…on UN vote
The PNC keep complaining they don’t get a fair shot at presenting their views inside and outside of Guyana. Most recently LOO Joseph Harmon – with his doormat Ramjattan in tow –- ran to the US Ambassador to make this charge. What the dyspeptic duo didn’t say was that they’ve been using their supporters and camp followers on social media so ubiquitously that the reach of their propaganda far exceeds what the PPP might be putting out.
Take the calumny they spread about our Ambassador to the UN, Carolyn Birkett, not voting for the resolution entitled: “A global call for concrete action for the elimination of racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance and the comprehensive implementation of and follow-up to the Durban Declaration and Programme of Action.” This canard was taken up and used as another stick to beat up on the Government that it’s “racist”.
This has been the PNC’s line from the moment they were forced by the international community to quit their nonsense about winning the elections on the cocked-up Mingo figures. Every initiative of the PPP was greeted by the charge, “Racist!!” Even taking Lowenfield, Mingo, Myers and the other riggers from the GECOM Secretariat was “racist”! Now at some (jaded and cynical) level, one can say they’re “just playing politics” – as they’ve done since they were launched in 1958.
But on miscategorising the UN vote, they’ve crossed a line that’s been steadfastly defended since independence: that local partisanship shouldn’t be taken outside our borders. When it came to our image abroad, we were always as one. Until now. But the irony is, Ambassador Birkett didn’t just vote for the resolution, but she actually INTRODUCED it! Guyana was the Chair of the Group of 77 and China and as the main sponsor of the resolution, jointly with South Africa, facilitated and lobbied for the negotiations in the Third Committee!!
And in recognition of those efforts, Birkett actually was chosen to speak on the resolution on behalf of the African and Caribbean nations – an unprecedented honour for us! Now, why would the PNC stoop so low as to pull our country down in the eyes of allies in the UN? Some might want to excuse them by saying they went along with the automatic generated screen showing the votes on the resolution. But this isn’t authoritative. If they’d bothered to check the official tally, they would’ve seen that Guyana was in the “for” column and not in the “against” or “abstained” ones.
But this just shows how far the PNC are prepared to go: domestically, they were willing to precipitate ethnic violence on WC Berbice.
And now trying to strip away our “south” allies! Wankers!
… on race and racism
One of the points Ambassador Birkett had made to the Group of 77 and China was that this year marked the 20th anniversary of the Durban Declaration against “Racism, Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia and Related Intolerance” – with its Programme of Action for addressing same. She pointed out: “It constitutes a holistic agenda that encompasses measures to improve education and awareness, to fight poverty and marginalisation, and to secure inclusive development. Its relevance is further strengthened by the recognised nexus between combating racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia, and related intolerance and the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals.”
And it is this agenda that the PNC are afraid of. They know that in the 23 years of PPP governance post 1992, the former performed heroically to reverse the “racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia, and related intolerance” they’d practised in the preceding 28 years of illegal rule. And they know upon investigation for the Durban Declaration’s anniversary observance, they’d repeated all these sins between 2015 and 2020.
The PNC’s racism is endemic.
…on PNC’s non-recognition
Some are pushing for President Ali to engage LOO Harmon – even though the latter refuses to recognise the legitimacy of the President’s Government,
So, we should also reject the “innocent till proven guilty” rule?
