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May 19, 2021 Features / Columnists, Freddie Kissoon
Kaieteur News – The answer to the above question is a reverberating neither. Neither of the two major races is mentally lazy. This is really a terrible description to use. And worse of all, research will not answer the above question because neither of the two races are psychologically languid.
Since Amanza Walton-Desir (AWD) used that description to portray the hold the PPP has on its Indian supporters, Africanists in Guyana have supported her in what can be interpreted as an endorsement of this distasteful concept of tribal superiority in Guyana.
For those not familiar with what AWD wanted to say but put it over stupidly, here is a tiny summary. She juxtaposed the mental receptivity of the Africans and Indians to persuasive demagoguery of their respective ethnic leaders and concluded that Indians tend to be swayed more deeply by the rhetoric of the PPP than Africans by the PNC. The reason for the African resistance is because they are more of a questioning people not easily buying the magic potion of their leaders.
Space will definitely not allow for the application of an opposing theory using historical evidence. By an opposing theory, I mean that it can be argued that Indo-Guyanese historically have been more inclined to reject the mesmerising spell of the PPP than Africans of the PNC leadership. That existed in the past and I believe it still does.
Vincent Alexander endorsed AWD’s vilification of the Indian mind which I argued against. See my column of Tuesday, May 11, 2021,”African – Indian differences: A brief analysis.” The analysis to follow is a continuation of that column. I frustratingly regret the essential historical argument and the facts accompanying it will be massively truncated because this is a mere newspaper column of 800 words.
Historically, the Indian community in Guyana has been subjected to diverse influences of competing Indian leaders, a situation Africans did not experience. First, there have been several Indian organisations and leaders competing for Indian loyalty which did not replicate itself in the African world in Guyana.
Briefly, Cheddi Jagan had to face stiff competition from an Indian trade union, MPCA, and charismatic Muslim and Hindu leaders. On the political scene, the PPP faced more Indian competitors while the PNC had none. This began in the sixties and has not abated, continuing from the sixties, right into 2020.
For sixty years, the PPP has faced a relentless contest from Indian leaders in which the Indian people gave their votes to these parties although not enough to undermine the strength of the PPP. PPP leaders faced and still do energetic threats from a series of Indian leaders beginning with Balram Singh Rai’s Hindu party to a Muslim outfit named GUMP.
This process took in some prominent names that formed political parties to appeal to Indians. The list includes Ravi Dev, Nanda Gopaul, Leslie Ramsammy, Paul Tennsassee, Moses Nagamootoo, Khemraj Ramjattan, Ralph Ramkarran, Gerhard Ramsaroop, Rajendra Bissesar, etc.
The most formidable threat to the PPP for Indian embrace came from the Portuguese dominated party, the United Force (UF) of Banks DIH tycoon, Peter D’Aguiar. Because of the PPP’s communist ideology, many wealthy and middle class Indians gravitated to the UF. AWD was not born when the UF helped to topple the PPP in the 1964 election. The UF came in as a third force in 1964 because large numbers of Indians voted for it. This situation replicated itself in 2015 when the AFC undermined the PPP electorally.
This intense rivalry among Indian leaders never materialised in the African community. The PNC faced only three major rivals of which two were insignificant. One was John Carter’s NDP and Llewellyn John’s PDM. The fiercest challenge for the PNC came with Walter Rodney.
I think the Rodney phenomenon cannot be likened to the situations the PPP confronted with its Indian rivals. Rodney was exceptional and emerged in exceptional circumstances in the immediate post-colonial period. But he failed in 1979 to remove Burnham because Africans in large numbers were still under Burnham’s spell. In 1979 when it looked that Burnham would finally be overthrown, Indians were already mobilised. It was the absence of large numbers of African Guyanese on the streets on that day in 1979 that saved Burnham.
Finally, it needs elaboration but space is not there to argue that Indians in Guyana because they belong to four religious denominations – Islam, Hindi Dharma, Christianity, Jehovah Witness – are more likely to be swayed by charismatic leaders from outside the PPP. Not so with Africans. They attend predominantly African churches and the PNC faces less hostile African parties than the PPP. Vincent Alexander and Amanza Walton-Desir need a lecture in Guyanese sociology and history. I’m offering my service.
(The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of this newspaper.)
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