Dear Editor,
I thank a section of the media for publishing my letter which dealt in part with President Ali’s verbal outburst in response to President Donald Ramotar’s statement on renegotiation of contracts. Last evening, I had a discourse with Guyanese, now Canadian citizens, attending a conference in Guyana. They asked that I comment on President Ali’s statement about what investors will think if we set out on the path to renegotiate. I asked them to read the powerfully written but controversial treaties by Professor Kari Levitt, titled “Silent Surrender.” The title of her work pointed to the power and economic influence of the mighty conglomerates on the Canadian economy and psyche of Canadians, and that Canadians had at that time surrendered to the might of the conglomerates in the South. Her arguments that the Canadian economy was being swallowed up was so compelling that Canada, fifty odd years ago, allowed Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau to rethink and re-tool Canada’s relationship with those super conglomerates.
Thanks to the initiative and wisdom, the last two generations have seen Canada in a much better position than in the 60s. Today, the PPP whose founding fathers campaigned on behalf of the working class, are now openly supporting exploitative capitalism, pre and post 1838. I humbly suggest that our present crop of leaders treat Kari Levitt’s ‘Silent Surrender’ as compulsory, necessary reading. In the 1970s, ‘Silent Surrender’ was necessary reading for those of us in the Cabinet. Today, with our bounty, every Parliamentarian should digest the philosophical underpinnings of that book because I believe it is still useful for all leaders as they deal, or should I say, grapple with these mighty transnationals. Editor, I beg that the young people of Guyana, many who were not born when that book was published fifty years ago, would benefit from the wisdom contained therein. I am an optimist and hope that in President Ali’s next outburst, he should show due deference to his predecessor in office and due regard for what is good for our young people who look to us for guidance.
Sincerely,
Hamilton Green
Elder
