IN the last section of my long series on the Mulatto/Creole class (MCC), which was part 14 and titled, “The future of the MCC,” Thursday, October 12, I wrote the following words: “Not all anti-government outfits are part of the MCC. The PNC is not. The current leadership of the AFC is not. I will do a separate column, using class analysis to explain why Kaieteur News is not part of the MCC.”

It is important if you want to understand the role of social classes in your country to use class analysis when studying social phenomena. Nothing will make sense to you if you do not use class analysis, and other people will have to do the interpretations for you. This is where academics come in because they will have to offer analytical explanations.
Just one example will suffice. What is the crucial difference in their role in Guyana between the sugar union, GAWU, and the civil society group, Red Thread? The union was born out of a struggle in British Guiana to free a quintessential working-class part of Guyana’s political economy—the rural proletariat.
Red Thread, on the other hand, was founded by a group of middle-class women from the MCC who never saw their mandate as liberating the working people. GAWU’s mission is to protect a historic section of the rural proletariat—the sugar workers. Go to any GAWU congress, and 100 percent of the delegates will be from working-class employments.
I went to the Red Thread sponsored, day of appreciation for Andaiye when she died, and knowing that I am open to contradiction, I asserted that not one working-class person was there (maybe except me, though I don’t know by objective class standards, I am working class).

The most influential voice in Red Thread is Dr. Alissa Trotz, a Canadian based Guyanese. Ms. Trotz for the past 15 years has edited a column in the Stabroek News (SN) titled, “In The Diaspora.” That column has never articulated a working-class-based position on anything in Guyana. Ironically, Ms. Trotz is the one of the leading figures in the organisation titled, “Working People’s Alliance Overseas Group.”

So we come now to the class nature of the PNC, AFC, and Kaieteur News (KN). I remind you of what I wrote in my last part of the MCC series. An anti-government organisation in Guyana does not necessarily belong to the very vocal and ubiquitous MCC.

The PPP and PNC are two strong pro-working-class political parties whose constituencies are quintessential working people. The AFC started out as an invention of the MCC, but I think Mr. Ramjattan should be given credit for steering it away from its MCC mooring. He brought in a lot of working-class Indians from Berbice and Essequibo. Today, most of the remnants of a dying AFC are Indian working-class people.

I have absolutely no respect for Mr. Glen Lall, owner of the KN. Mr. Lall, a figure of disdain, feels the PPP leaders have robbed him of the title of being Guyana’s numero uno Indian. Mr. Lall has an insane obsession with PPP leaders that, after 2025, will see him fade away. But I will vulgarize my academic training if I classify the KN as having a middle-class, elitist culture as the SN.
It does not, because Mr. Lall himself and his management staff are not driven by MCC elitism. The KN does not view Guyana through the eyes of class and colour. The SN does. And there is graphic evidence it does if you look at its complete blackout of two large demonstrations in support of the Palestinians.

KN carried six photos of each march. SN completely ignored the marches. On Saturday, almost 400 people marched through a section of Georgetown, and that was ignored by SN. The same paper never neglects to carry the images of the tiny cabal from the MCC that frequents Vlissengen Road outside the Office of the President (OP) picketing against EXXON. Every presence of this tiny cabal outside OP is carried in SN. Now, the KN does that too because of its anti-government stance, but it did carry twelve photographs of the Palestinian marches.
Why did the SN not report on the Palestinian marches? Because the paper cannot identify with the Palestinian cause and also would not want to upset some of its patrons in the diplomatic community. The EU has come out in favour of Israel. The head of the EU commission, Ursula van der Ledyen flew to Israel days after the conflict broke out. The EU embassy in Guyana recently gave the EU Human Rights Award to the Stabroek News. Hope you read between the lines.