MANY unpatriotic attitudes and narrow minds are on display at the moment using the MV Barima tragedy either to stay relevant, either to get some publicity they always crave, either in their insane habits relish the opportunity to lash out at the government but I have to pass commentaries on these unholy intrusions because an iconic Guyanese has just died.
I don’t want to delay my eulogy of Ian McDonald. Intruding events will cause me to postpone it then by the time it is published, it is dated. So, I want to pen a few notes on Mr. McDonald. I have been in social activism for around a long time, mostly in the political field but despite these never-ending years, I never got to know Mr. McDonald.
One reason explains this – in his entire life, he eschewed even an ephemeral glance at Guyana’s politics. Because of my eternal presence in politics, I have interfaced with or knew a little bit about all the major political players in Guyana, but he avoided political discourse; I did get to know Ian Mc Donald.
My first contact with him was an email I sent him about the creeping degradation of the Stabroek News (SN) under its politicised editor, Mr. Anand Persaud. I wrote to him because I know he was one of the most decent Guyanese this land has known and as someone closely associated with the SN since its formation, he would tell me what I believe he would because of his decent mind.
I wrote to him for his opinion on the decision by Mr. Persaud that he cannot carry the letters of presidential adviser, Dr Randy Persaud because Dr Persaud’s submissions attack civil society. Mr. Mc Donald replied and advised that his response was personal. I cannot disclose it out of respect for him even in death. But his essential point was that he disagreed with that decision.
After learning about his advanced age, I told myself I do not think that I would be ever mentally comfortable concluding the Freddie Kissoon Show and not feature one of the most iconic Guyanese and one of the most decent citizens this nation produced. So, I called him and to my surprise he agreed. At the last few minutes of the interview, we brought his wife on camera as she was in the studio. Tonight (Monday) on the Freddie Kissoon Show, we repeat that interview.
The one cherished moment I have of Mr. Mc Donald did not emerge out of any conversation or interfacing moment. I read where he finally took time from his impeccable literary, non-political life and denounced the five months of election rigging in 2020 in his weekly, literary column in SN.
This was a defining moment in Guyanese politics and because of class crudities displayed during those five months Ian Mc Donald became someone who became close to my heart. To comprehend the seminal importance of Mc Donald’s disclosure one has to understand class structure and cultural anthropology of this nation.
My psyche was lacerated when I saw the final unfolding of the class mentality and cultural bias of the Mulatto/Creole class (MCC) during the five months of assault on the election of 2020. A majority of these people I knew and trusted their abiding faith in free and fair election because they were involved with me in the long, dangerous, painful struggle for Guyana to get free and fair elections.
I am not the best analyst (far from it) but my analytical mind told me why the MCC behaved like that in 2020. The question was not Anil Nandlall or Irfaan Ali or Vindya Persaud coming back to power. It was never about any individual Indian PPP leader. It was about what they saw as the non-Creole section of Guyana coming back to run Guyana which they thought had gone forever from Guyana after 2015.
In other words, it was about non-Christian, non Creolese Indians once more having power that they were not supposed to have after the colonials left. The MCC finally showed their true colours (no pun intended). The revelation that came to me in March 2020 was these political comrades of mine from the seventies hid their minds and intentions from me for so long. I was mentally shattered.
In the midst of this disturbing display of class entitlement, Ian McDonald did not think of what class be belonged to. His decent mind told him that his country should allow its citizens to vote and for that vote to be counted. For an MCC personality, all his life, Ian McDonald put country above class on March 2020 and for that he has taken his rightful place in Guyanese history.
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.
