LEAVE THE PAST BEHIND


The struggle of the working class and the organised activity of the trade union movement have substantially determined the course of Guyana’s history. While Guyana was not unique, it led the way with the formation in 1922 by Hubert Nathaniel Critchlow of the BGLU (British Guiana Labour Union), the first trade union registered in the British Empire in 1922.

Several trade unions were formed subsequently, among them the TWU (Transport Workers Union). Registered in 1938, it had become by the mid 1940s one of the largest and most militant. The Teare Strike by the TWU in 1947 was called to protest the suspension of two workers for trade union activity. It lasted for two weeks, crippled the movement of people and goods in the country and succeeded in its objective of obtaining a commitment that the contract of Colonel Teare, who was the authoritarian British General Manager of the Transport and Harbours Department, would not be renewed after it expired, an unheard of concession at that time. This strike most likely energised sugar workers and the GIWU (Guyana Industrial Workers Union), the predecessor to GAWU, into renewed struggle the following year, leading to the tragic loss of life at Enmore by the Martyrs.

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MINING IN THE MURI MOUNTAINS


Like every other serious investment venture in recent times, the PGGS (Permission for Geophysical and Geological Surveys) granted to Muri Brasil Ventures Inc. in November last year has come under serious questioning and has given rise to suspicion and innuendo.

Little public information has ever been given to the issue of a PGGS before. Even after the massive failure of public relations over the Amaila Hydropower Project, the Government’s continued to display reticence on investment matters. This continues to generate controversy and harm to its reputation and that of its Ministers. Normal clauses and concessions which are in every PGGS, occasioned in this case a wave of suspicion because they were brought to public attention in a negative light, in a politically charged manner.

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A CONSENSUS PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE


Frustration at the political gridlock which obstructs all progress now pervades our politics. It has resulted in well meaning persons raising the issue once again of a consensus presidential candidate for the Opposition. This proposal, always just below the political surface, has more resonance at this time than any other in view of the 2011 election results. In earlier times political supporters of the Opposition often raised the idea in the hope that if accepted, it may attract enough supporters from the PPP to give the Opposition an absolute majority. Now that the Opposition together have a majority, many feel that a consensus presidential candidate can now bring victory to the Opposition.

As is well known the Guyana Constitution does not permit two or more Parties which together obtain a majority of the votes at elections to select the head of government or form the government. The Party which obtains the plurality wins the Presidency and can form a minority government as is the case now.

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MANDELA


For most politically conscious people of my age, Nelson Mandela has been with us all our lives. I was not yet a teenager in the late 1950s when I remember a sticker on my father’s car ‘End Apartheid Now,’ the meaning of which I only later learnt. By the time the Rivonia Trials came around, and because I was from a political home, I could feel the impact of the trial and imprisonment of Nelson Mandela and his colleagues because all the adults around me felt and talked about it.

In the ensuing years the entire PPP and all the current leaders of my generation were deeply affected by apartheid and were involved in the struggle against it. Most of us knew many South Africans from the African National Congress and the South African Communist Party and met many others during travels to overseas conferences. The anti-apartheid movement in the UK was very powerful during the time I was a student and afforded the opportunity to me and thousands to contribute tangibly to freedom for South Arica and all political prisoners.

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