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Set like a gem in the crown of South America, nestled on the North-Eastern shoulder, defying the raging Atlantic Ocean, Guyana's many waterways reflect the source of it's name "The Land of Many Waters"

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More on others t'ings lay-der.

Guyana-Gyal's Blog

The Cure!

Hear this one now.

One night, my mother talking to L., one oâ my friends brothers, on the phone.

They gyaffing, gyaffing.

I hear she talking plenty about arthritis and cod liver oil with Omega 3.

Suddenly my mother says in this amused, exasperated tone:

"Man L., look! Haul you ears! Who tell you that?â

So I bat me ears.

She say:

âLâ¦you ever hear âbout a thing name osmosis?â

[Later she tell me that he ask:

âWhat name so?â]

She explain...was one lecture about osmosis she give L, about the body absorbing harmful chemicals.

After she hang up, I ask she what happened.

She laugh.

âThe other day L. meet a lady who have arthritis. He tell the lady to drink cod liver oil. He tell she that it very good for arthritis, that his sister friend mother does use it, and it really help.

But the lady tell L. no, she have something better than cold liver oil with Omega 3!

She does spray CRC on the arthritis foot.â

I laugh so til I nearly...!

âCRC? CRC? That is like WD 40. People does put it on metal to get rid of rust.â

âExactly,â my mother say.

âBut after the lady tell L. how she does use it, and she tell he how it help she, he decide he got to convince me to spray CRC on me arthritis. That is when I tell he to haul he ears.â

But you think L. stop?

Nah. He ain't stop there at all.

He continue telling my mother [and let me tell you, L. does talk s-l-o-w slowwwww] how plenty people tell he âbout the CRC.

"That thing does really work for true, mums, it does work. Is everywhere I go people tellinâ me about it.â

âSo L., tell me, you would use it?â

Whenever L. donât want to say ânoâ he does say:

âWellâ¦yâknowâ¦â

He tell my mother:

âWell mums, y'know...â

Guyana-Gyal's Blog

Jook

Well!

It had to happen one day.

One of our words...actuallyâ¦itâs quite West Indianâ¦is âofficialâ.

Jook.

To poke, to jab, to stab.

It jook its way into the English dictionary. I think the English Oxford Dictionary. Thatâs the rumour. If anyone finds it, lemme know.

[Jook is what Comebackee did to her niece at a family gathering. She jook she, and jook she in she ribs with a long, bony finger. âYou, you,â she said angrily, and emphasised each âyouâ with a not quite pleasant jook.]

[Comebackee, incidentally, is a fictitious character in the making. If you do have one such person in your lifeâ¦thenâ¦

â¦poor you!]

There is also the unofficial âchookââ¦a gentle jook.

[Down Under a âchookâ is an old fowl, an old gal. Iâm not sure at what age a gal moves from being a chick to a chook.]

Well, jook has been on the scene for a long time, and itâs a good word. But even in olâ Guyana weâve been busy cooking up new words for new things. Language, you see, never freezesâ¦unless itâs Latin.

Remember the good olâ fireside mud stove? Then we got hot about the kero stove, then the gas stove? One or two folks here even burn their pepperpot on an electric stove.

Well, hehâ¦most people now, no matter how them poor, them have, along with the stove, them have the new one.

The michaelwave!

They will saveâ¦

and saveâ¦

and saveâ¦and buy on credit, the michaelwave.

To âhot upâ food!

Some innovative people have found another use for the michaelwave.

It can make the sada roti swell.

But anyway, a lot of folks who want more than just a michaelwave in their life will do anything to backtrack.

Donât even bother to think this means to go back, to reverse, to back up.

To backtrack means to go forward.

To move ahead in life.

To leave Guyana and live in the USA, Canada, England, to any big country. illegally.

Conversations can go like this:

âHow auntie Merle?â

âYou no know? She gone away, she living in âmerica.â

âWhen she go?â

âLonnnng time now.â

âShe son send for she?â

âYyyes, he help sheâ¦she backtrack.â

[Some folks will legally get a visa, go on vacation abroad and stay and hide. That is not backtracking.]

Backtracking has a system of its own. If you ask around, âhow do you backtrack?â most folks will say, âMe no know, me no really know.â Then they say they think you must find a man who will get you a passport. The passport must have a photo of someone who looks like you. To get this passport you must sell your cows, your house, your mother.

The man will train you, grill you. When you land in the country of your choice you will know what to tell the immigration people.

[How the man obtains these passports is beyond my imagination. Many, Iâve heard, are stolen. Or folks with legit passports and permanent visas rent theirs.]

After you backtrack to the country of your choice, you spend your entire life working to buy back your cows, your house and your mother.

Then you have those folks who went abroad very legally.

Over the years they get homesick. They dream of retiring here. They save forever. Then they come back.

They are the comebackees.

Ay yai yai.

A mosquito just bite me foot bottom. You ever notice if you have a mosquito bite on your foot bottom, and if it swell up and get hard and red, and if you jook it, not just scratch itâ¦jook itâ¦how it does feel niiiiiice?

Aiyyyy.

More Jook

Aunt in the USA wrote:

"Well Missy, I ain't know where you did living.

I have a Collins English dictionary (1983 ed.) that have that same, same word 'jook'.

It on page 789.

'jook' or 'chook' Caribbean informal 1. -vb. to poke or puncture the skin 2. n. a jab or the resulting wound. Who say we ain't in the dictionary? We even on the internet all over."

Thank you, aunt. I will google it lay-der to checkid oud. [See? I speak American too.]

Please visit:Guyana-Gyal's Blog

Martin Carter

Please visit:Martin Carter Blog

Martin Carter's earliest poetry was shaped by the turbulent days of anti-colonial radicalism and protest in Guyana (British Guiana) during the 1950s. During the thirty years since then, especially since the publication of his hallmark Poems of Resistance ( 1954), his has been the voice of radicalism in Anglophone Caribbean poetry. This preeminence as the poet of revolution has generally tended to be emphasized by the fact that revolutionary rhetoric in general, and revolutionary literature in particular, has been a rarity in the English-language Caribbean (with all due respect to the ethnic intensities that have become de rigueur in the literature during the last twenty years). Indeed, this very uniqueness probably accounts for the fact that Martin Carter's preeminence as the poet of revolution has not been seriously eroded by the muting of his revolutionary voice over the twenty years since Guyanese independence.

This silence, or near silence, may be linked to the profound disillusionment which has engulfed so much of the Third World intelligentsia, including that of the Caribbean, since the achievement of (nominal) independence. In Guyana that disillusionment has been especially intense in the wake of racial violence between Blacks and East Indians, political stagnation and repression, and the economic as well as social malaise which has undermined the experiment in cooperative republicanism. In this period the Guyanese government has been accused of seizing and maintaining its power by means of a fraudulent electoral system gerrymandered in cooperation with the British and the Americans; and more recently, the government has been accused of complicity in the violent death of one of its most vocal and popular critics, historian/activist Walter Rodney (1980). Against such a background Carter's relative silence as revolutionary poet may be interpreted either as prudence or complete disillusionment--or both. But that silence is relative: Carter's days of overt revolutionism and rebellion may be past, as have been the days of active political involvement and direct participation in government; but he has continued to write and publish his poetry-poetry which sometimes manages to convey a special intensity of feeling and purpose by the very manner in which it studiously avoids a certain directness of statement. The voice itself may have been muted, but the fiery sense of engagement which has made that voice all but unique in Anglophone Caribbean poetry still burns.

BIOGRAPHY

Carter was born in 1927 and received his secondary school education at Queen's College. During his early twenties he joined the turbulent political movement for national independence, quickly becoming a leading spokesman for the more radical forces of the movement. This prominence inevitably led to his arrest and imprisonment by the British colonial administration in 1953. At the time of his detention Carter had already launched his career as a poet, having contributed works to A. J. Seymour literary magazine, Kyk-over-al, and to Seymour "Miniature Poet" series of poetry pamphlets ( Hill of Fire Glows Red). But it was during his imprisonment that he composed his most important collection, Poems of Resistance, which was eventually published in London, in 1954.

After his release from prison Carter remained active in the independence movement and in 1965 was a member of the colony's delegation to the Guyana Constitutional Conference in London, the final hurdle before the formal achievement of nationhood. Thereafter he served for two years ( 1966-67) as a member of Guyana's delegation to the United Nations. He has also served in the Guyanese government at home, most notably as minister of information and culture, finally leaving the government in 1971. Throughout this entire period he has maintained the dual roles of poet and activist, an appropriate choice in one whose most important writings have passionately advocated involvement and commitment. Consequently the years of political activity and government service also saw the appearance of the first half of his published output, followed by works ranging from the last of his outspoken collections, Poems of Shape and Motion ( 1955), to the cryptic reticence of Poems of Affinity: 1978-1980 ( 1980).

MAJOR WORKS AND THEMES

From as early as his first significant publications Martin Carter's distinctive voice of protest and rebellion is unmistakably clear. Unlike so many early collections, especially in the Caribbean, The Hill of Fire Glows Red avoids the neoRomantic idealization of landscape. Instead of the familiar pastoral clichÃ©s, the young Carter's landscape vibrates with historical memories, which, in turn, inspire an urgent demand for change. In "Listening to the Land" the poet hears a "tongueless whispering," the possible voice of a buried slave who embodies the past. The response to the landscape is activist rather than escapist, and when the young poet dreams, his are dreams of social change ( "Looking at Your Hands"). In earlier works like these it is fairly easy to grasp the dominant features of Carter's poetic personality. It is a personality in which the imagination of activist and artist is indivisible, and in some respects these poems are about the imagination and its transforming powers--it transforms the land itself into an insistent voice of history and, simultaneously, responds to the voices of history by envisioning change, including revolutionary change, as the desirable and inevitable consequences of that history. And, finally, the poet's own persona as the embodiment of the transforming imagination incarnates the vision of change. Accordingly, the revolutionary idealist envisions change as a creative process which produces vital forms (social and political structures) out of the chaos of colonial inequities, in much the same way that the poetic imagination creates living forms in art ( "The Kind Eagle").

In a sense the poems of The Kind Eagle ( 1952) suggest an interesting paradox: chaos and repression are reprehensible on the one hand; but on the other hand, they emerge as indispensable factors. In political terms the liabilities of history have inspired the kind of intellectual and political ferment which fuel an (apparently) inevitable process of fundamental change. Prison, both as literal experience and as colonial symbol, therefore inspires a fierce ecstacy in the title poem of the collection: "I Dance on the Wall of Prison!" ( Poems of Succession, 1977, p. 19; hereafter cited as POS). And by a similar token, the poetic imagination thrives on political adversity and on the reminders of historical injustices: it carves monuments out of the poet's "time," from the "jagged block of convict years" ( POS, p. 19). Moreover, the consistent integration of imagination and historical memory imparts a powerfully suggestive sense of inevitability to Carter's ethics of change. The envisioned changes, even if unrealized, are as much a part of a distinctive historical pattern, as is the past which made the present itself inevitable. And this pervasive sense of inevitability inspires recurrent images and themes of movement to the poems of The Kind Eagle--movement as history, history as change, change as the collective, irresistible pilgrimage undertaken by a special breed of visionaries: the universe of history moves, "revolves / like a circling star," and "Only men of fire will survive" ( "The Discovery of Companion," POS, p. 24).

Altogether, these early collections reflect a tightly knit dialectic, with its closely integrated poetic forms, which are to define a good part of Carter's poetry for much of the next fifteen years. The ethos of change is both political ideal and the creative principle of imagination. The patterns of history are mirrored in the imaginative patterns of the poet's art, and since both patterns have been shaped by the same social forces, then the poetic imagination must, perforce, be politically involved. Or in the words of the poet himself, "Like a web / is spun the pattern / all are involved" ( Poems of Resistance, p. 18).

That assertion is the climactic statement of "You Are Involved," a work which is one of the most typical, in tone and feeling, of the celebrated collection, Poems of Resistance. This is the collection in which the twenty-seven-year-old Carter fuses the characteristic themes and forms of the preceding works into the compact designs of his best, and most famous works--"Till I Collect,""Cartman of Dayclean,""I Come from the Nigger Yard," and "University of Hunger." It is characteristic of Carter's writings at this stage of his development that these successful poems owe much to the turbulent times and frankly repressive circumstances in which they were written. They were composed, for the most part, while he was in political detention--in "the dark time," in "the season of oppression," the "carnival of misery" ( This Is the Dark Time My Love, POS, p. 42). While it is less celebrated than its companion pieces, few poems in the collection surpass "I Clench My Fist" in this regard. The very intensity of feeling and statement owes its very essence to the forces of repression and exploitation against which the poet rebels. British colonialism represents social chaos in the immediate, Guyanese context, and in the broader, global context, the fragmentation of humanity between the oppressor and the powerless, the haves and the have-nots. The confrontation between colonizer and colonial rebel is therefore an allegory of a divided universe, the microcosm of historical patterns of chaos and conflict. Conversely, the poet's reaction, as artist-activist,to this chaos amounts to a harmonizing, creative power, the transforming power of the imagination. The defiant act of clenching the fist in the face of British weapons and political power suggests a compact wholeness as well as creative energy which contrasts with the prevailing chaos, and it is synonymous with the harmonizing patterns of poetic art itself ( "I sing my song of FREEDOM!" [ "I Clench My Fist," Poems of Resistance, p. 41]). Finally, the thematic progression within the poem itself, from images of fragmentation and conflict to the vision of a powerful, harmonizing energy, is in itself a structural or formal emphasis on that sense of movement--historical progression or inevitability--which is always so integral to Carter's revolutionist vision.

On the whole, works like "I Clench My Fist" exemplify Carter's protest poetry at its best. The underlying dialectic is compact, limpid, and consistent. The dialectic statement is tightly controlled through a disciplined, highly economic use of language and sense of form; and as a result, the poetic form itself becomes the imaginative microcosm of that moral wholeness and social unity which the poetry envisions. Given this tightly integrated schema, it becomes clear that "poems of resistance" are not simply poems about political resistance: they are acts of resistance. This implies an aesthetic that has been rather rare in the generally conservative context of Anglophone Caribbean literature. It was not to be aired in any significant sense, in any Caribbean language area, until the successful Cuban revolution began to define its own revolutionary aestheticsduring the 1960s: the only valid revolutionary art is that which is committed to, and a part of, the revolution; writing about the revolution is not enough, the writer must be an active participant in the revolution. Or to phrase this ideal in Carter's poetic language, the poet must not simply write about resistance, he himself and his poetry must be directly involved in resistance.

However, notwithstanding this kind of analogy, and notwithstanding the power of Carter's own rhetoric of change, it is important to recognize the substantial limitations of his revolutionism. These limitations are both external and internal. Externally, Carter has lived and written in a political and social context in which the idea of change has always been sharply delineated in nonrevolutionist terms. The rhetoric of rebellion or "revolution" in the English-language Caribbean of the 1950s and 1960s seldom encompassed fundamental (i.e., genuinely revolutionary) changes in the social fabric. "Resistance" as such was conceived and fashioned in relation to the British colonial order and its associated bureaucracy. In other words, resistance was the movement of a bourgeois nationalism, which would replace the colonial overlord with nationalist leaders and political structures, which would leave the social and economic order relatively unchanged. Neither has radical revolutionism demonstrated significant grass-roots appeal in the English Caribbean--a fact which needs to be borne in mind when one is tempted to blame the failures of the Guyanese promise on the demonstrable and alleged sins of the Forbes Burnham regime. The electoral rejection of "democratic socialism" in Jamaica during the early 1980s is another example of this limitation, especially when one remembers the definite, built-in limitations of Michael Manley's democratic socialism as a revolutionist principle. And in retrospect, the recent collapse of the New Jewel Movement in Grenada, even before the inevitable U.S. intervention, suggests that beyond the personal popularity of Maurice Bishop the New Jewel Movement, as revolutionary ideology, was less deeply rooted than its most ardent supporters seemed to have imagined.

It is necessary to emphasize this historical and social context because these are the broader circumstances which go beyond Guyana's immediate boundaries and which explain, in part, the long-term sense of futility that now envelops Carter's revolutionist poetry, especially in retrospect. The limited impact and relevance of his revolutionary themes reflect the limited capacities of his society for the idea of fundamental change. This, in turn, leads to the internal limits of Carter's revolutionism itself. Poems like "University of Hunger," "Cartman of Dayclean," and "I Come from the Nigger Yard" reverberate with the passions, even violent potential, of the dispossessed. But there is really no substantial evidence, even in these works, of a revolutionary vision that goes beyond the immediate anti-colonial nationalism of "I Clench My Fist." The ferocity with which the poet assaults an entrenched (colonial) status quo undoubtedly continues to exert a powerful appeal to present readers who dream of "resistance" to the neocolonial establishment which succeeded the British colonizers. But this ought not to obscure the clearly limited implications of Carter's original vision.

While the scope of the revolutionary vision is circumscribed, so is the poet's realism. The poet's passionate commitment to change of sorts is not really counterbalanced by a realistic awareness of the substantial barriers to significant change. In these earlier poems of "resistance," from the first collection to Poems of Shape and Motion ( 1955), technical polish and thematic coherence go hand in hand with what, on the whole, is a relatively limited emotional range or appeal--limited, that is, by an absence of complex self-awareness vis-a-vis the limits of his own vision and of his society's capacity for change. It is not surprising that, when those social limitations were made painfully manifest in subsequent years, Carter's poetry seems to have retreated into a state of shock from which it has never really recovered.

On the whole, the assessment of Carter's overtly "revolutionary" or "committed" poems leads to a historically significant, albeit unintended, irony: his real achievement as a poet of resistance is, in the final analysis, an exclusively aesthetic one, rather than the effective political-aesthetic synthesis that is envisaged and structurally symbolized by his poetry. That is, we can always admire the consistent coherence of thematic statement, the telling integration of formal structure and theme, the striking tension between intense feeling and the spare, tightly disciplined language; and throughout all of this we can admire the skill with which the poet weaves his complex patterns of imagistic and structural variations on the fundamental theme of change-as-creation. But that theme is often less profound or far-reaching than it may sometimes sound.

