Dear Editor,
Two letters written by two ‘brothers’ belonging to the same organization were published recently in mainstream media. Both letters appeared to have two objectives. Objective one, was to resort to defensiveness, to viz; to go on the attack against what they don’t want to hear. Objec-tive two, was to down play the steps initiated by government to correct the wrongs committed by the PNC in respect to Dr. Rodney’s demise. Readers may have noticed that neither of the two authors welcomed the move. If that didn’t prove residual guilt, what does? The root cause for the emotional pain and hurt they seem to be experiencing, as expressed in their letters, seem to be principally because the APNU+AFC was booted from office. That is now a historical fact. It is time to wipe away the teardrops, admit remorse and move on. There are some in our midst who are obviously haunted by events of the past. It appears that it is the specter of ‘political culture and conduct’ that continue to haunt, if not entangle and blur their fixed mindsets. There seems to be no escape route from the intellectual turpitude that afflicts them.
Based on past experiences and political praxis, some political leaders claim that unless a political party conforms de rigueur to a particular ‘political culture and conduct’ peculiar to them, they will have nothing to do with those belonging to that party. The argument that that is what Rodney stood for, has no basis in fact. Those who heard him speak time and again at the Bourda Mall in the mid to the late 1970’s would know that Rodney was not trapped in dogmatism nor stereotypes nor intellectual shortsightedness. In fact, Rodney’s contribution should be viewed as a significant continuation and the heightened intensification of the Guyanese peoples ‘struggle for bread and justice. For anyone to claim One-upmanship for the events that captured the zeitgeist of a period when Guyanese were locked in a common struggle in which all had been involved, is to ignore the strong possibility that all would have been consumed by the brutality of the Burnham dictatorship. Unsourced anecdotal stories, innuendos and snide remarks directed towards those who were engaged in that struggle and others who came later, but genuinely hold Rodney in high esteem will get us nowhere. Political parties in a parliamentary democracy will clash ideologically and philosophically from time to time, and that is quite normal. But what is important is as a nation we the people, irrespective of our characterization of government and our judgement calls of each other’s actions or ethnicity, the way forward is clear.
Sincerely,
Clement J. Rohee
