By Leonard Craig

Race, Politics and Class: Issues that must be confronted by the Ali Presidency

I WISH to recall Freddie Kissoon’s February, 11, 2024 GC Column “Can the Ali presidency engender class and ethnic reconciliation?” and offer a critique and extension. In short, Freddie postulated that the Scandinavian model of economic development has successfully navigated the ills of Marxist class revolution as well as, the pangs of ruthless capitalists’ exploitation, to create a near classless society.

Classless in the sense that, acceptable models of income redistribution were made possible through appropriate levels of state autonomy. Freddie’s piece did not give an explanation of what is meant by “state autonomy.” I will not hazard a guess, except to say that, this omission is probably the foundation of other omissions in attempting to prognosticate the Scandinavian model for Guyana.

Peter Hall and David Soskice argued that the way society is ordered in capitalists’ formations that embodies the relationship between governments, economy and society can be explained through ‘varieties of capitalism.” It’s a misnomer to paint the evolution of, or the pursuit of a certain economic model with one broad brush because there are fundamental peculiarities in the evolution of capitalist’s societies. Some other writers, Hansj Herr et al, from the Berlin School of Economics, where I was educated, proffered the concept “Decent Capitalism.”

This can explain the successes of the Scandinavian type capitalist society. These concepts suggest there are decent elements in both capitalists and socialists’ economic models that can be combined to yield unique economic pathways within capitalism. Therefore, there are inherent dangers in excluding major localised considerations which may leave a system fractured in perpetuity.

I will not put theoretical thought into this article to address Freddie’s major omission, I prefer to go the route of an ordinary conversation. Even though it was contained in the title, Freddie did not address “ethnic reconciliation” substantially or substantively. As a result, the failure to address this fundamental difference can cause the Scandinavian model to fail in Guyana. Scandinavia is a mono ethnic society that were not active participants in the slave trade nor has been the recipient of large catchment of ethnic migration, nor did they have to address in any major way question about colonial/post-colonial actions.

This is a major issue for Guyana, an issue that is sufficiently grave to infuse varieties that will make the pursuit of a Scandinavian model unrecognisable. Freddie rightly concluded that there are signs on the horizons that the Ali led administration can reshape Guyana along a path of sustained equality and a reduction in ethnic tensions, but there is a long road to go and I wish to offer a few suggestions.

If we are ever going to approach a society where the exploitative nature of capitalism is tamed, and income redistribution brings about social cohesion stunted interest in state domination, there are two major issues that must be addressed on the ethnic cohesion side of our balance sheet.

One, the major imbalance of Africans in the Public Service and the almost complete domination of Indians in commerce. There are traces that show small gains on both fronts. There are signs that the government of the PPPC are interested in increasing African participation in commerce. There were several meetings with African business owners and channeling some government contracts to Afro owned businesses. So, an intention is clear on that score.

This however, needs to be translated into some form of comprehensive and documented government policy that will form the basis of a national conversation, creative legislation and targeted government funding that will progressively rebalance respective ethnic participation in the various aspects of our economy and society. This has to go beyond noble intensions; it has to be baked into policy.

Two, the government of Dr Irfaan Ali must also address the question of some form of local reparations for descendants of slaves. We often think that reparations should come only from former colonial powers, but there is also a local component. I will mention just two documented historical facts for consideration.

One, when other ethnicities arrived, they met thousands of kilometers of developed waterways, roads/dams and other forms of infrastructure that were built with free enslaved African labour. Also consider, when the first set of indentured migrants came to Guyana, they were housed in fully prepared settlements that were built by free slave labour.

So not only did the colonisers in lands far far away benefit economically from free labour of enslaved Africans, but local people who came and stayed also benefitted.

This issue was probably moot prior to the discovery of oil, we all had to struggle to divide a small pie together. Consequently, no major movement was made to address this issue in the past. However, with the windfall oil brings, we now have the ability to overhaul and transform the conditions of people, this is a national question that must be addressed.

I am not advocating, for willy nilly lumpsum cash transfers to Afro-Guyanese. However, I am advocating for it to be a serious part of national planning with intent to pursue ethnic cohesion and reparative economic justice. A society rooted in equality, justice, prosperity and ethnic reconciliation, that takes into account the broadest range of national issues, is entirely possible under the stewardship of Dr Ali.