I WILL be a student of philosophy until I die. I like the subject. I think it is the best form of knowledge a human can ever delve into. It is a formidable journey in comprehension that makes you feel it cannot be understood. But once you persist, you come to know more about life, nature and humans that no other source of knowledge can give you.
I have liked philosophy since I worked at 17 years at the Michael Forde Bookstore at the bottom of Freedom House, the head office of the PPP. Based on my studies of philosophy, I cannot reconcile myself with the rule of Forbes Burnham. I believe, as a critic of power, it will remain impossible for me to have any holistic appreciation of the power output of Burnham. Then one has to add the personal angle. I would not have disliked Burnham as intensely as I do if Burnham had not victimised my wife because of me. He should have left my wife out of the equation.
Having said all of that, there are nuances in the personality of Burnham that I had an appreciation for and always will. These motifs, I do not think, subtract from Burnham’s power intoxication. These dimensions are naming things after gigantic humans that will remain permanent, Muslim and Hindu holidays and Burnham’s contribution to the African liberation struggle, Maurice Bishop’s Grenadian Government and the government of the Sandinistas in Nicaragua.
For the purpose of this commentary here, I will concentrate only on the naming achievements of Burnham. Three stand out: Quamina Street, Mandela Avenue and Clive Lloyd Drive. I have not included Lance Gibb Street because I have not done the research to know if that was a Burnham thing.
Burnham must be given thanks for these accomplishments because they have an anti-colonial touch and a culturally redemptive value. There are similar lines to be pursued in this country. I grew up never recognising that the CARICOM family is a group of distinct countries. I belong to the Caribbean. I am a Caribbean man, and I would not have it any other way. The Caribbean is one of the most philosophically blessed pieces of global earth. Gary Sobers and Bob Marley belong to the Caribbean, not Jamaica and Barbados exclusively.
This present generation in Guyana would not know how to contextualise Gary Sobers in the creation of One Caribbean. You have to live in the era of Sobers’ achievements to understand what he is to the Caribbean. It is the same with Bob Marley. In the history of global music, Marley is for me the most pronounced composer of philosophical lyrics. He was from One Caribbean.
Marley is gone, Sobers is gone, but Rohan Kanhai is still alive. He is 90 years of age. It falls on the shoulders of President Ali to give the present generation and the one to come the understanding of what the Caribbean has given the world. I never liked VS. Naipaul for obvious reasons –my philosophical training would instruct me to see Naipaul as a copy-cat Anglo-Saxon whose self-hate made him disparage the Caribbean.
But Naipaul was extremely limited in running down the Caribbean as a non-achieving place. If Naipaul was more politically conscious, he would have seen that Western domination hardly achieved anything for mankind. I would like to see President Ali make some symbolic gesture to One Caribbean and name something in Guyana after Sobers, Marley and Kanhai.
I am mature enough to judge the psychological angles of another human that I interact with. I see in Irfaan Ali, a sincere commitment to expand the horizon of the lives of Guyanese people. I think those who dislike Ali do so because of their political agenda. This is not just logical but absolutely logical. They are Ali’s competitors. They want to win power. But knowing the inner substance of Ali, is something Ali’s detractors should attempt to. They will see a different leader.
If there is any Caribbean leader who has the potential to pursue that symbolism of One Caribbean, it is the current president of Guyana, Mohamed Irfaan Ali. I don’t know if Dr. Ali will be at Sobers’ funeral, but I will appeal to him to make Sobers a part of the Guyana landscape just as he should with Marley.
When Sobers died on Friday, believe me, immediately I thought of Rohan Kanhai. Both men played together in dozens of test matches where they proved Naipaul was wrong. Kanhai and Sobers gave glory to the Caribbean and the Caribbean should reciprocate. In Guyana, I would ask President Ali to start the reciprocation process. Let there be parts of Guyana that will forever bear the names of Gary Sobers, Bob Marley and Rohan Kanhai.

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.