I HAVE to read what the names above write. That is my work. I have to read their work and reply to them because my fear is if I don’t then the propagandistic dimensions could penetrate the mind of the young population of this country. I have a more pressing urge to reply to Jeffrey because he directs his letters in the press to African Guyanese.

Both of these men have learnt nothing from being part of a colonial society. They have learnt nothing about how the colonial narratives formed by the colonials have been used by the colonials after Independence to still control the post-colonial era. Read what Jeffrey and Ramcharan write, and their standard bearer for judging the world are American and European academics.

I am deeply convinced that not only have Jeffrey and Ramcharan not read the autobiography of one of the most experienced international economists, Maurice Odle, who is from Guyana but would frown on it because their standard bearer is what American and European scholars have to say about the world. Odle’s book is top scholarship in a far superior category than the works Jeffrey and Ramcharan are zealous in quoting for Guyanese readers.
It is easy to see the colonial mind of Ramcharan because every column he writes, he cites the publications of biased American authors who see the world as revolving around the superior democratic instincts of the USA. Some of the authors Ramcharan cites dismiss China, Russia and the Global South with instant contempt.

Ramcharran never mentions any Third World scholar who paints an alternative picture of global democracy. I say in all earnestness, I don’t think Ramcharan knows of a fine piece of scholarship on global democracy co-edited by one of our very own living right here in Guyana, Dr. Randolph Persaud. Together with Professor, Narendran Kumarakulasingam, they have co-edited, “Violence and the Third World in International Relations.”
The stuff in that book you will never find in the works of American International Relations scholars because American authors and academics in the Global South use different concepts. The defining journal for American and European academic is

“Foreign Affairs.” This journal is published by the Council on Foreign Relations which consist of past American presidents and Cabinet ministers plus America’s top CEOs.
Writers in “Foreign Affairs” and American and European scholars do not recognise such terms as “imperialism, “neo-colonialism,” “the new imperialism,” “American hegemony.” They do not accept those are forces at work in the international system. Odle’s autobiography is an excellent treat of how the new imperialism in today’s world still suppresses the former colonies of the European empires.

If Ramcharan and Jeffrey did not have to suffer from persistent colonial influence, they would have had a far better understanding of how the world works. Let me quote Jeffrey for all Guyanese to see: “Today, under the rubric of economic growth, autocratic regimes worldwide – in Africa, America, Guyana and Asia – are attempting to hypnotise their populations with material incentives as they systematically remove (sic) the human desire and right to democratic self-government.”
Read for yourself! Judge for yourself! Jeffrey did not mention Europe. In Europe, France, Italy and Germany have “systematically remove (sic) the human desire and right to democratic self-government.” It was a Guyanese columnist with the

Stabroek News, Ashma John who lives in Germany that told us about Nazi-like deportations after dark in Germany. Neither Ramcharan nor Jeffrey read John.
Jeffrey and Ramcharan are too colonially saturated and ignorant to know about the Windrush Scandal where Caribbean citizens with legal citizenship were deported en mass from the UK.
Yet this silly man (no apologies) left out Europe in his discourse on autocratic countries. Guyana as a relatively unknown country in the world, is more democratic than many of the leading European powers.

Read Jeffrey and Ramcharan and you will see who are their reliable sources for judging the world – Germany’s Transparency Institute; France’s Reporters Without Borders; Sweden’s Varieties of Democracy Institute; America’s Freedom House.
All of these are unaccountable Western institutions that use Eurocentric concepts to describe the world and two Guyanese, one in Guyana, Henry Jeffrey and the other in Canada, Bertrand Ramcharan continue to cite them as authorities for

understanding the world. When it comes to Jeffrey, how do African Guyanese see this man? He writes in the name of African Guyanese. He speaks to African issues. But his mind is in the colonial world. Can such a person find acceptance among African Guyanese. I hope not. I really hope not.

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.