From admiral of the atmosphere to enslavement

Aug 23, 2021 Editorial

Kaieteur News – There is an old saying and test about what to do and how to get to the depths of what is the true mettle of humans. After all their talking and posturing, put them to the test to see what they are made of, how they will respond before temptations placed before them, and under the microscope to measure their reactions, as to who and how they really are. The temptations can come in different shapes and forms, such as the opportunity for huge amounts of personal prestige, bigger quantities of cash placed at disposal, or the overpowering charms of warm flesh and cooling chemicals that are there for the taking, and can be had, one doesn’t even have to ask.
For a long time, this country had a leader who was in the forefront of all things related to climate and environment. This Guyanese leader gained such names (some rather dismissively) as admiral of the atmosphere, friar of the forests and, in general, emperor of the environment. He was so good at it, at least on paper and from the ringing sounds that came out of him, that international recognition and accolades were his. It was all good and grand while it lasted, for it was nothing more than a masquerade and the shallowest of deceptions. For today, the same leader, when measured against his words and wisdoms of a prior time, is a completely different creature.
It is surprising in the things that make men forget what they stood for, once said, made a lot of mileage from, and how poorly they generally fare, when compared to what they were about before, made great big speeches about before, and represented before. It is this rich dark substance gushing from the bowels of the earth that make a supposedly strong and invulnerable Guyanese leader stumble and fall to his knees in abject homage. Whether of the thick heavy sulphureous variety, or that of the light sweet crude texture, oil has made many a man mad, and an unrecognisable monster in front of his fellows. And wherever oil is, that is where an American company called ExxonMobil usually is.
Exxon has all the oil weapons known to man, most of which it created in a century of global exploits, all of them deployed against societies on which the company did cast covetous eyes, and against which societies the first targets were leaders. The big stick and brass knuckles were brought out and wielded against one government, and it fell to pieces without too much of a fight. The suspicion is that government and leaders were helped to see the bright side of the oil business, meaning, from a personal perspective. It is called a corporate quid pro quo; the derogatory term is compromising and corrupting political leadership to gain criminal advantage.
From every indication, Exxon has worked wonders with the prior government, and now today’s. The way has been cleared for the company to plunder and reap at will, and at minimum out-of-pocket cost, which is the first slavery. Another is of a leader, who spoke glowingly about transparency and accountability, but now is speechless, a man-made mute by the magic of oil. Still another is the leader, much more powerful, who was once the darling of the climate conscious and climate change world, but who today exhibits the worst of capitalists’ instincts and practices. In so doing, another old standard is again now proven accurate. That is, the one about the converted always being more committed than the original, where onetime Guyanese Marxists-communists-socialists are more capitalist than the capitalists themselves.
This is today’s situation, where a leader who was all about climate change is now all helplessly enslaved and overtaken by the seductions of black gold, namely, Guyana’s oil. Instead of conserving better, there is more producing and flaring. Rather than the old commitment to environmental protections, that same leader is now only about oil collections, and for whose benefit is anybody’s guess. Emissions and pollutions that were once harsh words, now have neither meaning nor traction, such have been the leadership reversals, the public enslavements that come with a certain kind of partnership with a juggernaut like Exxon.

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From admiral of the atmosphere to enslavement

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