Dear Editor,
Mr Ravi Dev since his arrival on Guyana’s political scene in the mid or late 80s has been an Indian activist/leader who has confronted the nation race/political problem, its effects on race relations, elections and democracy. Over the years I have paid close attention to his writings and public polemics. In the past I have engaged him on several occasions, and we had agreements and respectful disagreements.
I have followed the recent polemics between Mr Ravi Dev and Mr Vincent Alexander with keen interest. This letter is intended to pose a question to Dev as a result of an observation he made in his letter in response to Alexander, published in the Stabroek News edition of October 9th 2020, under the caption, `African Ethnic Security Dilemma has resolved itself”. Mr Dev wrote, “The African Ethnic Security Dilemma (AESD) was if they accepted the majoritarian premise of parliamentary democracy, they would be excluded in perpetuity from government because of the Indian Guyanese majority. The Indian Ethnic Security Dilemma (IESD) was that even if their superior numbers delivered the government, they “would be in office but not in power” because of African Guyanese occupancy of the strategic institutions of the state, especially its coercive arms.”
My question to Dev is what is his present views on the Indian Ethnic Security Dilemma? Has it been resolved with the PPP’s return to office with its strategic alliance with the US and Western powers which make African occupation (small numbers relative to the Burnham period) of the coercive arms of the state irrelevant?
Looking forward to your usual informed and frank response.
Yours faithfully,
Tacuma Ogunseye
