Dear Editor,
After you published my letter about 12 great men, some of your readers inquired of me why I did not include any Guyanese on the list like Cheddi Jagan, Eusi Kwayana, Walter Rodney and Sir Shridath Ramphal.
Of course Cheddi was a great Caribbean and South American man who was probably before his time, because when he started to educate people about the evil of colonialism and capitalism some did not understand him, and some understood him so well they worked against what he stood for. Nevertheless, he triumphed.
Kwayana also stood and struggled for the same goal as Cheddi, while Rodney no doubt would have done much greater things had he not been assassinated. Sir Shridath came good after he broke away from Burnham.
With regard to the 12 I wrote about, their impact on this world was so powerful they became bigger than life and altered the course of history.
Yours faithfully,
WP George
Sir Shridath didn’t broke away from Burnham – Shridath was he bai so he set him up to be out of the country.
Extracted: “Of course Cheddi was a great Caribbean and South American man who was probably before his time, because when he started to educate people about the evil of colonialism and capitalism some did not understand him, and some understood him so well they worked against what he stood for. Nevertheless, he triumphed.”
If Cheddi Jagan was great because he fought against colonialism and capitalism that were/are evil, then show me the benefits of the alternatives to both colonialism and capitalism! Cheddi embraced communisn and socialism, so show me what these have done for Guyana.
And if colonialism and capitalism are so evil, tell me why Guyanese (especially Indian supporters of Cheddi and the PPP) chose to live in countries (Britain, Canada and America) run by the same people who were either our colonial masters or partners with them, rather than choose to live in Cuba, China, North Korea or even the then Soviet Union!
These foreign countries now run by former colonial masters and friends have allowed thousands of Guyanese to achieve their potential and even been a source of financial suupport for the sagging Guyanese economy that has been destroyed by PPP and PNC communist and socialist experiments! Can you achieve your potential in communist states?
Colonialism and capitalism may have been bad at the time we sought independence, but what the PPP and PNC offered as alternatives were downright disgraceful; nay, worse than evil!
Ditto my friend, because this pseudo socialist and communist nature of the local Guyanese proletariat continues to be the bane of national development and nation building.
I migrated after ‘A’ levels for academic studies, so Mr George I don’t recall knowing you personally, but your quote: “Cheddi was a great (hum??) Caribbean and South American man (nice word) who was probably before his time”… Interesting statement about time, but Cheddi should never have graced the political stage with Marxist/Leninist rhetoric without critical analysis and recognition of British Guiana’s colonial history in the first place. What a mistake of underestimation of the Guyanese people and this is coming from, according to Cheddi himself, one of his favorite dental patients.
At the time, multi-cultural, multi-racial and the calypso ‘happy-go-lucky’ attitudes were not and probably will never be ready for the financial sacrifices and the strict disciplines of socialist nation building. Guyanese people like fun and freedom too much. Cheddi grossly misinterpreted the aspirations of his fellow countrymen since a painful 42years of evidence is proof that these characteristics were never in the Guyanese people’s DNA. Brain drain along with the Diaspora’s success in the ABC countries accurately identifies the DNA of the Guyanese man and woman.
Additionally, if the remaining Guyanese at home are given the same opportunities like their Diaspora counterparts in the ABC countries, they too will show similar kinds of economic success. This enterprising attitude is in the Guyanese people’s DNA.
From time to time, our leaders try desperately to separate the Guyanese people mostly by identifying the differences in race, ethnicity and class, especially at election time when it suits them. However, the national mores and cultural attitudes of the ABC countries act as the great neutralizer. As a result, Guyanese of all stripes and educational levels exhibit phenomenal success in this new competitive environment to the point where it boggles the mind.
In a nutshell, my observation is that the Guyanese DNA explodes
exponentially in the ABC countries, while this same enterprising, creative and ingenious DNA is stifled into laziness and nothingness at home. The answer is the Gov’t and the system employed.
Why did you include the Ayatollah Khomeini among your favourites,Wendell? Under his theocracy freedom of religion, freedom of expression and freedom of assembly were brutally suppressed. Up to this day non-muslims have no rights in Iran. The Ayatollah turned out to be worse than the Shah.
Indeed you are right.However, most moslem nations are run with an iron fist,where like it or not, you have to tow the line against the west.
The Afro-Guyanese supporters of the PNC, many of them who dipped their fingers in the ink more than once, also ran away to live in Countries like Britain, Canada and USA, when it was under the PNC rule.
Guyana did not have any of the 12 great men of the world. Their impact was not that great that altered world history.Geographically.Guyana had several good men of the world.And, one bad man and his cronies that leads the field as one of the worst persons in the history of Guyana.LFS Burnham.