Conversation Tree

ETHICS IN ADMINISTRATION

In 1961 the PPP was elected as the government for the second time, 1957 being the first. My father, Ram Karran, was appointed a Minister of the Government in both 1957 and 1961. On this latter occasion I distinctly recall that in December, 1961, a large number of Christmas gifts were delivered to our home. I vaguely remember the decision that the gifts were not opened. They were stored in our verandah. Some time later, but before Christmas, the gifts were returned unopened. Again vaguely, I recall discussion to the effect that government ministers were not allowed to receive gifts.

HAPPY 90TH BIRTHDAY TO STANLEY GREAVES

This article under the caption of “November 22 and 23,” now slightly amended, was published on 23 November 2015 aboutStanley Greaves, but included references to Roy Brummel and Wordsworth McAndrew, cultural and artistic giants in their own right. Since we will, sadly, not be having the opportunity of a 90^th Birthday Stanley Greaves exhibition, as we did the landmark 80^th Birthday exhibition, I ask Guyana to join with me in paying tribute to and honouring Stanley Greaves, a unique Guyanese monument.

PRESIDENT ALI CHANGES THE NARRATIVE

President Irfaan Ali delivered a masterstroke on Thursday last in his address to the opening sitting of the new session of theNational Assembly. What was anticipated to be a routine report to the nation about progress made over the past year and prospects for the coming year, turned out to be much more. The President used the opportunity to announce a wide-ranging series of proposals designed to immediately reduce the impact of the cost of living and improve the standard of living of the Guyanese people, among other initiatives. The flagship proposal, and the one that is receiving the most attention, is the one-time cash payment of $200,000 to every household. This utilization of the resources of the Guyanese people at this Christmas time to provide to them direct benefits, will go a far way to ease the burden of the cost of living that many have been complaining about.

LET’S FACE REALITY

Let’s face reality, one of capitalism’s fundamental characteristics is its inexorable drive for accumulation leading to the expansion of its businesses and expansion generally. One of the effects of that expansion is the consumption of smaller businesses or bankrupting them out of existence. Development in Guyana, slow though it was, saw the slow strangulation of cake shops and groceries. Cake shops have completely disappeared in developed areas. Groceries are being replaced by supermarkets. Small supermarkets are now giving way to larger supermarkets. While groceries and general stores still exist outside the city, and some have survived by selling alcohol, and their survival may persist for some time yet, the writing is on the wall. Unless they further innovate by converting themselves into modern, small, supermarkets, for their small communities with a wider range of product to meet the growing demands of their customers, they are not going to survive. The development of the oil economy has, and will continue, to speed up this process.

HASSAN NASRALLAH

Oppressed people will always resist. The apartheid Israeli occupation and killing of thousands of Palestinians living in open air prisons since 1967 explains, although it does not justify,the atrocities of October 7. It also explains the militant resistance of Hezbollah which was formed to resist apartheid Israel’s war on Lebanon and occupation of southern Lebanon for eighteen years until expelled in 2000. The Sabra and Shatila massacres of hundreds of Palestinians by Christians militias, protected by the Israeli army, destruction of Beirut, and killing of thousands of Lebanese, were the product of apartheid Israel’s war on Lebanon and the Palestinians. It is the ominous threat of apartheid Israel that has sustained Hezbollah as a force to defend Lebanon.