The Guyanese James Bond is like Al Pacino in that movie

Sep 16, 2020 Features / Columnists, Freddie Kissoon

You can like a movie or a song that was no big hit but you still think it is one of the best movies or songs from that particular artist. The great actor, Al Pacino has some phenomenal films and the one I think I like him best in is not even rated. It is titled, “The People I Know”.
It is a psychological thriller whose theme is that we really don’t know the people we think we know. We in this country had a glorious opportunity in seeing for ourselves those in action whom we thought before March 4 we knew closely. In the movie Pacino didn’t live. The people he thought he knew, up, close and personal, murdered him. We had five months to learn about the deceptions of the people we know so at least our fate will not be like Pacino’s in that movie.
A politician like James Bond you will find hard to put him on top of your list as one of your favourites. He was quite active during the election impasse hitting the national limelight with some weird actions. He hired a lorry going all over Georgetown announcing the APNU+AFC victory. People like Bond we tend to put lower down on our list while others like Raphael Trotman maybe way at the top.
It has to do with how we judge people. We avoid argumentative folks. We like those who appear cultivated, quiet and mannerly. That is a dangerous mistake humans have been making since time immemorial. A human must at all times and always be judged by what he/she is essentially made of. Give me a James Bond any day over a Raphael Trotman. Bond is demonstrative and hardly appears as the quiet type. But the quiet type can be dangerously deceiving.
David Granger and Joe Harmon went to Region 5 and instigated violence that was senseless and deadly given the COVID-19 pandemic of which Guyana is one of the worst hit countries per capita, speaking. Given how we judge our fellow humans, a majority of Guyanese expected someone like Bond to head to Region 5 and explore the most violent vocabulary he could find.
He didn’t do that. Granger, the grandfather figure that the society touted as the most incorruptible politician on the land, went to Region 5 and birthed an advocacy of violence. It was Granger we least expected to do that. It was Bond who we thought would have descended to those levels. On the contrary Bond appealed for calm and spoke out against the violence of those who were marauding in Region 5.
Parents always leave philosophical message with their children. That is what we as older folks do. Long before she grew into a fully grown woman, I would sermonize my daughter with the wisdom of judging people by mundane acts of loud speaking, or an argumentative mentality. Look at their philosophical essence if they have any.
I chose this topic on James Bond after I saw what Karen de Souza, Dr. Alissa Trotz, Mike Mc Cormack of the Guyana Human Rights Association (GHRA) wrote a few days ago. How do we stack up Bond against those names mentioned here? Trotz, de Souza and McCormack were egregiously silent when Clairmont Mingo announced the result of a general election of a modern Caribbean country by using a projector, a piece of cardboard and a soiled bed-sheet to publish the tabulations. And he went so fast that the naked eyes could not see what he was doing.
The Chief Elections Officer displayed six different election results. That depraved descent into treason did not bother Red Thread, the GHRA and people like Dr. Trotz. But guess what their priorities are? The American Secretary of State is coming to Guyana tomorrow and that is an obsession with them because the US may jeopardize Guyana’s sovereignty.
What is sovereignty? Obviously, it means different things to different people. If citizens cannot vote for the politicians they would like to see rule them, why then, do Trotz and McCormack think Guyana’s sovereignty means anything to them? So let’s end with our subject, James Bond. Can we extract more rationality from him than say a Dr. Trotz and a Karen de Souza? Is it possible that Bond is a Christmas blow-blow but the minds we should be careful about are people like Trotz and de Souza? So Pompeo, the Secretary of State is coming. What is he coming for? Well, we know for sure, not to help rig the Guyana elections. He helped to stop the rigging. That is sovereignty for you.

(The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of this newspaper.)

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