I WAS asked a long time ago, why I do not follow the pattern of a majority of columnists in most newspapers and put my email address at the end of the article. I have published my email and numbers dozens of times. Answering readers’ questions can take up too much time.
What I have done over the years is to do the selection process. It has been a long time since I have been in the newspapers business, so I get a fair share of emails and phonecalls regularly. I had agreed to publish some questions because I believe the answers to those queries are important in the compilation of Guyana’s political history. And I have done columns of those inquiries but not as often as I would like.
There are three questions I will do columns on shortly because they are important to pursue, and, as a public intellectual, I have an obligation to people who read me and have appreciated my thoughts over the 38 years I have been in the newspapers of this country. One of those questions arose out of my analysis of class changes that came after the opening up of the political economy of Guyana from 1986 onwards.
I mentioned the emergence of a brand-new class that came under President Desmond Hoyte: The nouveau riche class. A reader wants to know about this stratum. I will do a neo-Marxist commentary on this class. A second query was based on my article last week on the unprecedented anti-government political hate I never saw before in this country that is connected to the success of the oil industry. A reader wants a full explanation of this. Then someone I know very well asked me to explain why the Guyana Government had a full presence at the funeral service for Robert Corbin and not Rupert Roopnaraine.
Please look out for three columns on those subjects but a caveat is in order – I may never get to all three because this is Guyana and things emerge at such a rapid rate that what you wanted to write about gets lost because so many things attract your attention. For example, I will do a column tomorrow (Tuesday) on the self-destructive attitude of the opposition parties other than WIN in supporting the things Azruddin Mohamed does.
Out of obligation, I am responding to short and uncomplicated questions from my readers over the last few months which I never thought of answering because of time and availability of mental energy. But on reflection, I think I should, because, after all, they are my readers. I cannot pursue all, so I have selected a few.
One person wants to know if I admire Eusi Kwayana. To say I admire Kwayana is putting it mildly. I have a very deep respect and extensive admiration for this Guyanese giant. I did not like his attitude to the 2020 General Election, but my morality will go out the window if I hold that against him and deny him his phenomenal contribution to Guyana. This country may not have been as great as it is today, and I would not have been a man compelled to look in the direction of Don Quixote if it wasn’t for Eusi Kwayana.
I never thought of answering this second question to follow because I did an entire series on Rupert Roopnaraine which contained my perspectives on his politics. But a reader from the diaspora that I knew from Guyana wants to know if I was not too harsh on Roopnaraine in that series. My answer is that my analysis on Roopnaraine after his death is based on my first-hand knowledge of the politics of Roopnaraine since he returned to Guyana in 1976. I do not owe anyone a favour when I write my columns as a trained academic.
An academic has an obligation to history and his/her country. When we write, we are leaving things that future generations will need to have to understand their country’s past and past personalities and politicians.
My answer is no. I was not too harsh on Roopnaraine. In fact, because of space, many other dimensions of Roopnaraine’s politics were left out, and I hope to fill those gaps when I deal with the Corbin funeral service. My condolence goes out to Dr. Roopnaraine’s family on his passing earlier this year. I wish he was still with us, because he was one of the more erudite citizens this country has produced. But, as a trained academic, I have a duty to write to add to the bank of knowledge of my country. I see that as one of my missions in my existentialist life on earth.
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.
