H@RD TRUTHS BY GHK LALL – Guyana in the eyes of Exxon

Dec 06, 2023 Features / Columnists, News, The GHK Lall Column

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Kaieteur News – Guyanese really need to mature and grow out of their backwoods, kowtowing mindset. Citizens of this Republic-Brown, Black, Original, fusion, in-between, and all unique-need to get the clearest appreciation of how they are seen in the eyes of the masters of Exxon, if they are seen at all.  That is, if they count for anything in the grand visions of corporate roots and prosperity in this country.

When the people in senior capacities at Exxon look at Guyana, what do they see?  Do they see people?  People with hopes and aspirations, people of ancient cultures, people of flesh and blood, and pulsing with expectations?  I do not think that Exxon see any such attributes.  Quite frankly, Guyana’s partner in this great oil venture does not see people.  What the captains of Exxon see is property. Vast, monopolised property overflowing with the black gold of the seas.

To those of my Guyanese brethren who look like me, or are a shade darker or lighter than me, who entertain thoughts of Exxon as a friend, or believes that Exxon holds them as equals, I regret to being them up short in the emptiness of their artificial confidence, their pitiful hopes. It could be as high as the man at the top, or as ordinary as yours truly, and the movers and shakers at Exxon do not look at us and see people. They see either obstacles in their way (self), or a weak governor to be manipulated and moved around at will, like some pawn on a chessboard.  When they study the less lettered and those rendered docile in Guyana, their disdain expands.  When our purchased people labor on Exxon’s behalf, they may be publicly applauded for their toil, but privately scorned for possessing neither backbone nor anatomy (nor honor) to stand for country.  Who can respect such creatures scurrying about to prostrate themselves to the unspoken commands of those who wrench their inheritance away, without so much as just recompense?

Worse still, it is my belief that Exxon’s bigshots in their segregated communities and corporate towers look on as the warring political tribes of Guyana intensify their hatreds and acrimonies, and many a snigger and smirk emerge on how they have the natives at each other’s throats. There is great excitement in Exxon’s quarters, when Guyanese in the national crab barrel try to bring each other down, and crush neighbour.  For the Americans, some with their embedded bigotries and prejudices, absorb the spectacle of Guyanese battering each other on every channel.  It is the adrenaline rush of circus combat in the Roman amphitheater: good fun, loads of entertainment, and a captive society outdoing itself.  For what?

Guyanese are outdoing themselves, will take comfort in doing any low deed, especially those well perched in the PPP Government machinery, to earn a slight tip of the head signaling approval (‘good job, boy’) from their Exxon masters.Is this how Guyanese love their country, their curios form of patriotism?

The plunderers at Exxon are treating the inheritance of Guyanese as if it is their inheritance.  It is their seaborne real estate to be explored and exploited with the utmost freedom.  Forget about fairness and just share from the national patrimony, what happened to our sense shame?  Have we no sense of pride, no morsel of dignity left, other than when it comes to stabbing each other in the back for the benefit of those who enslave all the peoples of this nation?

Observe: the newest trinket employed by Exxon is to get involved in cricket.  The company will make a big production about spending the equivalent of pennies on cricket, giving Guyanese gongs and shells, and this is what makes my fellow citizens go crazy with ecstasy.  Exxon only looks upon locals even more scornfully, given that they can be so cheaply and easily bought out.  This is Africa, India, and Central America being repeated hundreds of years later, and for the same rotgut whisky and antiquated tools.  Even China was not spared, with opium doing the trick, and gunboats to complete the circle of enslavement and pillage that took place under the flag of trade.

Guyanese cannot be so deficient in recollection and thinking that they conveniently forget what the a is, b, and c of history.  We lament about the possible onset of Dutch disease, when we should be more worried about the crippling diseases that slay the spirit of locals.  The fire and fight have gone out of Guyanese, other than when glaring at each other across the barricades.  This is one disease passed on to most citizens, thanks to the awe in which the invaders are held.  Guyanese of today are the new Aztecs and Arawaks, and we are being similarly decimated, so that our treasure can be hauled away in the fossil fuel powered galleons of the 21^st century.

Exxon has to be overcome with glee at how more and more Guyanese sing for the pennies and other pittances that are thrown their way.  And, then to express their gratitude further dance verbal and media jigs for the master’s benefit. If Exxon had to pick one country to plant its flag, it was fortunate enough to select the one with the least resistance.  How these people must ridicule from president to peasants, and all in between. Guyanese are you listening?

(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.)

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• citizens, Exxon, GHK Lall, Guyana, H@rd Truths

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