Dear Editor,
A good friend of mine sent me a video clip of Mr. Hamilton Green attacking a billboard erected on the East Bank hailing Dr. Jagan as the ‘Father of the Nation’. In that video, Mr. Green gave several reasons for his positions. From the outset let me say almost all the points he made were distorted, and some were down right untrue. Mr. Green spoke about the solidarity given by the PPP to Julius and Ethal Rosenburg, who were sentenced to death in the US for allegedly spying for the Soviet Union. It is true that the PPP government passed a motion in the Legisla-tive Assembly calling on the President of the USA to exercise clemency for them. At that time people all over the world felt it was persecution and that the couple were innocent.
It was at a time when Mc McCarthyism was rampant in the US and many people, Communist and non-communists, were being persecuted, these included Paul Roberson, and the famous film writer Trumbo. So, the PPP was not alone in calling for clemency for them, it was on the side of progressive people the world over demanding this and giving solidarity to the couple. This included the Pope! How this was a mistake is a mystery. Indeed it was an act of humanism and solidarity.
He then accused Dr. Jagan of not joining the Non-Align Movement, suggesting that Jagan was hostile to it and that he had an opportunity to join and did not. That is totally untrue. Cheddi Jagan held the Non-Aligned Movement and its founders in very high esteem. But how could the country join that movement when we were (a) still a colony and (b) even if it was possible for a colony to join the NAM the PPP was not in office in 1955, the constitution having been suspended in 1953. So, Mr. Green is creating his own circumstances and then use that to critize Dr. Jagan.
It is true that Mr. Burnham established the Non- Aligned Park in Georgetown in the mid-1970s. The PPP supported it fully. If, according to Green, Burnham was so enamored with the NAM why it took him so long after Independence to join that movement? He spoke about Cheddi’s position on the West Indian Federation. Let me say that the PPP’s position on the Federation was decided by the party from its inception when Burnham was the Chairman of the PPP. A PPP government would be supportive of Federation if the region became independent, or at a minimum, enjoyed internal self-government.
Hamilton Green then moved to talk about Cheddi’s position on the independence conference in London in 1963. What he failed to say is that Burnham’s role was less than honourable. I am being kind here. Burnham changed his position constantly on Independence. From 1950 to 1955 while in the PPP he was a strong advocate for Independence. There were no differences between him and Dr. Jagan in that period. He began to shift in the late 1950s. By 1960 at the first Independence talks he dropped the demand for independence and advocated internal self-government instead. In the run-up to the 1961 elections he again called for independence. In fact it was on this issue that he and Sydney King fell out. He agreed that whichever Party won the 1961 elections would lead the country to Independence.
He then spoke about the PPP boycotting the 1965 Independence Confer-ence. Well it is important to understand why. Firstly, many PPP leaders were still in detention for almost two years without trial and the colony was under a state of emergency. Secondly, the Burnham led PNC government just at the time of the conference in 1965 arrested and detained other PPP leaders including Comrade Cedric Vernon Nunes former Minister of Education in the 1961 to 1964 PPP government. They refused to release the political prisoners and to lift the State of Emergency!
The PNC working in alliance with the colonial powers were making it impossible for the PPP to attend. The British and PNC refused to release them or to end the State of Emergency! Yet the PPP did not oppose Independence. It welcomed it but, began to wage a fight for real freedom which was won on October 5, 1992. It is apposite to recall that Guyana was the only country in the Commonwealth which the British granted Independence with a state of emergency in place.
Mr. Green and other of his ilk have a habit of lifting dishonesty and treachery and trying to make them virtues! Instead of apologizing for his role and that of his party in their betrayal of the independence movement in this country he objectively continues to defend the colonialist role and his own party collaborationist position. At this stage of our lives it’s time to come clean Hammie!
Sincerely,
Donald Ramotar
President of Guyana (Former)
