An incredibly foolish analysis

Feb 16, 2015 Letters

Dear Editor,
Since I was small I have heard people say; “You have the right to your opinion but not the right opinion.” I saw the potency in this statement when I read last Sunday (Feb 15) editorial of the Kaieteur News.
It is absolutely incredible that against the background of literally millions and millions of printed pages since the past umpteen years which have proven with evidential clarity that a person of a particular ethnicity will not necessarily be someone who exhibits partiality for his/her race and bias against other races, an editorial like that can be printed.
In the 21st century for a newspaper to say because your father is English or your mother is Irish or because you have African blood you will either favour England, Ireland or Africa if you head the UN is pathetic nonsense so silly that there should be a law against someone writing such nonsense.
Titled, “Sir Ron Sanders’ challenge for the Commonwealth Secretary-General,” the editorial disparaged one of the other contenders, Baroness Scotland from Dominica saying that because of her British background and participation in British governmental politics at a high level, she would bring Commonwealth “Britishness” and that would be unacceptable. The editorial went on to say that such a track record will be like a return to the colonial past.
What an incredibly foolish analysis in the light of over fifty years of post-colonial rule in which African, Indian, Asian, Chinese and Arab rulers have governed their independent countries more in the interest of their former colonial masters than in their own nationalist survival.
It is such a pity that no one from the academic community in Guyana will reply to this asinine, misplaced Third World chauvinism. But more importantly, it is a racist piece that essentially says that if you were once part of the British Government and you have to run the Commonwealth or the UN or the OAS, you would administer it in the interest of Britain.
The writer of this editorial should tell us which country you have to come from to avoid bias if you become the head of the OAS? But more importantly, why can’t Baroness Scotland be decent enough to move away from any bias towards Britishness if she is made Secretary-General of the Commonwealth? In an opposite vein, why can’t a candidate with no connection to “Britishness” become very sycophantic and run the Secretariat with “Britishness.” Why do you have to be connected to the UK to have “Britishness” in you?
Maybe the writer of this editorial doesn’t often read history or keep abreast with developments in the post-colonial world. Maybe he or she needs to understand a little bit more of West African leaders and their attachment to France. He or she needs to read our own history of how Forbes Burnham was rejected for membership of the League of Colored People because he wasn’t light-skinned enough.
He or she needs to read the thoughts of the great West Indian analyst, Franz Fanon or that towering intellectual Edward Said and his work on orientalism. To say the Arabs are enchanted with the white world is to put it mildly. The sultanate of Qatar is far more British than the British themselves.
Finally, the editorial supports the candidacy of Ron Sanders. Like Baroness Scotland, Sanders has some “Britishness” in his past. He was born in Guyana as Ronald Singh, changed his name to Ron Sanders, married to a British woman, took Antiguan citizenship, received a British knighthood. I see no reason why he wouldn’t make a good Secretary-General. But I say the same for Baroness Scotland. If I was to make a choice I would say her work experience and curriculum vitae are more impressive than Sanders. If I had a vote I would vote for the lady from the tiny island of Dominica
Frederick Kissoon

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