Dear Editor,
Walter Rodney captured the political animus of Guyana’s political scene brilliantly during an interview in 1976 with African American scholar and Emeritus Professor William Strickland by pointing out: “In the 1960s, we had seen the phase of electoral politics where people were lining up on one side or the other – the PPP if one was Indian, and PNC if one was African.
“That was very clear. I recall it very well, as late as 1961, being very confused on the question of whether one went for the PPP or PNC. As I listed the pros and cons, I said, ‘Well, the PPP says it’s a Marxist party, but it’s not operating that way, and it had Indians. On the other hand, the PNC didn’t even claim to be Marxist, or even a serious socialist party, yet it had the Africans. And for those of us Africans who were struggling to take a progressive position, it was extremely difficult.
“Many who had joined the PPP as the better of two choices had to leave the party. And ultimately, because of these racial questions, a generation of us (has) actually stayed away from the two dominant political parties.”
At this 2017 juncture of our political evolution, it seems obligatory that the de facto Founder-Leader of the WPA should have his dream for the shaping of a multiracial Guyana realized through his comrades of yore. Some of those comrades stood shoulder-to-shoulder with Rodney in the 1970s; some of them died doing do, others were imprisoned and/or brutalized.
Now that the WPA is in a position to balance the policies of the governance of Guyana by the two dominant parties in Guyana – namely, the PNC and the PPP — let us seize this moment for the betterment of Guyana. Clive, Rupert, David, Mazarool, Tacuma, Tabitha, Wazir, Desmond, Rishi, et al, let us optimize this opportunity to be servant-leaders for the working class of Guyana, the less fortunate, the oppressed and downtrodden; be the Guyanese leaders that embrace all our brothers and sisters. The tepid, grovelling and undefined or vague positions taken by this dispensation of WPA leaders are a betrayal of Rodney’s sincerity, honesty, forthrightness and courage. Hypocrisy like half-positions should be abandoned.
Do not trade the honour of the WPA, which was displayed with such effectiveness in the 1970s, to now play second fiddle and act as if certain individuals or groups are sacrosanct. For a few more years of what? Such conduct will certainly return Guyanese to the hellish period during which Rodney died. Let us not condone mismanagement and misplaced polices shrouded in hubris, arrogance and elitism from anyone or in any form. Let us strive to be our better selves.
The most undemocratic, twisted and warped Shahabadeen’s Constitution, unleashed in 1980 under the guidance of Prime Minister Forbes Burnham and referred to many times by Rodney as the Paramount Constitution, has become wholly at odds with Rodney’s view on power and power-sharing. It is time we set this Paramount Constitution adrift and draft a new Guyanese Constitution in the spirit of, and with the intent of, having a multiracial democracy.
Dr. Roopnaraine has served us well. Many great men have reached a point where their capacity is diminished by some ailment. It is a reality that must be actioned. We need in the National Assembly a new representative who can vote based on the principled position of a Rodney-oriented WPA, and certainly not depend on a WPA Member of Parliament (MP) hidden away behind the vast and fortress-like fences surrounding the Ministry of the Presidency, with the MP being walked or escorted out conveniently to support a position in the National Assembly that the WPA does not support.
In what may be considered Rodney’s most powerful, scathing, selfless and brilliant speech — People’s Power No Dictator – made against the unelected reign of Forbes Burnham over Guyanese, we find this gem of a multiracial statement when Dr. Rodney said “… It was usually after the end of their five-year bond that our Indian foreparents were able to turn to the temple, the mosque or the church as the case might be”. This is a most revealing statement coming from one of the world’s great African historians.
Working People’s Alliance, rise up and serve Guyana in the way Rodney envisioned. You represent an alliance that played the most transformative and courageous role in the history of Guyana’s politics, and now you are called upon once again to play a pivotal role in cultivating a multiracial Guyana by disavowing bootlicking language, lackeys, square pegs, racism and discrimination.
Albert Campus captured the needs of Guyana well with this quote: “We must mend what has been torn apart, make justice imaginable again in a world so obviously unjust, give happiness a meaning once more.”
Sincerely,
Nigel Hinds
