Latest update April 25th, 2024 12:59 AM
Oct 03, 2015 Letters
Dear Editor,
Reference is made to Freddie’s Column (KN Sep 15) in which he incorrectly labeled “Dr. Baytoram Ramharack as PPP’s chief propagandist”. Lest Freddie deny (as he did on Oct 2) he never made these claims I previously referred to when critiquing his writings, let me quote what Freddie penned: “There are scores of PPP leaders, including their intellectual propagandists (chief among whom is Dr. Baytoram Ramharack who commented that I (Freddie) had and have no cultural background) …” .
I know Dr. Ramharack well. We studied together at CCNY (for our undergraduate degrees) and did doctoral studies at NYU in Political Science. In addition, we spent countless years fighting in the trenches with Eusi Kwayana, David Hinds, Moses Nagamootoo, etc. for Guyana’s liberation from PNC tyranny. We also put out position papers that were/are in conflict with PPP’s. Neither Ramharack nor I are members of PPP, and we certainly are not the party’s propagandists (Nagamootoo, Ramkarran and Ramjattan can vouch for us). If Freddie reads and understands (which he does not) what he reads in the papers, he would recognize that PPP leadership from time to time slammed both of us for our critiques of the party’s actions. It was us who called on the party to concede defeat in the elections and to offer congratulations to Granger and Nagamootoo (letters in SN). Freddie knows these to be facts. But he simply wants to provoke a response from us to his unsupported claims. Has Freddie forgotten that Ramharack wrote “Against the Grain” that essentially highlights differences between Balram Singh Rai and Dr. Jagan and the PPP – a critique of the PPP’s leadership, for which he was slammed even by Nagamootoo when he was still with the PPP. Even Freddie described the work as a critique of Jagan’s PPP. How then can “Ramharack be chief propagandist of PPP”? By what logic has Freddie reached such a conclusion? One is bemused by Freddie’s thought process. His comment is an example of elephantine ignorance that Dr. Ramharack and so many others have ignored.
Dr. Ramharack is a scholar and intellectual par excellence which Freddie can never be. Neither Ramharack nor I attack people personally. That is not our style – that is Freddie’s style as Ivor Carryl, Joey Jagan and others pointed out. We write logically with evidence to support our claims, a basic element of writing (taught in schools and college) of which Freddie does not subscribe. We have critiqued Freddie’s shortcomings (in his writings) and he does not like us for that. Also, we refused to hire him as a consultant for our polls and he never forgave us for that. So we have become subjects of his personal abuse — seeking vendetta.
Freddie should heed Ivor Carryl’s (KN Sep 30) advice to stop attacking people and focus his comments on their arguments with supporting evidence. This is the only way Freddie can command respect of readers – respect that have been earned (from penning facts) by commentators like Ramharack and me.
Vishnu Bisram
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