Exxon, and the descendants of slavery, are owed an apology

Aug 06, 2023 Letters

Dear Editor,

Kaieteur News – The sign reading ‘Exxon is Guyana’s New Slave Master’ published in the Guyanese media on August 3, 2023, is unimaginably offensive to the descendants of slavery, and to Exxon. Exxon (Hess and COONOC) delivered Guyana from an insurmountable starvation of capital (in the form of FDI) and brought our oil and gas resources from the bowels of the ocean, to markets across the world. By so doing, it has given the people of this nation the opportunity to move from the oft stated “second poorest country in the Western hemisphere,” to the fastest growing economy in the world.

The idea that FDI by Exxon et al constitutes a new form of slavery is not only unfounded but betrays a base-level ignorance of what slavery was as a matter of daily life. The key to slavery was violence. It was the violent extraction of economic value defended by an ideology of racial supremacy. The other key aspect of slavery was that it denied the humanity of the humans it subjugated through what Achille Mbembe has called “founding violence.”

But slavery was not only about economic exploitation, nor was it only about racism. It was a physically brutal system of punishment and death. Some random (but official reports) can help the reader understand what real slavery was like, even if it is minimal. Here is a report on punishment from Berbice, March 1829. The offence – slaves supposedly not doing sufficient work. “The Fiscal [Sheriff] pronounced on the Negroes. The men were flogged this morning…receiving 50 lashes each except old Primo who received 39. The women to be confined in the Stocks every night till Easter, and then during the holidays” (Alvin Thompson, 2002: 107). The year before (1828), 2173 slaves were punished by Stripes (lashes and other methods of beating) in Berbice. Solitary confinement was widespread.

Between January 1 and July 1, 1828, 5633 slaves were charged with a crime, most of them having to do with the Master demanding more labor. One thousand, eight hundred and thirteen (1813) charges of so-called “Bad work and insufficient…” were placed on the heads of those already having their labor forcefully extracted (Thompson, 2002: 114).Here is a more detailed report filed by James Stephen (an abolitionist lawyer)regarding the conduct of the Deputy Protector of Slaves, at Plantation Enfield, Berbice.

“His arrival seems to have excited a species of riot, especially among the Females, whom he describes as vociferating for nearly an hour without interruption. Their grievance appears to have been that they were employed at task work instead of working at regular hours. It appeared to the satisfaction of the Protector that the complaints were without foundation. After quieting the tumult by placing some of the foremost in the Stocks, he directed the women to be sent back to the ordinary system of labor for one Week, to convince them of their misconception of their own interest on the subject of Task Work. He then proceeded to adjudge that three of the Ringleaders of the Male Slaves to receive 50 lashes each, and other two to receive 40 lashes” (Thompson, 111).

Almost exactly two hundred years ago on August 18, 1823, slaves at Plantation Success began a revolt against their oppression. The revolt spread to 37 estates, including Bachelor’s Adventure Plantation, where 200 slaves were gunned down. After the revolt “hundreds of rebels were hunted down and killed, including two hundred who were beheaded as a warning to other enslaved people. Fourteen rebels were hastily tried and sentenced to be hanged” (https://www.blackpast.org/global-african-history/demerara-rebellion-1823/).

Guyanese also know of Damon of Plantation Richmond in Essequibo who was hanged in front of the Parliament Building in Georgetown for resisting continued forced labor after 1834 when slavery was abolished. A so-called Apprenticeship till 1838 was instituted to help planters recoup their investment in human bodies as labor machines. It was met with disdain because it was a continuation of slavery.

In the 1763 revolt in Berbice, 1800 slaved were killed, and twenty-four of them were burnt alive by the real slave Masters. How about those accused of being “Guyana’s New Slave Masters.”This is not rhetoric based on ignorance, because we all know better. The motive behind this spectacular misrepresentation is economic, in the sense that sensationalism sells newspapers. Secondly, and without doubt, there are clear political motives. The idea is to scare off foreign investors to halt economic and social development.

The fact is as pointed out by Joel Bhagwandin “ExxonMobil’s/EEPGL investment alone as of 2022 in the Stabroek block is a whopping G$1.8 trillion or US$8.61b. When other oil majors lacked confidence to explore in Guyana, Exxon remained steadfast to the commitment and continued their exploration until it discovered commercial quantities in 2015.

For perspective, it should be noted that Exxon’s invested capital alone is equivalent to two times Guyana’s pre-oil GDP. Moreover, because of this investment and Exxon’s presence in Guyana, the country has earned more than G$425 billion cumulatively as of 2022 in profit oil and royalty, which is two-times the tax revenues of the government prior to oil production. Additionally, the local businesses and Guyanese workers benefit from another US$700 million annually in local content spent in-country. Keep in mind also other related revenue streams such as the US$ 750 million from the ART-TREES framework paid by Hess Corporation.

ExxonMobil took on a huge financial risk in their investments in Guyana and had to wait a long time for the first profit oil. It took them 15 years before oil was discovered in commercial quantities, and another 5 years for development before going into production. That is 20 years of injecting capital continuously to finance exploration and development activities, before generating a dollar in revenue. Further, Exxon was pumping investments into Guyana while it was carrying overall losses. In 2020 alone, it lost US$ 22.4 billion. Earlier this year, it announced a major failure in oil exploration in Brazil after investing US$ 4 billion. Another US$ 4 billion in the same country has not yet yielded a dime of profit.

The suggestion that Exxon is Guyana’s new slave master is not only baseless, nonsensical, sensationalist, and dangerous, it is also downright disrespectful to those who toiled in one of history’s most disgraceful institutions, that is, slavery. And without ExxonMobil, Guyana would still be a fly over country.

Sincerely
Dr Randolph Persaud