Narcissist or fascist, be the jury Guyanese 

Oct 29, 2024 Features / Columnists, The GHK Lall Column

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…Hard Truths 

By GHK Lall 

kaieteur News- A narcissist suffers from a disorder. It is my belief that Bhar-rat Jagdeo’s head is wired differently, poorly ordered. This has been articulated repeatedly in the public domain, for such are my convictions.

Guyanese are the best judges about whether I am on the right track, if this has substance. Blows have come from his friends when these things are shared with the reading, thinking public. They are mine to absorb humbly, part of my journey on the road of Calvary.

In thinking of this national leader, Bhar-rat Jagdeo, the cap of narcissist fits, but is it the best fit that captures the essence of one who was a former head of state, which office he has never really relinquished? Does narcissist shortchange him? When the sum of his record, even only parts of it, is examined, is Bharrat Jagdeo more in the mold of a pathological, unreconstructed fascist?  This bears some careful scrutiny. Guyanese are the ones on the jury that must absorb the record of Jagdeo and decide whether he represents the characteristics of a fascist or not.

A narcissist is in love with himself, from his own importance to visions to strategies to the self-created and self-congratulatory legends about himself.  Jagdeo is all of that: no listening, no consulting, no accepting what others offer, including his own people reduced to either macaws or marbles. He believes that he is always right, he alone knows what is best for Guyana, and everyone else is wrong.

This is from a man who usually has no ground under his feet; foundation missing. He pretends to be open to listening on occasion, but it is more for presentation purposes than what possesses meat. His mind is already fixed; he is only going through the motions, the farce he has perfected. Is this all to Jagdeo the man, Jagdeo the national leader, political plotter, psychological manipulator and controller of men, physical maneuverer of situations? I think not. This is where fascism comes in, with Guyanese again being asked to be honest with themselves and the state of their political leadership, country. In the sum of its parts, in his essence, does Bharrat Jagdeo exemplify a fascist in practice, in results?

Webster’s New World dictionary has this to say about fascism: a system of government characterized by rigid one-party dictatorship, forcible suppression of opposition, private economic enterprise under centralized government control, belligerent nationalism, racism…  And the fascist is one who: believes in or practices fascism.  There must be every effort to give Dr. Jagdeo benefit of the doubt, but there must be no willful ignoring of any distinctive strains of the fascist that a reasonable man, a thinking female, would believe to be present in him. What do the facts and circumstances on the ground say?

A system of government characterized by rigid one-party dictatorship. What does the PPP have in its hands with its one-seat majority? All issues begin, end there, are resolved there.  Matters in parliament are open and shut with one outcome guaranteed; debates are exercises in insulting the intelligence of rational people. With Jagdeo the sole determinant of the direction and decisions of the PPP Government, that telltale rigidity has been exhibited at many levels. His handpicked people are in all the crucial public institutions. They are in thrall, fearful, of the man’s hold over them. Most of them have been given a free pass to deform themselves through corruption, which tightens his stranglehold on them. The main arms of the state, the constitutional checks and balances have been reduced to shadows of themselves, outright mockeries of what they should be. These are traceable to the caprices and artifices of the PPP Government. And who is the government? Now, how can the PPP be interpreted as a one-party government, when there is the PNC and AFC, among others? True, they are there, but they might as well be a fiction of the imagination for all the influence they have on events large and small.

Then, forcible suppression of opposition has many faces. The independent media is under constant attack. Conscientious objectors, critics and dissenters (men and women) have been hounded and pounded into reticence, silence, and self-protection. Civil society has been diminished. Religious planks have become tarnished. Professionals neutralized, through their greed used against them. Many choose deference and subservience as their vehicles to get by.  Citizens fear for their jobs, some for their reputation, all for their safety.

Next, there is, indeed, private economic enterprise, but there is the invisible hand of the PPP Government hovering like some omnipotent auditor that keeps the adventurous in the private sector checkmated, remind all how their bread is buttered, and who is responsible.  The dread is of the long coercive arms of the state being marshaled and unleashed to force the uncooperative in line and emphasizes who is the boss. In contrast, belligerent nationalism is missing because Guyana is at a severe disadvantage and so also is militarism. Belligerence and aggressiveness are reserved for weak locals who get out of line or are too independent-minded.

Last, racism has long been a cancer in local society. What the PPP Government engages in is neither systematic nor scientific, but it is often subtle and always substantial in consequence.  Cotton Tree, Mocha, IDPADA-G, Local Government, Village Councils, the oil pie, and the prongs of economic distribution confirm sometimes nuanced, sometimes blatant racism and discrimination like never before. Dark faces and interior faces fail to mask what is a fundamental practice that dominates numerous areas in Guyanese society.  Teachers, public servants, and policing, among others, all have their scars to show. After all this, the issue and question return: does Bharrat Jagdeo stand as the representation of a fascist? The Guyanese jury must retire, have some work to do. It shouldn’t be mentally taxing.

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

(Narcissist or fascist, be the jury Guyanese )

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• Bhar-rat Jagdeo, fascism, narcissist, nationalism, racism

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