Buxton spite Speaking about Napoleon and to his nephew Louis who succeeded him, Marx noted that history repeats itself, “the first as tragedy, then as farce.” We’re seeing the truism playing out right before our eyes in the pathetic caricature of Rodney in the form of David Hinds calling for the present democratically elected government to be removed ‘by any means necessary’ by Christmas. Rodney in 1979 had been battling the PNC and used the phrase to spark an uprising against a PNC regime that had rigged elections to stay…
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Peter to pay for Paul?
Rebuilding Linden In the (most likely temporary) lull in the Linden protests and arson-frenzy, maybe we can look ahead. Not too far ahead, mind you – just a step ahead. Who’s going to pay for replacing all the damage wrought by the protestors and their cohorts? We’re not going to dwell too long; all the hundreds of millions already expended (and counting…) toward keeping a lid on the lawlessness that’s now totally out of control. You, the taxpayers, are already footing that bill. But don’t be surprised when the minister…
Read MoreThe tunnel darkens
Extremists in control Back in the days of the Vietnam War, as the U.S. descended deeper and deeper into the morass of what started as an “advisory mission” to the South Vietnamese army, the question on everyone’s lips became, “Is there any light at the end of the tunnel?” Meaning whether there was any progress towards an endgame. Eventually, there was a light. But as one wag pointed out, it was not the sun shining at the other end but a train coming in the opposite direction – smashing the…
Read MoreThe lawlessness rises
And the lawlessness spreads. Three men were arrested by police for waylaying travellers on the Rockstone Road. From their modus operandi of digging a ditch across the road forcing the motorists to slow down so that they could pounce on them, it’s obvious that these robbers are graduates from the Linden protests. Such acts have become common in the more direct environs of Linden. It started as shakedowns to ‘feed the protesters’ and inevitably it grew into the present rampant banditry, most of which is not being reported, because the…
Read MoreHang the scapegoat
There are twits and there are twits. This fella Mike Persaud has to be a major player in the kingdom of Twitland. Every now and then he feels compelled to inflict his vapid opinions on Guyanese – from his haven somewhere in New York. Maybe it’s the heat in summer and the cold in winter, but could he, maybe, get a life? Anyhow, he decided that the Guyanese just had to know his opinion on the Linden shootings in general and on Minister Rohee’s responsibilities in particular. First off the…
Read MorePartisan take
PNC apologetics We know that Lurlene Nestor is fighting desperately to get back into the good graces of some godfather in the PNC, for a possible return to parliament. That in itself is a sad indictment of a party that was built by its strong cadre of women starting with Winifred Gaskin and Jane Phillips-Gay. Be as it may, Nestor fired off her latest missive in which she tried valiantly to straddle two horses named PNC and APNU. The caption says it all: ‘The PNCR remains the most progressive political…
Read MoreHolding Guyana hostage
Linden warlord? Sharma Solomon, the chairman of Region 10, is outraged that President Ramotar didn’t personally get in touch with him to inform him (Solomon) that he (the president) would be coming to Linden to hear their complaints. Kissoon from the Muckraker tells us that it wasn’t just Solomon who was bent out of shape – but some 15,000 Lindeners gathered for a ‘meeting’. OK, we know that Kissoon can’t count, but you get the idea? No, you don’t. This is not an issue about courtesy – it’s all about…
Read MoreEncouraging anarchy
Looting The lootings have begun in Linden, following the protests and the unfortunate shootings. The electronic goodies in the Digicel Store have all been pilfered. We will cease to pronounce on the shootings themselves until the commission of inquiry, about to be set up, are announced. But we all knew there are elements that were just waiting for the protests to ‘do their thing’ – and ‘their thing’ is never the thing of the public. It all has to do with exploiting the situation for their own narrow and selfish…
Read MoreSmelling blood
Hounding Rohee Clement Rohee has been a thorn in the side of the opposition from day one in the post-1992 PPP administration. As far back as Hoyte, they started to go after him-viciously and persistently. Hoyte chose the ad hominem route. In a series of cheap shots, he questioned the ‘educational’ qualifications of Rohee. For a man who served donkey years under Burnham, who was most proud of his ‘education’, Hoyte should have been the last man to go down this road. Rohee was educated in the street of hard…
Read MoreGetting Serious
It was reported that the government will be placing the issues of the abolition of the death penalty; ditto for corporal punishment and the decriminalisation of adult same sex activities to the National Assembly before our parliamentarians take off on their two-month holiday-August 10 to October 10. And you thought only schoolchildren go off on “summer” recess. Anyhow that’s some heavy stuff that’s being laid before them: those issues raise some intense emotions in our people. But we don’t expect a much calmer consideration of the issues by our opposition…
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