…debts and reparations
Your Eyewitness’ concerned about this US0 million “grant” Britain’s flashing around the Caribbean for the last year – while ignoring demands for reparations. The folks in Jamaica – even the politicians who like their bread buttered – didn’t let British PM Cameron off scot-free like ours did – when he came like a Greek bearing gifts. They told him in no uncertain terms where he could get off with his refusal to apologise for slavery – and offer to buy off the Caribbean on their reparations demand with his “grant”.
They also reminded Cameron of his slave-owning ancestors who’d received compensation at “emancipation”. THEY were emancipated all right! It’s reminiscent of the approach the British took at the abolition of slavery. They extracted the labour of African slaves through literally their “blood, sweat and tears”, for hundreds of years. Then used the mega profits – hey! That’s a given when you don’t have to pay for labour in a labour-intensive industry! – to jump out of feudalism and into their Industrial Age – from which their profits continue to flow.
But when it made economic sense to abandon slavery because “free trade” served their industrialising interests better – they “abolished” slavery. And tried to convince us they did it for “humanitarian” reasons. Some humanitarians!! Rewarded the OWNERS of the slaves for their “PROPERTY” – that’s slaves, in case you forgot – and the latter got zilch. And now that folks have woken up to this historic wrong, and are demanding reparations, the British are trying to head us off at the pass.
When Cameron first came with his “grant spiel”, your Eyewitness called upon this Government to raise the issue of reparations with the local Ambassador – who waxed long and hard on how we’d “benefit”. Unless we do this, the British will claim we’re ungrateful when we insist on getting what’s rightfully ours – reparations. The Government was struck mute as they were suckered into already spending the money on projects like a new concrete Demerara Harbour Bridge – which’ll cost at least US0 million. Out of a total of US0 million for the ENTIRE Caribbean!
And as the British Ambassador once again whipped out the offer of the grant to the natives in Government, once again, your Eyewitness has to yell like Paul Revere of the US, “The British are coming! The British are coming! With their offer of “new grant” for “old reparations”.
There are some in Guyana, even outside the Government, who’ve lost sight of the prize. It is the British that profited from “legally” defining Africans as “chattel” and they cannot get away with denying reparations by saying “slavery was “legal”.
That’s called “bootstrapping” – and it ain’t legal.
…ambition with ineptitude
This burning of the rice farming couple – the aged Munirs – and shooting the young businessman from Wakenaam, Persaud, have awakened a lot of people to what this newspaper had long been saying – crime’s spiralling out of control in this country. When this was first pointed out, the National Security Minister Khemraj Ramjattan got his buckta all in a knot and screamed “persecution!” He’d rather we reported on his 2am curfew of bars…the connection of which to crime, we’re still waiting for him to produce as he’d promised.
It’s rather ironic that a Government as top heavy with military and Police brass as this one, could be so clueless in handling the crime wave. But when you look at what’s going on…it’s not hard to understand why. And we’re forced back to Ramjattan. He demanded this key Ministry for AFC’s support and got it over the professionals. Along with the mega salary and perks.
The beribboned bunch is just waiting for him to crumble under his ineptitude. Meanwhile, we’re stuck with the spiralling crime wave.
…Spirogyra or amoeba
Your Eyewitness would like to remind some in the media it’s the amoeba that gobbles up everything in its path. Spirogyra manufactures its own food, thank you!
