Tributes to Janet Jagan
by Earl Bousquet
A piece of me died the other day…
In the middle of a deep sleep, I was awoken by a call from Guyana with the unwelcome but unavoidable news that “Comrade Janet” had died. “JJ” was my “other mother”. I cried.
I had known Janet Jagan for over three decades; and I worked side by side with her, in the same office and for the same causes, for six straight years (1993-1999).
A mother, wife, grandmother, aunt and mother-in-law, she was indeed a total family person. As First Lady, Prime Minister, President of the Republic and Commander in Chief of the Armed Forces, she was the ultimate political matriarch of the People’s Progressive Party (PPP) and the PPP/Civic administration.
Janet was a political thoroughbred. She scored all the political firsts in the name of women in politics in Guyana and the Eastern Caribbean – one of the three first women elected to parliament, the first woman minister, first Deputy Speaker of Parliament, first woman Prime Minister and first woman President and Commander in Chief of Guyana.
Janet’s generosity knew no bounds. Frugal, humble, generous, kind to a fault, nothing was too much to do for anyone. She gave without taking. And she never forgot a friend or a child’s birthday. She was dedicated to the cause of all of Guyana and of all Guyanese. But she was particularly concerned about the fate of vulnerable groups – children, women, Amerindians, the rural and urban poor. She was the founder of the oldest women’s organization in Guyana, the Women’s Progressive Organization (WPO), Chairperson of the UNESCO National Commission for Children and a permanent defender of Amerindian rights.
Janet and I were very close. She ensured that while I performed my professional and political duties, my family was taken care of. She was the bridge between me and the party; I was a little bridge between her and Cheddi; and Janet and Cheddi were my bridges to the state media. They – and my other best friend, Moses Nagamootoo – entrusted me with enormous responsibility in the state media. Thanks to them, I served in leadership positions in the state media that allowed me to make contributions that have left their mark on the local media landscape.
But it is for our years together at the Mirror that I will remember Janet best. She was totally committed to ensuring the Mirror was published every week. No matter what else, that was her priority. In her latter life, she virtually took up residence at the Mirror, putting her writing and journalistic skills to work for party and people with as much passion as she deployed her political skills. Her journalism -- whether as Editor in Chief of the Mirror or Editor of Thunder (the PPP’s theoretical organ) or President of the Union of Guyanese Journalists (UGJ) – was as important to her as her politics.
I always knew that those who hated Janet simply didn’t know her. Unfortunately, she was the victim of a hatred that was planted in the minds of many from one generation to the next. They were blinded by the colour of her skin and the country of her birth. And they simply couldn’t understand why a 78-year-old white woman at the head of an Indian-based party, with a Black Prime Minister and Amerindian support, was able to win elections against the best they could present. They never understood – and they probably still don’t understand -- that it had nothing to do with Janet’s colour and everything to do with her historical role as an outstanding defender of all the people of Guyana for more than five decades.
Leaving Janet, the Mirror, the PPP/Civic, GBC, GTV and all my friends and comrades in Guyana to return home in 1999 was one of the most difficult decisions of my life. Telling Janet goodbye was my most agonizing task. That morning, before we left for the Cheddi Jagan International Airport for our flight back to Saint Lucia, Janet hugged my entire family at the Office of the President; and she reminded me, for the thousandth time: “You – all of you -- can come back, anytime!”
I did return to Guyana several times, the last occasion being for the PPP’s Congress last August, where I represented the Saint Lucia Labour Party (SLP). I was to interview her during that week to begin writing a book about her that we agreed to work on together. She had insisted she would not write an autobiography. She was more interested in preserving Cheddi’s legacy. Our deal was that she would secure Cheddi’s name -- and I would take care of hers. But the interview never happened. She collapsed at the Congress and had to be sent home to rest. I talked to her before she left the Congress Hall at Diamond on the East Bank Demerara, but I didn’t think it prudent to interview her at home on a sick bed. Big mistake! It was a fatal miscalculation. I never saw her again.
That’s why I cried the night she died. I cried, because a part of me had died. May Janet’s ashes spread far and wide...
Castries,
April 20, 2009
Janet Jagan, The Woman for all Guyana
By Prem Misir
HAVING lived abroad for a good chunk of time, I have always cherished the thought of meeting Mrs Janet Jagan.
On my return to Guyana, I was blessed with the opportunity to sit with her at the Monday- morning meetings on the Mirror for several years.
From the little I saw and experienced, Mrs. Janet Jagan’s successful work career was a function of her resolute discipline. She also had tremendous courage for her convictions, and always stood her ground. It was a great lesson to watch her in action at these meetings as she debated the issues of the day.
I always liked engaging her in discussing issues of the day, because she always brought a novel perspective into play. These innovative perspectives in addressing and resolving developmental concerns are what would make Guyana a better place.
It was quite illuminating for me to see how Mrs. Jagan extrapolated Guyana’s political and social history to objectively interpret contemporary problems.
We talked a lot about my writings. And one particularly distinctiveness on her part was her unstinting willingness to pen a note in my book, ‘Ethnic Cleavage and Closure in the Caribbean Diaspora’, Publisher: Edwin Mellen Press, 2007; she wrote: "The late President of the Republic of Guyana, Dr. Cheddi Jagan, from his earliest observations and studies on the race question in Guyana, always sought to examine the subject in relation to class. His strong belief was always that people of similar living standards, working conditions and relationships have so much in common that they are bound together by class and should not be divided by race or religion."
