Dear Editor,
Although Guyana’s modern politics have been dominated by two men − Cheddi Jagan and Forbes Burnham − others have still managed to carve out some space for themselves. One such person is Janet Jagan who passed away on Saturday. The Janet Jagan story is remarkable − a white American who abandoned her homeland for an obscure British colony to champion the cause of independence and dignity for the colonized brown and black. She would later insert herself squarely on one side of a bitter ethnic conflict and become the symbol of its defiance.
No politician who was part of the independence struggle in Guyana can escape the harsh critique of those who dread the ethnic mess the country has become. Attempts to place Dr Jagan and Mr Burnham above the ethnic fray have been nonsensical at best. Mrs Jagan’s posture as an uncompromising partisan will make it difficult to do such a dance with her. She has undoubtedly been one of the most partisan politicians in Guyana. For her, the People’s Progressive Party (PPP) was primary. Not that she was not concerned about Guyana − she was deeply concerned. But she adamantly saw the fortunes of the country through the lens of and primarily within the context of the party she helped to form in 1950. If Dr Jagan was sometimes hesitant and conciliatory, Janet was forthright whether at the podium or in her newspaper columns. For her, politics was ultimately about triumph over your opponents.
It is no secret that she was staunchly against compromise with the opposition, a prerequisite for political stability in ethnically divided societies. This surely was her great weakness. But ironically, in the context of Guyana’s zero-sum politics, it was her great strength. Until the very end she was the figure in the PPP that was most feared by the opposition. Unfortunately, but predictably, her controversial decision to accept the presidency in 1997 provided the opportunity for that fear to be translated into ridicule and hate that reached unparalleled levels even by Guyanese standards. Yet beneath it all, there was a level of respect for someone who gave to her adopted country more than many who were born here.
Much has been made of Ms Jagan’s communist affiliation. But, in my estimation, she was not a Marxist ideologue. If Marxism featured in her praxis, it was a means to a partisan end rather than an end in itself. Similarly, she will be portrayed in the days to come as a women’s rights advocate. But, despite her concern for the plight of women, she seemed less interested in gender politics − that did not provide a path to power for the PPP. If anything she was, as others in the vanguard of party politics in Guyana, invested in ethnic politics for it provided a path to power, however uncomfortably. She was also a staunch anti-imperialist who until the end of her long political life berated the imperialists, particularly the government of her birth country, the USA, for their continued plunder of the global south.
In the final analysis whether one is African, East Indian or belong to one of the other ethnic groups in Guyana or whether one is partial to the PPP or not, it is impossible not to acknowledge the momentous contribution of Mrs Jagan in the shaping of Guyana’s politics. Much of what she did was obviously overshadowed by the stardom of her husband and the negative perception of her by half of the population. But whether as organizer, parliamentarian, journalist, advocate, minister, leader, she was steadfast and deliberate.
The death of a political leader is always difficult to take, especially for her/his followers. It reminds us that leaders are humans too. And Mrs Jagan, for all her hardnosed politics, was very much human, as those who managed to get close to her can attest. Her death, coming soon after the passing of Josh Ramsammy, another political icon, reminds us that the generation of leaders that shaped the first decades of Guyana’s independence politics is slowly making its earthly exit. Fortunately, the country had a chance to celebrate Mrs Jagan and say thanks. She earned it and richly deserves the exalted place she occupies.
To her family, relatives and her party, I offer my condolences.
Yours faithfully,
David Hinds
