PERCY Hintzen, Guyana-born American sociologist (who left Guyana over 50 years ago) made a concerted attack on my series on the Mulatto/Creole class of which he is a leading propagandist for that class. I can’t remember the number, but I think I must have done about 14 in the series for this newspaper.

Hintzen’s dismissal of my theory of MCC activism since the MCC government fell in August 2020 was carried a year ago in the Stabroek News forum titled, “In The Diaspora” (ITD). Around that time, I replied to Hintzen. See Hintzen in the September, 25, 2023 edition of ITD and my response in the Guyana Chronicle edition of September 29 and October 2, both in the year of 2023.

Why have I returned to Hintzen one year after? Before I answer that, let’s quote what Hintzen wrote about me: “There appears to be an ongoing campaign in the government-controlled Daily Chronicle to associate Guyanese hybridity with a Mulatto Creole Class (termed MCC), whatever that means. According to a series of ill-informed, poorly argued, badly researched and frequently factually inaccurate articles in the state newspaper that often seem to be an outlet for little more than personal insults, the intent of publicly named and identified members of this fictitious “class” including myself.”

So why have I returned to Hintzen? There are three reasons. Firstly, one year after he wrote his ITD column about violence dished out by the state to Guyanese who are against oil extraction, we no longer see long letters disparaging oil extraction. In fact, one of the most vociferous voices against oil production in Guyana, Ms. Vanda Radzik, has defected from the anti-oil agenda.

Earlier this year, when Hard Talk of the BBC asked for her position on the oil industry, she declined to give it, telling her interviewer that there are two spectrums in Guyana. One is to leave it in the ground; the other is to get more money from the contract. But Ms. Radzik didn’t offer her position.
The second reason for revisiting Hintzen is the dilemma he and the dozens of American-Guyanese who live in the US who are against oil production in Guyana are currently in. The anti-oil bandwagon’s and Hintzen’s predicament is that the incoming president of the United States will support oil extraction in the US. So, since they live in the US, we are eagerly looking forward to their condemnation of the fossil fuel industry during the new American administration. They do not live in Guyana but they write on Guyana and not the country they live in.
This reminds us of a German citizen, Professor Andre Brandli. He informs us he has Guyanese blood. He describes Guyana as a flawed democracy. He once made the ludicrous statement that in the 2020 election there were about 600,000 votes cast (total votes were 464,565). Brandli never touches the subject of democracy in Germany.

One assumes that he is embarrassed by the recent viewpoint of a Guyanese woman living in Germany, Ashma John. Here is what she wrote: “Over the past year, as democratic as Germany pledges itself to be, we have seen excessive police brutality involving protesters, censorship, raids and outright harassment. We have heard of discussions surrounding Nazi-style deportation policies.” After that perspective on Germany, I guess Guyanese will no longer hear from Brandli.
The third reason is to remind Hintzen that what we are seeing in Guyana in 2024 is the crystallisation of MCC politics. MCC personalities have opted out of a New and United Guyana (ANUG), MCC personalities have taken over the leadership of the Alliance for Change without any Indian face in the leading role in the top four slots.

We are also reminding Hintzen that Guyana is about 11 months away from a general election and the MCC newspaper, the Stabroek News, is going all out to get at the ruling PPP. I don’t know, but I am assuming that given his work as a sociologist and interest in Guyana that Hintzen reads the Stabroek News. It is as if that newspaper has become an opposition party.

I close with a quote from Hintzen and a question to him. He wrote: “Even mere reporting on persons and groups that criticise oil extraction exposes one to harassment.”
My question is, one year after he wrote that fiction, can he point to any episode of harassment of any human in Guyana that has campaigned against the oil industry.

Now for my question: Why is it that he, Hintzen, can write and condemn the Government of Guyana and make accusations against it but when people like me reply to them, I am described as sowing hatred? In fact, Dr. Hintzen’s September 23 article is replete with hate-filled descriptions.

DISCLAIMER: The views and opinions expressed in this column are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the Guyana National Newspapers Limited.