Dear Editor,
There has been much public comment on the matter of the Oliver Tambo Award to late President Forbes Burnham. My own public comments are confined to three issues arising from the public discourse.
The first is that for Burnham the termination of apartheid, the liberation of Southern Africa and indeed the liquidation of colonialism everywhere, including West Papua and East Timor, were cardinal policies which he, his party and his administration fully embraced and vigorously implemented. The evidence is overwhelming and incontestable.
The second issue is the need for “a full, frank and public inquiry” so persuasively advocated by Ulele Burnham ( Stabroek News, May 8, 2013) concerning Walter Rodney’s death. I seem to recollect a son of Rodney had held a protest urging the then PPP/C government of Guyana to launch an inquiry into his father’s death and that the protest elicited a positive response. To date, however, that promise remains unfulfilled. Be that as it may, the important question is this: should not such an inquiry be pursued now? Do not all the concerned and interested persons and organizations support such an inquiry? There may conceivably be difficulty in settling the terms of reference and other matters concerning the inquiry. But given a spirit of compromise and goodwill (though these two qualities/attributes are not well-known features of our national political experience) agreement is hopefully possible. Success in this regard is an alluring prospect as it could, among other things, represent an important step in the repair of a fracture in our society and clear away misunderstandings.
Which leads me to the third issue, perhaps the most profound, that is, the desirability of constructing a cohesive society, one which is humane, just and rules based.
A friend of mine, who follows Guyanese affairs keenly once said that, “In Guyana, there is a low intensity civil war producing serious and deep seated consequences for the society as a whole.” His description may be regarded as somewhat overblown but many people in and out of Guyana believe that national reconciliation is an imperative ‒ albeit a difficult necessity. However, is the political environment amenable to honest and fruitful conversations on this matter? Borrowing the word of a patriotic song of days of yore the following seems relevant, “Can we do it? Yes we can!” (‘Let us cooperate for Guyana’). I hope we have the will and the sense of national purpose to undertake such a project, one outcome of which could be that we acquire a shared narrative and understanding of our history.
Yours faithfully,
Rashleigh E Jackson
