THIS country has a really young population in the world. And because of this demographic shape, the average Guyanese may not know of truly great humans, in and out of Guyana, who inspired untold numbers.

This is where historians, analysts, commentators and columnists come in. We must bring to the attention of our country the names of superb men and women who have made great sacrifices so that others can be free.

I think I am a good person who believes in rights over wrongs and yearn for equality and justice for all. And this character of mine was shaped by people I should always write about because if they did not project their courage onto the world scene, maybe I would not be who or what I am today.

One of those persons died last week. His name was Daniel Ellsberg. He died at age 92. In the 1970s, long before a majority of Guyanese were born, he was one of the most talked about humans on Planet Earth because of what he did.

What he did, Guyanese and other nationalities who live in the developing world should internalise the meaning of Ellsberg’s action.

I had always liked politics, so in 1971 when Ellsberg became a global hero, I was aware of who he was and what he did. But in 1971, although I followed politics in the world and in my country, I was nowhere near having my GCEs or ever thought of going into university. I did in 1974 and I became even more admiring of people like Daniel Ellsberg.

In 1971, Ellsberg released to the public a set of documents that has come to be known as the Pentagon Papers. He was a military analyst with the US Government and came into contact with a study by the Pentagon of the Vietnam War.

Ellsberg saw in those documents where successive presidents of the US at the time had lied to the American people and Congress about the decision to go to war in Vietnam. The Pentagon Papers revealed that the US intervention in Vietnam was simply an act of conspiracy to justify war.

He was charged under the US Espionage Act, the very act that Julian Assange has been charged under. Ellsberg faced a jail sentence of over a hundred years but was freed after the judge ruled that the US Government acted illegally in investigating his actions.

From 1971 onwards, with the release of the Pentagon Papers, anti-war feelings spread across the globe and it galvanised the American people to denounce the war. From 1971 onwards, Ellsberg became one of the world’s most admired humans. From that year too until he died last week, he remained an indefatigable anti-war activist and a critic of American invasion of Iraq and Afghanistan.

As a columnist, you feel compelled to write about some famous names because when your career is over, you will feel satisfied that you covered all the bases. I am glad I penned my thoughts on Michael Jackson, Burt Bacharch, Julian Assange and now Daniel Ellsberg.

On a personal level, I think people like Ellsberg assisted in the crystallisation of my worldview way back in the 1970s. I always admired him and I think the generation that came after him owes him a debt of gratitude. Interestingly, Ellsberg kept some classified documents he possessed in 1971 when he copied the Pentagon Papers and only released them, 52 years after in 2021. In those papers, the US planned a nuclear strike on China in 1958.

What are the lessons to be learnt from the Pentagon Papers? For those lessons we should be grateful to Daniel Ellsberg. In a world of huge, colossal powerful countries, there is no good guy versus bad guy.

What prevails in international relations is the Peloponnesian principle as elucidated by the first Western book on international relations, “The Peloponnesian Wars” by the ancient Greek historian, Thucydides.

Whether a huge, globally powerful country is democratic, semi-democratic, authoritarian or totalitarian, there will be the instinct to invade territories to dominate the world.

That is what Thucydides instructed us they will do when he wrote his book two thousand years ago. Superpowers want to control the world. That drives their action in the global arena.

Afghanistan will remain the textbook’s greatest example. A superpower named the USA invaded Afghanistan decades after another superpower, named the USSR, went into Afghanistan for the identical reason.

Last week, American senator, Bob Menendez reacted angrily when he heard that China has a listening post in Cuba. He said it is an insult to the US. Maybe Putin said the same about Ukraine.