Remembering Cheddi Jagan
by Sadie Amin
(Printed in "Mirror" Newspaper February 2006)
Last Sunday I watched the Super Bowl on television. For those unfamiliar with American sports, it's probably the biggest annual sporting event in the United States. I have to admit I'm a closet fan of American football and look forward to the Super Bowl every year even if I don't watch many of the games during the season. An integral aspect of the Super Bowl is the singing of the national anthem at the beginning of the game. This year Aretha Franklin had the honour of singing the Star Spangled Banner.
While the anthem is sung, the television cameras usually pan over on the starting line-up of players and the massive crowd, and each year it never fails to amaze me at the show of patriotism by everyone in the stadium. Almost all of the footballers sang along with Ms. Franklin and many were caught on camera with tears in their eyes. This year there was also a minute of silence for the victims of Hurricane Katrina, Rosa Parks and Coretta Scott King, who both died within the last year. The silence and show of respect demonstrated by those in the capacity-packed, Ford Field Stadium, was awesome. The commentators gave tidbits on the lives of both Parks and King and their contribution to the civil rights movement. Both women are considered national heroes.
Afterwards I commented to a friend that, as Guyanese, we seem to be selective when it comes to patriotism and our national heroes. Many of us feel it is a bother to stand up when our national anthem is played and very few take pride in singing it. The two of us then compiled a list of our national heroes and we both chose the late President Dr. Cheddi Jagan as No. 1. My friend pointed out that, in the last few years, it has been "open season" on Cheddi. Jagan bashing but concluded that no matter what anyone said it couldn't alter the fact that the man has made his undisputed mark on the chalkboard of Guyana's history. We recalled when one of the newspapers did a recent poll of persons whom Guyanese could acclaim as national heroes and the majority of interviewees included Dr. Jagan.
There are many, then and now, who constantly try to denigrate Dr. Jagan, his principles and all that he stood for throughout his life. But then again, we are a people who thrive on negativity and selectively view history from a skewered perspective. The questions that should be asked are: What are the criteria for the status of a national hero? Should it be one act or deed? Should consideration be given to a period of time only? Or should the overall public service record of a person and its impact on the general population be the prime factors in the making of a national hero? I think most of us would opt for the last criterion since it is a basis to judge whether one's contribution to the nation has been of significant importance.
By mere length of time spent, total dedication and overcoming enormous adversities and subversions, Dr. Jagan must qualify to be one of Guyana's national heroes since his goals were not personal but nationally inspired and their eventual achievements made Guyana and all Guyanese live up to their potential. Given all the frustrations, setbacks and disappointments, lesser persons would have "cut and run" (and many did) but not Cheddi Jagan. He stayed, persevered and saw his vision of a better Guyana become a reality. "Time and history" were definitely on his side.
Anyone who disputes or denigrates the late president's contribution to nation-building is trying to remake and rewrite history. Here was a man who was qualified in a profession which could have ensured an affluent life yet he chose to live a non-materialistic lifestyle, forego a dental career and entered public life to take on the struggle for Guyana's independence at a time when the "powers that be" were unwilling to let go of the colonial spoils. That was a real life David and Goliath, if there ever was! Every other battle in our nation's history since independence pales in comparison since they were concomitant on Guyana being an independent nation.
There has no doubt been other Guyanese who made significant contributions in similar or different ways from Dr. Jagan and when our history is written they should be remembered also but not at the expense of a man whose entire life was dedicated to the betterment of a nation. Fifty years of sterling public service guarantees national hero status without any doubt. Maybe as a nation, we could learn a bit from the Americans when it comes to patriotism and respect for our heroes instead of denigrating them, especially posthumously.
THE INAUGURAL CHEDDI JAGAN LECTURE (New York)
by Dr. Dhanpaul Narine
The inaugural Cheddi Jagan lecture got off to a good start last Sunday, August 18, 2002, at the Starlite Pavilion in Queens, New York City. The lecture was sponsored by Guyanese International Inc.,a community based organization that is committed to doing charitable work in New York, and elsewhere. The purpose of the Cheddi Jagan lecture was to look critically at some of the ideas of the late Guyanese President and to assess the extent to which they can apply in today’s world. The theme of this year’s lecture was "Cheddi Jagan and a New Global Order." The function was chaired by Dr. Tara Singh, President of Guyana Youth Corp. The feature address was delivered by Dr. Dhanpaul Narine, in the place of Congressman Charles Rangel; the latter was unavoidably absent.
Dr. Narine began by observing that President Jagan looked far beyond the borders of Guyana. Dr. Jagan saw a world that is divided between rich and poor and North and South. In the under-developed world there remains conditions of despair, which if allowed to continue, can undermine our democratic traditions.
