Tributes to Janet Jagan
A comrade warrior falls
By Sharief KhanI WAS Editor-in-Chief at the Guyana Chronicle when Dr. Cheddi Jagan died on March 6, 1997 after an heroic battle against a heart attack in the Walter Reed Memorial Hospital in Washington.
Like so many here and around the world, I had kept watch from afar as his wife Janet, daughter Nadira, son Joey and other close relatives were at his side in the hospital during that agonizing period.
Guyana’s then Ambassador to Washington, Dr Odeen Ishmael, was also there and he was among those who kept me fully briefed on the developments as Cheddi battled for his life.
When he lost the good fight, the headline I came up with for the Chronicle’s page one lead that day was ‘A warrior falls’.
There was a closeness I felt with him. He was a much older and world-famous warrior, but I felt that we were like comrades-in-arms, born rebels perhaps. And I sensed a kindred spirit in Janet too.
Now, after a brief battle, his widow and comrade warrior, Janet has also fallen, and her death marks the end of a remarkable era in this country’s history.
I came to know and admire the couple in my work as a journalist in a long, dark period that dogged Guyana as it endured the yoke of a dictatorship that was determined to stay in power at all costs.
In those days, it was dangerous to be a professional journalist, and Janet, Editor of the Mirror newspaper, was among those who helped me stay the course then, and even much later after democracy was restored with the internationally sanctioned free and fair elections of October 5, 1992.
Her lifelong comrades in the People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) and others will testify to her astonishing achievements in the political and labour fields, and in her dogged determination for better rights and conditions for women and children here and around the world.
She gave up so much to devote her life for Guyana and Guyanese. I remember how dumbstruck I was at her telling me once that she had been refused a US visa to return to America to see her mother who was ill.
She also found time to devote to the uplifting of the arts and culture in a country she had grown to love since she defied her parents in Chicago and moved here with Cheddi some 66 years ago.
Theirs was a combined determination to devote their lives to the betterment of the working class, and their accomplishments to this end will remain indelible in the annals of Guyana’s history.
Many will remember Cheddi and Janet for the big things.
I will remember them also for the little things -- the things that touch deeply; that stay with you forever, long after other stuff become vague memories.
Little things like handwritten notes and personal phone calls, and the close chat whenever the opportunity arose.
As President, Cheddi kept his finger on the national pulse in many ways. He called up people he knew all the time, and I was among those he used as a barometer and for staying in tune with what was happening on the ground.
He also sent me many little notes on different things.
Janet followed him in this regard -- both as President, as First Lady and then private citizen.
While I was at the Chronicle, she never failed to complain or compliment when she thought it necessary. She sent me notes or called me up even on classified advertisements for ordinary jobs that she felt discriminated on the grounds of gender or race.
And when she got wind of my personal battles on the job, she never failed to call to get my perspective on the issues, or to offer advice and give encouragement when she felt it necessary.
She also never failed to take my side and let her voice be heard when she thought I was being wronged.
She probably did it as a fellow journalist-- but I always felt she did it more because she somehow felt she had to be looking out for me. And for this I will be eternally gratefully.
Janet sent me books and flowers while I was in hospital at one time, and when I had to undergo heart bypass surgery in 2003 in Trinidad, she always phoned to see how I was doing.
Throughout my recuperation and long after, she kept in touch. And that meant a lot, because, outside of my mom, brothers and sisters and others in my family and those close and dear to me, not many seemed to care how I was doing.
And Janet touched me deeply for caring so much, even though she had so many other things to do.
She once sent me a photo of a government minister and I chatting at a PPP/C elections campaign meeting, with a little note saying she felt I looked good in the picture.
Little touches like these from someone I admired as a kid growing up, and whom I came to know as a fellow journalist and fighter will mean a lot.
I thank you, Janet, for the memories, advice, the caring, the ready smile or the worried look, and the other things that will inspire me and so many others to carry on.
You fought the good fight; rest in peace.
By Jerónimo Carrera OPTICA MUNDIAL (WORLDVIEW)
This past Saturday March 28, at 88 years old and still active in the service of the best causes of humanity, Comrade Janet Jagan has died. Her death occurred in the beautiful city of Georgetown, the capital of our neighbouring country, on the eastern side of Guyana.
This sad and unfortunate news was communicated to me immediately by my esteemed friend Odeen Ishmael, Ambassador of the said country in ours and someone who knows about the fraternal ties of friendship for many years that I was privileged to cultivate with Janet and her late husband Cheddi Jagan. News, incidentally, that I have not encountered so far in any of the numerous so-called "news" that broadcast here or from the spokespersons of both the opposition and the government. In contrast, for example, the death in these same days of former Argentinean president Raúl Alfonsín, faithful servant of capitalism and monopolies, has received extraordinary attention.
This can be explained, logically, given that Janet Jagan represented in several ways something of the best of humanity. She as a human being was a role model for the future equality of women and men, without fuss or alleged feminist legal matches. Also, in a no less important aspect, that still just gleams in the future, she managed to fully overcome that major barrier of skin colour that still divides us as human beings.
Similarly, she also successfully overcame another barrier that in today's world still retains its absurd historical significance, reason for which, millions and millions of people have lost their lives or endured enormous sufferings. I refer to these invisible borders in place that unfortunately, stems from artificial national and religious conceptions.
