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FM
Former Member

Source: https://guyanatimesgy.com/pncs-contempt-for-indians/


PNC’s CONTEMPT for Indians

I note the glee of the PNC and its followers pouncing on the mispronunciation of a few words by President Ali and VP Jagdeo at the UNGA. It did not surprise me, because Forbes Burnham exploited long held negative cultural stereotypes of Indian Guyanese by African Guyanese – and moreso by their Mulatto elite – when he founded the PNC. He coalesced his PPP(Burnham) with the League of Coloured People’s political vehicle, the United Democratic Party (UDP), along with Sydney King (later Eusi Kwayana), who was to dub the subsequent PPP government as a “Coolie-rice government”.


Burnham had been chastised by the coloured elite when he was in the PPP with Jagan as “betraying his own” for “coolies”, as per Ashton Chase in his book, “Guyana, A Nation in Transit: Burnham’s Role”. Their view of Indian Guyanese melded with that of Burnham’s, expressed as a law student in England when writing to his sister: “I feel strongly about the Indian attitude, but the time has not come yet for me to broadcast those feelings and muddy my waters.”


The scorn for Indian Guyanese originated during indentureship, when the Indians were dubbed “uncivilised” for not being westernised and speaking “properly”. And “docile” for accepting the terms of the indentureship agreement, even though they protested violations throughout indentureship, even in the face of the “leaden argument”, which killed dozens and wounded hundreds. They were also “stingy” for saving from their miserable wages to become independent, and “dirty/naked” for wearing their native “langotis”. They were also derided as “heathen”, as if Christianity had not been used to justify African slavery for hundreds of years. There were – and remain – reactive stereotypes by Indian Guyanese, with both set of stereotypes, according to Rodney, mediated by the White planter class.


Back in 1997, I wrote a letter intended to suggest reasons for the PNC’s denial of Indian Guyanese’s political legitimacy and highlighted the African/Coloured elite’s disdain for Indians, on account of their lack of “culture”. This was contested by Mr Eusi Kwayana. As I wrote in the SN, “Incredibly, it was in response to my claim of Burnham’s contempt for Jagan’s education and origin that Mr. Kawyana declared “emphatically that those were never Burnham’s thoughts”. While I cannot pretend to have divined Burnham’s thoughts, as Mr. Kawyana has, I have the testimony of several individuals who shared social drinks with Burnham, that he consistently disparaged Dr. Jagan’s social graces (or lack thereof) as early as on the return from their trip to India in 1954.
“In terms of education, Burnham referred ad nauseum in his speeches, editorials and articles in the early “New Nation” to Dr. Jagan’s opinions or positions as ‘not befitting a schoolboy’, “having the ‘naiveite’ unworthy of the kindergarten beginner” etc… He constantly harped on Dr Jagan’s schooling. Burnham was the editor of the “New Nation”, and thus we can have a clue to his thinking (without divination) by looking at what he either wrote or permitted to be written. In one “New Nation” of ‘those days’ (31st May 1958) in an imaginary meeting of the PPP ministers, the following words are put into the mouth of Dr. Jagan, as he “speaks” to Edward Beharry.


Cheddi: (in a spasm of passion)
Ast to you Edward, you gat to confess to a lat a tings. Ya tink you is de only bady gat sense in dis party. Ya gwine-on like dis because you know dat I can’t dismiss ya as a minister – but de Guvenor can’t always save ya. Wait, ya gwine see sumting.”
Everyone else, including the African ex-shovelman Fred Bowman, is given dialogue in better standard English. Now can Mr. Kwayana, who was Vice President of the PNC at the time, explain Burnham’s thoughts when he allowed this kind of ethnic slur on Dr Jagan’s origins, not only here, but in other issues of the “New Nation”??


But my assertion that the PNC’s mockery of Messrs. Ali and Jagdeo – as with Dr Jagan – arises from their contempt for Indian Guyanese – embedded in the African Guyanese narrative that the latter are not “fit” to lead Guyana, (notwithstanding democratic rules) – will be dismissed, just as Mr Kwayana did in 1997. As Ashton Chase wrote, African Guyanese were – and evidently still are – mesmerized by Burnham’s “gift of the gab…He toyed with a people who fell suckers to his words.” Never mind his despotic excesses versus PPP’s democracy.
Words trump actions.

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If Cheddie would ever get my respect, it would be that he spoke without fancying of the English langauge. Not like elists Afroes who spoke with the flair of the Anglo-tongue. And not to perfect imitation, because that is all it is, simply imitation of the Englishman.

As I said before, in 1992 that was the greatest complaint about the Indo Ministers of government. They cannot speak and pronounce along with Indo music on the airwave without discrimination of the time and times.

Jagdeo speaks like a Guyanese but not as the way CBJ spoke. Ali is terrible. He must improve if he is to speak on the international stage. We Guyanese doan have terrible pronounciations and we can speak for the world to follow without trying to be the Englishman. The real englishman is hard to understand.

One of the greatest aspirations of the 1950 negro was to dress neatly with pressed clothes, pants with seams that could cut, shoes highly polished to shine, socks, a tie if need be, a pen in the pocket of the white shirt. And most definitely good manners with good speech with a spirit of decorum.

