Thank you Clive Thomas for now joining me!

TO those names that I have left out, I apologise because I did not know about your stance. To date only five persons (outside of governmental circles) have publicly condemned the advocacy of some politically driven, unpatriotic minds that want Guyana to reject oil production because they say the fossil fuel industry is not climate friendly.

The first person to do so is civil society activist Jonathan Yearwood. His stance took the form of a direct rejection of the call by Dr Janet Bulkan who contacted the OAS on the issue. Gerry Gouveia said on the Gildarie-Freddie Kissoon Show that the word asinine is too soft a word to describe such advocacy. Kit Nascimento on a different occasion, on the same show, used the word, “absurd.”
The other two personalities are financial analyst Joel Bhagwandin and Professor Randolph Persaud, presidential adviser. In a forthcoming column, I will take up a horrible complaint Dr Persaud told to me yesterday (Tuesday) about his mistreatment by the private media.

In my take on the people who have called for the cessation of oil production, I have used class analysis to assess where they are coming from. Last Monday in this newspaper, I resorted to class analysis once more in looking at the class prejudice on this stratum. I will take the argument to its logical conclusion in my Sunday column.

In the November 13 issue of the Stabroek News, a letter appeared demanding that the government discontinue oil production. The signatures used the word, ‘immediate.”

A total of 45 persons signed the missive. The list included the two Vieira sisters, Danuta and Vanda Radzig, the Red Thread organization, the Amerindian People’s Association and a few other persons whose anti-Indian and anti-PPP biases are well known.
I haven’t done the research, so I don’t know if Red Thread and the Amerindian People’s Association did a poll among women and Amerindians to ascertain if Guyana should immediately cease oil production.

Out of those 45 signatures, 12 were persons who migrated a long time ago from Guyana with a few being Guyanese, but never lived in Guyana. All of the 12 currently live in countries where the economy is intricately connected with the oil industry.
These are the 12 persons:
1 – Dr Janet Bulkan serves the University of British Columbia.
2- Dr Alissa Trotz serves the University of Toronto
3- Dr Nigel Westmaas serves Hamilton College in New York
4- Dr Maya Trotz serves the University of South Florida
5 – Isabelle DeCaires lives in her homeland of the UK where her son plays cricket in the county championship for Middlesex.
6 – Abyssinian Carto is of Rastafari orientation and lives in New York. He left Guyana a very long time ago.
7- Dr Cary Gildarie lives in New York. He left Guyana years now.
8 – Terry Roopnaraine lives in his homeland of the UK. He may be nearing his 50s.
9 – Pauline Melville moved to the UK since the early 1950s.
10 – Alma O’Connell lives in Canada
11 – Christina Samaroo moved to New York in 2008
12 – Luke Daniels lives in the UK
I am not going to mention children and family members who live in the developed world. Finally, Clive Thomas had added his voice in denunciation of what he says are members of the middle class who want Guyana to come out of oil production.
You have to listen to Professor Thomas. He sounded like me in his denunciation of the middle class for the use of narrow class interests. It was an acerbic rejection of the middle class position on the oil industry.
Here are two words he used to describe the attitude of people who want Guyana to stop oil production –“crass inhumanity.” He based his contempt of these people and the class to which they belong on three points.

(1)-The income from the oil industry is crucial for the elimination of poverty and the eradication of poverty should be uppermost in the minds of all Guyanese. (2)-The middle class cannot call for the removal of the oil industry when the lives of the middle class are replete with resources that come from the oil industry. (3) You cannot ask Guyana alone to save the environment.
I listened and watched Thomas making his points and I was relieved that at last I have someone on my side that is not a supporter of the government denouncing the wild, foolish, wealthy, unpatriotic fools that want Guyana to leave oil production.
It is still beyond imagination to think that Guyana can produce such minds. My email is fredkissoon@yahoo.com. Email me and I will send you the interview with Thomas. See tomorrow.

SHARE THIS ARTICLE :
Facebook
Twitter
WhatsApp
All our printed editions are available online
emblem3
Subscribe to the Guyana Chronicle.
Sign up to receive news and updates.
We respect your privacy.