Barbados is alive, Guyana is dead

Jul 27, 2017 Features / Columnists, Freddie Kissoon

On Monday, 20,000 Barbadians protested in the streets against an increase in one of the taxes. The estimate of the crowd was done by the police, and not any organization associated with the protestors. Barbados has a population of 288,000.
It meant then that seven percent of the country’s citizens were in an anti-government demonstration. Never in the history of Guyana, has seven percent of our population formed into a protest march. I don’t think we have ever come close to that number in Guyana.
From 1961 to 1964 there were continuous protests against the Cheddi Jagan government, which resulted in an 80-day strike. I have consulted several books for the number of demonstrators, but none stated a figure.
But let us say that those demonstrations carried 20, 000, that would not have been 7 percent of the nation of British Guiana at the time.
It is estimated by sympathizers of the WPA in 1980 that 30,000 turned out for the funeral of Walter Rodney.
There is no official estimate of the crowd in the strict sense of the word, and that event was not a protest against a particular policy.
For a country to have a population of 288,000 and have 20,000 on the streets with placards, shows a very energetic and conscious society.
That is a phenomenally massive turnout for a tiny populated territory. It shows Barbados is alive. It also shows Guyana is dead. We would never get those numbers, even if the worst atrocity is committed by the government.
With the current census, seven percent would be 55,000. They say never say never in life. But I am saying, never would this country see 55,000 in a demonstration against an unpopular decision.
Countless times I have made reference to human rights awareness in tiny places like Bermuda, Grenada, St. Vincent, Barbados etc., but there is absolutely no instinct of disgust and anger at human rights violations in this country. I spent time in both Grenada and Barbados, and I say in the most inflexible way, the horrible misdeeds of the government, business community and civil society in those states would never be tolerated as they would in Guyana.
I remember in one of those articles, I made mention of a letter that appeared in the Stabroek News in which of one the employees of Muneshwers complained that the staff have to buy their own toilet paper and hand sanitizer for use in the workplace.
That revelation in any other country would have created an ocean of concern. It just passed unnoticed in Guyana. I say in a majority of countries, there would have been expressions of condemnation and the company would have attempted an explanation. Not in Guyana.
What is frightening in this place is that from colonial times to July 2017, it has only known oligarchic rule, with insensitive, uncaring and aloof leadership. What happens if a ruling party wants to go beyond Burnham’s totalitarianism or Jagdeo’s semi-fascism? The possibility is real that this can happen. People come up to me all the time and express curiosity on the prospects of the PPP coming back to power and that means the return of Jagdeo.
Anything is possible in life. But if we live in a dead society and the PPP returns to office with Jagdeo as president, or with Jagdeo as the shapers of things, then there can be no surprise as to what will happen.
He would just pick up from where he left off in May 2015, when he lost power, and rule as he wishes.
A senior journalist told me to be careful, because since I am the only one penning criticisms of the Vice Chancellor of UG, it will come across as personal.
The journalist went on to state that when the two unions and a number of academics were asked to assess the one-year performance of the new Vice Chancellor, they all declined.
I have nothing personal against the Vice Chancellor and will not direct any personal or personalized remark against him.
He has done nothing that will cause me to go in that direction. But I believe it is my role as an opinion-maker to assess the performance of important state functionaries.
I have not singled out the Vice Chancellor, but I disagree with his approach to developing UG. So many other academics at UG have said that to me, but a dead society prevents them from coming alive and speaking to the press.
What future Guyana has is open to debate. Oil money or no oil money, I believe this land died a long time ago.

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