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August 14 ,2022

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Dear Editor,

A rich soil of fertility is born when people reply to columnists and other analysts. It gives the respondent a chance to educate those who are interested in the intellectual rivers that flow in their country and history become replete with research material that future generation can learn from.

There have been several replies to one of my columns in which I declined an invitation by Mr. Nohar Singh, owner of Globe-Span, a Zoom programme hosted by persons who do not live in Guyana.

My point was succinct and direct. A format where an interviewer from country ‘A’ questions a guest about country ‘B’ is flawed for one fundamental and commonsensical reason – the interviewer has to have residency in the country from which relevant knowledge is derived. A smart phone cannot replace residency because actual presence in the country offers you priceless information that you will not get from a smart phone.

My column mentioned five interviewers who do not live in Guyana – Charles Sugrim, Paul Tennassee, Asquith Rose, Vishnu Bisram and Isabelle DeCaires. Three of the interviewees or guests – Alissa Trotz, Arif Bulkan and Baytoram Ramharack – do not live in Guyana.

There was not one word of commentary by me on the names. There were absolutely no critical words on the eight individuals mentioned. My task was the format, not the personalities. As usual, there was an outpouring of criticism from the Globe-Span crew and Freddie Kissoon became the issue not the Globe-Span format which was what the column was all about.

Asquith Rose got personal but that doesn’t bother me. After more than 50 years in social activism and 34 years in the media, I could not be bothered with the Freudian concentration in people’s minds about my work. Just one example of Freudianism should suffice.

When Aubrey Norton was competing to be leader of the PNC, he was interviewed by Rose on the Globe-Span programme. Alongside Norton was his supporter, Sharma Solomon. In a moment that must have shocked every viewer, Rose asked a weird question. He asked both guests what they thought of Freddie Kissoon.

Someone by the name of Vassan Ramracha replied in yesterday’s KN and devoted 90 percent of his composition to telling me how he and others fought against President Burnham 50 years ago as New York migrants. I remind readers – the issue was foreign-based interviewers hosting Guyanese who live in Guyana.

But read on and you will see how Ramracha contradicted himself. Here I quote from him; “Bisram spent a lot of his time in Guyana over the last two decades and perhaps more time in Guyana than in the US over the last seven years.”

I could use a strong adjective to describe the mentality of Ramracha. But this was my original point. You have to be in the country to know it before you can interview Guyanese living here.

Ramracha makes out a case for Bisram having the competence to interview Guyanese because he describes Bisram as living more in Guyana than in the US which is his home. This was all that I was saying in the column. If you do not have to be in the nation to interview people, then, why would Ramracha mention the prolonged presence of Bisram in Guyana?

But here is quote from Ramracha that reveals what a columnist has to deal with; “Freddie does not travel all over Guyana.” Well at least I am still in Guyana. Not only do the Globe-Span interviewers not travel all over Guyana, they don’t travel at all in Guyana because they don’t live in Guyana.

In the KN last Friday, Charles Sugrim joined the chorus. He writes; “Freddie is not a friendly person.” I never heard about a man name Charles Sugrim. Never saw a man named Charles Sugrim. Never spoke to a man named Charles Sugrim. How does Charles Sugrim know I am not a friendly person?  He does not. Because he does not live in Guyana. He has never interacted with me.

Read the replies to me by the Globe-Span fan club and you will see how bizarre the world is. There is a movie named, “The boys are back” with Clive Owen. The sports correspondent could not go to Australia to cover the tennis tournament so he reported on it for his network sitting inside his home using the coverage of CNN.

Maybe the world’s networks do not have to pay correspondents to cover the invasion of the Ukraine and CPL cricket next month in Guyana. The networks could rely on the smart phones of those in the Ukraine and Guyana. Stupidity is a mental thought process that has more energy than a nuclear bomb.

Frederick Kissoon        

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August 14 ,2022

Source

Forget Freddie’s English, read his hints, carefully  

Dear Editor,

Unlike  some of the known racist Indian writers , like Bisram, Misir, Charles  Sugrim, Paul Tennassee, Ramsawack, and Vishnu Ramracha, etc. Freddie Kissoon’s Column has my readership. Those barely-disguised anti-black, anti-Afro-Guyanese journalists are currently enjoying their middle-aged (or is it elderly) ecstasy as the PPP/C led Administration romps strong and strident. Freddie’s more subtly, cynical, putty-knife style of writing still intrigues me enough to read him. And I recommend it.

Yes, this now greying ex-academic, UG-student agitator, Indian boy who grew up in Wortmanville (of all places) in the 1960s and 1970s. This self-declared journalist, who writes  about his  musical tastes  of the 1970s and 1980s, his daughter’s passage through UG, his early morning  walks  though the National Park  or along the Seawall with his dog, etc. this matured and well experienced  political commentator has  seen and felt  a lot  in Guyanese  political evolution, and  therefore correctly  has a lot to say.

I read  two  of these missives  last week and,  in the  second KN issue , on the 12th  also read  two letters  complaining about  him.  This letter here is no defense of the great man. He can, and certainly will defend himself. I write  to solicit  something  that  many  of his critics  deplore – read  Freddie’ s  column carefully . Despite his continuing  struggle with the English Language , he mostly  has at least a tit bit  of juicy , if not significant  factoid of Guyanese  reality that  no one  else  has  yet touched on.

I know  some readers  will  jump to criticise  me , or like  my friend  who  says, “Freddie?  You reading that …?” But I say, “Do not throw out the baby with the bathwater.”

There is some important information here. For example, back in 2016, when the APNU+AFC Administration had just ‘reinstated’ Jagdeo by returning his passport, etc. It was  Freddie Kissoon  who implied that maybe a mistake was being made, and perhaps a phoenix might emerge (I know that Freddie will remember his exact words). The rest, as we say, is history.

Whether one is a PNC-R supporter or not, it is obvious that Freddie’s writings (here I reiterate), unlike  those of his  Indian ‘friends’  mentioned above, are worth reading – if  for nothing else  but it’s double extended , innuendos  and  yes, gossipy details.

Carl Brathwaite

Django

Freedie is not an initiator of change, he pleads for it, he speaks of it, but it  never happened and never will, once the voters see nothing else other than  PPP and PNC. So, now he joins the PPP. Even though he claims he has not.

For the 50 and 34 years Freedie been writing, he couldn't influence the minds of the Guyanese voter.

I hope Mr. Brathwaite is not reading Freedie for historical essays because he comes across as an angry analyst with a gossipy approach. More like two Pitt Street whores having words in the public to settle a dispute.

Freedie complain about Foreign Based Guyanese, forever. Ossie Rogers should have words with him and set that Indian boy straight on those residing in Region 11. Freedie couldn't live outside of Guyana, he would have or had to earn his living instead of only writing on KN.

Is he passionate, spiteful of FBG or plain angry?

I watched his show of last Friday, after dem 50 years he made a statement which is commonsense. But it took him 50 years to deduce.

A

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