I believe the first time we met was when she came as a delegate of her party, the People’s Progressive Party of Guyana, known by its initials of PPP, to participate in the Fourth Congress of the Communist Party of Venezuela, held on the 23 January 1971 in the Edifice Cantaclaro which was still under construction. The PCV was emerging from the crisis generated by the defection of a third of its Central Committee, who fled from their responsibility of defeat in our attempted armed struggle, and she told us:
"In today’s world today people that are oppressed and exploited are constantly winning battles against imperialism. You, our comrades of the PCV, have been through difficult times but have emerged victorious. The crisis of yesterday will bring you closer in the future and strengthen your struggle. Your struggle is our struggle. "(" PCV Fourth Congress Documents and Resolutions, "Caracas, June 1971, 384 pp.)
Janet also warned us thus: "The border dispute between Guyana and Venezuela was deliberately planned to be used as a weapon against anti-imperialist forces when they become sufficiently strong so as to threaten their interests." A warning that is still relevant now, I would add.
I had the opportunity to meet Cheddi Jagan, when he and Salvador Allende travelled from Caracas to Havana, invited to the May Day Parade of 1960, as were our Comrade Eduardo Gallegos Mancera and I. We immediately like each other and created a friendship that was strengthened by my several visits to that country and his to ours.
When Cheddi died in 1997, also in March, this Optica Mundial (Worldview) carried the headline: Cheddi Jagan: Statesman of noble causes. Today, our departed Janet, who also was president of Guyana, can bear the same headline under her name.
(Published in the weekly La Razón, No. 743, Caracas, 4 April 2009)[The writer is the President of the Communist Party of Venezuela.]
This is the original in Spanish belowOPTICA MUNDIAL
Se nos ha ido Janet
Este reciente sábado 28 de marzo, a los 88 años de edad, y en plena actividad al servicio siempre de las mejores causas de la humanidad, ha fallecido la camarada Janet Jagan. Su muerte ha ocurrido en la hermosa ciudad de Georgetown, la capital de nuestro vecino país por el lado oriental: Guyana.
Tan triste y lamentable noticia me llegó de inmediato por vía del apreciado amigo Odeen Ishmael, activo embajador de dicho país en el nuestro y conocedor de los nexos de fraternal amistad que desde hace muchos años tuve el privilegio de cultivar con Janet y su también difunto esposo Cheddi Jagan. Noticia, por cierto, que no he encontrado hasta hoy en ninguno de los numerosos medios llamados "informativos" que aquí operan como portavoces tanto del bando oposicionista como del oficialismo. En cambio, por ejemplo, la muerte en estos mismos días del ex presidente argentino Raúl Alfonsín, consecuente servidor del capital monopolista, les ha merecido atención extraordinaria.
Ha sido así, con cierta lógica, puesto que Janet Jagan representa en varios sentidos algo de lo mejor de la humanidad. Ella como ser humano fue un auténtico modelo de la futura igualdad de la mujer y el hombre, sin alharacas feministas ni supuestas equiparaciones de tipo legal. Y luego, en un aspecto no menos importante, que todavía apenas se vislumbra en el futuro, ella logró plenamente superar esa gran barrera que nos divide a los humanos según el color de la piel.
Igualmente, pasó por encima exitosamente de otras barreras que en el mundo actual conservan su absurdo significado ancestral, por las que millones y millones de personas han perdido sus vidas o soportado enormes sufrimientos. Me refiero a esas fronteras invisibles pero muy vigentes, por desgracia, provenientes de artificiosas concepciones nacionales y religiosas.
Creo que la primera vez que nos vimos fue cuando ella vino como delegada fraternal de su partido, el Partido Progresista de Guyana, mejor conocido por sus siglas de PPP, a participar en el IV Congreso de nuestro Partido Comunista de Venezuela, instalado el 23 de enero de 1971 en el Edificio Cantaclaro todavía en proceso de construcción. Estaba saliendo el PCV de la crisis generada por la deserción de toda una tercera parte de su Comité Central, que huía de su responsabilidad en la derrota de nuestro intento de lucha armada, y nos dijo ella:
"En el mundo de hoy los pueblos oprimidos y explotados están constantemente ganando batallas contra el imperialismo. Ustedes, nuestros camaradas del PCV, han pasado por tiempos difíciles, pero surgieron victoriosos. La crisis de ayer los acercará para el futuro y fortalecerá su lucha. Vuestra lucha es nuestra lucha." ("PCV Cuarto Congreso, Documentos y Resoluciones", Caracas Junio 1971, 384 págs.)
También nos advirtió Janet entonces: "El conflicto fronterizo entre Guyana y Venezuela fue planeado deliberadamente para usarlo como un arma contra las fuerzas anti-imperialistas cuando se hacen suficientemente fuertes para amenazar sus intereses." Advertencia siempre vigente, añado yo ahora.
Ya había tenido yo la oportunidad de conocer a Cheddi Jagan, cuando él y Salvador Allende viajaron desde Caracas a La Habana, invitados para el Primero de Mayo de 1960, igual que nuestro camarada Eduardo Gallegos Mancera y yo. De inmediato simpatizamos y se creó una amistad que se consolidó en mis varias visitas a ese país hermano y en las suyas al nuestro.
Al morir Cheddi, en 1997, también en marzo, esta Optica Mundial fue titulada Cheddi Jagan: estadista de causas nobles. Hoy, cuando se nos ha ido Janet, quien igualmente fue presidenta de Guyana, pudiera llevar exactamente el mismo título con el nombre de ella.
Jerónimo Carrera
(Publicado en el semanario La Razón, N° 743,
Caracas, domingo 5 de abril de 2009)