The poems since Guyana's independence are, collectively, an implicit admission of the earlier limitations. A somber silence broods over the post-independence poems first published in Poems of Succession. Silence as speechlessness and paralysis is the dominant motif here, in contrast to the defiant energies and perpetual movement in the earlier works. Here silence and inactivity suggest that history moves, not toward inevitable change and creation, but in repetitive, predictable cycles. Indeed, this kind of silence is the main topic of poems like "A Mouth Is Always Muzzled," "Even As the Ants Are," "In the When Time," and "Fragment of Memory." These works also demonstrate that despite the changes in mood and historical circumstances, the older Carter still commands the talents for striking, arresting poetry. The brooding silence of these poems is not the silence of a lost idealism, or of a crippled imagination. Far from it, he manages to develop his themes of silence and futility through "confessional" modes of private experience, or even through abstract statements, communicating a powerful sense of repression and stasis in his society while avoiding explicit political protest. Both the explicit theme of silence and the suggestive absence of overt protest in themselves become rhetorical symptoms of his real, but implied, subject. As in his earlier works, the better poems in this later collection demonstrate his characteristic ability to develop form as statement.

This highly suggestive silence continues in his most recent collection, Poems of Affinity: 1978-1980. The disillusionment with "history" is more pronounced, and we are left with only a quiet despair in the face of history's relentless repetitiveness. It is the image of death, not creation, that dominates "PlayingMilitia" Militia" where the uniform sleeves droop "like the wet feathers of a crow's wing / over secret carrion" [ Poems of Affinity, p. 17]). And in "For Cesar Vallejo ii" the decay is everywhere. Clearly, he still remains the poet of passionate commitment. Where that commitment will lead his future poetry depends as much upon Carter's world as it does on himself.

CRITICAL RECEPTION

Edward Brathwaite "Resistance Poems: The Voice of Martin Carter" ( 1977) is one of the more comprehensive studies of Martin Carter's poetry thus far. The critic examines all the major publications up to the mid-1970s, with special emphasis on Carter as the voice of revolutionary change. Briefer, more general comments also appear in Brown, West Indian Poetry ( 1977), and Herdeck, Caribbean Writers ( 1979).

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Hill of Fire Glows Red. Miniature Poet Series. Georgetown: Mater Printer, 1951.

To a Dead Slave. Georgetown: Author, 1951.

The Hidden Man. Georgetown: Author, 1952.

The Kind Eagle. Georgetown: Author, 1952.

Returning. Georgetown: Author, 1953.

Poems of Resistance. London: Lawrence, Wishart, 1954; Georgetown: Guyana Release, 1979.

Poems of Shape and Motion. Georgetown: Author, 1955.

Conversations. Georgetown: Author, 1961.

Jail Me Quickly. Georgetown: Author, 1963.

Poems of Succession. London: New Beacon Books, 1977.

Poems of Affinity: 1978-1980. Georgetown: Release, 1980.

LLOYD W. BROWN

Sir Lionel Luckhoo

Sir Lionel Luckhoo, the flamboyant Guyanese barrister who has died aged 83, was listed in the Guinness Book of Records as the world's most successful advocate, with 245 consecutive successful defenses in murder cases.

Known as the "Perry Mason of the Caribbean", Luckhoo was also a highly respected High Commissioner in London for both Guyana and Barbados, a candidate for prime minister, and later in life a globe-trotting evangelical preacher, founder of the Luckhoo Mission in Dallas, Texas.

Lionel Alfred Luckhoo was born at New Amsterdam, British Guiana, on March 2 1914, the second of three sons. His Indian grandfather, Lokhooa, had been "recruited" to work on a sugar plantation in British Guiana while sightseeing as a boy with his two brothers at Lucknow, in 1859. The recruiter painted a bright picture of the prospects in a strange land called "Damra Tapu" (Demerara, a province in British Guiana), where in five years they could make a fortune, before returning home.

Lokhooa and his brothers, aged 13, 11 and seven, crossed the Indian and Pacific oceans aboard the Victor Emanuel, and were assigned to a sugar plantation as indentured labor. Lokhooa converted to Christianity, thereafter calling himself Moses Luckhoo. When, after years of hard work, he had saved enough to buy his way out of his indentures, he qualified as an interpreter. He went on to open several provision stores, eventually becoming one of New Amsterdam's richest merchants.

Lionel's father, Edward Alfred, one of Mosesâ six sons, became the first East Indian solicitor in the colony in 1899, and later Mayor of New Amsterdam.

Young Lionel was educated at Queen's College, Georgetown, before coming to London to study Medicine at St Thomas's Hospital. Realizing that he could not stand the sight of blood, he switched to Law, and was called to the Bar by Middle Temple in 1940. He left for home on the day of Dunkirk, to set up in legal practice with his brother as Luckhoo & Luckhoo, in Georgetown.

As his record suggests, Lionel Luckhoo was extraordinarily persuasive with juries. He was incisive in cross-examination, and got straight to the nub of a case. Between 1940 and 1985, when he finally retired, almost all his clients were acquitted at trial. The few that were not had their convictions overturned on appeal to the Privy Council.

One such case, Noor Mohamed v R (1949), remains an authority on so-called similar fact evidence. The defendant, a goldsmith, was accused of murdering the woman he lived with by causing her to take cyanide, a substance, which he used for his trade. There was no direct evidence that he had caused her to take cyanide, and some evidence that she had committed suicide.

At the trial, the prosecution led evidence that the goldsmith had previously killed his wife with cyanide on pretence that it was a cure for toothache. On appeal, Luckhoo successfully argued that the prejudicial effect of this evidence outweighed its probative value, so it had been wrongly admitted.

After independence, Luckhoo argued for keeping appeals to the Privy Council, feeling that its legitimacy could not be easily replicated in the Caribbean. He took Silk in 1954, and was appointed CBE in 1962.

During the early 1960s, Luckhoo acted for the maverick cult leader Jim Jones on a child custody case. Jones held sway over a great many Guyanese, duped by his fake healing ceremonies and seduced into adopting his free-love lifestyle. In 1978, Jones orchestrated the mass suicide of some 900 people in his commune known as Jonestown. Luckhoo later admitted that dissuading the deeply unstable Jones from committing suicide on an earlier occasion was one of his greatest regrets.

In the meantime, Luckhoo had served as a member of the State Council, 1952-53, and as Minister without Portfolio, 1954-57. He was Mayor of Georgetown in 1954, 1955, 1960 and 1961.

In the late 1950s, he stood for prime minister against the coalition led by Cheddi Jagan and Forbes Burnham. Cheddi Jagan's Progressive People's Party appeared so pro-communist in 1953 that Britain suspended the constitution for four years and dispatched troops.

As well as being a staunch Anglophile, Luckhoo was fiercely anti-communist, but his National Labour Front expounded conservative ideas for which the country was not yet ready, and he failed to garner enough grass roots support.

When his country gained independence as Guyana in 1966, Luckhoo became its first High Commissioner in London. That autumn he also became Barbados's first High Commissioner (he was friendly with the Barbadian prime minister, Errol Barrow), thereby pioneering the cost-saving system of joint representation that has since been adopted by many small countries. His motorcar carried two flags, and not infrequently two places were laid for him at official banquets.

From 1967 to 1970, Luckhoo also represented Guyana and Barbados as ambassador in Paris, Bonn and The Hague. He was knighted in 1966, and appointed KCMG in 1969. But he gave up his diplomatic career in 1970 and entered chambers in the Temple, returning to Guyana in 1974, after the failure of his first marriage. Until retiring in 1980, he concentrated on appeal work.

Luckhoo was very attached to the Turf. The first horse that he and his brothers owned was called First Luck; it went on to win 33 races in Guyana and Trinidad, financing a string of 10 horses. He later had several in training in England with the late Sam Hall, one of which, Philodendron, won the Liverpool Summer Cup in 1960. He was a regular attender of Royal Ascot, and in 1960 published The Fitzluck Theory of Breeding Racehorses in the American Blood Horse magazine.

Luckhoo was always immaculately attired, and had a short, sharp step and gait. Everything was done in a slightly hurried way. He was a brilliant off-the-cuff speaker, and an accomplished magician, joining the Magic Circle.

He had always been a Christian, but in later years he became, as he put it, "an ambassador for Jesus". He founded his mission in 1980, preached around the world, and wrote pamphlets with such titles as Dear Atheist and God is Love.

Luckhoo married, first (dissolved 1972), Sheila Chamberlin; they had two sons and three daughters, who survive him, with his second wife, Jeannie.

(CARICOM Secretariat, Georgetown, Guyana)

15 December 1997

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Kaieteur Falls, the world's highest single drop waterfall (741 feet).

Tuesday, January 31, 2006

Guyana launches international appeal to help flooded communities

by Gordon French
Caribbean Net News Guyana Correspondent
Email: gordon@caribbeannetnews.com

GEORGETOWN, Guyana : The Guyana Government on Saturday declared Guyana's Administrative Regions 5, Mahaica/Berbice, and 2, Pomeroon/Supenaam disaster areas after weeks of intense rainfall caused severe flooding in these districts.

Head of the Presidential Secretariat, Dr. Roger Luncheon said, "Guyana is currently experiencing unusually high seasonal rainfall which has, in the declared areas, caused widespread inundation, overwhelming flood control mechanisms in those areas and leading to the suffering of thousands of residents and profound disruption of their livelihood."

Heavy rains began in mid-December 2005 and since then many of the communities, which rely heavily on agriculture have been inundated. Officials estimated that the situation will prevail as more rains are expected.

This has prompted the Guyana Government to launch an international appeal for assistance.

"The aim is to secure urgent support and assistance with the implementation of the emergency disaster mitigation and prevention programme, which includes the repair of vital drainage structures and the dredging of the four rivers that drains into the sea: Pomeroon, Mahaica, Mahaicony and the Abary rivers," Luncheon said.

Officials said that the appeal targets both domestic and international support, with the emphasis being placed on the latter group, non-governmental organisations and bilateral partners.

The Guyana Government and non-governmental organisations have been sending relief to flooded communities in the form of food and water. When Caribbean Net News visited the Mahaica/Berbice area Saturday, residents complained that the relief effort was inadequate.

Written at Tuesday, January 31, 2006 by jebratt.

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Former Miss Guyana Odessa Phillips...

Written at Tuesday, January 31, 2006 by jebratt.

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Written at Tuesday, January 31, 2006 by jebratt.

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Guyana Govt. Declares “Disaster Areas” In Two Regions

Flood victims in Mahaicony, Guyana standing in waters outside a shelter. (GINA Image)

Hardbeatnews, GEORGETOWN, Guyana, Mon. Jan, 30, 2006: The Guyana Peoples Progressive Party/Civic government has declared the Mahaica/Berbice areas in region 5, as well as the Pomeroon River catchment area in Region 2, as disaster areas.

The announcement came from Head of the Presidential Secretariat and Cabinet Secretary Dr. Roger Luncheon on Saturday January 28 at the Office of the President.

Heavy rainfall began in mid-December 2005 and since then many of the riverain areas have been inundated. The impact has remained sustained and there is currently no improvement and we anticipate on the basis of the continuous rainfall that the situation might endure a lot longer.

President Bharat Jagdeo yesterday visited the shelters at Mortice, Gordon Table and Esau and Jacob along the Mahaicony Creek and the shelter established at the Little Biaboo Government School along the Mahaica Creek and outside of the creeks, including the Burma Housing Scheme, Strath Campbell, Champagne, and the vicinity of the Mahaica stelling, Supply, Mahaica.

But he told residents that there is no indication that the water would recede soon, since the heavy rainfall continues in the highlands. Farmers who borrowed to finance their crops, called on government to intervene on their behalf at the level of the commercial banks to solicit deferment of their loan installments, which the President said government has already been working on.

At Mahaica, the river could be seen overtopping at several parts, while at Mahaicony, the water is about one foot high on parts of the branch road, according to GINA reports. “Residents could be seen placing sandbags along the road at Mahaica to avoid further flooding because of overtopping,” the report added.

The flood is causing major destruction to the main access roads and President Jagdeo assured residents that after the flood, these would be fixed.

The disaster declaration was followed by the launching of an international appeal for assistance, financial and otherwise, for these areas.

President Jagdeo has also requested financial assistance from the Inter-American Development Bank for the dredging of the Mahaica, Mahaicony and Abary Creeks, as well as the Pomeroon River. – Hardbeatnews.com

Written at Tuesday, January 31, 2006 by jebratt.

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Guyana Flood Update...

Flooded residential area at Nabacalis, E.C.D., Guyana. (GINA Image)

Hardbeatnews, GEORGETOWN, Guyana, Tues. Jan. 31, 2006: The level of the Mahaica and Mahaicony creeks in Guyana remain extremely high, resulting in continued flooding in nearby communities. And there is no indication that the water would recede soon.

So said President Bharrat Jagdeo yesterday as government continued to battle with the weeks old flooding here. Supply, Mahaica is one of the villages threatened by the high level of the river, which is overtopping in several areas as residents clamor to place sandbags to prevent flooding in other residential areas.

Jagdeo said the continued heavy rainfall in the highlands is adding to the sustained flooding. Last night, residents in low lying areas on the East and West Banks and West Coast Demerara were advised to take precautionary measures against possible overtopping due to unusually high tides expected over the next 48 hours.

Meanwhile, in Region One, (Barima/Waini), Minister of Amerindian Affairs, Carolyn Rodrigues, said an on-site assessment of the flooding situation there revealed that most of the crops lost in areas like Waini River-Kwebenna, Warapoka and Moruca are residents’ staple diet.

Excessively heavy rainfall recently has resulted in flooding in a number of areas across the country and government has since declared Region Five (Mahaica/Berbice) and catchment areas of the Pomeroon ‘disaster areas.’

In region two, reports indicate flood waters remain high in the lakes, as well as the Pomeroon River with the waters at Charity Housing Scheme receding only minimally while in region three, the Clay Brick area and Canal Number Two Polder residents remain flooded. – Hardbeatnews.com

Written at Tuesday, January 31, 2006 by jebratt.

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Ulita Anthony passes on

Veteran broadcaster Ulita Anthony died yesterday morning at her home. She was 59.

Anthony, a former assistant programme director of the former Guyana Broadcasting Corporation (GBC) was known for hosting various children's programmes on radio. She was also an excellent actress and a member of the Woodside and the Korokwa choirs.

Anthony is reported to have died around 10:00 hrs yesterday at her Crown Street, Queenstown home.

Anthony's best friend, Janice Simmons, said she was in a state of shock. Simmons, who not only stood as a friend to Anthony but also like a sister said that she had spoken to Anthony earlier yesterday morning. According to Simmons, Anthony complained of not feeling well so she (Simmons) made some calls and was returning a call to Anthony to tell her that she was going to pick her up to go to the hospital but the telephone rang out. Anthony's maid, who subsequently reported for work found her dead in the house.

Simmons described Anthony as a very pleasant and jovial person. Anthony was suffering from a stomach problem; she recently travelled to the USA to undergo surgery.

Margaret Lawrence, another former veteran broadcaster, told Stabroek News that the news of Anthony's death came as a shock to her as she had spoken to her last Thursday. Lawrence describ-ed Anthony as a "stickler" and one who did not cause undue worry to anyone.

Anthony was Lawrence's senior in the Theatre Guild where they both acted. Lawrence also stated that Anthony loved music and children.

Marlyn Dewar, Anthony's colleague in the Woodside choir said she was also shocked. She said Anthony was very quiet and never said much, "but when she did say something, she said something with meaning."

Dewar said Anthony had been part of the choir for about eight to ten years.

Another friend, Billy Pilgrim, told Stabroek News that Anthony was the stage manager in the first show that Guyana ever put off back in May 1976. The show was called 'A Span of Time' and it spoke about the history of Guyana. He felt that Anthony did a very good job and expressed herself very firmly.

"She was a very valuable member of the alto section of the Woodside Choir," said Pilgrim.

Magda Pollard remembered Anthony as a charming person in the Woodside Choir; also someone who was very reliable and one who served for a long time as a librarian in the choir. Anthony attended her last concert for the Woodside choir on December 29.

Anthony, whose voice charmed thousands of Guya-nese children on 'Sunshine Corner', began her career at the Radio station in 1953.

(Stabroek News)

Written at Tuesday, January 31, 2006 by jebratt.

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From Kaieteur News...

Written at Tuesday, January 31, 2006 by jebratt.

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Top Guyanese Media Workers Dead

Hardbeatnews, GEORGETOWN, Guyana, Tues. Jan. 31, 2006: The Guyana media fraternity has reportedly lost two well-known media workers in one day; one felled by multiple bullets last night, according to news reaching HBN late last night.

Dead are HBTV channel-9 talk show host Ronald Waddell, who was shot to death late last night infront of his home in Georgetown after reportedly returning from exercising, and veteran radio personality, Ulita Anthony.

Anthony, 59, a former announcer at the Guyana Broadcasting Service and the Guyana Broadcasting Corporation was reportedly found dead at her home in Guyana on Monday. She made popular the show, ‘Sunshine Corner.’

Waddell has been a controversial figure on the airwaves of Channel 9 television, often coming under criticism by government who has claimed in the past that his show promotes racial incitement and violence. He was recently taken off the air. The Guyana Stabroek Newspaper last night quoted witnesses as saying they saw two gunmen in a "colored car" unleash a barrage of bullets into Waddell's car. The journalist reportedly died before reaching the hospital. He was apparently hit 13 times and according to the paper, "Three bullets made gaping holes on his back." Waddell was married to Working Peoples Alliance member, Bonita Harris. He is also survived by several children. Stay tuned for more on this developing story. – Hardbeatnews.com

Written at Tuesday, January 31, 2006 by jebratt.

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Monday, January 30, 2006

CONFLICT RESOLUTION - 8 WEEKS - PROFESSIONAL CERTIFICATION

Dear Guyanese,

The American University of Peace Studies is pleased to announce this training offer which presently exist throughout Linden, Essequibo, Berbice and Georgetown.

Interested persons are asked to make urgent contact with the Administratiive office to secure your registration into this Internationally Recognized Conflict Program.

The present Conflict program begins on Wednesday 8th February 2006 and we look foward to your participation in this six (8) weeks program. You can also join the second entry program that begins on 15th February 2006.

Seeing you at our first workshop, which will be a ground breaking session is essential.

Also, be sure to visit the AMERICAN UNIVERSITY OF PEACE STUDIES website.

http://www.americanuni.org

CONTACT INFORMATION FOR REGISTRATION

172 Sheriff Street, Campbellville, Georgetown, Guyana
Tel: 592-231-1284 OR 592-333-6851

Best regards,

Administrator.

