Dear Editor,
Last year approaching Christmas, amidst the prorogation, no-confidence motion, AG Nandlall’s ‘cuss-out’ phone recording, heavy rains/floods, senseless and remorseless killings, suicides, traffic-crazy madness from the East Bank to Regent Street, political infighting and local and national elections talks, I sat thinking just what are we, where are we going and what are we becoming. No doubt we will end up just where we are heading once we continue behaving the way we are – don’t doubt that for one moment!
Two trips to Georgetown painted a clear picture of what’s cooking. Georgetown is indeed not only like a melting-pot but the litmus test in many respects by which one can gauge the mood and feel the pulse of Guyanese. They gather there from all about to churn around and around, inside-out like a spinning wheel. I say emphatically that hardly anyone will disagree with me that there is no other place in this world where Christmas is so loved, cherished, idolized and celebrated; I’m waiting to be told differently. Observing the crowds, the hustle and bustle, the overcrowded streets, stores where staff were overwhelmed, there was no doubt that Guyanese were going to have a Merry Christmas; boy oh boy, I thought they shopped blind!
And in observing all that, it dawned on me – yet again – that people, ordinary folks don’t give a toss about anything other than their own hides. As one writer (F Kissoon) recently pointed out, which I too have noted for some time now, people seem to have resigned themselves to their fate. Look and listen carefully to the hive of young and not so young ambitious folks flocking to UG; you not only get the picture that they don’t care a fig but you also realise that we will remain in this rot for quite some time. Also sad but true most UG students are wired flat. Basic, revolutionary intellectuals don’t grow there, no sir! Then racism is also very much in full play. Avaricious business magnates don’t care a hoot except that the money keeps rolling in apace like a tidal wave; and nearly all politicians who appear to desire a change for the better and are making noises conveniently are lukewarm and lack real sting. They don’t move people in any real way towards a new horizon. In passing let me say again, one doesn’t have to like Freddie Kissoon or anything he writes for that matter, but as a columnist I think he has been exemplary. Except for a few times he has been consistent within the scheme of things in his mode of approach and his critiques; he is very blunt and audacious and has a reputation for being quick on the draw, hardly allowing anything he deems improper to slip by, often to the annoyance of many. Also no one is too big or beyond the limits of his bellicose pen. I’ve heard many people tearing him to ribbons, and I’ve heard many revering him. Say what you will, the man deserves credit. I can understand why some say he sells Kaieteur News. Editor, our young singing sensation, Lisa Punch, in her campaign abroad to reach stardom, said to the American public we are a poor nation, and self-righteous patriotic Guyanese nailed her to the cross for being so unsophisticated. They wanted her to be more euphemistic, employ more sophistry; why didn’t she used the term ‘potentially rich’? some suggested. Well I remember Desmond Hoyte used to say potentially rich is not being rich; you have to connect with the resources and realise the money first before rich comes into play. I guess if I go abroad and talk about the horrifying crimes taking place daily, I will be crucified in just the same way for ‘bad talking’ Guyana – my wonderful country. Many know very well that corruption is colossal and well entrenched, and sits like a monster on a turret touching almost every crease and corner as it spins. What I’ve found from observation is disturbing: That corruption is being viewed through an ethnic microscope, and instead of being condemned roundly as immoral and mischievous and causing misery to poor folks, people judge ethnically. So it’s no big deal depending on which side you are on. Now that’s what I call cooking with smoke. I tell you we have a problem, yes siree! and quite a big one indeed.Is there then any wonder that social decadence has taken so frightening a twist? Why young men on the rampage have no respect for a house of God? Why without rhyme or reason in the most vulgar way they would desecrate what was once held sacred – like the robbery not so long ago at St Phillips Church. These things cannot be viewed in total isolation when it’s all part of the societal disarray.
But folks in this corrupt game are brazen; they openly boast of their worth, and are admired, respected, looked-up to – favoured! And you who are not part of this roller-coaster excursion are condemned, scoffed at, spurned, despised. Well, as the proverb says: “Egg gat no right in rockstone dance,” so the rejection is in order, and the rogues in this game take comfort by saying; “Yuh can’t stop corruption, is all over the world.”
And finally, Editor, our socio-economic conditions are not favourable for the large majority of our working class, and all the above mentioned didn’t just appear overnight out of nowhere. No! they have origins, connections and roots. Academics are adept at analysing and placing them in proper prospective, yet they are the ones who for whatever reason take a skewed position and shy away from reasons that set the stage. Look, what I know of Marxism is just a speck, and within that speck I can see connections of something moving along a path. Come on there are historical conditions still influencing our society, shaping, moulding and fashioning us into becoming that which we become. I fail to understand why some academics are treating Marxism as if nothing within its philosophy is of any substance, when there are today Marxist theories which analyse the conditions existing in societies, moreso the plight of the working class (this term is now taboo to many intellectuals).
It is as if those who spent a lifetime in an effort to understand the systems within human society were slouches who wasted their time in a futile undertaking, hence they have no relevance today. Well, if so then explain and show me what is! Not because one detests something all it represents should be blindly dismissed; credit has to be given where due. But it seems fashionable for some to intellectualize and expound on a thing from a philosophical standpoint but from a practical standpoint on the very subject have a diametrically opposed position – one thing in theory and another in practice.
We can wish and hope all we want for a better 2015; it’s not a bad thing to do, but like the anthem of the Lion’s Club says: “Tough is the prey we stalk, there never was a social ill that was cured by talk.” Still I hope that out of the blue a new good suddenly happens.
Yours faithfully,
Frank Fyffe
