Dear Editor,
Certainly, within the extended Georgetown — particularly Kitty northern, central, and southern sections — it would be extremely difficult, if not impossible, to flag a more patriotic stalwart of the People’s Progressive Party than Parbu Dial Sattan. His affiliation with the political process would have been determined by the socio-political realities of the early 1960s, a period dubbed as the “Troubles” by some and as “Guyana’s Civil War” by others. It may also be correct to situate his association with the Guiana Hindu Sanatan Dharma organisation that was founded by the late Reepu Daman Persaud.
However, the spiritual and Hindu identities were sustained internal to a historical environment specific to Kitty as an extension of Georgetown, that retained elements of national cohesion forged by the 1950s PPP, and demonstrated by the supra-majority election victory of 1953.
It is also possible that Parbu’s seniors, including his paternal head of family, always believed that the Burnham PNC would have to accept the reality of the people’s franchise. And difficult as that process was to become, somehow there was a realization that Dr. Jagan’s sincerity, his belief in the unity of the working class, and ultimately his dedication to the oppressed, would provide an alternative to ethnic as well as class polarization, as these trends impacted upon the lives of ordinary folks.
Another factor that could be examined is that of Ghandian peaceful political campaigns, as this formulation would be applicable to then colonial British Guiana. Subjectively at least, Ghandi’s ideas had a generational influence throughout the former English colonial territories, especially during the immediate post WWII years leading to India’s independence.
These are important strands that must be recognised when extracting a balanced perspective relative to an activist such as Parbu, the ‘Thomas Street comrade’.
At another yet significant level would be the communal- type environment of Kitty, bound to the west by Vlissengen Road, Barr Street, and the Barr Street access to the Lamaha artery.
Kitty Market/Alexander Street PPP Rallies as socialization
Local historians Rose and Moore have alluded and specified the critical role of the ‘fear’ factor in the period characterised by the CIA campaign (through their local agents) to overthrown and displace the Jagan PPP, commencing from the 80 days’ strike and anti-Kaldor budget demonstrations.
As in West on Trial, Jagan C.J., Justice: The Struggle for Democracy in Guyana, 1952-1992, Fr. Andrew Morrison SJ, Part 1, cf on Premier Dr. Jagan’s 1962 New Year’s Message. Also, section D, ‘Big Brother Against Professionals’, and ‘Policeman Under Manners’; pp. 63/4). Interestingly, Jessie Burnham’s letter, “Beware of My Brother Forbes”, highlighted and forewarned about Burnham’s racist ideas.
Communal Kitty served as an important hub in the political sense of transcending the fear (as discussed above), sourced from political and racial discrimination, as well as state-sponsored coercion, as evident in rigged PNC elections.
PPP Kitty market square rallies were sponsored during the pre-election (or E-Day) itself.
Parasatan’s pharmacy and the location immediately north of the old Hollywood Cinema along Alexander Street were venues for PPP solidarity events. Perhaps only Bourda Green and Louisa Row would have shared as fore raters for socialization amongst the working people of Georgetown.
The role that Parbu Sattan played in this process — that of a committee group member tasked with local organization — mounting of platforms, streaming of flags and banners, as well as some level of security, would be complex to unravel without a collective input of others who collaborated with party mobilisation over the decades.
Nevertheless, one thing is certain: Comrade Parbu’s intimate familiarity with the problems confronted by grassroots, his perception of diversity as manifest in location (i.e., street corners), as well as scheduling of meetings in terms of political events not “clashing” with public holidays or any other major cultural or sports activity within given boundaries or constituencies, was a real time value. It was in this area of grassroots experiences that Parbu Sattan was proficient. Additionally, it must be recalled that the Kitty ward (at that time or later) comprised a neighbourhood viewed as a virtual ‘heirloom’ for LFS Burnham.
Burnham grew up in the northernmost sector, termed Subryanville/Kitty, and this contiguity impacted across ethnicities. It perhaps was similar to the Charlestown ward and the municipal support for Janet Jagan in the 1950s. To win back electoral support in Kitty therefore, especially in the environment of paramountcy, police as well as other non-state harassment was no easy task.
Multi-class democracy and militancy
In the post WWII decades up until the late 1960s (and even somewhat more), Kitty and Bel Air were considered at best semi-rural in terms of social amenities linked directly and otherwise to the East Coast railway. Kitty was the first station/stop out of Georgetown. Coupled to the open municipal market were micro-grocery outlets as well as bovine and ruminants’ rearing. Parbu himself could often be seen, during the 1970s, herding three or more heifers along the road after these had been taken to graze. So it would seem that, similarly to the family unit of Komal Chand (West Bank Demerara) and to a lesser extent the late Boysie Ramkarran, the rearing of cattle was one source of earning. During the mid-1970s, for instance, it was not unusual to see Parbu riding one of the horses stabled in Thomas Street along Alexander Street.
This combination of small business people, cattle-rearing and casual labour represented to a substantial degree the Kitty constituency. At the said time, there were the Ramkarrans (Bel Air), the subgroup of PPP frontline leaders such as Narbada Persaud; Ramroop, aka “Shogat”; Maccie Hamid and Yacoob Ally, all of whom, with the exception of “Shogat”, were resident in the location bounded by Sandy Babb Street, Stanley Place, Vlissengen Road and Kitty Public Road as converted to link with the East Coast Highway – Burnham’s alternative to the closure of the East Coast railway.
As he matured, Parbu practically became a spokesperson for almost the entire North Kitty/ Subryanville/Prashad Nagar and Lama Avenue location, as well as Section “K” Campbellville. Essentially, this would have been derivative from his other engagements discussed above. However, he became a PPP Councillor serving on the Georgetown City Council for a number of years – a reflection of the high level of local knowledge he had accumulated for a considerable period of time.
(As was confirmed at the Freedom House tribute recently, Parbu not only was a close collaborator with PPP elections committee chairperson Gail Teixeira, but also with other stalwarts. These would include Kemraj Raj and Ronald “Ronnie” Nawbatt, both managers of the Basic Needs/SIMAP during the 1990s, as well as with the ‘agency’ tasked with supporting farmers under the authority of then Minister of Housing and Water, Irfaan Ali.)
Last week, travelling through the Kitty community – Alexander to Pike and David streets – where a more variegated cluster of small business has evolved, one was struck by the feedback from ordinary folk. And why? The sense of loss, alienation even from the essentialism of human mortality, was very evident.
Unlike Burnham, who claimed that “another Rasta” would replace him, the same cannot be said of Parbu Sattan, the militant and at occasions controversial PPP man with an attitude.