Written at Monday, January 30, 2006 by jebratt.

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THE MANDATE

The Mandate of the American University of Peace studies is to promote peace and conflict studies and research to provide support for peacemaking efforts globally.

We engage in public education with individuals, community groups, educational institutions, non-governmental organizations and Governments. Our activities include peace and conflict studies, professional counseling course, workshops, seminars, public lectures and peace publications, with the aim of promoting peace among individuals, groups, nations and equally important inner peace.

In today’s social, political and economic uncertainties many people find themselves facing financial difficulties, as well as having to deal with increased stress, depression, anxiety, anger, fear, emotional insecurity and unhappiness.

More and more people are turning to destructive behaviors as a means of escape. Alcohol abuse, substance abuse, domestic violence, racial tension, HIV/AIDS and lack of moral values are all on the increase.

As peace becomes the standard by which we live our lives these tensions and difficulties will naturally be resolved.

The Board of Directors is committed to ensuring that peace studies are easily accessible and effective in the process of changing results of our personal , relational and structural systems of operation.

The American University of Peace Studies which has three locations in Guyana, strategically located in South American, the peace university will have a positive impact on the Caribbean and South American as the world evolves, peace must become accessible in every sphere of the world.

We Must be the change we wish to see.

Written at Monday, January 30, 2006 by jebratt.

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Genealogy Request

I am looking for any information on my great grandfather Mr. John De La Para who was apparently the first Chairman of the County Authority in Christianburg which was established in 1926. He was married to Ruth/Amelia Richards and I believe that both remained buried at the Anglican Church Cemetery in Bagotsville. In addition, I believe that my great grandfather came from the Island of Madeira but have yet to find accurate information which confirms this. I also believe that there is a connection between his family and the De La Parra family in Suriname. From what little I have gathered from old records and the fading memories of elderly family members, the De La Para family settled in Nismes originally and then moved on to the Christianburg/Wismar area.

Any help or advice from anyone would be most appreciated.

Sincerely,

Mr. Jonathan Bratt
jonathanbratt@rogers.com

Written at Monday, January 30, 2006 by jebratt.

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Guyanese to deh bone nuh ...

Only a true Guyanese will understand what we're talking about here. We are a special kind of people ... we are Guyanese to de bone.

Someone has really been preserving our (culture). Enjoy! A toast to all Guyanese.

You are Guyanese when:
1. De back of ya remote got scotch tape.

2. Ya know bout pluggin' out ya TV to turn it off.

3. Ya know bout keepin' rain water fo drink.

4. Shopping bags from de grocery store is also garbage bags.

5. Uncle George and Aunty Pam and half de other people ya call uncle
and aunt are not really related to you!

6. Space in de living room is unacceptable and must be occupied by
something you don't actually need.

7. You know what a plate clat and floor clat is.

8. You recycle oil.

9. It's cool to have fairy lights all year long.

10. Bun bun is food.

11. A ole bicycle tire is a toy.

12. De dishwasher is also known as ur lil sister or lil brother.

13. Powder milk and sugar is a snack.

14. Your Grandma call a wife beater a singlit.

15. Jumping up and down could give you narra.

16. A mistress is known as a "sweetwoman."

17. A blackout is normal.

18. Bugs are bugs; a ca-ca-roach is something totally different.

19. Ghosts are known as Jumbies and Bacoos.

20. All footwear is known as boots.

21. You get a cold, you drink bush tea.

22. All barrels from farrin includes Cadbury chocolate...with almond.

23. You know bout brushin ya teeth with salt and water.

24. You straighten ya hair, not perm it!

25. A frog is called a Cropo; and throwin' salt pun it back will kill
it.

26. Christmas means pepperpot and sorrel, not eggnog!

27. A bottle is called a "bokle" and it's cap is a "cark" and they
come in cases, not six packs.

28. Soda, juice and anything other than water is "drink."

29. Dog food is always leftovers.

30. Deodorant is roll-on.!

31. You've used your towel as a shower curtain at least once in your
life.

32. Straws, plastic spoons and forks can all be converted into a
toothpick.

33. Gossip is ah "seh seh."

34. You call your alcoholic uncle ah "Sa-gi-wang."

35. "Bamba laytee bam bam" means ur in trouble.

36. Your ten year old is a bottle of rum.

37. You go to college, your family feel you know everyting.

38. Crush up news papers was once a substitute for toilet paper.

39. Having a dog or cat on the bed, or anywhere in the house for that
matter, is NOT normal to you.

40. You have home clothes, church clothes, sleeping clothes, wuk
clothes and "good" clothes.

41. Your childhood games were "Gam," "Hap Scatch," "Dog and de bone"
and "Catcha!"

42. Ya hood had "Chinee" restaurants.

43. You've heard "Don't tek ya eye and pass me!" at least once in
your life.

44. You reply with "Me and you eye neva went fo a race!"

45. Ya know bout throwin' a bucket ah water in de toilet bowl to
flush it.

46. You have at least one family member that'll tell you "I know u
since ya small suh!"

47. Nicknames are based on physical attributes. eg: Blackie, Tall
man, Smiley and fine gurl.

48. Gum is chico.

49. Ya hear de name "Sharma" and you automatically start laughin'.

50. Ya know what it is to collect "Prags."

51. Beginning a question with "When last" is normal to you!

52. New Years Eve is "Old Years Night."

53. Your vocabulary contains words like"Pattacake," "Pokey" and
"Banna"! (Shoulda been #1!)

54. You know what "Schupidy" mean!

Written at Monday, January 30, 2006 by jebratt.

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Church In Nismes

Written at Monday, January 30, 2006 by jebratt.

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Road Into Bagotville

Written at Monday, January 30, 2006 by jebratt.

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Bagotville, Guyana

Written at Monday, January 30, 2006 by jebratt.

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Formal Launch Today For CARICOM Single Market

Hardbeatnews, KINGSTON, Jamaica, Mon. Jan. 30, 2006: The much-touted Caribbean Single Market is set to be formalized in the Gold Room at the University of the West Indies in Kingston, Jamaica today.

The inauguration ceremony will feature addresses by Prime Minister PJ Patterson of Jamaica, Chairman of CARICOM, Patrick Manning, Lead Head of Government with responsibility for the CSME, Barbados PM, Owen Arthur and an OECS representative head of government.

CARICOM Secretary-General, Edwin Carrington has described the launch of the single market as an historic and unprecedented step in the regional integration process and a new dimension that will change the way the people of the region live and work, according to JIS News.

Several top regional prime ministers will gather for the launch, including heads of state of the Organization of Eastern Caribbean states, who are expected to join by the end of the first quarter of this year. Antigua & Barbuda Prime Minister, Baldwin Spencer, will lead a four-member delegation from his country to the inauguration.

He along with his other OECS colleagues will be signing a declaration of intent on the participation of their countries in the CARICOM Single Market.

On January 1, 2006, Barbados, Belize, Guyana, Jamaica, Suriname and Trinidad and Tobago became the first CARICOM countries to enter into the Single Market.

Also attending the event are three regional opposition leaders, including Leader of the Guyana People’s National Congress Reform, Robert Corbin and Bruce Golding, Opposition Leader of Jamaica.

Key elements of the single market include free movement of goods and services; free movement of skilled labor; permits for Caricom nationals to own and set up businesses in any member state without restrictions and a common external tariff. – Hardbeatnews.com

Written at Monday, January 30, 2006 by jebratt.

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Sunday, January 29, 2006

Another insighful piece recommended by Cousin Owen...

The arrogance of ethnic insecurity is a hindrance to development

Sunday, January 29th 2006

Dear Editor,

One of the main hindrances to development in Guyana is the arrogance of ethnic insecurity. The arrogance of ethnic insecurity concentrates on stereotypes rather than on issues that affect daily lives and human development. This arrogance is historic and has its genesis mainly in the post plantation distribution of power and resources. It was later reaffirmed in the ethnic division in the fight for independence, and has sustained itself for twenty-eight years of PNC rule with a majority African Guyanese support for an authoritarian regime, and subsequent twelve years of Indian Guyanese support for an incompetent and inept PPP regime. It is continually fuelled through everyday racial rhetoric. The arrogance of ethnic insecurity ignores incompetence, corruption, cronyism, authoritarianism, mismanagement etc., and violates basic precepts of social justice and historical truths. It is a fear rooted in political and socio-economic inequality, discrimination and is exploited by political elites for political power.

The deep-seated mistrust between the two major ethnic groups has allowed them to continually support two political parties based mainly on their ethnicity, though both political parties have failed miserably in their governance duties. The normative question that is asked in an election year "are you better off today than you were five years ago" does not apply in Guyana's political realm, yet the reality is that most Guyanese are indeed worse off. But this does not matter because what largely affects political behaviour is ethnic hegemony. The ruling political party seems secure in its hold on power not so much because it has shown the capacity and competence necessary to improve the lives of Guyanese, but mainly because it has a majority Indian Guyanese support, whose fears it exploits in a country where Indian Guyanese are the majority.

The PPP administration has been in power for twelve years and has maintained a miserable record of governance. Corruption and bribery are rampant, crime is an everyday feature of existence, farmers livelihood is severely threatened by what is a preventable annual flood, incompetence is rewarded if there is political loyalty, the drug economy supports and sustains the national economy, private sector development and economic growth are stifled in a failed ideology of Marxism/Leninism. Unemploy-ment is extremely high, healthcare and education are in a dismal state, Guyanese professionals continue to migrate in droves, yet the arrogance of ethnic insecurity is set to return the PPP to power. It is in this context that the African Cultural and Development Association (ACDA) call for African Guyanese to re-evaluate their participation in the upcoming general election must be taken seriously, since such election has no benefit for African Guyanese. ADCA's call is credible because it is premised on a push for power sharing.

What governs the irrational thinking of ethnic insecurity is the belief that one's ethnic group is more capable of looking after one's political and economic interest. However, the history of governance in Guyana has shown this is definitely not the case, that while political parties, mainly the PNC and the PPP, have shown a propensity for discrimination in favour of their ethnic constituent, it is done at the expense of national development. This is so because the reality is that no one ethnic group in Guyana has all the expertise, ideas and competence necessary to effectively govern the country. But ideas and expertise are excluded from governance if they belong to people who do not belong to the ruling party and this is judged most often on ethnicity. The result is that all Guyanese suffer in an environment of mediocrity and underdevelopment.

What influences this pervasive sense of ethnic insecurity is more psychological than physical but for most Indian Guyanese the fear of physical harm by African Guyanese is heightened by those who reinforce the idea that African Guyanese are generally violent against them. In fact a close examination of violence in Guyana will find that it is more intra-racial than inter- racial. Indian Guyanese commit more violent acts against Indian Guyanese and African Guyanese commit more violent acts against African Guyanese. The fears which contribute to this arrogance are more blatant within one's ethnic group, yet virtually ignored. However, one cannot argue against the fact that there seems to be a disproportionate assault on the Indian Guyanese middle class by criminals, in an environment of crime created by an incompetent administration of mostly Indian Guyanese political elites. On the other hand, African Guyanese generally believe that Indian Guyanese are responsible for their oppression and poverty, when in fact African Guyanese oppression and poverty were orchestrated by a post colonial attitude of over reliance on the political machinery (controlled mostly by African Guyanese elites) to create favourable conditions for their livelihood. So that a loss of control of the political machinery has adversely perpetuated the oppression and poverty. Nonetheless one cannot ignore the socio economic conditions that contribute to such oppression and poverty, socio economic conditions worsened by a political system that put too much power in the hands of ethnic political elites.

Generally insecurity is created by inequality in human development which is caused by unequal distribution of scarce resources. This phenomenon creates instability and conflict in society that further hinder development and poverty alleviation. The answer to ethnic insecurity in a multiethnic society is to build ethnic alliances. Ethnic alliances in politics and economics utilize all ideas and expertise proper for development. It creates a balance of power in institutions and social and economic structures. It creates stability suitable to attract investment for job creation and conditions necessary for economic growth.

In order to create this ethnic alliance to combat the arrogance of ethnic insecurity, there is need for the creation of a movement of national unity and reconciliation. Such a movement must be non-political but not a-political. It should seek to incorporate civil society, religious organizations, cultural groups and trade unions. It must engage for resources and expertise overseas based Guyanese. The aim of such a movement is to open cross ethnic dialogue and conversations. Its purpose must be to promote institutional changes in behaviour and to further constitutional reform of the political system. This movement must have a genuine grassroots component and must employ Guyanese intellectuals of all ethnic groups who are relentless in their commitment for change. Its forum should be schools, churches, mosques, temples, road corners and the university. This movement must organize monthly awareness marches for change, simultaneously in all the regions. It should be recognized that such a movement is long term and should not rely on short term goals. It must raise awareness of conditions that adversely affect poor Guyanese. For the purpose of maintaining independence such a movement must remain outside the political arena but must push for a government of national unity. There is no question that such a movement because of its multi-ethnic makeup and non-political approach will have the potential for mass appeal. Guyanese from across the ethnic divide working together for a better Guyana can do miracles but Guyanese engaged in the arrogance of ethnic insecurity will create chaos and continued conflict. The result is a society based on mediocrity and underdevelopment.

Yours faithfully,

Dennis Wiggins
Stabroek News

Written at Sunday, January 29, 2006 by jebratt.

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Saturday, January 28, 2006

World War One - Guyanese killed in action

Here is a list of the British Guiana Contingency Soldiers of the British West Indies Regiment who were killed in action:

ABBOTT, Adolphus Sandon Sydney - Demerara
BOWHILL, James Sholto - British Guiana
BYNOE, Cecil Vere - Georgetown
FIELD, William Hooton - Demerara
HUNTE, Thomas William - Georgetown
MAYERS, Briggs - Demerara
MOORE, Theophilis Alexandra - Demerara
RICKFORD, Walter - Demerara
SHANKLAND, Charles Raymond - Essequibo
SHERINGTON, Robert Arthur - Georgetown
THORNHILL, John Oswald - Georgetown

Special Thanks to John
from http://groups.yahoo.com/group/goldengrovenabaclis/

Written at Saturday, January 28, 2006 by jebratt.

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Skin cancer teen in T&T for treatment

Stabroek News
Saturday, January 28th 2006

Skin cancer teen, Lynear Johnson, and her mother, Vanessa Bellamy arrived in Trinidad on Thursday and she is expected to commence treatment shortly at the St Claire's Hospital.

Valerie Sharp, Chairper-son of the Regional Welfare Committee of Region 10, said she received a call from Bellamy on Thursday saying that they arrived safely.

She said Bellamy had to pay an additional US$700 as the hospital told her that all expenses had not been included in the US$6,500 estimate they had given to the Ministry of Health. The government contributed US$5,000 and it was through support from Guyanese here and overseas that Johnson was able to raise the US$1500 for treatment and other monies for air ticket, accommodation and transportation. Sharp was relieved that the committee had given the mother and daughter enough to travel with which enabled them to pay the additional cost.

She is appealing for persons to continue to place money in the National Bank of Industry and Commerce account No.516-773-9 as the two would need money to be sent to them to offset any additional expenses such as accommodation, food and transportation. It is not clear how long Johnson's treatment would last. Up to Wednesday afternoon the bank account had $1.2 million, including monies from a telethon that was held in Linden on Monday evening, but some of that would have been withdrawn for them to take to Trinidad.

Johnson is an albino, which means her skin has no protection from the sun, hence the cancer. She has been suffering for the last 18 months.

Her story was published in last week Tuesday's edition of this newspaper which triggered responses from many people. Up until then, Bellamy had been awaiting a response from the Ministry of Health, which she had approached since last February. But the very next day the ministry gave the cost for the treatment and announced government's contribution.

Persons can contact Sharp on telephone numbers 444-6058 and 444-3048 for any information on Lynear and her treatment.

Written at Saturday, January 28, 2006 by jebratt.

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Hardy quits Third Force -Ramsaroop wants poll delay for reforms

By Miranda La Rose

Saturday, January 28th 2006

The Guyana Action Party (GAP) headed by Paul Hardy has walked away from the Guyana Third Force (GTF) Platform after differences with other leaders while the section of it headed by businessman Peter Ramsaroop wants general elections put off until constitutional and electoral reforms are undertaken.

Hardy says while he has pulled out of the platform he still supports the Third Force concept. There is now speculation that he could team up with the AFC headed by Raphael Trotman and Khemraj Ramjattan. GAP has one seat in parliament following the 2001 coalescence with the Working People's Alliance (WPA). That alliance has now been dissolved.

According to Hardy the platform members had all agreed to some core values and whether the platform members go as a unit was still to be seen. He said it would have been nice if they had all stuck to the core values but it came to a point where GAP does not agree with the current discussions as to whether the platform should go with "Party A or Party B or as a Third Force." GAP, he said, would not link up with either the PPP/C or the PNCR before the elections and while that discussion was going on within the GTF platform, he saw no reason why GAP should be part of it. This has been a major sticking point in the GTF and ROAR was also said to be uncomfortable with the prospect of allying with the PNCR.

GAP Executive Member Everall Franklin, who was also present during an interview with Stabroek News yesterday, said that there were members of the GTF platform who were interested in linking up with either of the two major political parties prior to the elections.

Franklin said "there was really no need for linking up with either of the two if you want to promote the Third Force and a newness. There is no need to do that before the elections or it would be defeating the purpose of the newness. There is no crisis for that to become essential for the survival of the country." After the elections, he said it would be essential for the PPP/C, the PNCR and other political parties to sit down and work together.

In his interview with Stabroek News, Ramsaroop said that the platform or coalition was definitely a diverse group with a common agenda. At their Thursday meeting, the first for the year under the Chairmanship of ROAR Leader Ravi Dev, Ramsaroop said they still have a common understanding of what Guyana needs. This newspaper was unable to make contact with Dev yesterday despite repeated attempts.

Ramsaroop said that he respected Hardy's resignation from the platform contending he (Hardy) "has a constituency to represent, which is the Amerindian constituency and he feels that any talks with any of the current forces, would not be appropriate. Lots of us believe that we have to have a national government of unity to move Guyana forward as no single party alone could do it."

