Amerindian push-back: An African-Guyanese Lands Commission is the way to go
ALL societies are complex because human beings are complex. Some societies are more complex than others, largely because of the convergence of socio-economic and political forces over time. Guyana...
View ArticleBob Marley and the Caribbean that made him
MAY 11 marked the 36th anniversary of Bob Marley’s untimely death. He was just 36 years old when he died of cancer in 1981. Since then, he has grown in stature and is viewed by many as a cultural...
View ArticleThe coalition Government’s first two years: Despite big challenges, they have...
IT’S been two years since half of the Guyanese electorate struck a historic blow for change. When the government changed in 1992 after almost three decades of PNC rule, I was not optimistic that that...
View ArticleReflections on our independence: Are they not worthy of national awards too?
THIS week we observe 51 years of independence or political freedom from colonial rule. As is the case with most recent post-colonial societies, the debate over whether we are truly independent is as...
View ArticleWalter Rodney: A Guyanese and Caribbean legacy
DR. Walter Rodney was assassinated on June 13, 1980. His assassination brought to a premature end a life that represented the best of our Caribbean civilisation. This month we again remember him– what...
View ArticleRapping with Dr. Rupert Lewis about Walter Rodney’s journey
THIS week’s column takes the form of excerpts from an interview I did in 1998 with Dr. Rupert Lewis, Jamaican and Caribbean scholar and political activist, at the time of the release of his book Walter...
View ArticleWalter Rodney on Race, Ethnicity and Class
CENTRAL aspects of Walter Rodney’s political thought in relation to Guyana were his ideas on ethnicity and class, self-emancipation and political violence. These inter-related planks of his thought...
View ArticleDemocracy and Political Change: The logic of Coalition Government
DESPITE views to the contrary in some circles, there have not been changes in Guyanese and Caribbean politics over the last three decades beginning with the end of the Cold War and the rise of the new...
View ArticleThe politics of big numbers and containment of the WPA
THE political temperature in Guyana has risen to high levels since the reassignment of Dr. Rupert Roopnaraine to another ministry. This is not the first reassignment of a minister by the current...
View ArticleFear is real, but blind and irrational fear is counter-productive
AS one of the persons who have been part of what some people see as the WPA’s return to its traditional role of asking questions of power, I have come in for my fair share of attacks, ridicule and...
View ArticleOur communities have become spaces of alienation: Time for a vision to stop...
IN the wake of the recent jailbreak, there is understandably much debate over what went wrong at Camp Street. On one hand, there has been the usual partisan finger-pointing by the opposition PPP and...
View ArticleThe chief justice has given an opening
…the ball is now in the President’s court THE ruling by the chief justice (CJ) on the GECOM stand-off has understandably ignited another round of political debate in Guyana. The chief justice has in...
View ArticleThe meaning of emancipation
AS Guyana observes another Emancipation anniversary, it must not only be a moment of celebration, but also a time of deep reflection, especially among African-Guyanese. There is, of course, much to...
View ArticleThings on my Mind: SARA, Diaspora and Executive Power
THIS past week, the National Assembly approved funds for the proper setting up of the State Assets Recovery Agency (SARA). It has been a long and slow process. In the meantime, Guyanese have become...
View ArticleAnswering Objectors to Overseas Voting
MY suggestion last week that we begin to reconsider overseas voting has ignited some debate and much vitriol. It should be noted that I am not the first commentator to raise this matter—former Speaker...
View ArticleThe narratives about Forbes Burnham: Our Guyanese Complexity
EARLIER THIS month, the PNC observed the 32nd death anniversary of its founder-leader, Forbes Burnham. Not unexpectedly, the party faithful were fulsome in their praise of the virtues of the man whose...
View ArticlePolitical Miracle: How the PPP has taken advantage of the governing...
IT is DIFFICULT to remain objective about the PPP when one opens the newspapers every day and be subjected to that party’s relentless criticism of the government. On the one hand, much of that...
View ArticleThe coalition parties must be empowered if the PPP is to be stopped
SINCE losing power in 2015, the PPP, in addition to opposing the government–something all opposition parties do—has been relentless in its campaign to delegitimise the government, often without...
View ArticleThe ship is not sinking yet, but it is in some distress: Change now or…
MY last two columns were driven by my increasing concern that the coalition government is losing the battle for the hearts and minds of the majority of Guyanese. Elections are not won on election...
View ArticleGive thanks to the WPA
EVERY society must grapple with its complexities at one level or the other. After all, societies are made up of and defined by the activities of humans who are ultimately complex beings. Whatever the...
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