The nation of Guyana and its internal enemies

Dec 28, 2020 Features / Columnists, Freddie Kissoon

---

Kaieteur News – Henry Jeffrey, infamous for switching political sides in Guyana, and even more unpalatable for propagandizing that the 2020 electoral roll was bloated thus you cannot have a free election, has quoted another infamous name – Raphael Trotman – for saying that we are not a nation.
Before we go on to assert that we are indeed a nation, a necessary departure. Politicians are Draculean, Macbethian beasts. Once in office, they enjoy the authority. Once out of power, everything is wrong with the new exercise of power. When Trotman was enjoying multiracial comfort in the elections of 2006, 2011 and 2015, he never proclaimed Guyana was not a nation.
When Trotman was intoxicated with power that he possessed for five years, he never used state power in small steps to make us a nation. Out of office, Trotman tells us Guyana is not a nation, and Jeffrey finds such a person useful to quote. The Republic of India has more than one hundred languages and ethnic groups, yet is one of the world’s most enduring democracies.
It is absolutely unnecessary to cite more examples for Jeffrey and Trotman for commonsensical reasons – most countries in the world are multiethnic like Guyana and there are nations that are quite successful. The UK and US come to mind. Many of those like Jeffrey who lament that Guyana is a fragile multiracial state have citizenship in many multiracial states. Jeffrey could correct me if I am wrong but I think he holds British citizenship, so do his wife and daughter. Britain has more multiethnic horizons than Guyana.
It is unfortunate that Melinda Janki has not developed an interesting theory that she briefly wrote about in the newspapers during the election rigging. More known for her legal skills rather than expertise in political theory, Ms. Janki has so far not expanded on her political point. Space would not allow for an adumbration, but her observation is a trenchant rejection of what people like Trotman, Jeffrey and other stand for in this country
Ms. Janki is essentially saying that the race dilemma is not as extensive and nightmarish as it is made out to be. It is the power mentality of politicians that tragically (my adverb) abuse, exploit and manipulate (my words) our little ethnic crevice for their own depraved (my word again) craving for power. If you take Janki’s pronouncement and you place it alongside what Jeffrey wrote last week, you will see how efficacious her theory is.
This column here goes back to my rejection of four pieces – one jointly penned by Dr. Alissa Trotz and Dr. Arif Bulkan, the other by Trotz and Karen De Souza, the third by Dr. Omar Shahabudin, the fourth was a Stabroek News editorial. These four outputs lack the awareness of dynamism in politics and the role of dialectics in moving society forward. It is awful to be writing about complex, profound nuances in the political sociology and the political economy of Guyana if you haven’t studied the subject areas.
These four expressions have repeated the same old line that existed 70 years ago. It goes like this – Africans and Indians are the two halves of the population; their respective racially driven leaders nurture racial emotions in their ethnic communities, so they can secure power for themselves; once power is acquired they rule exclusively in the interests of their own ethnic tribes.
This is old, spoilt milk. See my four replies – (1) Tuesday, July 14, 2020, “In the diaspora, in Plato’s cave.” (2) Wednesday, July 22, 2020, “Dr. Mc Doom’s pair of red underwear has lost its brightness and shape.” (3) July 28, 2020, “Trotz, De Souza and rigging: The imprisoned Freudian mind.” (4) Sunday, October 4, 2020 “Dialectics in Guyana’s politics: An alternative theory.”
Janki’s polemic is advancing the theory that there are no big ethnic enclaves that are poised at each other. In fact, the Indians are not half of the population, the Africans aren’t, therefore, electoral power is not guaranteed. She says that toxic politics preached by our politicians is the cause of the racial brew.
The four articles cited above give no recognition to what Janki is arguing. The toxic politics and moral degeneracy of two multiracial parties – WPA and AFC – tend to support the argument of Janki. Here were two parties that derived their support across ethnic lines. Then they acquired state power and behaved in ways far more morally reprehensible than the racially driven leaders we expect to preach violent tribalism. How could one go on using old theories to explain dialectical changes in Guyana? Guyana is a nation. People like Jeffry and Trotman are its enemies.
(The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of this newspaper.)

---

---