Hardy, too, was of the view that Guyana needs a national government, which means involvement of all political parties, players and organisations in Guyana. GAP believes that the only way that that could be obtained was if a new element forces it. "They may say that they want a national government. What we are saying to them is that we like you saying (that you want a national government) but we want to be in a position to force you into that situation because Guyana does not belong only to either of them."

Hardy reiterated that as political parties, their duty was the betterment of Guyana and having a coalition with either one of them before the elections does not make sense. "By having a coalition before the elections defeats the purpose of a Third Force coalition. After the elections we could sit down and discuss and hopefully we would be in a position of power to bring the forces together. There is no need for the discussion as to whether we want Party A or Party B. It is not about being part of a winning party. It is about being part of a winning country."

Ramsaroop said too that Hardy in a meeting said he was not going into the elections on the platform unless the Alliance For Change (AFC) was a part of it. Basically, he feels that the AFC has not committed itself to a broad coalition and maybe that was the reason for the other disagreement between Hardy and the coalition.

On this issue Hardy said he was sure that Ramsaroop has made a mistake. He has always said that the AFC was part of the Third Force as distinct from the platform as no one owns the concept of the Third Force and even the Justice For All Party was a part of the Third Force even though not a member of the platform.

Ramsaroop said that the platform has a broad agenda, which was not just about running for presidency or running for parliamentary seats but it was also getting the process fixed.

He said that since the Herdmanston Accord was signed and in the run up to the 2001 elections, former president, Desmond Hoyte made a lot of compromises to go to the elections even though all requirements were not in place. Once again, in 2006, he said that things that are needed to have free and fair elections which all people could be a part of have not been done.

Unless a miracle happens, he said that Guyana was not ready for elections and he supports the African Cultural Development Association's (ACDA's) statement to Guyanese of African origin to boycott the upcoming elections unless the elections are fixed in keeping with the 1998 Herdmanston Accord. He said that Guyanese should not legitimise a system that does not give everyone a right to have a voice.

He believed there was some form of consensus at Thursday's meeting noting that Dr Rupert Roopnaraine of the WPA has been an advocate for constitutional re-form for decades and for a government of national unity and he believes that the system should be fixed before the elections. He believes in the need to work with everyone including the PNCR and the PPP/C. Stabroek News was unable to secure an interview with Dr Roopnaraine yesterday.

On the other hand, Ramsaroop said that Dr Joey Jagan of the Unity Party - also in the GTF - was ready to campaign for the elections. Dr Jagan was not available for an interview yesterday though an appointment had been scheduled.

Ramsaroop said that in the platform meetings over the months in which they have talked about the election mode, he has come to believe that elections should not be held as constitutionally due. "Right now the Guyana Elections Commission was not doing the things necessary that we have asked for. The biometrics issue has not been solved, the delays in the registration process ... the technical aspects."

He said that Guyana needs breathing space. "We need a year or two to fix the constitution and things. We need a breathing space. That means that on August 4, we need some form of caretaker government. I believe that personally. I don't believe that the PPP/C should be allowed to continue after August 4. They cannot force an election on the people," he said.

He commended PNCR Leader Robert Corbin for being consistent in his message "that the system must be fixed before free and fair elections could be held again."

Asked whether elections should be held as due, Hardy said that GAP believes that elections should be held. He said there was the school of thought out there that because things are not in place elections should not be held. He still believes that having elections now even though it would not be perfect was better than not having elections at all.

He said five years since the last elections was enough time to put things in place and it was obvious to many that the two major parties were not interested in pushing the reforms through.

GAP does not see the major parties shifting their position on the reforms and therefore there was need for the elections to shake that status quo, he said, adding that if there was going to be a caretaker government it should be done after the next elections because then you would have the new element of the Third Force as a major player in it.

He said that if a caretaker government was put in place before the elections there would be the coming together of the two parties that caused the situation that the country is now mired in. They may want to not to have the elections now to deny the Third Force movement but they cannot deny the people making a choice, he said.

Asked about GAP's direction outside of the GTF platform, Hardy said that the party was consolidating its base and working in areas that were not touched in the last elections.

Stabroek News

Written at Saturday, January 28, 2006 by jebratt.

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Written at Saturday, January 28, 2006 by jebratt.

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Please support Alliance For Change

Mr. Raphael G. C. Trotman

Born in 1966 in New Amsterdam in Region #6 into a family of lawyers, is himself a family man, married to Nicola Denise Trotman, he is the father of four.

His contribution to influence the landscape of Guyana’s civil society, its politics and national development, commenced over a decade ago, when he was first elected a member of the Mayor and Councilors of the capital City of Georgetown (1994) and an elected a Member of Parliament since 1998.

Over the ensuing years, Mr. Trotman has gained significant experience in city and political government. He has been Chairman of the Legal Affairs and Security Committee of the City Council, and a member of several Parliamentary Select Committees from 1999-2001, including from 2001-2005, a member of the Foreign Relations and the Constitution Reform and Standing Order Committees of Parliament. He has participated as a member of a Study Mission to the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland to observe the “Good Friday” Peace Agreement and process, in 1998.

This son of the soil has also benefited from post graduate training at the National Defense University in Washington DC and from Harvard University – School of law. He has attended a British Government sponsored Workshop for Parliamentary Scholars and Parliamentarians in 2000 in the United Kingdom, and a World Bank Seminar on Parliament, Good Governance and Poverty Reduction in Helsinki, Finland, in 2003.
During 2005 Mr. Trotman was invited to participate in:

The European Union Visitor Programme at EU headquarters in Belgium and Luxembourg in January, 2005.
The United States Department of Defense sponsored Advanced Policy Making Seminar on: “Transformation, Defense and Security Challenges in the Caribbean”, Nassau, Bahamas, February, 2005.
The United Kingdom Government sponsored visit to Houses of Commons and Lords and meetings with senior government officials in March, 2005.
The United States International Visitor Leadership Program, April, 2005 which consisted of meetings with Senior Government and State officials in Washington, D.C., Lincoln, Nebraska, and Sacramento, California.
Proficient in Spanish, Mr. Trotman has two notable publications to his credit

The Wars of the West Indies and the Threat of State Disintegration in Guyana, Trinidad & Tobago and Jamaica.
International Dispute Resolution: The Guyana/Suriname Boundary Dispute Revisited.

http://www.afcguyana.com/

Written at Saturday, January 28, 2006 by jebratt.

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Mr. Khemraj Ramjattan

Mr. Khemraj Ramjattan LLB. (UWI) LEC. (UWI) was born on October 12, 1960 at No. 48 Village, Corentyne, Berbice. He is an eminent attorney-at-law, a fearless and objective politician, and volunteer youth organizer. His profession as an attorney-at-law and as a politician brings him in contact with people from all over Guyana –the Essequibo/Demerara/Berbice. He is married to Sita Ramjattan and is the father of two children.

“Prakash”, or “Prak” as he is fondly known was born into and grew up in a grassroot, humble political family on the Corentyne. He served as the former Chairman of the Progressive Youth Organization (PYO - 1988 - 1995) and as a member of the Central Committee 1997 – 2004 of the Peoples Progressive Party (PPP/C).

This former State Counsel in the Chambers of the Director of Public Prosecutions, a former President of the Guyana Bar Association 2003 –2005, has been a Member of Parliament since October 1992, and was Member of Public Accounts Committee of National Assembly 2001 – 2004. He has fearlessly and objectively represented his views on numerous issues, some highly politically sensitive, all in his quest for a better Guyana.

Mr. Ramjattan has participated in many national and international workshops and seminars; and contributed to numerous discussions and public debates on issues of mal-administration, good governance, undue political interference by the state, unprofessional and unethical behaviour, among other topics. He is Editor of the Guyana Bar Review. An ardent cricketer, but a little too old for the National team; so he is satisfied being President of the Gandhi Youth Cricket Club.

http://www.afcguyana.com/

Written at Saturday, January 28, 2006 by jebratt.

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Ms. Sheila Holder

Ms. Sheila Holder MP. homemaker, civil society activist, consumer advocate and politician, who has been married to Noel Holder, agriculturist and CEO of i-net Communications Inc. for the last 36 years and has two sons and a daughter from the union.

Ms. Holder served as a member of the Trustee Board of the NGO Forum, as a Director of Guyana Stores Ltd, the Guyana National Bureau of Standards and the Bauxite Industry Development Company Ltd. In 1995, and she was chairperson for the Environmental chapter of the Guyana National Development Strategy.

Within the region, she was elected a member of the CARICOM recognized Caribbean Consumers Consultative Committee (CCCC), precursor to the Caribbean Consumers Council, and internationally, as a member of the Global Policy & Campaigns Committee (GPCC) of Consumers International (CI) as the representative for Latin America and the Caribbean. She represented the Regional group at meetings such as the CARICOM “Forward Together Conference” with Heads of Governments; the Seventh CARICOM Council Meeting for Human & Social Development; the 23rd Meeting of Ministers and ACP-EU Economic & Social Interests Groups, in Brussels.

In 2002, she was recognized by the St. Lucia Ministry of Commerce, Tourism, Investment & Consumer Affairs and The St. Lucia Consumer Association for her contribution to the advancement of the Consumer Movement in St. Lucia, West Indies.

Ms. Holder entered the National Assembly in 2001 on a GAP-WPA ticket and is a member of the Parliamentary Management Committee, the Committee for the appointment of members of Constitutional Commissions and the Standing Orders Committee.
Along with Mr. Raphael Trotman and Mr. Khemraj Ramjattan, she participated in the World Bank Seminar on Parliament, Good Governance and Poverty Reduction in Helsinki, Finland, in 2003. It was during this time that she was contracted by the OAS to prepare a study on “Political Party Campaign Financing” in Guyana.

During 2004 Ms. Holder was a part of the Commonwealth Expert Team of Five mandated by the Commonwealth Secretary General to report on the Cameroon registration process for presidential elections. She returned subsequently as a member of the 45th Commonwealth Elections Observer Group to the Cameroon Presidential Elections under the chairmanship of the Rt. Hon. Joe Clark, former Prime Minister of Canada.

Ms. Holder has presented several papers at international conferences including the presentation on “Privatisation of Telecommunications – the Guyana Experience” at the Consumers International Fourth Regional Conference for Latin America & the Caribbean held in Santiago Chile, and has contributed articles to regional and international publications.

http://www.afcguyana.com/

Written at Saturday, January 28, 2006 by jebratt.

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Alliance For Change
352 Cummings St
North Cummingsburg,
Georgetown, Guyana,
South America
592-225-0452/0455
allianceforchange@yahoo.com

Written at Saturday, January 28, 2006 by jebratt.

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ERC meets youths in continuing outreach campaign

THE Ethnic Relations Commission (ERC), in its continuing quest to promote ethnic peace and security in Guyana, yesterday met youths and representatives of their organisations.

It was the second such meeting with a representative group at the UmanaYana in Kingston, Georgetown, this week, following one with women on Monday.

ERC Chief Executive Officer, Ms Christine King said the gathering was a follow-up to one with youth constituencies about two years ago and about 40 groups accepted the invitation for discussions yesterday.

The ERC has already visited all the 10 Administrative Regions and received a total of 126 complaints, 83 during those outreach visits and 33 from people who called at its Queenstown office, also in the city.

Fifty-six of the complaints, related to non-ethnic problems, were referred to other agencies and 46 require additional information.

However, the Chairman, Bishop Juan Edghill told the forum yesterday that the main focus of the ERC is on youths and their development.

He said 80 per cent of the concerns previously raised affect young people, the job market and the criteria for gaining employment other than with qualifications, educational and economic opportunities centred on scholarships, the way youths are treated at commercial banks and there is an indication of racial conflict in access to land ownership.

ERC Commissioner, Ms Cheryl Sampson, who represents women on the statutory body, said the interaction with youths was important because they are the ones who will become future leaders and, as far as the outreach went countrywide, they were told youths do not have problems.

But it was found that racial issues with their parents, especially mothers, prevent them from taking friends home.

Commissioner Dr Frank Anthony, the Youth Delegate on the ERC, explained that its voting members are drawn from Christian, Hindu and Muslim religions and youth, women, trade unions and private sector representatives.

According to him, the ERC functions mainly in the areas of conflict resolution, education, research, public awareness and investigations.

Anthony said the ERC has embarked on several activities, such as sensitisation and examination of employment practices in almost all the government ministries and quite a number of companies in the private sector.

Printed promotional material has also been distributed, including pens, calendars, handbills/flyers and press conferences, panel discussions and television shows were organised as part of the public awareness campaign, he stated.

For yesterday’s purpose, the youths in attendance were divided into discussion groups after Anthony reviewed other work done last year, which included conflict transformation and multi-stakeholders fora, religious roundtables and workshops on preventing pre and post-election violence. (Guyana Chronicle)

Written at Saturday, January 28, 2006 by jebratt.

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Friday, January 27, 2006

Please visit http://www.saxacalli.com/index.html

Presently the population of Saxacalli is approximately 250 persons living at Saxacalli – 40 families with approximately 75 women and 80 men. The administrative structure of the village is a simple one with a Community Development Council comprising a Chairman and six Councillors. There is also the presence of a trained Headteacher and a Community Health Worker who play an integral role in the affairs of the village.

The village infrastructure consists of two schools, one newly constructed by the Social Impact Amelioration Programme (SIMAP), a Presbyterian church, and a visitor’s hut.

The community also posses a boat which was built by the village and an engine donated by a generous businessman. There are no police stations in the village and in the event of incidents the nearest help is from the military outpost at Makouria, approximately 5 miles upriver.

Subsistence and Economic Activities

Most of the economic activity at Saxakalli is centred on logging which is done in the backlands of the village, up the creeks and on grants owned by coastlanders and outsiders. Over the years there has been almost wanton cutting by villagers to the extent that they now have to go further and further into the forest. The village does not have grants or lease over areas for logging. Persons, if they are not working for grant owners would be allowed to cut on the grant lands but have to pay royalties to the GFC as well as land sharing to the lease/grant holder. The main harvest species are crabwood, silverballi (furniture wood), purple heart wallaba (posts and staves) and simarupa. Greenheart is sometimes cut but it is hard to locate. Once the wood is cut it is then floated down to Parika.

ishing is done on a subsistence scale using line or seine. These can be found in the vicinity of the village and alongside nearby creeks. Main species caught are Pacu, Basha, Cumma cumma, Haimara , Cartaback. It has been reported that in recent times the seines are getting smaller and smaller and as such even the young ones are being caught. It is apparent that it is more difficult to fish. Farming is done on a subsistence scale within the village though some persons have individual farms in the creeks, mainly Tiger Creek planting ground provisions.

The soil is very good especially for citrus and some cash-crops but there is a severe threat posed by the Acoushi ants and difficulties in ready access to markets. Some members of the community do hunt for subsistence purposes targeting mainly labba, deer, bush-cow and wild hog. Over the years it has become increasingly challenging due to inland migration and reduced populations of target species. It is reported that land mining was taking place in the nearby Groete creek where at one stage over 10 operations were noted. Some of this is legitimate with claims issued while others were illegal. Presently there is distinct discoloration of the water in Groete creek.

http://www.saxacalli.com/index.html

Written at Friday, January 27, 2006 by jebratt.

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Guyana Takes Leadership Of Rio Group

By Odeen Ishmael
Special To HBN

Hardbeatnews, CARACAS, Venezuela, Fri. Jan. 27, 2006: Guyana formally took over the chairmanship of the Rio Group from Argentina on January 20. This is the first time a Caricom member will chair the 20-member Latin American body since its formation two decades years ago.

Guyana has, since 1998, represented the Caricom group of countries, which holds a block membership on the Rio Group. Significantly, this new leadership position can help strengthen links between Caricom and the rest of Latin America.

As a result of this new responsibility, Guyana’s Foreign Affairs Ministry will house the secretariat of the Group until next year when it hands over the chairmanship to the Dominican Republic. A summit of Presidents of the Rio Group will also be hosted by Guyana later this year and will be preceded by a meeting of foreign ministers.

It is imperative that Guyana leads the Rio Group in the continued consolidation of democracy, the promotion of economic and social development within the region and the strengthening of multilateralism as the basis of international relations. No doubt, it will receive the support of all the member-states, which have reiterated their support for this agenda during the past three Rio Group summits.

The Permanent Mechanism of Political Consultation and Coordination – popularised as the Rio Group – was created in 1986 in Rio de Janeiro to bring together the Contadora Group (Mexico, Colombia, Venezuela and Panama) and the Support Group (Argentina, Brazil, Uruguay and Peru), which had met before to analyse and propose solutions to the Central American political crises of that period. Other Latin American countries (Cuba expected) joined the Group in which Central America and Caricom enrolled as regional groups, each represented by a single member. However, in 2000, Costa Rica, the Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Honduras and Nicaragua became full and individual members. Belize was accepted as a full member in 2005.

The major objectives of this organisation, stated in Declaration of Rio de Janeiro in 1986, include expanding political cooperation among the member states; examining and coordinating common positions on international issues; and promoting more efficient operation and coordination of Latin American cooperation and integration organizations. In addition, the objectives aim at finding solutions to regional problems and conflicts and to explore jointly new fields of cooperation, which enhance economic, social, scientific and technological development.

The Veracruz Act of 1999 added more details to these principles, specifically pointing to the advancement of democracy, the promotion and protection of human rights, peace, security and disarmament, and actions against terrorism, corruption and the drug problem. This Act also urged the strengthening of multilateralism, trade relations within the framework of the WTO, regional integration, financial flows and investments, overcoming poverty, sustainable development, and scientific, technological and educational cooperation.

All of these objectives were re-emphasised and further fleshed out in the Cuzco Consensus signed by the Presidents of the Rio Group at their May 2003 summit in Peru.

By assuming this responsibility, Guyana will coordinate and represent the Group's interests and activities and will speak on its behalf at meetings of the various UN bodies and other international organisations. It will also lead regular discussions with other regional groupings, notably the European Union.

These activities, as well as the representational tasks in international and regional bodies, will certainly involve the use expanded material and available human resources.

Judging from the work of previous chairs, Guyana will no doubt be involved in numerous bilateral meeting with Rio Group states having varying positions on regional and international issues on the agenda. Guyana, therefore, will have to play a vibrant diplomatic hand in this process.

During this period, one of the first meetings is expected to be the Guyana-Venezuela High Level Bilateral Commission, which will include a visit of the Venezuelan Foreign Minister to Georgetown. Venezuela itself has some strong views on Latin American and international issues, notably on hemispheric free trade, and it is likely that these will surface during bilateral discussions.