Dr. Jagan, it was pointed out, often stressed that the eradication of poverty must not be part of a competition between North and South for scarce resources. Instead, there should be areas of co-operation that should highlight interdependence between rich and poor nations. According to Dr. Jagan " It would be disastrous for humankind if the East/West conflict of the Cold War era were to be transformed into a North/South conflict". (Letter to World Leaders May 1, 1994)
Although this was written nearly 10 years ago, the failure of the North and South to work together has led to negative consequences. The world today faces an uncertain future. Peace is a fleeting goal. The United States is locked in a war in the Middle East and there are conflicts in America and South East Asia and Africa.
Dr. Jagan had often stressed that some of these problems could be reduced if development took place with a human face. He wanted planers and policy makers to place the individual at the heart of the decision-making process. He was critical of the role of international agencies that placed bureaucratic hurdles on individual initiative. Dr. Jagan singled out the role of United Nations which he thought could do more to provide access to resources. In his letter he stated, "important global issues like debt, monetary stability and international resource transfers have not been dealt with extensively in the U. N. system."
Given the need to reduce poverty in developing countries, what did Dr. Jagan suggest as workable proposals? His prescriptions include a reduction in military spending, a greater role for non-governmental agencies, a more equitable trading arrangement between rich and poor countries, creation of job opportunities, incentives for research and the use of technology to create such jobs and a greater emphasis by governments to increase and improve basic services in health, education, and welfare.
How would some of these proposals be implemented? Dr. Jagan called for a different role for the IMF. This institution should be adjusted to serve as " a global central bank." The World Bank should assume the role of an international investment trust and with the United Nations should provide technical support to enable sustainable human development to take place. Perhaps the most exciting proposal was Dr. Jagan’s call for the collection of a system of progressive income tax. This tax should be collected from rich nations and should be used to fund projects in poor countries. However, it is not clear as to what mechanism should be used for tax collection and how the funds should be disbursed. In addition, it is conceivable that donor countries would want accountability as to how their dollars are spent in developing countries. Dr. Jagan has stated that his ideas and proposals are by no means exhaustive. Dr. Narine, in his presentation, suggested that governments would do well to concentrate on rural development. In many countries, urbanization is depleting the rural countryside of people and resources. It is estimated that 30 percent of the world’s urban population live in deplorable conditions, including slums and shantytowns. By 2020, nine of the world’s ten largest cities will be in developing countries, and by the year 2050, two-thirds of the world’s population will live in urban areas. This will impose untold pressures on space, sanitation, housing, and related psycho-social services. Rural development, with an emphasis on rural industrialization could help ease the burden on the urban infrastructure, but here again efficient planning is necessary.
There were contributions from other panelists as well. Tony Andrews, a professor at York College, CUNY, felt that more "hands-on" discussion of academic ideas is necessary, particularity in the area of poverty. He wanted academics to explore the extent to which Dr. Jagan’s ideas could be applied to New York City.
A lively question and answer period followed. One person wanted to know whether was a culture of corruption in developing countries. Dr.Tara Singh pointed out that corruption and nepotism is endemic in the political system in many countries and unless a new political culture emerges which stresses meritocracy corruption would be difficult to eliminate. Another commentator enquired what the academics of Richmond Hill were doing to disseminate ideas on poverty and its possible solution. Dr. Narine stated that the academics here could do much more to tackle poverty not only in developing countries but in New York City as well. He stressed that Richmond Hill has vast academic resources and talent. It could well become the cultural capital of North America producing a great output of scholarly journals, articles, and books. However, the academic community has been largely laid back when it comes to doing community work. Tony Andrews hoped that with the inauguration of the Cheddi Jagan lecture there would now be positive changes in Richmond Hill and beyond.
There was a cultural program which was part of the lecture series. The children of the Shri Trimurti Bhavan, led by Indra Rampersaud and Lalita Singh, sang devotional songs. Taije Moteelall, who recently returned from Guyana, read a poem in Dr. Jagan’s honor and Rickford Dalgetty sang some of the folk songs of Guyana. Amrita Persaud, newly-crowned "Miss India/ New York" congratulated the organizers for a job well done and said that the ideas of Dr. Jagan will be around for a long time. Guyanaese International would like to thank a number of persons for their help and support. Mr. Ron Singh kindly donated the Starlite Pavilion for the event. Mr. Narine donated the sound system and also sang a bhajan. The organizers are indebted to Mr. Buddy Singh who video- taped the event free of cost. Special thanks are also extended to Mr. Ramesh D. Kalicharran and Mr. Haricharran for their support. Finally, our thanks go to Mr. Rohit Kanhai of the Caribbean Daylight Newspaper for his generosity. The organizers have already started to plan next year’s lecture and are happy to welcome Dr. Yudy Persaud as a member of the committee.
