One of the good things that came out of your Eyewitness’s growing-up days under Burnham and Jagan was that while in short pants, he learnt about the critical difference between “growth” and “development”. “Growth” referred to what was happening to the economy as a whole – and was measured in an increase or decrease in the GDP or GNP. Yes, Dear Reader, a decrease can also be called growth – “negative growth”!! And “development”?? That spoke about what was happening in the lives of “we the people” – especially the “small man” in PNC lingo. Or the “working class” – dubbed the “proletariat” by the comrades – in PPP’s. No one complained that women weren’t mentioned – they fell under the category “man” – no pun intended!!
Development meant that the “small man” was going to be made into the “real man” (PNC) or the “working class” would end up as the owners of industry and would be living high off the hog –- as the owners did (PPP). It was accepted the economy still had to grow – but the profits from everything would end up in the pockets of the small man. We learnt there could be growth without development. Like when (in the words of Cheddi) those “British bastards” hived off all the sugar profits to England!! – but no development without growth!! Your Eyewitness remembers swaggering around like an insufferable little snot, thinking how “enlightened” he was with all these words!!
But he soon discovered that all it was was – words!! Burnham threw out the British and Canadian (bauxite) bastards and “we the people” now owned 80 per cent of the “commanding heights of the economy”. But did that change anything in the lives of the “small man” or the “working class”?? It certainly did – but not in the way he’d been promised. Rather than living better, he was plunged into sufferation since the local fellas Burnham appointed to run the economy just ran everything into the ground! The small man now became the “hungry, homeless and naked” man!!
And your youthful Eyewitness learnt a valuable lesson: the owners of industry who ran their businesses successfully also performed “labour”. And should be well compensated since without their know-how there’d be no industry!! And this brings you now wide-awake (not woke!!) Eyewitness to our present circumstances where oil gives us the chance to have BOTH growth and development!! Sure, the oil belongs to “we the people”; sure we should be living higher off the hog – but let’s remember what happened under Burnham.
And in case you say, Dear Reader, that wasn’t oil; remember the same thing happened over in Venezuela when Chavez decided to get a bigger slice of the oil profits –- and the foreign companies just left!!
…in world order
With all the outrages that Mad Maduro’s been committing against us, we should appreciate that for a small nation like ours, life can be “nasty, short and brutish”. Like Hobbes concluded over 400 years ago about man in his “state of nature”. And yes…back then “man” didn’t include “woman” – but was subsumed under him since she was made from his rib! Anyhow, Hobbes suggested that man should create governments – Leviathans – to which they should give up their rights and for which the governments would protect them through laws.
Well, following all the wars fought AFTER man formed governments by nation-states, you’d think they’d follow Hobbes’ suggestion at another level and form a “government of governments”. They’d give up some rights for the mega-govt to keep the peace among nations. And that’s exactly why the United Nations was formed after WWII – when about 80 million were killed. Excepting the victors gamed the system to place them above the controls!
So Guyanese, we’re on our own!!