As chair of the group, the country must seize the opportunity to promote initiatives beneficial to Caricom by pushing them to the top of the agenda. As such, on-going discussions on social-economic matters between Caricom and the European Union can be given added momentum when the Group meets with the EU. The revitalisation of US-Latin America relations should also receive crucial attention during this period.

The group also has a special interest in Haiti, particularly with the involvement of Brazil and Chile in United Nations’ Stabilisation Mission in Haiti. Undoubtedly, it will have to pay serious attention to the situation there, since current developments in that Caricom member-state negatively affect political stability in the Caribbean region.

Altogether it will be an interesting year as Guyana takes centre stage in the leadership of the Latin American community. It is certainly not the first time the country has taken on such responsibility. In the past decade it has twice chaired the larger Organisation of American States. Surely, the experience acquired there can also be applied to this new role.

EDITOR’S NOTE: The writer is Guyana’s Ambassador to Venezuela.- Hardbeatnews.com

Written at Friday, January 27, 2006 by jebratt.

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Guyana’s Alliance For Change Has Not Presented An Alternative Vision

By David Hinds
Special To HBN

Hardbeatnews, WASHINGTON, D.C., Fri. Jan. 27, 2006: Except for a brief letter during the early frenzy surrounding the birth of the Alliance For Change, I have refrained from commenting publicly on the advent of this new political entity. Any new political party needs to be given a chance to show in what direction it is going.

Further, I think the advent of the AFC is the culmination of the work that many of us have done since 1997 in advancing what my colleague, Andaiye, calls “an alternative pole.”

Unfortunately, the AFC has presented little or nothing by way of vision. A thorough understanding of the challenges that Guyana faces or a clear statement of how it intends to approach these does not buttress its rhetoric of “change”. For example, there is no clear statement on how the AFC intends to deal with the question of Race, Governance and Shared Nationhood, the country’s principal problem.

However, a few things seem clear about the AFC’s thinking. First, it thinks it can do very well in the upcoming elections. Second, it intends to participate in the upcoming elections under any conditions. Third, it seems more concerned about the AFC’s survival rather than a notional solution. Fourth, it thinks the goodwill from sections of the population is the result of the party’s leadership. Fifth, its interest in a real Third Force is based on AFC’s terms and under AFC leadership. I have arrived at these conclusions from my reading of the AFC’s political moves, but more importantly by a lack of any clear statements to the contrary.

Lets zero in on a critical issue. The AFC and Guyana Third Force have said that they would have nothing to do with the Peoples National Congress and the Peoples Progressive Party. In a normal situation this may probably make sense, as those two parties individually and in tandem have been most responsible for the political decay that has been visited on Guyana these last five decades. It is also suicidal for those who present themselves as new leaders to align themselves with one of these parties or the other - that is tantamount to ganging up with one race or the other. But if the objective is not simply to replace the PNC and the PPP but to replace the present mechanism by which government is arrived at then you have to have the PPP and the PNC at the table.

Only people who hold a narrow view of the country’s future can ignore these two parties at this particular juncture. If the objective is to lay the groundwork for the realization of the hitherto elusive national community based on racial unity, then it is foolish to ignore the PPP and the PNC. We have to start from where we are and not where we want to be. Does anyone think that there can be a political solution in Guyana without the PPP and the PNC? If the AFC and GTF were to create a minor miracle by winning a majority of the vote do they think they can govern Guyana with the PPP and the PNC in opposition?

Supporters of the AFC, in particular, seem to be making an elementary mistake: they are trying to fight the PPP and the PNC on their own turf. They are making elections the cornerstone of their program. They are going around the country shaking hands and sharing out gifts, but doing very little to educate people and organize them to begin to solve their problems.

Like the traditional parties, the AFC’s promise to the people seems to be “Put us in power and we will solve the problems.” Can they beat the PNC and PPP in that arena?

History is a great lesson. The party that came closest to effectively undermining the PPP and the PNC was the pre-1992 WPA. It was able to do so largely because it presented to the public something radically different from the PPP and the PNC agendas. In effect it presented a clear, present and future alternative to those two parties.

But most importantly, the WPA moved the arena of contestation from the ballot box to the highways and villages and workplaces, because it was clear that the ballot box was not the immediate answer.

As I said above, the AFC is yet to present an alternative vision. It seems as if sections of the party are falling for the simplistic notion that Guyana’s problems can be solved by “bright” and “independent” young men changing parties. Guyana has been held back by a combination of historical and global factors.

There is little that can be done about the global factors, but visionary leadership can lead to a solution of the historical factors. The AFC, or any political entity has to confront the racial problem not with showmanship but with ideas and the will to fight for them.

Every now and then, even in the toughest situations, political openings emerge. These openings do not come overnight. They require constant work. While two of the principal leaders of the AFC were in the two big parties trying to do the impossible of bringing about change from the inside, others stayed outside and did the possible--fight for an alternative approach.

It is that pressure, largely at the level of political discourse that kept political space open for forces other than the PNC and the PPP. The two AFC leaders did not have to fight for political space - they walked out of their parties and found that space ready. It is the CN Sharmas, Freddy Kissoons, Tacauma Ogunseyes, Sherwood Lowes, Ravi Devs, Rupert Roopnarines, CY Thomas’, Andaiyes, Clarence Ellis’, Eusi Kwayanas, some of the Talk Show hosts and newspaper columnists, the Stabroek News and Kaieteur News, WPA, GAP ROAR, Red Thread, ACDA, the Amerindian Associations and others who have created this space.

Now the AFC is behaving as though it owns that space and in the process is wasting it. These leaders seem to be listening to the king- makers rather than to the country’s living history. One of the leaders was reported in the press as calling on others to join “their movement”. What movement? The anti-PPP/PNC movement in this country did not start when these two lawyers left their parties. The AFC leaders must recognize this reality or they will add precious little to the country’s forward movement.

There is only one plausible short-term road to a political solution in Guyana at this juncture: the realization of Government of National Unity. This is what history holds up before us and what Guyana has been putting off since 1961. The WPA has long arrived at that position. ROAR has arrived there. The PNC, even as it boasts of electoral virility, has expressed its preference for this approach. The PPP, despite its post-1992 folly, does have a history of favoring power sharing. Joey Jagan has spoken pointedly about his preference for coalition politics. Where is the AFC on this question?

EDITOR’S NOTE: David Hinds is a Guyanese-born, U.S.-based professor and political commentator and runs the website: http://www.guyanacaribbeanpolitics.com/. - Hardbeatnews.com

Written at Friday, January 27, 2006 by jebratt.

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Thursday, January 26, 2006

Former Chronicle correspondent dies

My prayers and sympathies go out to her friends and family...

MRS. GLORIA Mittelholzer D’Ornelas, who once wrote for the Guyana Chronicle, died on January 20, last, in Canada. She was 78.

She was formerly from Skeldon in Berbice and was a Guyana Chronicle correspondent for several years, covering mainly sports.

She was the daughter of the late Cassian and Stella Mittelholzer and the wife of the late Dennis D’Ornelas.

The late Gloria Mittelholzer D’Ornelas leaves to mourn her four children Cassian, Gary, Andrew and Stephen and six grandchildren and will be remembered by many especially in her home town of Skeldon.

She will be laid to rest today in Canada.

(Guyana Chronicle)

Written at Thursday, January 26, 2006 by jebratt.

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Poem - A tribute to Walter Rodney

By Dennis Wiggins

It was the sign of the Times,
A Tribute to Walter Rodney

It was the sign of the times
When voices rise in a revolutionary climb
And an activist fought for the oppressed classes
An intellectual, grounded with the masses
People's power frightened a dictator
Walter Rodney was born the son of a tailor

It was the sign of the times
It was the sign of the times
When with the prophecy of Marcus Garvey
The valleys of Montego Bay were shaken
And with the revelation of Walter Rodney
The slums of Tiger Bay were awakened

It was the sign of the times
It was the sign of the times
A history of the Upper Guinea Coast he wrote
The education of the black race influenced his growth
When in exploitation a continent deals,
How Europe underdeveloped Africa Rodney reveals

It was the sign of the times
It was the sign of the times
When they feared another Che Guevara
So they banned him from Jamaica
To the students his brilliance was denied
Too radical for the University of Guyana they lied

It was the sign of the times
It was the sign of the times
When repressed a nation rallied
Without a vote to tally
Heeding the call of Walter Rodney
Expecting a new day to dawn:
Rejecting the division of racist scorn

It was the sign of the times
When a son of Guyana so fearless shined
A hero's courage glittered like fire
In the Caribbean and Africa a revolution desired
By a scholar all so admired

It was the sign of the times
It was the sign of the times
When in cowardice his blood they shed
But in quartet his teachings lay not dead
For every youth that gathers together
His words so rich shall never wither

It is the sign of the times
It is the sign of the times
When his legacy they buried in a grave's decline
His prodigious deeds spring from dark obscurity
To be known to the world its destiny

It is the sign of the times
It is the sign of the times
Walter Rodney lives in every heart and mind
As the story of this revolutionary unfolds
Every listening ear will be told
A cherished place in history his memory holds

It is the sign of the times
It is the sign of the times

Written at Thursday, January 26, 2006 by jebratt.

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Special Thanks to my awesome cousin Owen for this link !!

The Caribbean Guyana Institute for Democracy ("CGID")

The Caribbean Guyana Institute for Democracy ("CGID") is a not for profit, non-partisan think-tank that was founded in 2000. Its primary goals are to promote the strengthening and institutionalization of democratic values in Guyana and the Caribbean. A cardinal tenet of CGID's philosophy is that freedom, peace, and prosperity cannot be attained without an open society and a democratic way of life.

CGID's mission is to: promote democratic governance, social justice and national development; and to foster a harmonious, open society in which there is equal opportunity for all, the rule of law is supreme and the immutable human rights of all citizens are fully respected; and to promote a society in which free speech, freedom of the press, association and all other human freedoms flourish as a facet of national life.

CGID's pursuit of democracy is unrelenting and permanent. Although the Institute was formed to promote the growth of democratic institutions and good governance in Guyana and the Caribbean, its mission has expanded in geography and scope. The Institute will form alliances with like organizations to ensure that the democratic rights of citizens in Guyana and the Caribbean are enforced and maintained and that citizens coexist in a prosperous, cohesive, open society.

CGID promotes fundamental fairness through free and fair elections. While recognizing that free and fair elections form the cornerstone of a democratic society it is not an absolute guarantee to democratic governance. Homogeneous with this practice must be the entitlement of each person to the fundamental rights outlined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Equal opportunity regardless of race, ethnicity, religion, gender or creed, along with the right of each citizen to elect his/her own representatives, are absolute rights which must be protected as well.

The CGID endorses a free enterprise economic system, with effective state programs to ensure that the physically and psychologically disabled and the dispossessed are protected and cared for by the state. The institute also embraces a society in which "the people" are the ultimate arbiters in an economic system that is conducive to their growth and development, and that the resources of the state are utilized for the benefit of all of its peoples.

CGID endorses and promotes a strong, independent judiciary that is made up of intelligent judges who can and are willing to correctly and adequately interpret, apply and uphold the law and constitution of the land. The Institute strongly advocates that every judicial official functions in a non-partisan and competent manner, fully cognizant that maintenance and enforcement of the law in an impartial manner is a prerequisite for equal justice under law, fair play and good order. CGID therefore monitors judiciaries and law enforcement authorities in Guyana and the Caribbean to gauge their fulfillment of their constitutional functions.

http://www.guyanainstitute.com/aboutus.html

Written at Thursday, January 26, 2006 by jebratt.

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Walter Rodney appealed to all ethnic groups

By Dennis Wiggins - May 2005

One of the saddest occurrences since the conception of Guyana as an independent state was the murder of Walter Rodney, one of Guyana's, the Caribbean's and Africa's most brilliant historians, authors, thinkers, and social and political activists. Another is the continued indifference with which Guyana has treated Rodney's legacy. In every progressive society, where a personality has made extraordinary contributions to either of the major disciplines, social, political, literary, economic, environmental, musical etc., on the national and international stage, those contributions are not only preserved and recognized by generations but are celebrated by that society. If that personality emerges from a small society like Guyana, even greater are those contributions exalted.

Sadly in Guyana today, Rodney's contributions and memory continue to be suppressed. My nephew who is a 13-year-old high school sophomore recently asked me, what is Rodney's legacy? He proceeded to inform me that nothing is taught about Rodney in his school. So out of curiosity I gave him an assignment to find out from his peers, how many of them know of Walter Rodney and his teachings. Of the 15 students he interviewed, he said seven never heard of Walter Rodney and the other eight only know the name and that he was associated with the WPA. The latter group, I can venture to say out of generosity, represents the majority of our young Guyanese. Unfortunately, whenever letters are written about Rodney in the press they tend only to accentuate one aspect of his life, that is, his opposition to Burnham and the subsequent events leading up to his murder. Rarely in Guyana are his thoughts, ideology, and writings expound upon.

As we struggle with the question of race and ethnicity, in the deepening ethnic cleavage in the Guyanese society, at present, Rodney's thinking on race in the Guyanese context can best help us understand who we are as a people.

In an article written by Br. Eusi Kwayana, another brilliant son of Guyana, whose contributions we have also chosen to forget, titled, 'Walter Rodney,' Eusi wrote, "One thing which kept Rodney out of Guyana for four extra years was the political cleavage among the working people of Guyana, a Political scene which had as its main tendency the political racial polarization would have been a very inhospitable one for him to return to."

Upon his return to Guyana in 1974, Rodney was able to successfully engage the intellectual class and the working class as partners in social and political activism. Rodney appealed to the class-consciousness of the working people and encouraged workers self emancipation and as such appealed to all ethnic groups, even as he was a Pan Africanist. He argued that the intellectuals should use their skills for the benefit of the working people and the poor. Rodney was successful in putting this advice into practice. One of the earliest offices of the WPA was in the Tiger Bay area, one of the poorest, if not the poorest neighbourhood in Georgetown, where milk and other food items were given out to the often-hungry children and educational classes were conducted for the mostly illiterate adults. That's where as a young boy roaming the area and ending up in the WPA office for milk my consciousness was raised.

Rodney argued that the time must come when the Indian and African will organize around their interest as producers in the Guyanese society as distinct from pursuing this myth of racial superiority and racial subjugation. He further argued that exploitation has little or nothing to do with whether one is Indian or African in the Guyanese context. Rodney was an unswerving advocate for the oppressed and exploited classes. In the Guyanese context this included the Indian, African, Amerindian, Chinese, Portuguese etc.

Today some Indian intellectuals hold the position that if they agitate on behalf of the black poor they will betray the Indian masses and some black intellectuals also hold the position that if they agitate on behalf of the Indian poor, they will betray the black masses. This position is paradoxical to the claims of social consciousness.

Rodney believed the intellectual class, as distinct from the middle class who he was very critical of, is the vessel of ideas and the working class the source of energy for revolutionary struggle? The intellectual class, Rodney postulates, are the guardians of morally imperative societies, especially in the Caribbean and Africa. Rodney argued that the middle class in the post colonial Caribbean and Africa was a continuation of the imperialist exploitation, serving as its "compradors." Though this class can modify its position to confront imperialism on some issues he argued, it is unwilling to disestablish its political power position, and that is what leads to a kind of political paternalism. This analysis of the middle class can be made thirty years later.

One of the most interesting things about Rodney is that even though he believed in Marxist philosophy, Rodney saw himself as a progressive. He believed in the rate of change and the rate at which problems are being confronted.

Is Rodney's thinking relevant in Guyana twenty-five years later?

If one examines post Rodney Guyana, one would find a society that has allowed the political elites to continue to manipulate the working class and the very poor into passive ethnic divisions and the raison d'etre of the intellectual is as impotent observer or reactionary commentator. There are hardly any objective inquiries and relentless criticisms of the socio-economic decay in our society. The conditions of the working class and unemployed in Guyana are so appalling that it warrants serious actions and activism. The intellectuals are best suited to confront this situation.

We live in an underdeveloped multi-ethnic society, where the ruling political elites have found it convenient to withhold resources for its own political advantages. In doing so, it avoids the class question and focus on race and ethnicity to serve its own narrow self-interest and maintain power.

On the other hand, in confronting this situation, some take a reactionary position in reverting to the race question to explain the inequalities. Not only is the use of race an inadequate solution, because it ignores the suffering of the poor in other ethnic groups, it is counter to the process of development, needed to alleviate poverty.

The argument here is not that race is not an important factor in Guyana. It is such an important question, that we cannot and should not ignore its significance to the political, economic and social well-being of Guyana. However, in the context of Guyana, it is more important as a cultural capacity-building mechanism. In this era of global capitalist imposition, race is important as a weapon, in the economic sense, to fight poverty and inequality, rather than a political weapon aimed at destroying another ethnic group. Racial and ethnic alliances must be formed to fight poverty and inequality. Here again Rodney's thinking is important. Rodney argued that the race question must be looked at differently, depending on the society. He sites the scenario of the white working class and black working class alliances in the Cuban Revolution, given that in the Cuban society the white working class was also an oppressed working class, whereas in the US the white working class is an oppressive working class. Therefore race does not mean the same thing in the Cuban society as it does in the US. In this analysis Rodney believed racial and ethnic alliances can be a necessity to fight political and economic oppression.

This analysis fits very well in the Guyanese context. The Indian and African working class and unemployed must realize their disadvantages in the ethnic division.

Those disadvantages are that their interests are not adequately represented. That they live in extreme poverty; that the divisions in the trade union movement are not benefiting their economic well being; that by supporting political parties along racial lines they are undermining their own development and the development of the country. It is important for us to begin to think critically of how we can empower our selves and our communities. So let us celebrate Rodney's thinking with actions, and leadership.

Written at Thursday, January 26, 2006 by jebratt.

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Select Bibliography of Works by Walter Rodney

Rodney, Walter. [1967] 1985. West Africa and the Atlantic Slave Trade . Cambridge , MA : Africa Research Group.

---. [1969] 1990. Groundings with My Brothers . London : Bogle-L'Ouverture Publications.

---. [1970] 1982. History of the Upper Guinea Coast 1545 -1800 . New York ; Monthly Review Press.

---. [1972]. 1982. How Europe Underdeveloped Africa . Washington D.C. : Howard University Press. Rev. ed.

