Today’s item should have been part 3 in my serialization of the birth and death of the Stabroek News (SN). I interrupt the series because I have never seen such barefaced vulgarities in a newspaper before. The context is the deluge of missives in the letter section of SN in which degenerate opinions are bandied about with a sickening denial of colossal facts surrounding the life of SN.
An opinion is a thought process. An opinion can be intellectually discerning or it can be an expression of an underdeveloped mind, or it can be an insane expression of ignorance. Dr. Nigel Westmaas was ignorant to say that his distant relative, Martin Carter, was the deepest thinker Guyana produced. Carter would not be in the first hundred deep thinkers Guyana gave birth to. But Westmaas is entitled to his opinion.
Here is an opinion on the editor-in-chief of SN, Anand Persaud, by expatriate Guyanese, Janet Bulkan in SN yesterday (Tuesday): “Anand Persaud is the most consequential Guyanese of the late 20th and current century.” That anyone can write such ignorance may be unforgivable when you think that Guyana produced Cheddi Jagan, Walter Rodney, Yesu Persaud, Father Andrew Morrison, Rickey Singh, Clive Lloyd, and hundreds more like them. If a list of a thousand consequential Guyanese is printed, Mr. Persaud’s name would not make it. But Ms. Bulkan is entitled to her opinion.
Facts are the opposite of opinions. Facts are permanent, indelible scientific occurrences. Facts do not die, and the mind cannot deny them. What the mind can do is to put an interpretation on a fact. The fact is John F. Kennedy was assassinated. What we can do is put millions of interpretations on it. The PNC in the 2025 general election was reduced from 31 seats to 12. That fact will live on forever. But why did the 12 seats come about? Who or what caused the PNC to lose 19 seats? We can argue forever about that 12-seat fact.
I find that putrid thoughts have gone into the panegyrics of SN from the letter writers that appear daily since last Friday’s announcement of SN’s impending closure. I am replying to some of these barefaced denials of facts in today’s Chronicle (Wednesday), but in days and weeks to come, there will be dozens of eulogies, but not even a half-baked interpretation of the facts surrounding the life of SN will be recognized and given an interpretation. How can humans be so stupid, ignorant, and incredibly barefaced?
Let’s zero in on Janet Bulkan again. She wrote that SN’s editorials are erudite and reasoned. Nothing could be further from the factual situation. Ms. Bulkan lives outside of Guyana. I live in Guyana. There were dozens of times I heard people, who do not like the government, complaining that the opposition PNC is useless and that the Stabroek News is the real opposition to the PPP government.
The fact is, and this particular fact can be searched for and found (because facts have permanent lives) that since August 2020, there has not been one editorial, right up to February 17 (today), that carried a positive comment on the President, any of his ministers, and the collective government. Is that a fact? Well, that fact can be found by examining those editorials, some of which were downright racist.
Next is Mr. Andre Haynes. In praise of SN, he noted that past and present governments have branded SN as anti-government, but he deliberately left out that since 2020, there was another branding—pro-opposition. Substantial numbers in this country believe SN is insanely hostile to the government and insanely favourable to the entire gamut of anti-government forces.
Haynes also wrote that in Guyanese society people are quick to dub others who question the motives of the government as anti-government. But SN and Anand Persaud have that same mentality; only it works in the opposite direction—those who write in favour of the government are deemed by SN as PPP lapdogs, soup drinkers, and working for their supper.
Next is former Guyanese journalist Dhanraj Bhagwandin, who has lived, like Janet Bulkan, for over 30 years outside. Mr. Bhagwandin claims that the critics of SN lack substance. Here again we see the blatant denial of facts. SN has never featured any story on its foreign news page or local pages on Israel’s genocide in Gaza.
SN has refused to carry any letter critical of imperialism by one of Guyana’s most experienced political activists and Pan-African activist, Gerald Perreia. Mr. Perreira said he got so fed up, he just gave up. SN told presidential adviser, Professor Randy Persaud, they will not carry his letters. More eulogies of SN are on their way, so more replies from me will follow.
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.