Your Eyewitness was accused of not being “woke” enough!! Now that the word “woke” was officially added into the Oxford English Dictionary as an adjective only in June 2017. Just two years before, the hip Urban Dictionary had defined it thusly: “being woke means being aware… knowing what’s going on in the community (related to racism and social injustice)”. But, decades before, it was part of the street talk of Black America (like “hip”!) in Harlem. It hit wider America when the NY Times mentioned it in 1962. So, the word comes out of the Civil Rights struggle in the USA, a’ight??
In 1972, this connection was made explicit when a character in the play “Garvey Lives!” said: “I been sleeping all my life. And now that Mr Garvey done woke me up, I’m gon stay woke. And I’m gon’ help him wake up other black folk”. Since then, the word has expanded its reach into the wider world: oppression knows no boundaries – along race, colour, sex, gender, age, ethnicity, origins, etc.
So, being “woke” is to be aware of who’s stepping on whom – and accepting that we gotta stand on the side of the oppressed. The question is who decides who’s oppressed!! Of recent, the word’s been given an ironic twist, suggesting that some folks place themselves on pedestals, from where they can sneer down on others – who aren’t as “woke” as they. So, how’s this playing out in Guyana? We would’ve noticed that the words “racial” and “racist” are being thrown around with abandon nowadays – especially before and after our elections.
Is it that the folks bandying those terms are more “woke” than others – insisting there’s more in the (social) mortar than the pestle (of race)? Or is it they’re just exploiting the term wrenched from its American roots? So, we gotta be jive to be woke?? Just listen to those Opposition talking heads on social media and you’d be forgiven for thinking you were in deep Alabama!! And folks with pointy hoods were burning crosses on your bridge!!
Anyhow, your Eyewitness’s take on the local usage is: there’s nothing “woke” about anyone suggesting we have an “apartheid” state in Guyana. That’s just insulting South African Blacks, who had to follow laws that explicitly defined them as lesser human beings. Ironically, when Burnham sanctimoniously offered monetary help to fight apartheid in South Africa, he was oppressing Indian Guyanese in Guyana on the basis of race!! Who was oppressing who then? Wasn’t THAT more of an apartheid state?? Or is it that only one sort of folks can be woke??
So, what’s next? We gotta all be singing kumbaya to be called woke?? Or just cussing out the PPP will do??
…delaying Congress?
Diddling with Congress has a long lineage in the PNC. In fact, it goes back to even before there was a PNC, when Burnham was intent of seizing control of the PPP from the leader, Jagan! The man actually surreptitiously organized one Congress without even inviting Jagan and the PPP executives, who stood by the party’s rules!! Anyhow, Burnham was forced to eventually concede defeat, and slinked off to form the PNC?
But he never gave up his tactic of fixing Congress Meetings to fix who was in and who was out. So, it shouldn’t come as a surprise that the incumbent leader might be using the same modus operandi to stave off the challenges to his leadership. The man had accused his predecessor of doing the dirty back in 2011, and that rift never healed. So, the incumbent might be thinking “do fuh do na obeah”!!
But as a fella who doesn’t think, but just remembers, don’t hold your breath waiting for Congress.
You might just croak.
…afraid of elections
But it ain’t just party elections that’s causing consternation in the Opposition camp. There’s the General Elections staring them in the face for 2025. It can’t be easy knowing you might be in the wilderness for another 23 years!!