---. [1972] 1988. How Europe Underdeveloped Africa . London : Bogle-L'Ouverture Publications.

---. "Some Thoughts on the Political Economy of the Caribbean ". Address delivered at the Caribbean Unity Conference at Howard University, Washington D.C., April 21.

---. 1972. Some Thoughts on the Political Economy of the Caribbean . [S. I.]: NBM.

---. 1976. World War II and the Tanzanian Economy . Ithaca , NY : African Studies and Research Center , Cornell University .

---. 1978. "Birth of the Guyanese Working Class and the First Sugar Strikes 1840/41 and 1847." Address at Ferdinand Braudel Center , December 11.

---. 1979. Guyanese Sugar Plantations in the Late Nineteenth Century : A Contemporary Description from the "Argosy" . Georgetown , Guyana : Release Publishers.

---, ed. 1980. Kofi Baadu out of Africa . Georgetown , Guyana : [n.p.].

---. 1981. "Birth of the Guyanese Working Class and the First Sugar Strikes 1840/41 and 1847." Review IV.4. , Spring.

---. 1981. Sign of the Times : Rodney's Last Speech, 6/6/80 with tributes by Rupert Roopnaraine, Eusi Kwayana and Horace Campbell. Georgetown , Guyana : Working People's Alliance .

---. 1989. Birth of the Guyanese Working Class and the First Sugar Strikes 1840/41 and 1847 . Georgetown , Guyana : Working People's Alliance .

---. [1981] 1990. A History of the Guyanese Working People 1881 - 1905 . Baltimore , MD : The Johns Hopkins University Press.

---. 1990. Walter Rodney Speaks : The Making of an African Intellectual . Trenton , New Jersey : Africa World Press.

Rodney, Walter, Kapepwa Tambila and Laurent Sago. 1983. Migrant Labour in Tanzania during the Colonial Period : Case Studies of Recruitment and Conditions of Labour in the Sisal Industry . Hamburg : Institut fur Africa-Kunde im Verbund der Stiflung Deutsches Ubersee-Institut.

Authors on Walter Rodney

Alpers. Edward A. and Pierre-Michel Fontaine, eds. 1982. Walter Rodney, Revolutionary and Scholar : A Tribute . Los Angeles : Center for Afro-American Studies and African Studies Center , University of California , Los Angeles .

Bogues, Anthony. 2003. Black Heretics , Black Prophets : Radical Political Intellectuals . New York : Taylor and Francis, Inc.

Brathwaite, Kamau. 1993. Middle Passages . Reprint. New York : New Directions Publishing Corporation.

Campbell , Horace.1987. Rasta and Resistance from Marcus Garvey to Walter Rodney . Trenton , NJ : Africa World Press.

Ekuerhare, Bright U. 1985. On Industrial Underdevelopment in Nigeria : A Theoretical Celebration of Walter Rodney . [n.p.].

Gibbons, Arnold. 1994. Walter Rodney and His Times . Introduction by Wole Soyinka.

Georgetown , Guyana : Guyana National Printers Limited. 1st ed.

Gilkes, Michael. 1987. Creative Schizophrenia: The Caribbean Cultural Challenge . Coventry , UK : Centre for Caribbean Studies, University of Warwick .

Hall , Stuart . 1991. Myths of Caribbean Identity . Coventry , UK : Centre for Caribbean Studies, University of Warwick .

Harding, Vincent. 1974. Education and Black Struggle : Notes from the Colonized World . Boston , Mass: Harvard Educational Review Monograph no.2.

Hennessy, Alistair. 1992. Intellectuals in the Twentieth Century Caribbean . London : MacMillan Caribbean .

Kwayana, Eusi. [1988] 1991. Walter Rodney . Wellesley , Mass. : Calaloux Publications.

James, C. L. R.1983. Walter Rodney and the Question of Power . London : Race Today Publications.

Lewis, Rupert. 2000. Walter Rodney : 1968 Revisited . Barbados : Canoe Press, University of the West Indies .

---. 1998. Walter Rodney's Intellectual and Political Thought . Barbados : University of the West Indies Press: Detroit : Wayne State University Press.

Marable, Manning. 1987. "Race, Class and Democracy: Walter Rodney's Thoughts on the Black American Struggle." Third Walter Rodney Memorial Lecture delivered at Easling Town Hall , London , United Kingdom , June 13.

---. 1988. Race, Class and Democracy : Walter Rodney's Thoughts on the Black American Struggle . London : Friends of Bogle.

Nabende, J. S. 1987 [?]. A Critical Study of the Works of Walter Rodney . Nairobi : Department of History, University of Nairobi .

Ngugi wa Thiong'o. 1987. First Walter Rodney Memorial Lecture . Ealing, London : Friends of Bogle.

Thomas, Clive Yolande. 1988. "Political Democracy and the Radical Project of the Third World ." Walter Rodney Memorial Lecture, May.

---. 1992. Political Democracy and the Radical Project of the Third World . Georgetown , Guyana : Institute of Development Studies, University of Guyana .

Walter Rodney : Poetic Tributes . [1985] 1994. Introduction by Andrew Salkey, foreword by David Dabydeen. London : Bogle-L'Ouverure Publications.

Written at Thursday, January 26, 2006 by jebratt.

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For Walter Rodney

Assassins of conversation

They bury the voice they assassinate

in the beloved grave of the voice, never to be silent.

I sit in the presence of rain in the sky's wild noise

Of the feet of some who not only, but also, kill the origin of rain,

the ankle of the whore, as fastidious as the great fight, the wife of water.

Riskier, risk.

I intend to turn a sky of tears for you

By Martin Carter (1980)

Written at Thursday, January 26, 2006 by jebratt.

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Walter Rodney: Visionary and Freedom Fighter

This year marks the twenty fifth anniversary of the assassination of Walter Rodney in Georgetown , Guyana . A tireless champion of the rights of working people everywhere, Rodney, in his short lifetime, made his mark as one of the pre-eminent thinkers of the 20 th century.

Rodney was born on March 23, 1942 in Georgetown , Guyana . He grew up in a period of great social and political change in Guyana , a circumstance which made an indelible mark on his life and thought. He attended the elite Queen's College on an open exhibition scholarship, and a distinguished high school career culminated in his winning a further scholarship to the University of the West Indies , Mona , Jamaica , in 1960.

While in Jamaica , Rodney was an active supporter of Caribbean unity, giving his voice to the West Indian Federation in the referendum of 1961. He traveled extensively within the country, becoming well acquainted with its people and speaking out fearlessly in defense of the poor. The outspokenness and passion for justice that marked Rodney's character, aroused the suspicions of the political directorate, and he was closely watched.

Rodney obtained a B.A. in History with First Class Honors and in 1963 entered the University of London to study African History at the School of Oriental and African Studies. There, he became a member of the group of Caribbean workers and students who studied and debated with CLR James, and was known as a participant in Hyde Park Corner "disputations." His research took him to Spain and Portugal ; he learnt Spanish and Portuguese. In 1966, at age 24, Rodney obtained his doctoral degree. His dissertation was published as A History of the Upper Guinea Coast , 1545-1800.

Rodney taught History at the University of Dar es Salaam in Tanzania from 1964 to 1967. Tanzania was then at the hub of political ferment in Africa . In 1964 the Zanzibar revolution had radicalized the politics of East Africa and in 1967 the Tanzanian government launched the Arusha Declaration on self reliance. Also, Che Guevara had traveled through the country on his way to fight in the Congo . Rodney found himself at the cutting edge of change that was sweeping through Europe 's colonies and ex-colonies.

His return to Jamaica in 1968 to lecture at his alma mater coincided with the rise of mass political activity in the island, and he became deeply involved. He worked closely with poor people and "grounded" with Rastafarians in Kingston and other parts of the country, meshing his work among the poor with a phenomenal scholarly output. The book, Groundings with My Brothers , is a collection of the public "grassroots" discussions in which he engaged during this period.

The year 1968 was historic for uprisings worldwide. Rodney attended the Black Writers Conference in Montreal , in October of that year. On his return, the Jamaican government, which had continued its policy of keeping him under police surveillance, banned him from Jamaica . The ban had massive repercussions. Students marched on government offices and ordinary people, angry at the expulsion, joined forces with the students in the massive popular uprising that became known as "the Rodney affair."

After the expulsion, Rodney traveled in Canada and Cuba , returning in 1969 to Dar es Salaam University where he became central to the development of the intellectual tradition known as the Dar es Salaam School . His numerous writings on socialism, imperialism, working class struggle, Pan Africanism and slavery contributed to the body of knowledge known as the Dar es Salaam School of Thought. It was out of this intellectual milieu that he published his best-known work, How Europe Underdeveloped Africa . He traveled extensively throughout East Africa , and was one of the founders of the History Teachers Workshop of Tanzania, which rewrote the textbooks used to teach high school students in Tanzania . Rodney believed that racial insecurity could be overcome only when children understood their history and learnt respect for others.

Rodney always wanted to return to the Caribbean and he wanted to know Guyana . In 1974, he moved back to Georgetown to take up a post at the University of Guyana . Underestimating his commitment, the government canceled the appointment, in the hope that he would leave. Instead, over the next six years, he threw himself into independent research and political organization, founding and leading the Working People's Alliance (WPA) and increasing his stature as an international scholar. Through the WPA, he sought to further reconciliation among all racial groups in Guyana . He published a study of 19 th century Guyana plantations and began a three volume study of the Guyanese working people. It was never completed.

On June 13, 1980 , Rodney was assassinated by a man who handed him a bomb concealed in a walkie-talkie. A History of the Guyanese Working People , 1881-1905 , the first volume of his unfinished work, was published posthumously by Johns Hopkins University Press in 1981. In that same year, Howard University Press reissued How Europe Underdeveloped Africa , the second edition of which it had first published in 1974.

For several years, Rodney had lived his life as a marked man. Prior to his own assassination, his close colleagues, Ohene Kahama and Edward Dublin, were also killed. His assassin was never brought to justice, but Rodney's legacy remains an inspiration to people of African descent, colonized peoples and lovers of justice and human dignity throughout the world over.

Rodney is survived by his wife, Dr. Patricia Rodney and their three children: Asha, Kanini and Shaka.

By Horace Campbell, Ph.D.

Written at Thursday, January 26, 2006 by jebratt.

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Guyana Finance Minister Allots G$795 For Drainage & Irrigation Revamp

Hardbeatnews, GEORGETOWN, Guyana, Tues. Jan. 24, 2006: With flood waters still affecting residents in several areas across the country, Guyana’s Minister of Finance, Saisnarine Kowlessar, yesterday announced that G$795 million will be allocated to help improve the country’s drainage and irrigation system.

Kowlessar, who presented a historic G$102.9 B budget in parliament yesterday for the 2006 fiscal year, said the money will be allocated to the National Drainage and Irrigation Board to conduct urgent works in several urban areas and the regions.

This include, he said, rehabilitating channels and structures from Westbury to Cozier, and from Lima to Good Hope; and rehabilitating embankment at Iturbisi Conservancy and a drainage pump at Cozier in region 2 and constructing culverts at northern and western Hogg Island and earthen dam at Palmyra, Wakenaam; rehabilitating structures and channels in Northern Leguan, and excavating canals at Hubu and Goed Intent/Sisters Villages; and rehabilitating embankment and structures on the Boerasire Water Conservancy in region 3.

In Region 4, the money will also help construct a new sluice at Triumph, East Coast Demerara, said the minister, as well as undertake emergency repairs and remedial works on the East Demerara Water Conservancy and rehabilitate channels and structures in Buxton/Friendship, Mon Repos/Plaisance, Mocha/Timehri, and Grove/Haslington areas.

In region 5, the funds will also help to construct a check structure through the Perth/Baiboo main canal and purchase and install two mobile pumps in Black Bush Polder, Mara and Highbury, East Bank Berbice in region 6.

Kowlessar also said “works will continue in the MMA-ADA Scheme, including the rehabilitation of the Abary Conservancy dam, primary channels and access roads.” He revealed that equipment costing $500 million, is due to arrive this year and will be used to rehabilitate approximately 160 miles of secondary D&I channels and 95 miles of fair weather access roads.

The minister also said that over G$2 billion will be expended to continue the sea defense program with about $650 million from this amount set to be used for emergency sea defense works, specifically the rehabilitation of critical sea and river defense in Regions 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6.

OTHER HIGHLIGHTS OF THE BUDGET INCLUDE:

1. The establishment of a Deportee Monitoring Unit to counter the negative impact of the growing number of deportees in the country.
2. An increase in the income tax threshold to G$25,000 from $20,000.
3. An increase of 75 percent in old age pensions and public assistance.
4. Over $1.9B has been budgeted to increase access to improved housing facilities for low-income families.
5. G$4.5 billion to continue improvement of highways, roads and bridges.
6. Setting up of a major Citizens Security Program to boost the institutional capacity of the Guyana Police Force and the involvement of communities in crime fighting.

The budget was 11.5 percent more than the 2005 fiscal plan and 19.1 percent higher. It comes at a time when the country faces serious loses from rice, one of its export crops, due to the weeks old flooding and as the government, along with other Caricom and African, Pacific countries battle a drop in price per tonnage for sugar in the European Union. Still Kowlessar anticipated a Real Gross Domestic Product growth by 4.3 percent in a year when elections are constitutionally due. – Hardbeatnews.com

Written at Thursday, January 26, 2006 by jebratt.

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Oasis Cafe

Written at Thursday, January 26, 2006 by jebratt.

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New flood reports

FLOODING in specific areas along Guyana’s coastline spawned by unusual high intensity rains which began almost two months ago, has now been confirmed in the remote Mabaruma settlement in Region One (Barima/Waini), Head of the Presidential Secretariat, Dr Roger Luncheon said yesterday.

He told reporters there have been “new reports of flooding in the Mabaruma settlement and sub-region” following a reported rise in the water level in the Mabaruma River.

At his weekly post-Cabinet news conference at the Office of the President, Luncheon said the flood situation in the Mabaruma region was being assessed.

His update came as heavy rainfall over the coastland yesterday kept water levels in the Mahaica, Mahaicony and Abary rivers at unprecedented levels, and the National Drainage and Irrigation Authority (NDIA) operated all its sluices and pumps to drain water in residential communities.

Chairman of the NDIA, Mr Ravi Narine, said water in the three rivers, whose residents have faced the brunt of heavy rains, remained significantly high, and with the Lama and Maduni sluices flushing water out of the bloated East Demerara Water Conservancy (EDWC), there is no telling when the levels in the waterways would drop.

Even though the water is being let out through Maduni, Lama, Kofi and Land of Canaan sluices, when it rains heavily, the level in the EDWC increases every day between 2-3 inches, he said.

The water level in the EDWC measured from key locations yesterday was: Lama 58.10 GD, Flagstaff 58.70, Land of Canaan 55.95, and Mahaica 56.95.

Narine said with the operation of two large pumps at Onverwagt and Trafalgar, the water level in West Coast Berbice villages had dropped, but rose again with the heavy rainfall yesterday.

At Supply, Mahaica, Narine said vandalism to drainage structures there had resulted in flooding. He reported that the NDIA moved to install two pumps to take off floodwaters but this too rose with the heavy rainfall.

The water also rose tremendously at Victoria and Golden Grove on the East Coast Demerara, Narine said, but interventions by the NDIA provide for an early drainage of the water accumulated.

A pump supplied by Omai Goldmines was installed at Victoria, while dredging of the outfall at Golden Grove began, he said.

On the West Coast Demerara, residents at Met-en-Meerzorg reported flooding and a pump was deployed to the area, Narine said. At Canals Polder 1 and 2, he said, floodwaters had receded a lot.

At Charity on the Essequibo Coast, the heavy rains saw the pump there being put into operation again as a result of the build up of water caused by yesterday’s downpours.

Luncheon noted that the Boerasirie Conservancy in Region Three (Essequibo Islands/West Demerara) was functioning well and the level was being maintained by discharging excess water into the Demerara and Essequibo rivers.

The top government official said interventions have led to falling water levels in residential areas in Region Five (Mahaica/Berbice) but acknowledged that the “situation there is depressing”.

In Region Six (East Berbice/Corentyne), Luncheon said some flooding was still evident on the front lands as anti-flood intervention continues in the Black Bush Polder areas. He also noted that the overall impact of the flood is significant with households, traditional agricultural, cash crops and cattle farmers suffering the most.

Meanwhile, the Civil Defence Commission (CDC) is continuing to oversee the reporting of developments and interventions in the flood affected regions.

Luncheon said he, as the National Disaster Coordinator, along with the CDC, continue to host information briefings with Non Governmental Organisations, political parties and the media on the flood situation.

He noted, too, that the Army and Police involvement has become more pronounced with members of the Army being deployed at the seven shelters established so far for flood victims as well as on patrolling duties on the East Coast Demerara Crown Dam.

Medical teams have been mobilised and fully assigned to the flood-hit Pomeroon, Canal Polder, MMA and Black Bush Polder areas, he said.

Luncheon also lashed out at the continuing criticism that President Jagdeo and his ministers are too involved in the flood response activities.

Noting that the role of the People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) political directorate has, and will always be “people based at events such as natural disasters”, he argued that to reject this position is “unreasonable and unacceptable”.

(Guyana Chronicle)

Written at Thursday, January 26, 2006 by jebratt.

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Wednesday, January 25, 2006

$ raised for teen cancer patient

NINETEEN-year-old Leynear Johnson of Linden is set to leave for Trinidad tomorrow to undergo treatment there for skin cancer following donations from the government and the public.

He mother had appealed for help through the media and the government pledged US$5,000 towards the US$6,500 needed for the operation at the St Clair Medical Centre in Trinidad.

DeSinco Trading Limited is sponsoring two tickets for Leynear and her mother, Venessa Bellamy, to travel to Trinidad at a cost of $147,064. The cheque was handed over yesterday to Ms. Bellamy.

A telethon on the National Communications Network (NCN) television ‘Operation Albino’ programme on Monday, in Linden, raised G$447,000.

Chairman of the Regional Democratic Council’s Welfare Committee, Ms Valerie Sharp confirmed collecting an additional US$350 and TT$100. She said they were targeting a total of G$700,000 to take care of all necessary expenses including accommodation for the girl’s mother. The duration of their stay in Trinidad is not known.

