{…if I were to have a conversation with them}
Dear Editor,
Sometimes in my moments of quiet contemplation, whether by whim or fancy, my mind would linger on this question: If I were to have a conversation with President Irfaan Ali and Vice President Jagdeo, what would I say to them?
As I ponder this question, my mind would journey backward to Bath Estate, a sugar cane plantation community where I was born and raised, a place where Afro- and Indo-Guyanese lived and worked in harmony, free from current-day prejudices, indifferences and hostilities.
Given this lived experience and today Guyana’s contested relations of political representation, I would, in the course of my conversation with the President and Vice President, focus emphasis on the following.
First, I would centre discourse on the “One Guyana” proclamation, and encourage the President and Vice President that this remarkably noteworthy endeavour will, in time, transcend the current throes of the PNC’s racist rancour and transform the country back into a Guyanese unity, a time when Afro- and Indo-Guyanese harmoniously coexisted.
In pursuit of this societal harmony, the “One Guyana” proclamation must not be stultified in an abyss of dead slogans, but continue to unveil itself in humane national policies, as evidenced by those already underway in education, health, housing, secured loans, and retirement benefits.
Moreover, it must continue to provide opportunities for economic success to all Guyanese, irrespective of race, ethnicity, political affiliation or residential location; and it must be reaffirmed in the PPP/C’s ongoing humanistic “One Guyana” national policies.
Second, in forging ahead with the development of “One Guyana” humanistic unity, I would urge the President and Vice President to deconstruct and delegitimise the mental construct of the PNC’s cry of racism by:
(i) Regularly emphasizing the fact that the PNC took roots in, and emerged into, a one-dimensional political party that championed racism.
(ii) That it is the PNC that openly supported and practised racism through preferences to Afro-Guyanese party loyalists. This it did through the granting of housing (e.g., Melanie Damishana), jobs, admission to UG, the Teachers Training Colleges, and Queen’s College, while stifling the rice and sugar industries – two production entities of Indo-Guyanese daily economic survival.
(iii) It is the PNC that established food co-ops in primarily Afro-Guyanese villages while it banned dhal, salt fish, sardines, potatoes etc., food staples consumed primarily by Indo-Guyanese.
(iv) That it is the PNC that orchestrated rigged elections to remain illegitimately in power for decades, until former President Jimmy Carter interceded in 1992.
(v) That while the PNC promoted racism, the PPP, founded on inclusion, remained inclusive of all races; and in so doing, gained the admiration and support of numerous Afro-Guyanese persons, including Jessie Burnham, sister of Forbes Burnham.
Given the above verifiable information, the President and Vice President should ask Norton and his PNC associates who truly are the ones promoting racism.
Third, I would impress upon the President and Vice President that in their commitment to develop a humanistic “One Guyana” nation, they must seize every opportunity to stridently expose the falsity of shared governance as nothing more than a mockery, the blabberings of opportunistic PNC politicians who crave for relevance and power. Here is why.
(i) It is the PNC that demonstrated that shared governance is just a political sham. In 1964, the PNC encouraged Peter D’Aguiar, Leader of the United Force (UF), to join them in sharing governmental power; only to discard the UF four years later, after rigging the election in 1968.
(ii) In 1974, the PNC promulgated the racist policy of paramountcy of the party by concocting the Sophia Declaration, which the PNC then utilised to totally usurp governmental powers, and thereby suppressed power-sharing with the PPP, or a third party.
(iii) In 2016, the PNC again pretended to subscribe to shared governance in the formation of a tenuous and turbulent alliance with the AFC, a toothless third party.
(iv) It is the PNC leaders who refused to relinquish power and vacate control over the Government even when they were voted out of office. It took the intervention of the U.S. Foreign Secretary Pompeo to effectuate the victorious PPP/C into office.
Fourth, I would encourage the President and Vice President to continue seizing every opportunity to publicise that the PPP promoted and practised shared governance through its inclusion of Afro-Guyanese in leadership roles from its very founding as a political party in 1950. This was long before the concept of shared governance became vogue. And that today’s PPP/C remains true to the principles of shared governance as exemplified by its multi-ethnic leadership and cabinet appointments.
Finally, I would bring to the attention of the President and Vice President my comments in a previous column. I mentioned then that the different races and their distinct cultural identities, customs and traditions cannot be melted or liquified into an amalgamated solidity, but these characteristics can gradually be molded into a humanistic national identity.
This brings me back to Bath, where I lived in the 1950s. Afro-Guyanese who remained on the plantation: the Thompsons, McDonalds, McKenzies, Woolfords, Isaacs, Tuckers, Rays, Kofi, Gata, all lived in respected reciprocity with Indo-Guyanese. Also, Afro-Guyanese residents from Hopetown, who travelled to Bath to work in the sugar cane fields as shovelmen, cane cutters, carpenters, weeders, all laboured side by side in harmonious partnerships with Indo-Guyanese plantation employees.
Indeed, the above conditions and relations existed in Guyana’s historical past, a past impossible to replicate. Yet, the idealist in me echoes that cultural pluralistic identities and proclivities can be reconstructed into harmonious interactions and relationships through humanistic nationalism; a nationalism that does not discriminate by race, ethnicity, political affiliation or residential locations. Such humanistic nationalism is already unfolding through the outreach actions and decisions by the President, Vice President, Prime Minister and PPP/C cabinet officials, all of which signal the unfolding of a uniquely Guyanese unity.
Regards,
Narayan Persaud, PhD,
Professor Emeritus
