on the factors – in addition to the need for conservation – that demand a removal of the subsidy. From our perspective, it is clear, for instance, if the Amaila Falls Hydro Project is to be funded, Linden will have to be returned to the national grid – as well as all the major independent co-generators such as Banks. We do not need experiments but equipoise.
Finally, there is the need for healing. There are parties and individuals in the Opposition ranks that may believe they are performing heroics when they constantly raise the stakes in Linden, using the people there as hostages. Let us all take a deep breath as we get engaged to return Linden to sustainable normalcy.

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Normalcy in Linden

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