Mrs. Jagan has always been in the forefront of wanting to provide assistance to the vulnerable, especially women and children, clearly evidenced in her founding of the Women’s Progressive Organisation (WPO) and her numerous writings on children. She believed that Guyanese children need books which reflected their own realities, and wrote several children’s books about Guyana’s struggle for independence.
Mrs. Jagan was a symbol of the establishment of women in the forefront of Guyana's development, since she was the first elected woman to the City Council, the first elected President, the first Prime Minister; clearly establishing her as a champion in representing and promoting women's issues and concerns.
During her Presidency, Janet Jagan was an advocate for the full emancipation of women in Latin America, including equal education, equal housing opportunities, equal pay for equal work and free maternity leave. She made fundamental contributions in politics, trade unionism, the women's movement, the rights of the child, journalism, the arts and health, all essential for Guyana’s development.
Guyana should not lament her death, but celebrate her life and times; the woman for all Guyana.
Janet Jagan – Quite Easily the Greatest Guyanese Woman
By Ralph Ramkarran - April 2009
Much has been written and spoken about Janet Jagan since Saturday, March 28, when she succumbed to a sudden ailment after a brief illness. Many have and will continue to record their encounters with her not only for posterity but to indicate the qualities of quite easily the greatest Guyanese woman ever. Her longevity and the consistency of her social and political activism, dedicated to the oppressed, will ensure that her place in Guyanese history is preserved forever. I doubt that those who really know Janet Jagan will have any doubt about the eventual historical recognition of her contribution to the freedom of Guyana from colonial subjugation and authoritarian rule for a quarter of a century thereafter.
Like any political figure of substance, Mrs. Jagan was the subject of much criticism along the way. The accusations against her which endured are shallow enough to have exposed her detractors long ago as charlatans. None has survived with the dignity and grace that she has and in this moment we need not dwell on them. Suffice it to say that time has ridiculed the allegation that she was the evil genius behind Cheddi Jagan, an assertion she deemed to be racist because it was implied that a “white woman” had to teach a young “black boy” from the colonies. Time has also proven that the issue of national security is one which has been embraced by Mrs. Jagan since 1950 when the PPP was formed and throughout the years after the split in 1955 when the PPP made one proposal after another for unity with the PNC. All were rejected by the PNC. At the first Executive Meeting of the PPP immediately after the last general elections in 2006, it was Mrs. Jagan, before anyone else, who proposed that renewed efforts must be made to resolve outstanding problems with the Opposition. Discussions had already been initiated with the PNC to share the positions of Chair and Deputy Chair of two Regional Democratic Councils and wide ranging talks took place. These are the facts.
I had the opportunity in the week before March 28th to deliver a talk on Cheddi Jagan at the home of Mrs. Jagan, which was an annual event. Despite a fractured shoulder and in an uncomfortable shoulder and arm cast, Mrs. Jagan attended the event and spoke tenderly about life with Cheddi at the first and only home they owned. As usual, she never talked about herself but only about Cheddi’s love for the gardening he did and the peaceful atmosphere in which he read and wrote. The following evening, with what must have been great physical effort, she attended another talk given by Navin Chandrapal at Red House and again spoke, this time about the facilities offered by the Research Centre for study of Cheddi’s writings.
Mrs. Jagan was unfailingly kind and generous to everyone, even political opponents, contrary to her portrayal as of an aggressive and unforgiving character. This is proved by her relationship with Martin Carter. Even though she had serious political differences with him, they maintained a warm friendship throughout his life. His wife, Phillis Carter, remained a loyal friend of Mrs. Jagan until her passing and had attended the event at Mrs. Jagan’s home about which I spoke above. The proof that the people of Guyana had no hostility to Mrs. Jagan, except that which was instigated for political purposes, was evidenced by the fact that up to 1997 she did her own shopping at supermarkets and Bourda market. Of course, she never had a body guard or driver up to this time and walked alone. She was never ever subjected to hostility or felt threatened by the Guyanese People.
Mrs. Jagan will be sadly missed by her family and the numerous people in and out of the PPP who looked upon her as a mentor, supporter, advisor and friend. The PPP will miss her wise counsel and experienced guidance. There have been insinuations that Mrs. Jagan’s passing creates opportunity for advancing the political process in some way. The little known fact is that Mrs. Jagan was always on the lookout for ways in which the political process could be advanced and inclusiveness developed. Her work in the arts and culture demonstrated convincingly that politics was never an obstacle or a qualification for Mrs. Jagan in extending her hand of co-operation. The fact, however, is that Mrs. Jagan was conditioned by a political culture, not of her making, which utilized undemocratic means and violence to remover her Party from office twice and in which violence was continuously employed against lawfully elected PPP Governments. In these circumstances no one can reasonably fault Mrs. Jagan for being protective of her Party and the noble ideals it represented. Without her commitment to the survival of the PPP and the protective umbrella she held over it, the working people of Guyana would have either had no one to defend their interests today.