Your Eyewitness didn’t even know that bastion of colonial privilege – the Georgetown Club, which didn’t even accept the low-born Scottish sugar plantation overseers – is now the “Black Magenta”. Imagine that!! Your Eyewitness discovered this name change – the final act of “decolonialisation?” – when he read about the dust-up the other night between VP Bharrat Jagdeo and newly appointed LoO, Aubrey Norton!
At first he did a double-take, since the image conjured up by the name “Black Magenta” was of a Brazilian strip club in Alberttown!! With “waitresses” to cater to all your whims and fancies! Now, your Eyewitness is only reporting on what he’s heard, OK? Anyhow upon closer reading, he realised someone was rebranding the venerable stiff-upper-lip institution by using the name of British Guiana’s most famous (and expensive @US$9.5M) postage stamp – the Black on Magenta. Anyhow, back to the rumble between Jagdeo and Norton, which confirmed the new dispensation!
The occasion was to commemorate “Europe Day”. So maybe it was because the Brits had Brexited the EU we finally had a good, old-fashioned, Guyanese-style argument between two of our top politicians? Without all those “Robert’s Rules of Order” taking all the meat out of the cook-up!! When your Eyewitness was a bare-kneed schoolboy, he’d learn that parallel lines never meet. Well, in Jagdeo and Norton, we had the social equivalent of parallel lines, and the EU bash made them converge – if not exactly meet!!
And boy, you should’ve seen the fireworks – which, thanks to the recently much-maligned social media platforms, your Eyewitness could see almost in real-time!! There they were – Jagdeo in front of Norton and their “seconds” quickly forming a ring around them. It was definitely a Rumble in the Magenta!! Jagdeo maintained his calm, and in fact had a smile on his face throughout the raucous encounter. Norton, on the other hand, surprisingly appeared to lose his cool and appeared quite flustered. For a fella who sports a formidable street-cred reputation, Norton shoulda known that in these matters, the whole point is to not lose composure – no matter what the provocation.
The argument, not surprisingly, was about the elections – which Norton and company have claimed were rigged by the PPP. Jagdeo wanted to know if all of the foreign observers – including the EU’s – hadn’t verified “no rigging”? Norton fell into the trap, demanded a debate, and asked about the “recount” – which he felt supported their contention. Jagdeo quickly agreed to the debate, but only if Norton produced his party’s SOPs.
Norton had to agree – even though he thought he’d saved face by saying he’ll produce them AFTER the debate.
But he’ll HAVE to produce them!! At last!!
…in Philippines
Before there was the “Rumble in the Jungle”, there was the “Thriller in Manila” – both, of course, featuring the Greatest – Muhammad Ali!! Well, looks like there was another thriller there, with the old dictator Ferdinand Marcos’s son – Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr – just coming out way ahead of his competitor – 30 million to 14 million! – for the Philippine Presidency!! Imagine that!! Only 35 years ago, his father and mother (who’s still alive!) epitomised the venality and profligacy of Third World dictators, and now their son’s gonna be ELECTED President!!
With the US$10 billion they’d stolen and secreted, after they returned to the Philippines in the nineties, they quickly integrated themselves into their old networks. Bongbong’s sister and mother played a great role in rebranding their past over social media. Bonhbong’s running mate was Sara Duterte Carpio, the daughter of the populist outgoing president!!
Marcos’s platform was on “the good old days” under his father. Hopefully, that doesn’t mean that thousands will be tortured again and billions would be stolen!!
…in Rio
Well, talking about rehabilitation and forgiveness! Brazil’s ex-President Lula’s gonna be running against Bolsonaro in their upcoming presidential race.
He left in disgrace on corruption charges, but the judicial system pronounced in 2021 that his rights were violated. Technicality.