THE JAGANS IN HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE
by Hydar Ally
THE month of March is remembered for the deaths of two political icons of Guyana - Cheddi and Janet Jagan.
Both were founder members of the People’s Progressive Party (PPP) and between the two, they had over a hundred years of contribution to the politics of Guyana. No other couple in the Anglo-phone Caribbean and beyond could match such an outstanding achievement.
I propose in this article to analyze the political contribution of the Jagans, especially in light of attempts to denigrate and cast aspirations on their role in the politics of this country. The impression that some so-called ‘analysts’ are attempting to project is that the Jagans were not politically sensitive to geopolitics, which they assert, were responsible for the relative underdeveloped state of the country vis-a-vis other countries in the Commonwealth Caribbean.
It is my view that those who level such charges against the Jagans and the PPP which they founded are intellectually dishonest or motivated by political/ideological prejudice rather than out of any objective and rigorous analysis of the facts and the context in which the Jagans entered the political arena. They have failed to take into account the historical antecedents which obtained at the time of the entry of the Jagans into the politics of the colony.
I shall argue that the situation which obtained during the early 1940’s when the Jagans entered the political arena was one that was at best oppressive and consequently militated against the rise of militant political leaders who sought to champion the cause the downtrodden. This is why many of the militants, including Hubert Nathaniel Critchlow, regarded as the Father of Trade Unionism in Guyana, and several other working class leaders, were either pressured into subservience by the Colonial Office or, in some instances, put on the payroll of the employers which in effect muzzled them and prevented them from articulating and representing the interests of the working people against the yoke of colonial oppression.
What distinguished the Jagans from other working class leaders was the fact that they were able to provide a political perspective to the problems affecting the laboring class in the then colony of British Guiana. Hitherto, the struggle was mainly seen as an economic struggle between the planter class and the laboring class. The working people for the most part were unorganized and therefore could not provide an effective challenge to the colonial power structures.
The formation of the Political Affairs Committee in 1946 (PAC) bore testimony to the perspicacity of the Jagans. They recognized that the first task was to sensitize the population, in particular the working people, on the need for a political assault on the status quo and not simply a tinkering of the system.
Dr. Jagan, from his own experience as an elected member of the Legislative Assembly for the East Coast Demerara constituency in the elections of 1947, saw how difficult it was to effect any meaningful changes for the working class unless there was a change in the power configuration of the colonial structures.
Hence the formation of the People’s Progressive Party in January a1950, which a mere three years after its formation was able to win a landslide victory in the elections of 1953, the first under Universal Adult Suffrage. The PPP, under the charismatic leadership of Dr. Jagan, won 18 of the 24 seats and held political office for three months before it was removed from office by the British Government. The Constitution was suspended and an interim administration was put in place made up mainly of those who were loyal to the Colonial office. It is of interest to note that the British Government, and for that matter the United States, failed to provide development assistance to the colony. In fact, the period 1953-1957 was described as one in which the country simply marked time and could be regarded as one of the dullest and most uneventful period in the country’s history.
One would have thought that the British Government and other western countries would have used the period of suspended rule to boost the image and status of the interim administration if only to show how ‘incompetent’ and ‘ineffective’ the elected PPP leaders were. That did not happen. Instead, the colony remained frozen in time and it was not until the return to office of the PPP in the elections of 1957 that genuine efforts were made to develop and diversify the economic bases of the colony. The cultivation of rice expanded significantly and development assistance was sought by the new PPP administration from non-traditional sources on relatively easy terms.
Dr. Jagan was accused of not understanding the geo-politics of the situation, especially Guyana’s location in what was described as a US sphere of influence. However, despite his best efforts to source development assistance from western countries, not much assistance was forthcoming which forced Jagan to seek development assistance from non-western sources.
The fact is that at an intellectual level, the struggle for independence and national liberation necessarily had to take the form of a radical restructuring of power relations in the colony along a pro-working class orientation. It must be remembered that the Party derived its strength from the working people and any attempt to mislead or deceive the working class was fraught with dangers. The fact that the PPP won all elections from 1953 to 1964, when it was manipulated out of office, proved that the PPP’s faith in the working people was not misplaced.
Dr. Jagan was accused by detractors of having allowed himself to be tricked by the British Government on the issue of Proportional Representation for Guyana. The facts would show that Dr. Jagan foresaw the manipulations of Britain to remove him from office and vigorously opposed the move. It was not until it dawned upon him that failing to reach consensus on the issue could result in further delays for independence for Guyana that he reluctantly agreed, fully aware of the consequences.
It was a case of putting the interests of the country before that of Party - an extremely noble act in the circumstance.
© 1999 Cheddi Jagan Research Centre. All rights reserved.
