THOSE of us from the 1970s are at an advanced age; some have disappeared from society’s eyes, and some are no longer with this world. But those memories that all of us share will never die and will stay with us until we too depart.
Last Saturday, in the space of 40 minutes, I ran into three persons I have an ocean of political memories of, as we were part of the anti-Burnham dictatorship. The young people of Guyana hardly know anything about the nature of the man, Forbes Burnham, and his politics.
I see a young lawyer by the name of Darren Wade that has the image of Forbes Burnham on his Facebook page. I doubt Darren knows even 2 percent of the contents of the 20-year-old rule of Burnham. People like Wade and attorney Ronald Daniels are heavy into criticising the PPP government since it came to power in 2020.
It is like comparing a village cricketer with Brian Lara when you juxtapose any government in Guyana since Burnham died with the totalitarian model of Burnham. Darren and Daniels haven’t a clue how narcissistic, autocratic, and narrow-minded Forbes Burnham was. I seriously believe they don’t have a clue.
Burnham’s iron grip on Guyana for those years is not written about at all, so the very young population of Guyana is not informed about his government. One of the things Vincent Alexander said that caused me to lose respect for him is when he penned a letter in the newspaper saying that National Service at UG was not compulsory.
National Service was made compulsory for UG students in 1976. I refused to serve, and so did the famous Red Thread personality, Vanda Radzik, and we had to leave. I was totally disappointed that Radzik did not see it fit to correct Alexander, nor did any of the UG students from my time. I wonder if Darren and Daniels know about what Burnham did to his Finance Minister, Peter D’Aguiar.
Under the then constitution, Burnham had to consult D’Aguiar to implement a particular policy. Burnham called up D’Aguiar. During the discussion, D’Aguiar refused to agree. Burnham then said, “alright I did consult you and implemented the policy. Do you think Presidents Cheddi Jagan, Janet Jagan, Donald Ramotar, and Bharrat Jagdeo could have done that? The PNC would have tried to burn down Guyana.
Those memories of the Burnham dictatorship have molded many of us who lived through that age. I was entering Bakewell to buy doughnuts when coming out was Dr. Bheri Ramsaran. In those times, if you cut Bheri, the blood that would have flowed would have had the PPP name on it.
He was one of the most die-hard PPP activists I have ever met. He suggested that those of us from the anti-dictatorship days should have a nice gathering. He said he will arrange it.
I left Bakewell and went to Giftland to buy black pudding (David Hinds is soon to appear on the Freddie Kissoon Show; I hope we can have black pudding as we did when he was last on the show). I was coming down the escalator with the black pudding in my hand when I saw Maurice Odle walking past on the ground floor.
I yelled out to him, and he stopped, and we chatted. Maurice was always a background voice in the WPA on the UG campus in the 1970s.
But he was as staunch a WPA man as any other. I have not seen Maurice in ages and was glad to talk to him. Then he told me something that made me sad- Clive Thomas is seriously ill. I wish Clive the quickest recovery.
I left Giltland and went to Massy Supermarket. I bumped into Minister Gail Texieira. Our conversation was strictly in a reminiscent tone. I told her that as an analyst, there is one enduring quality she had and that I remarked on it in my review of Janet Jagan’s biography.
I told her, she was one of the few Portuguese that did not lose her way into the world of the Mulatto/Creole and that in our long years in the anti-dictatorship struggle, I found her socialisation process to be saturated within the world of the Guyanese working class.
You had to know Gail in those days to see how committed she was to the working people. Before we parted, she told me a story about her teenage days. She said in Subryanaville, in a Portuguese social gathering, she was asked where she was from. She said she was from Bent Street, Werk-en-Rust, in South Georgetown. That was the last invitation she got.

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.