"The Activist" has a paragraph of an Indo character exposure to this Negro experience.

.

S

My take on both Burnham and Jagan was that they both may have viewed the Guyanese East Indian person as an inferior person of color compared to the Guyanese African person of color.

This speaks volumes of your inferiority complex. Seek help.

Mitwah

Many East Indians went with Burnham when the PPP split ,can Ravi Dev tell if they had contempt for their kind ?

History of Sidney King (Eusi Kwayana)

After a split in the leadership of the PPP in 1954 involving East Indian Cheddi Jagan and African Forbes Burnham, Kwayana remained with the Jagan faction. He left the party, though, along with two other influential African Guyanese members, after Jagan reneged on a promise to seek the inclusion of the colony in the West Indian Federation on the grounds that it was not in the interest of the East Indian population. After unsuccessfully contesting a seat during the 1957 general elections as an independent candidate, Kwayana subsequently joined the People's National Congress (PNC), which was headed by Burnham. He also served for a while as the editor of the party's newspaper before incurring the displeasure of top party officials for advocating partition as a way of solving the colony's racial problems.

Apparently convinced that the PPP was abandoning its Marxist/class posture in favor of one based on race, especially as a way of winning elections, Kwayana was instrumental in founding both the African Society for Racial Equality (ASRE) and the African Society for Closer Relations with Independent Africa (ASCRIA), because "Black people needed organizing." After a brief rapprochement with Burnham and the PNC, during which time he worked with the Guyana Marketing Corporation, he severed permanently his ties with the party and later became an important figure in the Working People's Alliance (WPA) and served in the House of Assembly as a representative of that political party. Following the decline of the WPA after the death of one of its leaders, Dr. Walter Rodney, on June 13, 1980, Kwayana, as a public intellectual who articulates the concerns of a specific social grouping, continued to speak out against violence in Buxton, the village in which he grew up, as well as other pressing social ills.

https://www.encyclopedia.com/h...-sydney-kwayana-eusi

Django
Last edited by Django

My take on both Burnham and Jagan was that they both may have viewed the Guyanese East Indian person as an inferior person of color compared to the Guyanese African person of color.

What other type of Guyanese African is there...colourless?

cain

Look at dis skont @Former Member . At this time when Guyana grieving and hoping for cooler heads to prevail, yuh come hay carrying water for your master Toupee Man, dredging up shit from the 50's about Burnham, a man dead for 36 years now, and fanning the flames.

Same Toupee Man that want to partition Guyana based on RACE in he alleged "Federalist" model.

Dude, why don't you dig up some of he friends writing on the inferiority of black people????

Guyanese "interlektuals" at wuk. SMFH. Have you really sunk this low?

FM

The Root Cause of all Guyanese evils. A fools dream to think ethnicity can be overcome. Indians were consumed by their griefs to notice Afro contempt for them. Not until the Afroes started with the raping and beatings and burnings-Wismar.

S
@Former Member posted:

Look at dis skont @Former Member . At this time when Guyana grieving and hoping for cooler heads to prevail, yuh come hay carrying water for your master Toupee Man, dredging up shit from the 50's about Burnham, a man dead for 36 years now, and fanning the flames.

Same Toupee Man that want to partition Guyana based on RACE in he alleged "Federalist" model.

Dude, why don't you dig up some of he friends writing on the inferiority of black people????

Guyanese "interlektuals" at wuk. SMFH. Have you really sunk this low?

this is the state of guyanese politics, it's all about me and my feelings rather the service to the people

he panders to racists because his opportunistic manoeuvring failed. his type of politics overlook loyalty, hard work and commitment for instant gratification. freddie is in the same boat. they're buddies now

and when the chips are down blame the blackman (burnham, pnc)

S
@seignet posted:

The Root Cause of all Guyanese evils. A fools dream to think ethnicity can be overcome. Indians were consumed by their griefs to notice Afro contempt for them. Not until the Afroes started with the raping and beatings and burnings-Wismar.

you have nothing of significance to add. be quite!

S
@Spugum posted:

you have nothing of significance to add. be quite!

That would be tough for me to be quiet.

Alyuh inflict suffering pan the kulie ppl dem and yuh want dem hug you up wid wan love.  Some ah dem ppl voted fuh Granger, give him the job as President and dat Bigot only duh fuh the Black ppl dem. The reality of Black governments, Forbes did the same. Yuh juss like dem two-nothing but a damn RACISTS.

S
@seignet posted:

That would be tough for me to be quiet.

Alyuh inflict suffering pan the kulie ppl dem and yuh want dem hug you up wid wan love.  Some ah dem ppl voted fuh Granger, give him the job as President and dat Bigot only duh fuh the Black ppl dem. The reality of Black governments, Forbes did the same. Yuh juss like dem two-nothing but a damn RACISTS.

not even worth responding to

S
@seignet posted:

The Root Cause of all Guyanese evils. A fools dream to think ethnicity can be overcome. Indians were consumed by their griefs to notice Afro contempt for them.

