Latest update March 29th, 2024 12:59 AM
Jan 25, 2022 Features / Columnists, Freddie Kissoon
Kaieteur News – By now most Guyanese and those in the diaspora (God, I hate to use that term, “in the diaspora” after its vulgarisation) know who the usual suspects are. Just in case some nuances missed you, here are brief notes.
I am not going to call names because I know many among the usual suspects over the past decade have complained to Kaieteur News’ editorial management about my columns on them. This was as recent as late last year.
I know they will not hesitate to sue for libel but after 34 years’ experience in both television and the print media, I know a few things about libel. So I will not cite names. But I will cite names that do not even remotely resemble libel.
For example, I introduced my girlfriend (who has been my wife for 43 years) to teenager Nigel Westmaas in 1978. She and I were always fond of him. Today my chagrin runs deeply. I want nothing to do with Dr. Nigel Westmaas. With those harmless words if he wants to sue he can. I will defend myself with volcanic intensity and tsunamic energy.
Let’s get back to the usual suspects in Guyana. This is a group that evolved out of the middle class Creole folks and Christian westernised Indians who believed that they were the inheritors of the culture and values of the Anglo-phone Caribbean after Independence. Strangely, some dark-skinned African Guyanese have been accepted in this group since the fifties because of money, property and the acceptance of their presence by the colonial state. The Chomondeleys is the best example.
Their son, Hugh, became a man of high-middle class status even though he was extremely dark-skinned. Miles Fitzpatrick, an Anglo-Saxon practitioner and an enduring member of the hegemonic Portuguese class became the closest friend of the Chomondeleys.
This class preserved the cultural hegemony of the Creole empire until Forbes Burnham for some strange psychic reason (which I will soon explain in another column comparing the racial tones of Burnham and Kwayana) got them annoyed and they rallied against him.
One of the persons in this country who is the recipient of a full house of knowledge of how the Creole middle class sought to undermine Burnham is Vincent Alexander. I can tell you this; his elaboration is worthwhile reading and listening to. The usual suspects do not like Vincent and have never engaged him.
The problem with the Creole middle class and their descendants who have become the usual suspects is that they do not want Indian rule in Guyana. It has nothing to do with hatred for Indians. It has to do with being custodians of the values of western civilisation in the British West Indies. They want Indians to stick to money making and land ownership.
After its sponsorship of the WPA evaporated with the electoral devastation of the WPA in 1992, the Creole middle class waited patiently until the AFC presented them with the opportunity they were waiting for. Prior to the APNU+AFC, the descendants of the Creole empire as expressed in the usual suspects used every opportunity to weaken the PPP.
I was a part of that project though I was not an Indian Christian or a westernised Indian. I believed in multi-racial struggle for democracy hence my participation. I have apologised to the world for helping the AFC. I am apologising again. I will never stop apologising.
Space is running out, so let’s explain the caption of this column. I was surprised that in their public letter last Friday denouncing the intended visit of President Bolsonaro, the usual suspects left out several names but some inclusions were surprising. Included were – Keith Scott, Deon Abrams of Buxton, Ras Tom Dalgetty, Ramon Gaskin, among others. It means the usual suspects are extending their activism and are sending out signals of the future shape of their politics.
Omissions are – Clive Thomas, Sherod Duncan, Rickford Burke, Mark Benschop, Dr. Melissa Ifill, Amanza Walton-Desir, Chris Ram, Eusi Kwayana, Eric Phillips, among others. Why were these names left out? Surely if the usual suspects can contact 72 persons, then, why were the omitted names not contacted?
Maybe they refused. I don’t know. My friend in London, Leyland DeCambra, one of the founders in the 1970s of the WPA UK branch, was asked for his signature. He refused based on the other signatures that he saw. He told me he did not want his name among such people.
The usual suspects do not know Leyland at all. The man is instinctively multi-racial and was livid about the election rigging. So, is there a split among the usual suspects on who should be part of their agenda for 2022?
(The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of this newspaper.)
THIS IDIOT TELLING GUYANA WE HAVE NO SAY IN THE 50% PROFIT SHARING AGREEMENT WE HAVE WITH EXXON.
Mar 29, 2024
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