I was very much tempted this weekend to write about Devils, Bastards and Demons – the words used by self-styled ‘Elder’ and promoter of moral revivalism, former PNC ‘strongman,’ Prime Minister Hamilton Green. He was speaking at the Burnham Foundation’s commemoration of the 101st anniversary of Burnham’s death at the Critchlow Labour College and describing those who today hold political office. According to reports, Green said that the people who deserve to rule are those whose “ancestors…suffered for centuries without a cent.” He said that ‘we’ (himself and others of like mind, no doubt) welcomed the ‘indentured people,’ ‘gave them an education’ and Burnham sought to unite the people, but the ‘new’ Indians were a larger group and didn’t want that. Whatever conditionality Green may have expressed, he called for rigged elections to remove the ‘devils, bastards and demons.’ Green obviously felt that the occasion was an appropriate one to advocate those particular views. He cannot disguise with moral philosophy a deeply backward mentality capable of rising to the surface at any moment, in a gush of political and racist drivel.
Continue reading “GROUND ZERO”THE TEACHERS’ STRIKE
It can hardly be denied that the public servants, including teachers, deserve to be paid more. It can also be hardly denied that public servants, including teachers, have come a long way since the collapse of the Guyana economy during the 1970s. Long before 1980 Guyana’s economy had been consistently in decline, exacerbated by the rise in oil prices and the decline in the price of sugar on the world market in the 1970s. The decline continued unaddressed until Burnham passed and Hoyte became President in 1985. Hoyte immediately negotiated a recovery programme with the IMF, which Burnham had refused to do on the ground of the harsh conditionalities. Among those accepted were devaluation and a wage and salary freeze. Between 1987 and 1991 the Guyana dollar was devalued from $19.50 to $101.75 for US$1. As a result of these harsh measures, middle level public servants, who owned their own homes and cars, joined the ranks of the impoverished. The poor descended into extreme poverty. While public servants, including teachers, have substantially recovered from that era, the overhang of debilitating IMF conditionalities still remain.
Continue reading “THE TEACHERS’ STRIKE”AN ELDERLY MAN BUT WITH FAR MORE BAGGAGE THAN A POOR MEMORY
Reading between the lines of the reports coming out of the recent engagements between US Government officials and the Arab community in Michigan, it is clear that President Biden has lost a large section of Arab American support. Listening to the political debates in the US about relative support of the presidential candidates, it has been noted that enthusiasm for President Biden in the African American community has weakened considerably. News reports continue to emphasize that the President’s age and declining physical and mental capacities are seen as negative perceptions The Joe Biden who, a few short years ago, trotted up to a podium to speak and engaged in vigorous debate during the election campaign, has been replaced by a Joe Biden who tumbled off his cycle while riding, fell heavily on a stage, walks with shaky uncertainty and, in the course of aggressively arguing that nothing is wrong with his memory, refers to the President of Egypt as the President of Mexico. With declining poll numbers, Democrats are clearly concerned.
Continue reading “AN ELDERLY MAN BUT WITH FAR MORE BAGGAGE THAN A POOR MEMORY”US FOREIGN POLICY AND GUYANA
In an article entitled “Looming Guyana Crisis Tests Biden Foreign Policy Priorities,” published on 22 January, 2024, on the website of US Senator Marco Rubio, a member of the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations, who is influential on issues on Latin America, the Senator expressed views on Venezuela, Guyana, the Border controversy, relations between the US and Venezuela and US and Guyana.
Continue reading “US FOREIGN POLICY AND GUYANA”BLINNE NÍ GHRÁLAIGH
Ms. Blinne Ni Ghralaigh KC is a British/Irish barrister and one of eight lawyers who addressed the International Commission of Jurists in the case Concerning Application of the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide in the Gaza Strip (South Africa v Israel). Ms. Ni Ghralaigh’s address is a searing indictment of Israel’s genocide against Gaza. The live and printed speech are on the ICJ’s website. Here is a small portion of it.
Continue reading “BLINNE NÍ GHRÁLAIGH”