Book Reviews

Book Reviews

Forbidden Freedom by Cheddi Jagan

In 1953, after only 133 days in office, Dr. Jagan’s government was deposed by the British colonialists. This book, Forbidden Freedom - Story of British Guiana first published in 1954 (while Dr. Jagan was in prison) appeared in the aftermath of that military intervention. He showed how this fitted in to both the colonial policy of Britain and the “Cold War” spearheaded by the United States. It includes an analysis of: ”Labour and the Colonies” and shows who are the genuine and who are the false democrats.

In the original epilogue, chapter 12 in this third edition, Dr. Jagan predicts the later split in the PPP “along ideological and racial lines.”

The second edition, published in 1989, included a new preface by the author, calling for a break in the policies that he notes are leading both the developed and developing worlds towards disaster.

Guyana returned to democracy on October 5, 1992 and Cheddi Jagan became the first democratically elected president. He was sworn in on October 9, 1992 exactly 39 years after he had been forcibly removed from office on October 9, 1953.

The new epilogue (written in 1993) is the last chapter in this new edition and is laden with his ideas and plans for a new Guyana and its people.

A New Global Human Order by Cheddi Jagan
Book Review by Krishna Persaud

Edited by Janet Jagan with a foreword by Clement Rohee
Publisher: Harpy; Pages: 110; Price: $12.00 (Can)

"A New Global Human Order" is the culmination of Dr. Cheddi Jagan's lifelong quest to redress the balance between the rich North and the poor South. In the early postwar years and during the Cold War, the crucial issues were political independence for the British, French, Dutch, Belgian and Portuguese colonies and the hegemonic role played by the United States, particularly in Latin America. Guyana was doubly caught in this vortex of oppression, given its position as a British colony and being in the U.S sphere of influence, and this crucible may have been instrumental in inspiring Dr. Jagan to articulate a response.

The situation is now markedly different with the collapse of the European empires and the end of the Cold War. Today, the injustice lies in the inequitable terms of trade, the debt trap and concomitantly, the vicious cycle of poverty in which developing countries are caught. "A New Global Human Order" represents Dr. Jagan's response to these pressing issues of our time. It is a compendium of his speeches at regional and international fora, and his correspondences with world leaders and leaders of international financial institutions.

With characteristic astuteness, Dr. Jagan saw an opportunity to redress the balance between the North and the South to the mutual benefit of both. The end of the Cold War has made possible a "peace dividend", which, along with his proposals for pollution taxes and the Tobin Tax to dampen currency speculation, and a work week reduced to thirty-five hours (without loss of pay, to reduce unemployment in the North), will allow the South to be given aid "in the form of debt cancellation, long-term rescheduling of debt, and soft loans and grants," thus adding to their human development potential.

At the heart of the unjust and inhumane international system, fossilized in North Atlantic primacy after the Second World War, are the international terms of trade and the debt trap. Dr. Jagan addressed both by issuing a call for "fair trade", and a balanced approach to debt servicing. He pointed out a fact that bankers and statesmen are privy to in the West, that the net outflow of capital from South to North is greater than the flow from North to South, as is popularly believed.

While some facts contained in the book invite moral outrage, the ideas advanced to humanize the international system are severely practical and workable. Most importantly, their implementation would benefit both North and South, in terms of suppressing the drug trade, placing less stress on the environment, reducing alienation, unemployment and poverty, and creating a more vibrant, expanded and sound international economic system, based on mutual and enlightened self-interest. And it is in the latter that the genius of these ideas is derived. A better world is created while the North and the South pursue their own interests, in "interdependence, cooperation and partnership".

Moreover, there is evidence that the concept of a New Global Human Order is gaining momentum. The meeting of finance ministers of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, convened in March 1999, has recommended that changes be made to the international financial structure, including the monitoring of currency speculation. And prior to this, in September 1998, the Group of 77, chaired by Guyana, advanced support for changes to the world financial system. In this regard, the "Tobin Tax" would serve the dual purpose of dampening currency speculation, while raising US$150 billion dollars per year to finance human development, without which, Dr. Jagan reminded us, there could be no economic development. And the Paris Club, which facilitates debt reduction, has suggested that when the Group of Eight leaders meet in June 1999, they will make a major announcement on the matter.

In 1994, Pope John Paul II, as a result of his reflections on the millenium, declared the year 2000 to be a Year of Jubillee, a concept which has its roots in the Old Testament practice of debt forgiveness every fifty years. This "Jubilee Initiative", supported and organized by the Catholic and Protestant Churches, are lobbying governments in the North to substantially reduce the debt owed by fifty of the most indebted countries of the world, with Guyana being on the list.

In essence, Dr. Jagan has shown us that "human development, as distinct from the means of development, positing human beings at the centre of our deliberations" should be our guiding principle. And by his work and his thought, he has set in motion a series of events which could well make his lofty ideals a reality. This volume is a fitting tribute to the life, legacy and promise of this great humanitarian.

All profits from the sale of this book will be donated to the Cheddi Jagan Research Center.

Olver urges 'robust debate' on New Global Human Order - at launching of Dr Jagan's book

By Linda Rutherford

UNITED Nations resident representative, Mr Richard Olver is urging "a robust debate" on the dissimilar, but people-oriented concepts of human development and the late Dr Cheddi Jagan's `New Global Human Order (NGHO)', with a view to forging a nexus.

The former concept is the brainchild of United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) advisor on human development issues and founder of the agency's Human Development Report, the late Dr Mahbub ul Haq.

"We should conduct a robust debate on the two sets of concepts; we should look at their differences; we should test their assumptions; we can all benefit by that process," Olver proposed.

