Even as war by other means is being waged by Mad Maduro on our Essequibo border, looks like we got a war of attrition being waged by the Guyana Teachers’ Union (GTU) against the Government and Ministry of Education INSIDE our country!! So, it looks like the Government gotta fight on two fronts – which governments hate to do, since their resources are spread and easier challenged. But maybe this is exactly why the GTU launched its offensive AFTER Mad Maduro had “annexed” Essequibo, ordered out all oil companies from our waters – and massed his army, navy and air force near our border.
They knew Mad Maduro was closely monitoring what’s going on inside Guyana – to find out if Guyanese support the Government. Remember those two voluminous files of newspaper clippings he brought to Argyle, that almost broke the table?? Now, some may say the GTU’s “strike action” isn’t war – but a legitimate weapon for trade unions to force employers to go along with their demands. But this is exactly what war is, innit? To be able to use the forces at your disposal to bend your opponent’s will to your own?? It’s like Mad Maduro ordering our oil companies out: he knows they ain’t gonna leave just like that – but that new companies gonna think twice before investing. Didn’t Lloyds already increase their insurance rates??
Then you might say the GTU ain’t using PHYSICAL force against the Government – to constitute “war”. But apart from the fact that what constitutes war has broadened since those trade union conventions were formed, we have our own history with trade union “strikes”. And your Eyewitness ain’t talking about the CIA/PNC strikes that ousted the then PPP Government. The same ploy was used by Desmond Hoyte after he lost the 1997 elections: he deployed his violent “slow fyaah; mo’ fyaah” strategy to force the PPP to the bargaining table!!
In an eerie instance of history repeating itself, the ritual of sticking pins in a doll while sprinkling and chanting “wuk pon she!!” – referring to then President Janet Jagan – was repeated now by a man dressed in PNC colours in front of the office of the Minister of Education, Priya Manickchand. Hoyte’s strategy didn’t end nicely!! Then, a decade later, Georgetown was again razed after the Public Service struck after making outrageous demands. These were along the lines of the GTU’s present demands: 25% raise for 2019 – when the PNC was in office, and 20% for 2020-23; allowances of $5,000 for stress; $10,00 internet (monthly!) $10,000 monthly if vehicles used etc…
In the sixties, the strikers were funded by the CIA, but this time, your Eyewitness understands, a yet-unnamed businessman will be funding the teachers.
To what end?? Anarchy? Or regime change?
…children?
Your Eyewitness knows that with all the new connectivity on the internet – and its seamless connectivity available to everyone – all kids are much more aware of what’s going down!! Also, one newspaper said children growing up in “green spaces” – presumably, rural areas qualify! – have higher IQs!! Well, it looks like we have a genius or a child prodigy from one of the green villages in Canje, Berbice to rival Mozart – who’s said to’ve completed his first composition at age 5!!
Since we don’t have a classical music segment in our Children’s Mash Competition, we test our kids in Calypso composition. And one of our six-year-olds from Canje belted out a composition that shows her command of the English language rivals most UG graduates!! “Please tell meh how I must survive with 6.5?/ I have a burning issue on meh chest/ I can’t even rest/ How cost of living everything doubling/ This thing troubling/ Tell me how I must carry on/ With a seemingly one arm?”
…Mad Maduro
If your Eyewitness didn’t know better, he would swear that Mad Maduro is doing his darndest to provoke the UN into a Haiti-type intervention. He just shut down the UN Human Rights Office in Caracas, and expelled all staff.
