I reply to Mr. Eric Phillips old-time racist letter captioned “Ruling class racist ideology is back in vogue in Guyana” (Kaieteur News 30-06-2010). (1)    Mr. Phillips calls for a race-free Guyana politics and society. And that is nice. But Phillips himself espouses an organisation (ACDA) with a long racial record and in any case, whenever he writes in the newspapers it is mostly about some kind of racist animosity. So by his actions Phillips works against a race-free Guyanese politics and society.
(2)    Phillips loves to quote Anil Nandalall who credited Indians with all kinds of achievements which Phillips with justifications rejects. But Phillips does the same thing as Nandalall when he boasts that Black slaves built the agricultural and other infrastructure of the coastlands and in the process moved 100 million tons of earth by hand.
And in all of this Phillips fails to understand that white Europeans supplied the capital, management, leadership and essential technical and engineering skills, such as for example, the drainage system for this enterprise.
And the second thing Phillips fails to grasp is that from the 1830’s owners began to abandon or neglect their Estates. The bush came back, drainage was neglected and the sea-defences fell apart. The indentures, mostly Indians, who were the new slaves, had to re-do the work the African slaves had done. When Emancipation came in 1838, sugar production was only 20,000 tons per annum and the indentures had to increase it by breaking in new land. Indeed, in due course, they increased sugar production many fold and in the process had to take in completely virgin land, at least three times more than was cultivated under slavery. In other words, Indian indentures and their offspring did as much as the slaves in cutting bush, moving earth, and digging drains and looking after sea defences. The point of all this is that Guyana was developed by all its people and no one group could claim a monopoly of contribution. And Eric should learn this lesson.
Another lesson along the same  lines he should learn is that in both Georgetown and New Amsterdam, Indians have been constructing most of the edifices and even smaller buildings and moving millions of tons of earth and mortar. But other groups, including Africans have also been building, and so city building belongs to all groups and is not the monopoly of any one.
(3) Mr. Phillips tunnel-vision is further illustrated. Some months ago he wrote a letter equating Indians with the Germans of Nazi Germany who did not pay attention to Jewish suffering. Some replied to Phillips and pointed out that Indians, as the most indentures, suffered the greatest discrimination, whether it be political or social and could themselves be equated to the Jews of the Nazi era. For the last 60 years, Indians were robbed and killed and after every election were beaten up in the streets and their shops were plundered by criminal gangs. And these programmes happened year in year out. At least one Black leader has been pompously calling these criminal gangs which murdered ordinary poor Indian men, women and children “the armed African Resistance”. The gangs never touched Indian politicians or better off Indians or the Police and military; it was poor ordinary defenseless people who were victims. This kind of blatant public racism publicised in the media against Indians, was never allowed even by the Nazis who tended to try to disguise their ill doings. Phillips was trying to turn the Indian victims into culprits! The Indian experience is a genuine, full scale judenhetze.
(4) Phillips writes: “Perhaps it is time for Africans to demand separation…it may be the only way they can govern themselves.” As usual, Phillips’ racism blurs his vision. Africans are only 29 per cent of the population and have no territorial area as against the other 71 per cent of the population. And further, the majority of Afro Guyanese do not subscribe to Phillips’ “separation demand” for sound economic reasons. It may be only be only about 10 per cent of the population inclusive of all the races of Guyana who would subscribe to Phillips’ “separation demand.”
A better solution to Phillips’ concern is to have Local government Reform where the three counties, formerly distinct colonies, would be given more powers than they have now. In this kind of devolution which is used in Britain, Berbice may be run by Indians, Demerara by Africans and Essequibo where you have never had racism, by all its inhabitants, especially Amerindians. Actually Demerara is the most developed county with most of the country’s infrastructure and concentration of wealth and social services.
A last word to Eric, read Prof. Accabre Nkofi’s manifesto – “Rebirth of the Blackman” – internalise it and you will find many of your answers.