He issued the challenge late Monday afternoon at the launching of a paperback version of the collective speeches that comprise `Dr Jagan: A New Global Human Order', at the Foreign Service Institute, New Garden and Charlotte Streets, Georgetown.

The event, one of five to mark, albeit posthumously, the 81st birth anniversary of the late President, was attended by several delegates who convened here for the fourth Caribbean Community and Central American foreign ministers' meeting and government ministers and members of the diplomatic corps.

It was also attended by Dr Jagan's widow, President Janet Jagan, whose brief presentation mainly centred around fond memories of her late husband. It was chaired by Mr Lloyd Searwar.

The definitive difference between the two concepts, according to Olver, is that one focuses on systems for global equity and the other on balance with growth. But, disparity notwithstanding, he said, they have a common goal - "putting people first."

Another unifying factor, he said, is that both concepts raise the tough questions "that go unasked, again and again, in global fora in decision-making bodies around the world," such as - whose interest comes first, profit, or people?

Without people, Olver argues, "there is no meaning, no purpose for economic development."

Noting that this was something which, "unfortunately, gets lost again and again because of the imperatives of wealth creation, Olver said "it requires a Dr Jagan; it requires a Dr ul Haq....to reopen the question in every generation; to put the focus back where it belongs."

He said too, that despite the fact that "there are racists in this world...those who seek economic hegemony [and] those who put narrow interests against the good of humanity as a whole, [they] must support each other; must listen to each other; must find ways to work with each other in alliances for human development".

Olver added, "... it is only through support to putting people first, by whichever means prevails in these debates, that we will create a world that realises the vision of Dr Jagan and Dr ul Haq".

Foreign Affairs Minister, Mr Clement Rohee who also made a brief presentation, observed that as a consequence of the global financial crises engulfing such countries as those in the Far East and Russia and Brazil, many world leaders have now come to realise that the present financial and monetary arrangements obtaining worldwide are not only untenable, but unreliable and unpredictable.

The resultant clamour for change, he said, has been reinforced "in no uncertain terms" at the recently concluded world economic forum at Davos, Switzerland.

There is too, he said, a growing awareness that the present development paradigm to which the majority of the developing countries are committed is no longer viable nor acceptable and, therefore, the need for change.

Given that the Guyana Government holds the view that this need for change in both the North and South should be based on genuine partnership, mutual understanding and collective self interest of both sides, Rohee said "herein lies the efficacy of the call for a NGHO.

"No pipe dream" this "as some are wont to make believe," Rohee said: "It is the way forward; it is a millennium project; it is the future."

Rohee said the 110-page paperback was the sixth in a series of publications associated with Dr Jagan's NGHO concept and the brainchild of his daughter, Mrs Nadira Jagan-Brancier. The first was in the form of a pamphlet in 1994, he recalled.

Core discussion papers governing the topic have since been published in Spanish, French and Portuguese, courtesy of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, to facilitate a wider readership and understanding of the concept.

And in April 1996, what has been considered the highpoint, was the convening here of an international conference at which a paper known as `the Georgetown Declaration' was adopted. Since then, Rohee said, the concept has won critical acclaim and acceptance at every major international fora, including CARICOM, the Association of Caribbean States, Organisation of American States and the UN, not to mention the positive responses it has received at the bilateral level.

At the national level, he said, the concept was unanimously adopted by the National Assembly in a motion calling for a global strategy to combat poverty and hunger. And internationally, plans are in train to encourage the establishment worldwide of `Circles of Friends' for the promotion and establishment of NGHO. The objective, Rohee said, is to foster and establish a permanent global network of like-minded persons and organisations supportive of Dr Jagan's idea.

The new publication, which was edited by the President, was published by Harpy's of Ontario, Canada and is being sold locally (in Guyana) at $1200 per copy.

Printed in the Guyana Chronicle.

The USA in South America by Cheddi Jagan

As Dr Havelock Brewster has observed in his foreword, the papers comprising "The USA in South America, and other essays" are very much a product of their time, and it is in this context that they should be read.

This captivating study of Guyana and the international arena consists of five papers in the form of chapters, and a letter to President Kennedy written by Premier Jagan in 1963. The first and fifth papers are based on Guyana, the second on the Non-aligned Movement, the third on the Caribbean and Central America, and the fourth (and most intellectually engaging) on the theory of vital interests and security zones. The essays provide a perspective on Latin America and superpower relations viewed through a Marxist prism.

They were written between 1968 and 1986, when the Cold War raged with great ferocity internationally, and the long-suffering people of Guyana endured Forbes Burnham's despotism, economic mismanagement and electoral fraud. And quite appropriately, these essays were situated within the context of the American vice grip on their backyard, Latin America, and Burnham's opportunism in exploiting American fear and antipathy towards the possible return of a government led by Cheddi Jagan.

The permutations of U.S foreign policy, based on the worldview of successive American Presidents, is analysed and dissected within the context of the American desire to, in essence, make the world safe for capitalism.

The two decades on which the papers are based were eventful. They encompassed a time of great upheaval in Latin America. Salvador Allende's government in Chile was overthrown, the Sandinistas were under the gun from Reagan-funded mercenaries, Maurice Bishop was assassinated in Grenada, the liberation struggle in El Salvador was stalemated due to American intervention, as it was in Guyana.

Dr Jagan's grasp of these, and other regional and international issues, and the intellectual depth and emotive power he communicated in his writings, will engage any reader. This book is vintage Cheddi Jagan.

Forbidden Freedom by Cheddi Jagan