The response of the usual suspects and the Creole middle class

Apr 18, 2022 Features / Columnists, Freddie Kissoon

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Kaieteur News – Writer’s note: I found this little gem neatly tucked away in obscurity. It was published on February 30, 2022 in a newspaper in Timbuktu. It is a letter signed by a large number of signatories. Below is the missive. It is a long expression, so there will have to be part two.
Dear Editor, We have read the incessant accusation against us, since the beginning of 2019 with the passing of the no-confidence vote (NCV) in December 2018, the ending of the five-month election drama in 2020 and the racially targeted attacks on Indians in September last year.
The lambasting continues non-stop. The accusation is that a large number of us who live in Guyana and our class affiliates in the diaspora write letters to a newspaper attacking governmental directions, state behaviour and the PPP’s attitude but we never sustained any critical commentary on the NCV, the five- month rigging attempts and the attacks on Indians last year.
It is a two-pronged condemnation of us. One – because we are products of western culture, we have a historical preference for governments in Guyana run by our class affiliates. Two – because we are from the Creole middle class and we are urban born Indians of western culture, our historical journey is against the successors of the 19th rural generation in Guyana having continued state power.
We have penned this missive here after meticulous examination of the self-proclamation of political parties all over the world in multi-racial countries. We believe that in all countries, organisations and movements have not hidden their identity and ideology. They openly proclaim what they believe in relation to immigration, class and colour.
Our letter here is an explanation why we were silent on the controversy of President Granger’s unilateral appointment of a GECOM chairman, the debate of 34 being a majority of 65 in parliament, the allegations of rigging by the incumbent in the general elections in 2020 and the attacks on Indians in Region Five.
Briefly, here is our position and we hope it is respected. We want to respectfully state that we, who are referred to as the usual suspects and the Creole middle class, have no anthropological dislike for Guyanese Indians. Our politics is in support of parties that we are comfortable in terms of ethnicity, culture, religion and with whom we have a natural class affinity.
That is our right as it is the right of all shades of activists around the world. There is nothing culturally, psychologically and politically wrong with certain sections of the Guyanese community in Guyana and in the diaspora taking class positions.
Parties all over the world dance with class and race. Mr. Modi in Indian is dancing to that tune right now. Traditionally we have birthed and preserved the League of Coloured People and National Democratic Party of the 1950s, then the WPA of the 1970s and the AFC from the beginning of the 21st century.
Because of the strategic nature of politics, we have a natural partner in the PNC. We want to say we prefer the PNC to the permanent rule of the PPP. Middle class parties cannot win a majority on their own so strategic alliances have to be formed. This does not mean we have an incestuous relation with the PNC. We never did from the 1950s right up to 2022. The PNC since its formation has had a marriage of convenience with us which resulted in national disaster under Forbes Burnham.
The PPP and PNC are working class parties that have their constituencies. We have our constituencies too. We want to be bold and say that we have seen no scholarly work so far that has denounced the Portuguese business class in the 1960s from protecting their class interests in the formation of the United Force.
Naturally, we are mentally uncomfortable with the PPP leaders with whom we never had an historic or ongoing relationship. We do not believe the PPP leaders are westernised enough to control the richest country in CARICOM which emerged as part of the Creole Caribbean. We would like to see a condemnation of our criticism of the PPP as being an Indian party.
We cannot understand how Guyanese Muslims can see Muslim countries in the Middle East as natural allies but we cannot view the Caribbean as a sea of Creole culture. There is a sempiternal bond Guyanese Indians have formed with India, including countless Guyanese Muslims too so why we cannot see the Caribbean Sea as an area of Creole culture? Now here are our explanations for our silence that caused us to be named the usual suspects. TO BE CONTINUED.
(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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