There have been complaints that we got too many holidays in the month of May – three. But then, this is the MERRY month of May, isn’t it?? And what better way to make merry than having a public holiday when we can “eat, drink and fight”?? That’s right, Dear Friends, let’s admit that here in our dear Mudland, fighting is one of our favourite ways to make merry!! So we’re done with May Day (where the two union umbrella groups duked it out!!); Arrival Day (where the Government and everybody else duked it out over why the former refused to have “Indian” in the name) – and now we head into “Independence Day”!!
So you’re wondering why your Eyewitness is bringing this up when it’s almost three weeks away?? Well, the Coronation of Charles to the throne of our old colonial power set your Eyewitness wondering about what might’ve been if matters hadn’t unfolded the way it did. By your Eyewitness’s reckoning, while the Brits had some concerns about Jagan, from the MI6 and CIA declassified files, they felt his bark was worse than his bite when it came to blowing up the place like Castro. They were willing to give him a chance and grant independence under his Government in 1962 – like Jamaica and Trinidad.
So yes…what could’ve been if Kennedy didn’t have to prove to his domestic Republican opponents that he wasn’t soft on communism?!! Sure Burnham wanted to be the top dog…but without the encouragement of the Americans to oust Jagan by any means necessary, we could’ve evolved into a situation more similar to Trinidad’s than West African politics!! After all, they had a similar ethnic makeup and a Prime Minister who was au fait with Marxism and who even had a Trotskyite advisor – CLR James!!
Was it possible that Burnham might’ve even have split from Cheddi without the encouragement of the Yanks?? Sure. Burnham was a plotter by nature – if his Siste Jessie is to be believed. He would’ve remained within and continued to undermine Cheddi by hook or by crook. He already had a following in the party – those who believed Cheddi unnecessarily wore his radicalism on his sleeve. As Cheddi inevitably faltered in his developmental thrust without the support of the Yanks, Burnham would’ve presented himself as a more suitable candidate. He’d already done that twice – before being contacted by the Yanks.
What this means is that while, concededly, it might’ve been difficult for two man-crabs to live in the same hole, the nationalist movement might’ve survived and we could’ve moved along developmentally like, say, Malaysia!!
So yes, Dear Reader, your Eyewitness did wonder what might’ve been as that five-pound crown was placed on Charles’s head.
…political earthquake
They say, “do fuh do nah Obeah”!! Back when Burnham first took office with the help of the Yanks, he first tried to hedge his bets against his UF coalition partner by inveigling PPP and UF MPs to quit their parties and join him. He was quite successful. And even when he started to rig his way into power, he kept his door open. In 1976, there was a whole entourage of PPP executives led by Chandisingh and Teekah who took up his offer.
Well, fast forward to the present and the PPP’s making no bones about its willingness to take aboard folks from the PNC. Even ordinary members!! The LGE’s the occasion for the cross-overs, but not the cause. The cause is that the PPP knows that politics in Guyana isn’t “bumper ball” politics but real “hardball”!! You can get hurt by bouncers!!
So, we can expect as the days roll by, more and more PNC bodies decked out in red. Especially since the divided PNC has rolled over playing dead!!
…big thing
Every day we wake up to discover there’s something different in our world. We knew computers would change things. But who expected those pieces of metal could be speaking to us and writing novels?? AI is the future.