Sharp said with the sum collected from the telethon effort, and another $62,000 paid directly into the account at National Bank of Industry and Commerce (NBIC) the contributions total $650,800.

She added that British West Indian Airways (BWIA) had agreed to special fares to take the girl and her mother but because of a misunderstanding, the tickets were not ready for the expected departure today, and they will leave for Trinidad tomorrow.

Johnson, referred to as an Albino because of her skin colour, started to suffer nearly two years ago after a mole on her face was treated and three others appeared.

Because it is not known how long the teenager is likely to be in the twin island republic, the account 516-773-9 is still open for donations.

(Guyana Chronicle)

Written at Wednesday, January 25, 2006 by jebratt.

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Skin cancer teen for Trinidad tomorrow -over $650,000 raised for treatment

Personnel Manager of Desinco, Nathely Mars (left), is seen handing over the cheque for $147,064 to the mother of skin cancer victim, Lynear Johnson, Vanessa Bellamy. (Ken Moore photo)

Over $650,000 has been raised to assist skin cancer patient Lynear Johnson and it is expected that the teenager would leave the country tomorrow for Trinidad where she will commence treatment at the St Claire's Hospital.

Johnson, 19, and her mom Vanessa Bellamy, were expected to leave for Trinidad today but there was a problem with the form which needs to be signed by the doctor stating that the girl was fit to travel as this is required by BWIA.

Meanwhile, Desinco Trading Limited yesterday handed over a cheque for $147,064 for the purchase of the tickets for the girl and her mother. According to Personnel Manager of the company, Nathely Mars, the company's Managing Direc-tor, Frank DeAbreu, was touched by the girl's plight which he learned about in the newspapers and on television and decided to assist by purchasing the tickets. He said that the sponsorship could not have been possible without the company's faithful customers in Linden.

And Chairperson of the Regional Welfare Committee, Valerie Sharp, told Stabroek News that the telethon they held in the mining town on Monday night saw an outpouring of support for Johnson and they received pledges to the sum of $400,000 with an additional pledge of US$300 and TT$100.

Up to yesterday afternoon persons honouring their pledges took the amount to $255,300 and US$170 and TT$100. She said that persons would continue to honour their pledges today. She stated that the National Bank of Industry & Commerce's 516-773-9 account had the sum of $290,000 yesterday afternoon.

Sharp said that Bellamy and her mother would no longer be staying at a friend in Trinidad as the hospital is not located near to the friend's home and the transportation cost would have been astronomical. As a result the two will still need money for their accommodation in Trinidad and Sharp said a boarding house close to the hospital has already been located and it has accommodation at a reasonable and affordable price.

She is therefore appealing to public-spirited citizens to continue to support Johnson with their contributions through the bank account as they are not sure how long the treatment would last in Trinidad and money would have to be sent to the mother and daughter to cover boarding, transportation, food and any other medical cost that may be incurred.

Johnson, who hails from Linden, has been suffering from the cancer which has attacked the right side of her face for the past eighteen months. Stabroek News published her story last week Tuesday and since then there has been a massive response by the public to her plight. After the publication it was established that US$6,500 was needed for her treatment and the government contributed US$5,000 leaving Johnson to contribute US$1,500 for the treatment.

Johnson's mom yesterday once again expressed gratitude to the many persons who heard her daughter's cry and responded. She was touched by the outpouring of support she received during the telethon.

The young woman is an albino which means her skin has no protection from the sun hence the skin cancer. Her mom said she continues to live in constant pain stating that the nights are especially difficult and most times she has to sleep in the day. She said that tablets are no longer relieving the pain and she would have to take her to the hospital for an injection to help alleviate the pain.

The cancer started as a simple mole which developed into an abscess that was cut by a doctor and appeared to have healed. But shortly after the first one was cut, three other abscesses emerged leaving the young woman in constant pain. Her hair had to be cut off as the pain made it very difficult for her to comb it.

Persons who may want to reach Johnson or her mom can call 444-2711 and 646-1127 while Sharp can be reached at 444-6058 or 444-3048.

Stabroek News

Written at Wednesday, January 25, 2006 by jebratt.

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Tuesday, January 24, 2006

British Guiana Colonists

Introduction

This site contains an index to an on-going database of 18th and 19th century residents of the colonies of Berbice, Demerara, and Essequebo (with some connected relatives). From 1803 these colonies became British Guiana, and from Independence in 1966 has been known as Guyana.

Sources of information include State Libraries and Universities in Australia, Dutch publications, the Centraal Bureau voor Genealogie and Algemeen Rijksarchief at the Hague, Leiden University Library, the Gemeentearchief Amsterdam, Genealogical Societies of England and Australia and Rhodes Library at Cambridge. Extracts from countless books, newspapers at the British Museum Newspaper Library and the National Archives in London, the 1881 and 1901 Census, the Guildhall in London, the Church of the Latter Day Saints and the Internet. Also those with British Guiana colonial ancestors who have personally contributed through emails to the database.

The 'British Guiana Colonists' site depends on exchange of information. Names in this database have been entered over a period of years and corrections are inevitable. If you detect an error or you'd like further information on any of the names please contact me (Tikwis Begbie) by E-mail.

Other A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T V W Y Z

http://ariel.ucs.unimelb.edu.au/~rvc/tb/index.html

Written at Tuesday, January 24, 2006 by jebratt.

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Monday, January 23, 2006

LOOK AT ME !!!!

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tango@shaw.ca

http://www.lookatmecostumes.ca/

Written at Monday, January 23, 2006 by jebratt.

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British Empire Exhibition 1924 British Guiana & W.I.

Written at Monday, January 23, 2006 by jebratt.

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Sunday, January 22, 2006

Letter to Stabroek News

Dear Editor,

Your report on Lynear Johnson who is suffering from skin cancer caught my attention and brought tears to my eyes since I had a similar skin problem when I was about 15 - 16 years old. The only reason that I am here writing this is because my parents were in a position to afford the doctors and treatments I desperately needed. The biopsies, ultraviolet treatments, bush doctors, and finally a trip to Trinidad where I was told that my condition was as a result of an allergic reaction to laxatives. - What a reaction? No wonder, I hated laxatives especially senna and cascara and even the brooklax chocolates. I also remembered the pain that I experienced. My friends, you have no idea how unbearable the pain can be. If you don't have enough faith you will wish for death.

As I read the article it brought back memories of myself and I felt for this girl as she is a teenager who is suffering both physically and mentally. When I received Lennais' pictures I realized I was not as bad as I thought and thanked God for what I had and I was nowhere close to those pictures so I know she has got to be in greater pain.

I remembered going to school wearing long sleeve shirts and my uniform to my ankles to hide my condition. I was lucky that in those days the kids were not as cruel as they are to each other today. I loved modelling in fashion shows and even hosted one. So you can imagine how devastating it was for me, mentally and physically when I developed the allergic reaction.

I was blessed to be able to buy my skin and my pride back because of loving parents who could have afforded it and a brother who really wanted to have his sister alive. Vanessa is not that fortunate except for her Mother who is helping her cope and needs our help. I can and do empathize with this young girl and that is why I am asking for your support in this matter.

Let's put our heads and our hearts together to help this girl regain her dignity so that she may have a chance at a normal life.

I was able to make contact with her Mother in Guyana and a relative in Maryland and with the ongoing correspondence on her this is definitely a legitimate cause that needs outpouring help.

An account number has been setup at NBIC "National Bank of Industry & Commerce" in Guyana 516-773-9 to which persons can contribute. I can be contacted at 973-672-6969.

Her mother can be contacted on telephone numbers 011-592-444-2711 and 011-592-646-1127 while Sharp can be reached at 011-592-444-6058 and 011-444-3048.

Yours faithfully,

Allison Butters-Grant

CEO & President

B & G Caribbean

Seafood Market, Inc.

New Jersey, USA

Editor's note

The medical expenses for treatment in Trinidad are estimated at US $ 6500. There will also be travelling and living expenses. The government is contributing US $5000. So far about US$1000 has been raised and BWIA has agreed to give a reduction of 50% on Ms Johnson's ticket and 10% on her mother's ticket.

Written at Sunday, January 22, 2006 by jebratt.

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Guyana Colonial Newspapers Online

This site contains transcripts and images of early 19th century newspapers from the colonies that made up present day Guyana. Newspapers from this era form a valuable source of information as many primary sources have been lost.

This material has been transcribed by John Wilmer from microfilm.

http://ariel.ucs.unimelb.edu.au/~rvc/edg/index.html

Written at Sunday, January 22, 2006 by jebratt.

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Saturday, January 21, 2006

The Red House

Written at Saturday, January 21, 2006 by jebratt.

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Demerara Windows

Written at Saturday, January 21, 2006 by jebratt.

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Greenheart wood

Ipe, pronounced ee-pay, is an impressive looking tree that grows in Brazil as well as throughout Central and South America and some of the Lesser Antilles.

Ipe is one of many commercial names used for the imposing Lapacho group of trees from the various species of Tabebuia. The trees generally grow from 140 to 150 feet but some can reach heights of 200 feet. Some other common names for the trees from this group include bethbara and lapacho, and a host of names used in the countries where the trees grow.

According to the book Tropical Timbers of the World, produced by the Forest Service of the United States Department of Agriculture, in Mexico the tree is called amapa and in Honduras, Nicaragua and Costa Rica it is called cortez. In Ecuador the trees are known as madera negra and in Peru, tahuari. Lapacho negro is the name for the tree in Paraguay and Argentina; in Surinam, it is called greenheart; in Venezuela, flor amarillo; in Colombia, guayacan polvillo. Other commercial names for ipe include Brazilian walnut and ironwood.

Decorative and Durable
Ipe has many uses. Some of the logs yield highly figured material that is sliced into decorative veneers and used for high-end applications, including furniture and paneling. Albert Constantine, Jr., writing in the book Know Your Woods, says ipe has a lustrous brown color, sometimes with a greenish tinge. "Occasionally logs are highly figured with a small mottle and broken roe, and the veneers obtained from these logs are similar to a dark, golden-brown Ceylon satinwood."

Other uses for ipe include railroad crossties, heavy construction, exterior construction, tool handles, turnery, boardwalks, bridges, benches, trellis, fencing and industrial flooring. Ipe is also used as an accent wood and for specialty items such as billiard cues, walking sticks, archery bows and fishing rods.

At Home Outside
Ipe’s strong, tough resilient properties make it an excellent material and increasingly popular choice for commercial and residential decking and outdoor furniture. Hani Sarafa, president of the Public Lumber Co. and Hardwood International in Detroit, MI, says his company has been selling ipe deck components and accessories for the past 15 years. “Ipe is the material used in the boardwalk at Atlantic City. The wood makes excellent decking material. It requires little or no maintenance and keeps its shape while being resistant to termites and other parasites.”

Sarafa says he buys his material from a dealer in New York but the supplies come from Brazil and he uses only Tabebuia species of the Lapacho group. “The wood is dark, reddish-brown in color and it weathers to a silvery gray, much like teak. Ipe has the durability of teak plus strength and is one-third of the price.”

Sarafa says he considers the material a much better choice than cedar for decking because “cedar peels, changes color and sometimes develops black spots.”

Sarafa used ipe for his lake house deck and dock. “It stands up well to weather and wetness. It’s been in place for eight years and it’s frequently washed over by waves, but it looks like it did when it was first built,” he says.

Prized for Durability
Ipe is prized for its stability, durability, strength and natural resistance to decay, wet conditions, and infestation by termites and borers. It is available in long lengths and relatively easy to season. Ipe has a Class A fire rating, the same rating given to concrete and steel.

Ipe’s heartwood is olive brown to black and usually features striping. The sapwood is much lighter, usually white or yellow. The wood can be oily and is sometimes covered in a yellow powder. Cutting or planing of ipe generates a fine, yellow wood dust that can produce allergic reactions in those who breathe it in and is also responsible for contact dermatitis.

Ipe is prized for its hardness, but that also makes it difficult to cut and plane. Experts recommend a reduced cutting angle and also suggest using extremely sharp tools. Preboring is necessary for nails.

Ipe trees from Brazil and other regions are known for their beauty, as well as their lumber. Constantine writes “growing in the forest of Brazil, the tree presents a beautiful appearance. It is one of the tallest trees of the Amazon region, reaching a height of 170 to 200 feet.”

FAMILY NAMES
Tabebuia avellandedae, Tabebuia ipe and Tabebuia serratifolia of the family Bignoniaceae

COMMON NAMES
Ipe, pau d’arco, ipe tabaco, bethabara, lapacho, ebene vert, amata prieto, ironwood, greenheart, amapa, cortez, guayacan, guayacan polvillo, flor amarillo, madera negra, tahuari, lapacho negro, Brazilian walnut.

HEIGHT/WEIGHT
Trees routinely grow to 150 feet, and can reach 200 feet, with trunk diameters of 6 feet and boles clear to 60 feet or more. Weight varies between 60 and 75 pounds per cubic foot with a specific gravity of 1.08.

PROPERTIES
Usually air dries rapidly with very slight checking or warping. USDA Forest Service recommends a kiln schedule of T3-C1 for 4/4 stock. Material can be difficult to work and difficult to saw. Hardness of material can cause a blunting effect to cutting edges. Experts recommend a reduced cutting angle when planing. Preboring recommended when nailing. Wood holds screws well. Machining material generates a fine, yellow dust that may cause breathing problems and dermatitis. Ipe is highly resistant to all insect and fungal attacks. It is extremely resistant to preservative treatments and wood bending. Wood finishes well.

http://www.oakleywoods.com

Written at Saturday, January 21, 2006 by jebratt.

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Purpleheart wood

Many trees change color once they are cut but the tropical American tree called purpleheart is especially famous for its chameleon-like quality. Purpleheart’s heartwood is dull brown but when the wood is freshly cut and exposed to the air, it changes to a strikingly deep purple.

Purpleheart’s color change is remarkable to behold, says Greg Engle, sales manager for Certainly Wood of East Aurora, NY. “When you first see it, it’s almost a mousy gray-brown color, but when it’s cut, it turns a brilliant purple. It will ‘mature’ and age to a deeper, crimson color.” Engle cautions users to protect it from ultraviolet rays because the wood is photosensitive. Engle suggests protecting the color by adding a UV inhibitor to the finish if the purpleheart will be anywhere near light. “The good news is you can bring the finish back if there is any damage by sanding or recutting the wood,” he adds.

Engle says purpleheart has consistently been a popular item with his veneer customers. Engle says users typically make fine custom furniture with the purpleheart veneer or use it in marquetry.

“Purpleheart is a popular wood in both veneer and lumber. I guess it is the color and pleasing luster of the wood that attracts attention. It is not used on the scale of a mahogany, but it always generates interest,” Engle says.

The wood has a long list of uses. “It makes a very good accent wood teamed with woods like maple. It works nicely as flooring, either in parquet or used as an accent wood inlaid to create a design. It is a very popular decorative wood in the United States and in the countries where it grows, it has a long list of uses that are both decorative and utilitarian,” Engle adds.

At Home in the Tropics
Purpleheart, also widely known as amaranth or violet wood, has a wide growing range from Mexico to Central and South America. Some 20 different species of Peltogyne grow there. The species of greatest commercial use include Peltogyne paniculata, Peltogyne pubescens, Peltogyne porphyrocardia, Peltogyne venosa and Peltogyne densiflora. Prime growing areas for purpleheart are the Amazon region of Brazil as well as British, French and Dutch Guiana.

Purpleheart trees can grow as tall as 170 feet with diameters as wide as 4 feet, but most are between 125 and 150 feet. Typically the trees feature buttresses up to 12 feet and straight, cylindrical boles clear 60 to 90 feet.

Purpleheart is exported around the world as fine veneer and lumber. It is used for inlay, parquet and traditional flooring, overlay, architectural uses and fine furniture as well as for turnery and specialty items such as art objects, jewelry, picture frames and silverware handles. In the countries where it grows, the hard and heavy wood is also used for more utilitarian purposes due to its innate strength and unique properties.

Purpleheart’s unique color is also a big draw. Custom cabinetry and furniture maker Bill Hergenroeder, owner of Springwood Construction Inc. in Cockeysville, MD, uses purpleheart for inlay and marquetry as well as specialty items like picture frames. “I buy it in the solid form for the picture frames. It’s a popular color for that use. If I make 40 frames of various woods, the purpleheart frames always seem to be the first to sell.”

Hergenroeder says purpleheart is a fine tropical wood, attractive, hard and dense. “The color change is very dramatic when you first cut it and it’s exposed.”

FAMILY NAMES
Peltogyne species including Peltogyne pubescens, Peltogyne paniculata, Petogyne porphyrocardia, Peltogyne venosa and Peltogyne densiflora of the Family Caesalpiniaceae (Leguminosae

OTHER NAMES
Purpleheart, amaranth, violet wood, sucupira, palo morado, bois violet, morado, nazareno, tananeo, koroboreli, purperheart, amarante, pau roxo, guarbu, saka, sakavalli.

HEIGHT/WEIGHT
Can grow to 170 feet but average height is 125 to 150 feet. Weight varies with species from 50 to 66 pounds per cubic foot.

PROPERTIES
Very mixed results reported concerning drying of purpleheart, possibly due to fact that so many species share the name. Some report that wood dries rapidly with little degrade. Others report mild warping problems. Thick material can be hard to dry in the middle. Wood can be moderately difficult to work with hand and machine tools; Moderate to severe blunting effect reported. A gummy resin in the wood plus its high density can pose problems. Straight-grained material is easy to work but experts recommend care when planing or moulding material with interlocked or wavy grain.

http://www.oakleywoods.com

Written at Saturday, January 21, 2006 by jebratt.

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A Berbice Chair

Written at Saturday, January 21, 2006 by jebratt.

4 comments

Editorial from Guyana Chronicle

Lynear Johnson

A FEW days ago the Stabroek News ran an article about Lynear Johnson, a young woman suffering from a painful form of skin cancer.

Yesterday, the same newspaper reported that Minister of Health Dr. Leslie Ramsammy said that the Government has pledged to donate US$5,000 to cover the bulk of the US$6,500 needed for the 19-year-old’s medical treatment in neighbouring Trinidad and Tobago.

It should be said first and foremost that the Lynear Johnson case exposes the limitations inherent in the health care system. According to the original story, Lynear was not given satisfactory checks at the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation, and though the doctor who treated her at the Linden Hospital was willing to work with her, he unfortunately did not have the capacity to do so.

