JEREMY CORBYN

Written by Ralph Ramkarran
Saturday, 16th July 2016, 9:00 pm

Jeremy Corbyn is probably the first person to have won the leadership of the British Labour Party on a campaign that advanced a left agenda. He did so in fine style, with the support of 60 percent of the membership, to the dismay of the Labour Party establishment. Reports suggest that plotting immediately began among the leadership of the Parliamentary Labour Party (PLP) to remove Corbyn from the leadership. The majority support for the referendum to leave the EU, provided the occasion on the spurious ground that one-third of Labour supporters voted to leave. There was no evidence to show that any leader could have achieved better results.

The Labour Party establishment, traditionally to the right of the membership, does not believe that Corbyn’s leadership and his full-blooded opposition to neoliberalism, austerity, inequality and tax breaks for the rich, which are being offered by the Tories, are the correct policies or that they will win elections. It always believed that a core policy of the more efficient management of capitalism, not extracting a greater proportion of its profits for the working population, is the route to periodic electoral success. This strategy, adopted by right wing social democracy in the West, is designed to win over some undecided or pro-Tory voters, not to mobilize a left/progressive alliance.

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CONSTITUTIONAL REFORM: THE PROCESS

Written by Ralph Ramkarran
Saturday, 9th July 2016, 9:00 pm

The report of the Steering Committee on Constitutional Reform, appointed (SCCR) by the Government and headed by Attorney-at-Law Nigel Hughes, was handed over to Prime Minister Moses Nagamootoo in April. It is now before Cabinet for a decision as to the way forward.

President Granger, responding to a question on the television programme, Public Interest said, as reported in SN on June 20: “I don’t want a boardroom constitutional reform. I want a public discussion. I want people in their communities to meet and express their views. I don’t want a group of people sitting in a room saying what must be done.” The President went on at length in this vein.

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THE PPP, WPA AND CLIVE THOMAS

Written by Ralph Ramkarran
Saturday, 2nd July 2016, 9:00 pm

A recent exchange of six letters took place between Tacuma Ogunsaye and Clairmonte Lye, contributed to by Mansoor Nadir, in SN between the June 22 and July 2 triggered by Mr. Ogunsaye’s claim that Dr. Roger Luncheon’s alleged withdrew an offer made by Dr. Cheddi Jagan to Professor Clive Thomas to be the Minister of Finance. Much of what is below is already well known and some of it has been in the public domain.

Prior to the elections of 1992 discussions on a joint slate for the elections took place between members of the Patriotic Coalition for Democracy (PCD) of which the WPA, PPP and DLM, and others, were members. Agreement could not be reached on the composition of the list of candidates and post-election allocation of seats in the National Assembly. In addition the WPA and forces outside the PCD, insisted that Dr. Jagan should not be the presidential candidate. It was alleged that he would not receive the support of African-Guyanese. Dr. Jagan’s offer of Dr. Roger Luncheon as the PPP’s presidential candidate was rejected.

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BREXIT-LESSONS FOR CARICOM

Written by Ralph Ramkarran
Saturday, 25th June 2016, 9:00 pm

The results of the referendum held in Britain to determine whether or not it should remain in or leave the European Union (EU), has been won by voters who supported the leave option. Prime Minister David Cameron attempted to resolve the opposition within the Conservative Party to membership of the European Union by way of a referendum, when there was no national demand for it. Cameron gambled the entire future of Great Britain. He and the British people lost instead. Speculation is now rife as to the future of the EU.

The British economy is expected to be severely dislocated and damaged. Predictions are that economic growth will plummet and that the economy will contract. Britain will lose at one fell swoop the privileged access to the large European internal market for its goods and services.  Access will also be lost to the fifty or so markets with which the EU has trade agreements. A range of industries from health to automotive will feel the negative impact. Britain’s pre-eminence as a financial centre is likely to be lost. While some of these negative effects will be overcome by negotiated agreements over time, including of necessity with the Caribbean Community, it is the uncertainties that will be damaging. These uncertainties are being reflected in the billions lost in financial markets and currency depreciation on Friday.

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BRYAN HUNT

Written by Ralph Ramkarran
Saturday, 18th June 2016, 9:00 pm

Bryan Hunt has proven that you don’t have to dress like a diplomat to excel at being one. During the period that he has been here, particularly over the fourteen months that he performed the functions of the head of the US Mission, his steady and deft hand has helped to monitor both Guyana’s general and local government elections and stabilize relations with Guyana after accusations by the previous Government against Ambassador Brent Hardt of interfering in Guyana’s internal affairs. Of course, the change in Government has helped.

In one of my areas of interest, the Guyana-Venezuela Border Controversy, the US Government has for the first time expressed support for the validity of the 1899 Arbitral Award which settled the boundaries between British Guiana and Venezuela. Mr. Hunt will never be able to speak about what he did, along with Ambassador Holloway, to persuade their Government to encourage this vastly important development for Guyana, and I don’t know what it was that they urged, but it has to be assumed that he had an important input. Up to a mere few months before the declaration the US would go no further than urging the parties to settle the matter peacefully.

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The Conversation Tree is both physical and philosophical. The physical is the tree itself, which has given its name to the road from which it originates at the intersection of the Rupert Craig Highway. It was reputedly first planted by Napleton William King in 1876 to celebrate the birth of his son Napleton Walter. As...
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