Not until the Afroes started with the raping and beatings and burnings-Wismar.

What are the facts that caused the Wismar calimity ? was it an reaction to false rumors that spread on the East Coast Demerara ?

Django
Last edited by Django
@seignet posted:

The Root Cause of all Guyanese evils. A fools dream to think ethnicity can be overcome. Indians were consumed by their griefs to notice Afro contempt for them. Not until the Afroes started with the raping and beatings and burnings-Wismar.

why don't you give the context to the tragedy at wismar? or are you saying wismar happened in a vacuum?

S
@seignet posted:

That would be tough for me to be quiet.

Alyuh inflict suffering pan the kulie ppl dem and yuh want dem hug you up wid wan love.  Some ah dem ppl voted fuh Granger, give him the job as President and dat Bigot only duh fuh the Black ppl dem. The reality of Black governments, Forbes did the same. Yuh juss like dem two-nothing but a damn RACISTS.

you're a bipolar racist. Hate black man then tun pun Indians. No wonder yuh teef from PNC and then PPP . Soupatunist. Gwan dah side wid yuh fake chuch man self.

FM
Last edited by Former Member

Ravi Dev is clearly suffering from inferiority complex.  He shouldn't be because he is quite accomplished.  I saw Cheddi Jagan close up at the highest levels and his social graces were second to none.  I have no idea why Ravi Dev is seeking to create controversy where there is none.  He shouldn't be blaming Irfaan Ali's inelegant use of the English language on his ethnicity.  He should blame it on his lack of a proper education.  The crook's education level is that of a high school dropout . 

T
@Former Member posted:

Look at dis skont @Former Member . At this time when Guyana grieving and hoping for cooler heads to prevail, yuh come hay carrying water for your master Toupee Man, dredging up shit from the 50's about Burnham, a man dead for 36 years now, and fanning the flames.

Same Toupee Man that want to partition Guyana based on RACE in he alleged "Federalist" model.

Dude, why don't you dig up some of he friends writing on the inferiority of black people????

Guyanese "interlektuals" at wuk. SMFH. Have you really sunk this low?

Lol😁😎🤓listen to dis PNC hustler...federal is a well known power sharing approach. If Garge Bush deh listen and mek Iraq a federal ... De world would be better.

Yuh fogget Dem cool heads pon GNI who was poasing President Irfaan one mistake. De man speech was good otherwise. Aluh ethnic peddlers and de Django enabler cut one little piece. Like Guana miss Dem video de PNC gurl Spugum was poasing. 🤓😁🤣

Ah doan like what Django doing anymore...dis GNI is a rigger apology forum. 🤓😎😁

Doan have time to wase here. Will be tekkin my leave...just want aluh know dat we watching aluh attempt foh wuk dem racial network in de US Congress. 😁😎🤓

FM
Former Member posted:

Lol😁😎🤓listen to dis PNC hustler...federal is a well known power sharing approach. If Garge Bush deh listen and mek Iraq a federal ... De world would be better.

Yuh fogget Dem cool heads pon GNI who was poasing President Irfaan one mistake. De man speech was good otherwise. Aluh ethnic peddlers and de Django enabler cut one little piece. Like Guana miss Dem video de PNC gurl Spugum was poasing. 🤓😁🤣

Ah doan like what Django doing anymore...dis GNI is a rigger apology forum. 🤓😎😁

Doan have time to wase here. Will be tekkin my leave...just want aluh know dat we watching aluh attempt foh wuk dem racial network in de US Congress. 😁😎🤓

cyant tek the heat!

you really don't have much to say, huh?

is voter impersonation and 47 ballot boxes without statutory documents, holey-red-lace-panty

keep pouting and prostituting yuhself. one day yuh gon look in the mirror and realise time passed you by and yuh tek a kicking fuh nuttin

you're simply NOT TRUSTED

you reduced yuhself to posting ravi dev's nonsense. what a joke

lol

S
Last edited by Spugum
@Spugum posted:

cyant tek the heat!

you really don't have much to say, huh?

is voter impersonation and 47 ballot boxes without statutory documents, holey-red-lace-panty

keep pouting and prostituting yuhself. one day yuh gon look in the mirror and realise time passed you by and yuh tek a kicking fuh nuttin

you're simply NOT TRUSTED

you reduced yuhself to posting ravi dev's nonsense. what a joke

lol

Wait a minute, we had allegations of - jumbie vote, migrants vote, anomalies, skullduggery, but Voters impersonation? That’s new, never heard of that one before, where did you pulled that from? Yuh Bt? …hahahahaha [maniacal laughter]

sachin_05
Last edited by sachin_05
@sachin_05 posted:

Wait a minute, we had allegations of - jumbie vote, migrants vote, anomalies, skullduggery, but Voters impersonation? That’s new, never heard of that one before, where did you pulled that from? Yuh Bt? …hahahahaha [maniacal laughter]

voter impersonation covers the dead that voted and the migrants that were out of the country on election day that voted

why didn't you simply look-up the meaning of the word impersonation before you blab your BIG MOUTH. it's not anybody else's fault you're a MORON

S

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