THERE were many persons in Guyana and in the world whom we should say a special thanks to because of who they are/were, and the positive things they have done that positively impacted Guyana and the wider world. We must always remember their contributions.
In the world, the person who stood out for me in 2024 was Julian Assange. Assange was persecuted for his bravery, but the tragic part of his oppression was that he was not given heroic status by the great powers of the world that taught us of the priceless value of freedom of expression, but it is those very great powers that took away Assange’s right to express himself.

As I type this column, the Italian Government is seeking an explanation from Iran about an Italian woman arrested in Iran over allegations of spying. All over the world the past umpteen years, the West has made heroes of persons who have been imprisoned in China, Russia, Iran and the Third World in general. The West has made those persons heroes and some have won the Nobel Peace Prize.
Once a person is charged for spying in Russia, China, Iran, and the non-Western world, the West seeks to have that person made into an international figure. Without exception and I repeat, without exception, the West denounces the arrest and proclaims the innocence of the arrested. But somehow, somewhere, Julian Assange’s name got lost and the West didn’t know who he was, even though he was and is one of the world’s most recognisable names.

So why didn’t the priceless value of free expression apply to Assange? That question is simple to answer than asking a child if a knife is a cup. Assange brought out evidence of war crimes by countries where war crimes are supposed to be committed only by states that are autocratic.
The value to the world of Assange, Edward Snowden and Chelsey Manning is that they showed us that the line dividing autocratic countries and democratic nations may be an imaginary one. In Australia, a libel suit brought against three newspapers by Australia’s most decorated soldier, Ben Roberts-Smith, for his exploits in Afghanistan, revealed that this brute of a soldier committed horrible war crimes, including throwing an insurgent off a mountain where his smashed face revealed all his teeth protruding through his eyes.

The International Criminal Court is yet to investigate Roberts-Smith much less issue an arrest warrant. Do they arrest Western soldiers for war crimes? How can they? Isn’t it true that only the soldiers of dictatorial states commit war crimes?
Do soldiers of democratic countries commit war crimes? Assange taught us a valuable lesson. Leaders of all types of countries, whether democratic or autocratic, commit war crimes and that we fool ourselves when we go to the ballot box thinking our votes make our county better than others. Assange has

been mercilessly persecuted and prosecuted by countries that tell us every day that they are better than nations that do not have elections.
My 2024 person in Guyana is Dr Mohamed Irfaan Ali. Do I agree with everything his government does? I would be a gargantuan fool if I say the Government of Guyana has not made mistakes; but those mistakes wherever they are did not subtract from the unique exercise of power that has made Dr Ali a

man of the people and the most interesting and enthralling CARICOM leader the past 40 years.
I believe both Cheddi Jagan and Forbes Burnham faced formidable obstacles in winning over ethnic constituencies other than their own communities. Jagan faced a well-oiled machinery of Forbes Burnham who had to pander to race to secure power. Burnham on the other hand could not win over Indians because Jagan was their hero that Burnham cheated out of election victories.
President Ali is not saddled with those impossibilities. He accessed power in a different generation where the population has no interest in looking at Guyanese through the prism of texture of hair, colour of skin and nature of first name and last name. President Ali is fortunate enough to sit at the head of a nation that has a pie so large that it prevents ethnic squabbling to claim a slice of the cake.
If you share the nation’s wealth and seem to be sharing it, you kill ethnic suspicion, and I believe this is the journey that Ali has embarked on. He has demonstrated in 2024 that if you give resources to the citizenry, then they do not have to worry about the ethnic makeup of their government. Ali has done exceedingly well in 2024; maybe greatness beckons in 2025.

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.