THE United Nations is celebrating its 75th Anniversary, having been formed shortly after World War 11. COVID-19 has once again interfered and international delegations have not descended upon New York City, the streets of midtown Manhattan aren’t clogged with traffic, and more heads of state are addressing the global stage through video submissions, instead of speeches. But it’s the warnings of a world coming apart at the seams or redefined by high tensions between the U.S. and China that have made this among the starkest meetings yet. As the U.N. chief warned on this occasion, the world is “moving in a very dangerous direction.” President Irfaan Ali  in his maiden address (virtual) as President of Guyana and Chairman of the Group of 77 and China, made it clear that the world must seek to strengthen solidarity to address the pandemic, commit to take forward the 2030 ‘Agenda’ and intensify the global partnerships, as he pushed for more help for countries hard hit by COVID-19. Guyana’s stark death rate jumped to a startling 70 as at yesterday. President Donald Trump lashed out at China, a now frequent political target. He laid blame for the covid-19 pandemic at Beijing’s feet and condemned “China’s rampant pollution,” despite his own administration’s environmental record. China’s authoritarian president Xi Jinping spoke shortly after Trump and politely rebuffed his accusation. The Chinese leader did not mention the U.S. or Trump by name, but he offered implicit rebukes of Trump’s worldview, even as his words didn’t match the aggressive actions of his own government. Right here in Guyana, the American conglomerate ExxonMobil, is a major contributing factor to the environmental pollution via toxic gas “flaring” from offshore oil extraction. Exxon is dumping thousands of gallons of produced water into the ocean every day. The produced water, according to the World Bank’s advice on the best practice, should be re-injected unless dumping it is found to be completely necessary. Exxon Mobil continues to splurge on the softness of Guyanese as they (Exxon) offer lame excuses and no tangible proof of their intention to curb or control this problem shortly, nor do they intend to compensate Guyana for this deficiency.

The division between the U.S. and China was a defining feature of others’ speeches as well. U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres warned of a world beset by “five horsemen” : the highest global geostrategic tensions in years, existential climate crisis, deep and growing global mistrust, the dark side of the digital world, and the coronavirus pandemic. “We are moving in a very dangerous direction. Our world cannot afford a future where the two largest economies split the globe in a great fracture — each with its own trade and financial rules and internet and artificial intelligence capacities. A technological and economic divide risks inevitably turning into a geo-strategic and military divide. We must avoid this at all costs,” he added. Guyana’s economy is poised to drastically expand in the very near future as the country embarks on its oil-and-gas production. Currently, China has a number of investments in this country and wants to play a bigger role in its development, but at the said time, there is a cloud of doubt hanging over her head as all of the companies are involved in some degree of adverse imbroglio. U.S. Secretary of State Mr. Michael Pompeo, recently visited Guyana and he also pledged the assistance of the United States to propel Guyana in her economic advancement. There is an on-going battle between the U.S. company, ExxonMobil and Guyana over negotiated contracts that are unfavourable to Guyana’s interests. Both Chinese and American companies are taking advantage of Guyana’s sovereignty.

A point to note, the French President Emmanuel Macron urged “international cooperation” based on a “new order.” He added, “Today’s world cannot be reduced to the rivalry between China and the United States, regardless of the weight in the world that these two great powers share, regardless of the history that ties us in particular to the United States.” At the UN conference, what was also interesting was South Africa’ President, Cyril Ramaphosa, who on Tuesday urged greater African representation on the UN Security Council as well as a stimulus package for the continent as it confronts COVID-19. He also called on the UN to curb racial prejudice and intolerance. “As a country that has known too well the anguish of institutionalised racism, South Africa supports the demands for swift action against racism, whether committed by individuals, companies, officials or a state,” he said. From the last general elections in Guyana, racism was again injected by prominent politicians, trying to get voters’ confidence through propaganda, lies and deceit. Recently, this country suffered a major setback from this healing process when again, racial bias was inspired by incited innuendos, proliferated explicitly and specifically by the engineering leaders of the callous PNCR party in Berbice, thereby resulting in the loss of lives, massive injuries and damage, amounting to millions of dollars to the Indo Guyanese community, without any form of retaliation or retribution surfacing as their reaction and, without the consideration of any form of reparation from any relevant authority. There is a United Nations resident representative in Guyana, Ms. Mikiko Tanaka. She did register a voice during the elections fiasco with various statements. Hopefully, there will be another forthcoming statement regarding the racial transparency as adumbrated by the recent unfortunate upheavals. Silence is encouragement to the perpetrators and support for their devious agenda, whether it is election rigging, flaunting the law, thwarting democracy, or colluding with corruption or racial incitement. Guyanese cannot afford a vacuum if they are to live and strive in unity and harmony. Let us first bridge this gap with love and then build other bridges.

Respectfully,
Jai Lall