The oligarchic man on horseback in Guyana in 2022

Jan 08, 2023 Features / Columnists, Freddie Kissoon

Kaieteur News – If you want to know how I feel about the future of class relations in Guyana please see the exchange I had with a guest named Don Singh and my co-host Leonard Gildarie on the Gildarie/Freddie Kissoon Show.

Gildarie brought up the topic of the frequent murders of wives and girl friends in Guyana and both Gildarie and Mr. Singh felt it was a priority concern for Guyanese. Gildarie asked me if it was a priority for me and said it be on the top of people’s list.

I told both gentlemen that class injustice and class cruelties were more of a pressing exigency for me. All hell broke loose. Both gentlemen disagreed. Mr. Singh asked me how I would feel if my daughter was assaulted.

Here is my answer then, and it is the same answer now. Based on the man who hurt my kid, he would be arrested or my daughter herself would be arrested for going to the police.

I believe domestic violence is a national crisis that must be confronted and can be eradicated. But for me a more destructive element in this country is class injustice which takes on frightening proportions and which characterized 2022 in this land and looks set to continue in 2023.

Domestic violence is a virus that the total society is committed to eradicate. At every level, Guyanese are prepared to deal with this social disease. But Guyanese were not willing to take any interest whatsoever against class hegemony in 2022. And my fear is that class hegemony poses a greater danger to social stability than domestic violence.

Domestic violence is about cruel men committing acts of violence on women. Never mind how sickening is that social malady is it is not as widespread as class domination which has the potential to derail Guyana’s future. I say unapologetically, the scourge of domestic violence cannot undermine Guyana’s future, class injustice can.

I saw in 2022 the partial destruction of this country and if committed men and women who believe in an essential role for humanity do not confront class destruction in Guyana, then, Guyana is going to have a precarious future.

One of the first books I read as a freshman at UG in 1974 pursing a degree in history was a book on the description of the banana republic in Latin America and how oligarchic forces dominated Latin America and where the oligarchs’ hegemony was virtually impregnable.

The book is titled, “The Man on Horseback.” When you enter university for the first time, certain books leave an everlasting impression on you. The year was 1974 and one article and one book will remain forever in my memory.

The article is “Law and Class Struggle” by Alan Hunt in the journal published by the Communist Party of Britain titled, “Marxism Today.” I will never forget the moment. I read it when the upper flat of UG’s library was almost deserted around 10:30 one evening.

The book is “The Man on Horseback.”

The man on horseback was ubiquitous in Guyana in 2022. No other incident is more reminiscent of the man on horseback than what took place at the gate at Thirst Park at Banks DIH. I will never stop writing about that.

The Traffic Chief went there to issue an order to Banks DIH to remove cones on a long stretch of public parapet outside the company. It was an unreasonable imposition because there was simply no place to park if you were visiting Thirst Park.

The Traffic Chief (TC), Mr. Dennis Stephen with a senior rank accompanied me to Thirst Park. At the gate, the receptionist telephoned inside to announce the arrival of the TC. The officials refused to speak to the TC. He waited for 15 minutes then left in disgust. The man on horseback dismissed the power of the Police Force because he had more power than the Police Force.

The usual suspects that publish sesquipedalian letters in the newspapers complaining about everything the government does conveniently forgot to write about the man on horseback outside Thirst Park.

The man on horseback rode over powerless citizens in 2022. John Fernandes Ltd (JFL) purchased lands from the NDC of BV-Triumph at $240, 000 per acre. When the NDC discovered it was a horrible deal, JFL withdrew from the arrangement but passed on the Draculean transaction to a mysterious entity.

Air Services Ltd at Ogle allegedly fired a pilot who refused to fly a helicopter that was defective. No one protested the Thirst Park incident, the JFL conspiracy and what Air Services did. All three companies are multi-billion dollar entities. They personify the man on horseback in Guyana in 2022.

The horseback rider will ride again in 2023.

(The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the opinions and beliefs of this newspaper and its affiliates.)