Between February and August 1964, at the heights of the Guyanese independence movement, led by Jagan and Burnham; the 2 main trade unions (GAWU and MPCA) locked horns over representational rights for sugar workers. Their dispute spiraled into all-out race riots. Some suspected US intelligence as a player, keen to prevent Chedi Jagan from establishing a communist bridgehead on Atlantic South America, on the heels of Fidel Castro’s victory at “The Bay of Pigs”.
Some believe the race riots: Took 176 lives and injured more than 900; destroyed 2,600 homes and uprooted more than 15,000. The Guyana Agricultural Workers Union failed in its representational rights campaign; Burnham defeated Jagan and Guyana settled into a socioeconomic ebb-and-flow.
In March 2020, Guyanese went to the polls. As in the two previous general elections? The results were very close in 2011-2015, the “group of 4” (UK, Canada, EU and US) may have helped broker a kind of gentleman’s agreement about which side should take the reins of Government. But in those years, Guyana was not about to become an oil economy. This time, neither side would be dictated to by foreign diplomats – black or white.
For 5 months, not even the Caribbean Court of Justice could tell candidates Ali of the PPPC and Granger of the APNU/AFC, to behave themselves and follow the rule of law. As both sides poured odium on each other, over their social media feeds, my mind went back to 1964, wondering, when the first bomb will explode. But to their credit, the long-suffering Guyanese people (mostly) “toughed it out”. Finally (and to the credit of the emerging Caribbean Civilization), the contestants accepted the ruling of the Caribbean Court of Justice, and a new Government sworn in.
But “somebody’s eyes passed somebody” on a coconut farm. It appears that an Indian coconut farmer (and his associates) chopped two African Guyanese to death perhaps, in the act of stealing coconuts. So, what angry politicians and their surrogates (observing the rules of polite society) avoided in five months of bitter dispute, a hand-full of angry (machete-wielding) coconut farmers, achieved in a few hours. Returning Guyanese to the risk of: race riots, injuries, death, destruction of property and mass displacement.
But, if you know the core Guyanese psyche, (notwithstanding the air of suspicion which broadly exists between the races) the citizens and residents of that South American state are (mostly) very forgiving and peace-loving. That accepted (Regional Security System or not) this flare-up should not be anything like the Guyanese race riots of 1964. Certainly, there should not be foreign intelligence agents infiltrating Guyanese communities, fermenting civil disorder and thuggery, to destabilize the government of the day. Furthermore, 56 years later, the average Guyanese has more to live for and protect.
Walk good until next time.
Arvel Grant, Political and Current Affairs Analyst