It is an indictment of the capability of the public medical care facilities that the diagnosis of cancer had to be made at a private institution. It is evident that even for a developing country with a comparatively progressive health sector such as Guyana’s, the reality of certain constraints – insufficient finance for proper diagnostic and treatment facilities for example – result in the State’s inability to deliver the level of health care that would be best for all its citizenry.

However, Lynear Johnson’s story not only highlights the unavoidable deficiencies but underlines the hope that exists in Guyana. Stemming from the article, the Government has responded generously and so has the general public with its steady flow of support even though the flooding situation has been priority for the majority.

An excellent example of the response to the Lynear Johnson story is the fundraising activity being undertaken by the website Guymine.com.

“Effective now until we raise the funds needed for her surgery, Guymine.com will be using this message board as a temporary pledge board for Lynear Johnson (Bellamy). We hope that we have earned your trust over these past years. We are asking you our viewers to pledge in order to save the life of this girl. Lynear Johnson (Bellamy) needs your help. Pledge a little or pledge a lot. We care not about the amount. We will arrange collection of the funds, if you are unable to send directly to Lynear Johnson (Bellamy). We will transfer the names on this pledge board to a permanent feature page…”

This message is repeated again and again on a message board that was formerly used to send primarily light and frivolous shout outs from Lindeners on one side of the Atlantic to their family and friends on the other. The most recent messages on the board are several pledges averaging in the range of $10,000 each.

This is a positive story, however it ends. The reporter and the paper should be commended for doing what newspapers and reporters ought to do, bringing issues like Lynear Johnson’s to light.

The Government – Dr. Ramsammy in particular – should be commended for looking at this particular case and responding, notwithstanding the unavoidable constraints under which the health care system is run. And most importantly, Guyanese should be commended for demonstrating that even in the worst of times they have the ability to put personal worries aside and give to someone in greater need than they are. The story of Lynear Johnson illustrates that despite the detractors, and naysayers – legion both within and outside the society – Guyana is a place that is not only workable, but is a place that works; often against seemingly insurmountable odds.

Written at Saturday, January 21, 2006 by jebratt.

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Friday, January 20, 2006

Linden Town Week launch tomorrow

By Joe Chapman

AHEAD of the grand launching tomorrow of the Linden Town Week 2006, under the theme “Linden Resurgence Through Self Belief”, Kashif Muhammad, director of the double barrelled promotion team Kashif and Shanghai Organisation, says President Bharrat Jagdeo has given his thumbs up for the government’s support for this year’s 11th annual festivity.

This time around the bash is organised jointly by the Kashif and Shanghai Organisation, the Linden Fund USA, and Hits and Jams Entertainment, in collaboration with the Linden Town Council’s Interim Management Committee (IMC).

Tomorrow’s launch is to be at the refurbished Mackenzie Car/Bus Park on Republic Avenue.

The ten days of activities, from April 22-May 1, will replace the Linden Town Day event which, in the past 10 years, was hinged on three days of celebration of the town’s anniversary.

Saturday’s launching could be the spark for an event which could be 10 times bigger than the glamourous and popular Kashif and Shanghai extravaganza, now a national event, according to Muhammad.

Plans are about 95 per cent complete and organizers are maintaining it’s about the promotion of business in the Linden community.

Muhammad said, “We had a very fruitful meeting with the President and he said he will be supporting the idea”.

He said they are working on the budget which is to be handed over to President Jagdeo by the end of this month.

According to the promotion official, “This will be one of the biggest, if not the biggest, tourism event we will be having in Guyana...it will equal the St. Lucia Jazz Festival and the St. Kitts Music Festival”.

“We believe in ourselves,” he added.

The Linden Fund USA, one of the three, according to Muhammad, “is bringing to the table lots of overseas visitors, and we are satisfied with them”.

He described the other partner, Hits and Jams as probably the best promoters in the country.

He referred to international concerts, the extremely successful Jam Zones, and the now annual Car and Bike Show, all promotions of top class, comparable to anything the Caribbean offers.

Already a secretariat, coordinated by Colin Aaron has been established at the Region 10 Business Centre on Republic Avenue, owned by the Linden Economic Advancement Programme (LEAP), which is also supporting the extravaganza.

The Linden Fund USA initiative to get some 400 overseas visitors here for the event is being dubbed “A Back To Linden Drive”, and is aimed at capturing those Lindeners and Guyanese who might have migrated probably 20 to 30 years ago.

It is also targeting friends of Guyanese and family members and visitors from North America, Canada and the United Kingdom, who may not have been to Guyana before.

A Linden Fund representative said already hotel accommodation is proving to be a serious concern, and residents are being encouraged to open up their houses to accommodate overseas guests for the 10-day period. Two accommodation “assessors” will visit householders who indicate their willingness to play host to overseas guests, and who are willing to upgrade their homes or apartments.

Hits and Jams has pointed out that plans are under way for the Gospel, Oldies, Wismar, and Champagne Nights, while singer Boris Gardner, the Passa Passa Voice Mail Crew and others are being sought to be here.

Another Linden Fund representative, Ms Lauren Parris, said that for the visitors to Linden, interesting sites are being spruced up for tours. These include the many creeks, Malali, and historic sites in Linden and its environs.

She has asked that hire car drivers in Linden register at the secretariat to ensure they tap in to certain jobs during the celebrations.
At tomorrow’s launching, Mingles Sound Machine will provide the music.

(Guyana Chronicle)

Written at Friday, January 20, 2006 by jebratt.

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Eye Candy, Shy Candy

This week we feature the beautiful 19-year-old Candy Charles. Now we have to say that Candy is a rare beauty with a rare problem. She’s as anti-social as Quasimodo, the Hunchback of Notre Dame.

Imagine Ethiopian supermodel and wife of David Bowie, Iman when she was young. Tall, striking, brown-eyed with almost flawless skin Candy is the type of model that will go the extra distance and wear as revealing a piece of clothing as any designer is willing to concoct. What Candy has problems baring open to public scrutiny is her soul.

When we asked photographer, Corwin Williams, to take Candy’s picture she willingly agreed but when it was time to find out about the young beauty herself, Candy referred us Donna, manager at Club Sky 7.

According to Donna, Candy is currently at the Nations University doing a course in Travel and Tourism, after leaving the International Relations programme at the University of Guyana. She also functions as a part time manager for Club Sky 7, when Donna is not there.

Outside of that, Candy prefers to stay home reading books. Her mother says that she couldn’t get her to leave the house except to go to school, Candy is that shy.

This suave young beauty gets offers for modelling jobs virtual every week – many of them overseas contracts – and she turns down all of them. According to Donna, Candy was part of a major national pageant two years ago but unfortunately, just as the organisers were completing the gargantuan task getting her to be more outgoing, she suffered an injury that caused her to drop out of the pageant. How unfortunate?

Guys, even if you don’t like comedy we recommend that you check out Club Sky 7 tonight. That Candy is going to be there should be reason enough. Hey, maybe you can get her to say something. Anything. Please.

(Guyana Chronicle)

Written at Friday, January 20, 2006 by jebratt.

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I am very proud of my fellow Guyanese People...

I know this may sound "corny" but this is the type of thing that all of us can work towards and the overwhelming support and genorsity shown demonstrates that we have a country to be proud of and a duty to do our best to promote peace and prosperity for all...

Friday, January 20th 2006
Stabroek News

Some US$6,500 will be needed to treat Lynear Johnson, the Linden teenager who is suffering from skin cancer and the government will contribute US$5,000, according to Minister of Health, Dr Leslie Ramsammy.

Dr Ramsammy told Stabroek News yesterday that he had received information from Trinidad on the sum required and the government will provide US$5,000.

Johnson's family is now depending on public-spirited citizens to contribute the remaining US$1,500 for her treatment plus money for accommodation and airfare for herself and mother, Vanessa Bellamy.

A bank account, 516-773-9, has been opened at the National Bank of Industry and Commerce (NBIC) to which persons can contribute.

The young girl's plight was published in Stabroek News on Tuesday and there has been a huge response both locally and overseas.

Yesterday, Chairperson of the Regional Women's Affairs Committee of Region Ten, Valerie Sharp, who has been in contact with Bellamy on a daily basis and whose committee made the bank account available, said they received several calls from persons who wanted to contribute but were waiting on the target figure. She feels once this is known persons would quickly assist Johnson in getting the required amount.

So far, someone in Canada sent Cdn$299 yesterday through Western Union, while the Topp XX football team based in Linden contributed $37,000, some of the proceeds from a match played in Linden last week Wednesday.

Sharp said tonight they will hold a telethon for the young woman.

As soon as the remaining sum is raised the young woman and her mother will be able to travel to Trinidad.

Johnson is an albino and as such her skin had no protection from the sun. She was diagnosed with skin cancer some 18 months ago and has been in constant agony. The cancer has caused abscesses to form on the right side of her face.

The first abscess was cut by a doctor in Linden and had healed, but shortly after several others appeared and since then the girl has been in constant pain with only pain pills offering her brief interludes of solace.

Her mother can be contacted on telephone numbers, 444-2711 and 646-1127 while Sharp can be reached at 444-6058 and 444-3048.

Written at Friday, January 20, 2006 by jebratt.

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Thursday, January 19, 2006

Chanderpaul backs himself to improve Windies fortunes

…recommended by selectors to continue as captain

BRIDGETOWN, Barbados, (CMC) - Despite poor results in his first year at the helm, West Indies cricket captain Shivnarine Chanderpaul has backed himself to battle to lift the team and improve his returns.

Speaking yesterday morning, Chanderpaul, who took over from Brian Lara as team skipper, said he was excited to be again chosen by the team management to lead the team on a tour of New Zealand in February and March.

Chanderpaul has captained West Indies in 11 Test matches and lost eight, drew two and won just one.

"Last year was a tough year for me, but I am always willing to fight for West Indies cricket," Chanderpaul said early in the morning.

"As captain of the West Indies cricket team, I understand there will be some criticism and that comes with the territory.

"Leading the West Indies is an honour and a pleasure for me. We all have to come together and focus on one goal? we have to be all heading in one direction," said the 31-year-old left-handed batsman.

After the heavy defeat in Australia late last year, several calls -- even from the media -- were made to name a new skipper to replace Chanderpaul, a veteran of 91 Test matches.

He entered the West Indies team as a frail teenager in March 1994. He has made 6,156 runs in Test matches and 5,281 runs in 178 one-day internationals.

The West Indies selectors met in Trinidad on Tuesday and Chanderpaul was recommended as captain for New Zealand.

"New Zealand are a tough opponent and will be even tougher at home. They can be beaten but we have to do the right things right all the time. We have to match them and be even better than they are. However it's not going to happen unless we get it right on and off the field. That's the way I see it," Chanderpaul declared.

Guyana Chronicle

Written at Thursday, January 19, 2006 by jebratt.

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Mahaica flood up one foot

Written at Thursday, January 19, 2006 by jebratt.

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2006 Commonwealth essay competition

THE annual Commonwealth Essay Competition organised by the Royal Commonwealth Society (RCS) will close for entries on March 1, 2006.

The RCS expects to receive thousands of entries from around the Commonwealth, as in previous years. In 2005, some 5,000 essays from more than 1,100 schools were received.

Winners of the 2005 competition included students from Australia, Canada, Dominica, India, Malta, Namibia, Nigeria, Pakistan, Singapore, South Africa, United Republic of Tanzania, and Cayman Islands.

The competition is open to students in the Commonwealth aged between eight and 18. They are eligible to enter based on four different age groups.

Mr Stuart Mole, Director-General of the RCS, said: "This extraordinary international writing contest has been going on for around 100 years. The quality of writing it inspires around the world is remarkable."

Topics for this year include: 'Is the indigenous culture of your country worth preserving?'; 'What are the advantages and disadvantages of English being the language of the Commonwealth?'; and 'Write an adventure involving yourself and the characters of a favourite book.'

More information on the 2006 Commonwealth Essay Competition is available at www.rcsint.org/essay. (COMMONWEALTH NEWS AND INFORMATION SERVICE)

Written at Thursday, January 19, 2006 by jebratt.

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Was coalition a real option in 1985?

It is widely believed that the governance and development of a nation can be improved if its inner workings can be subject to periodic scrutiny. Such scrutiny can lead to the avoidance of mistakes in policy and its implementation. It is for this reason that the writings of those who participate in historical events assume a particular importance. Mr Halim Majeed's booklet entitled Forbes Burnham: National Reconciliation and National Unity 1984-1985 belongs to this category.

Mr Majeed participated in one of the more important political developments in Guyana's post-independence history: the attempt by the PNC and the PPP on the eve of Burnham's death to forge a unity in order to effect shared governance. There are lessons to be learnt from his account of what happened, not the least of which is the fact that both political parties seemed to be heading in a direction opposite to that of an emerging era of open markets, financial and trade liberalization, democratic systems and limited government. It is a matter of speculation whether the rather cumbersome political structure which would have resulted from a coalition between the PNC and the PPP, and based as we now know on a failed ideology, could have survived in this new environment. But the burden of this editorial comment on the book is not the wrong ideological turn by both parties but rather the important flaw it seems to contain.

Mr Majeed narrates with clarity the origin of events leading to the proposal by the then General Secretary of the PNC, Dr Ptolemy Reid, to the PPP to engage in talks which could lead to unity and nation building. Mr Majeed gives a full account of the proposed structures to accomplish this aim. And he does not conceal the fact that many members of the PPP and the PNC, including Desmond Hoyte and Mrs Jagan, were opposed to them. However, the book is one dimensional in the sense that it gives the impression that the unity talks were the sole and central concern of Forbes Burnham at this time. They were not.

This robs this otherwise informative work of the capacity to shine a light on the complexities of Guyana at the time and causes it to understate Burnham's skill as a negotiator and his strategic understanding of global politics. The unity talks with the PPP, underwritten by the socialist commonwealth, especially the Soviet Union, were the obverse side to intense negotiations with the IMF. Burnham knew that in the febrile atmosphere of East/West rivalry he could play one against the other to his political advantage and possible economic gain. That is why the negotiations with the IMF were always coupled with relations with the socialist commonwealth. Burnham had before him the example of Mrs Gandhi, who had used her sometimes brittle and abrasive relations with the West to extract in the '80s the biggest loan from the IMF - some US$30B. He therefore utilised one set of negotiations to inform and drive the other.

On the one hand, therefore, he hoped that his negotiations with the socialist commonwealth would give him leverage with the IMF, and on the other he sought funding from that commonwealth in excess of what he had been promised by the IMF.

The condition laid down was that he should forge a coalition with the PPP and host a major Non-Aligned summit in this hemisphere.

To get a sense of the IMF side of the coin one has to turn to Horace A Bartilov's The Debt Dilemma: IMF negotiations in Jamaica, Grenada and Guyana. The chapter on Guyana describes the IMF negotiations under the Carter and Reagan administrations. The former took place against the background of relatively good relations with the United States. Even the support given by Guyana to Cuba to facilitate the movement of Cuban troops to Angola did not roil the waters. Carter dispatched envoys Phillip Habib and Andrew Young to Georgetown to patch things up some two years later.

In fact Dr Bartilov says that aid doubled under the Carter administration and the IMF structured "performance targets in ways that made it easy for the Guyanese government to comply with conditionality..." The PNC under the Carter administration was regarded as the lesser evil than the communist PPP which the IMF did not perceive "as a viable alternative to implement conditionality." Not that the IMF did not seek to dismantle Burnham's socialist state, but it tried to do so by indirect, subtle and nuanced means as was clear from the proposed conditionalities of 1983.

Things turned increasingly disruptive, however, under the Reagan administration. Relations between Guyana and the United States deteriorated and this was characterized by the abortive meeting between Burnham and Reagan in Cancun, Mexico in 1981. The Caribbean Basin Initiative (CBI), announced by Reagan in the same year, had as one of its objectives the quarantining of Grenada and Guyana as non-democratic states. And the invasion of Grenada two years later only made matters worse. In fact, Burnham told several of his confidants that Guyana was likely to be the next victim after Grenada of Reagan's adventurous and hostile policies in the region.

The IMF methods changed. In the words of Dr Bartilov "in essence, the Reagan inspired conditionality attempted to undermine the IMF's long-term objectives towards the Burnham Government." By 1985 Burnham was locked in a bitter struggle with the IMF which he correctly saw as an instrument of the Reagan administration. Conditiona-lities became more draconian such as the immediate devaluation of the Guyana dollar by 100% and the privatisation of industries. These conditions, described by Burnham, "as a recipe for a riot" were summarily rejected. As relations between the IMF and Guyana deteriorated, the latter did not stay current with its financial obligations and was declared by the IMF board in 1985 to be "ineligible to use the general resources of the fund."

It does not take much imagination to understand why the unity talks were started and why Burnham was in a hurry to give the appearance at least of seeking some form of accommodation with the PPP. Whether he would have gone through and accepted the consequences of those talks is, in the words of Mr Majeed, "located in the realm of

studied speculation." Bartilov, however, is clearly of the view that he was not serious. He writes: "To force the IMF into modifying the conditionality demands Burnham initiated negotiations with the PPP to create a coalition government for the purpose of demonstrating 'national unity' in the face of the proposed 'Reagan-IMF' austerity measures."

What is not speculative is that Burnham harboured as many suspicions of the socialist world as he did of the Western one. His visit to the USSR had convinced him that the interests of a state were superior, ultimately, to its ideology. Burnham came to this conclusion after the Soviets hastily removed a reference to the future of Puerto Rico from the communique it should have signed with Guyana in order not to offend the US, whose President was about to visit the USSR.

And he always remembered too that despite all the socialist measures he had taken and the web of relations he had established with the socialist world, the Cubans had told him that while relations with the PNC were "friendly" those with the PPP were "fraternal." Lastly, Burnham had always said aloud that it was unlikely that the USSR would fund another "Cuba" in this hemisphere. Of course as Mr Majeed has pointed out he had discovered that by 1985 under Gorbachev the USSR had lost interest in the talks between the PNC and the PPP.

But the speculation should not only be confined to whether Burnham would have gone full tilt with the Soviet Union. It must also include consideration of his active efforts to mend fences with the West. Even as relations with the US were on a downward spiral, Burnham had Noel Sinclair talking to Jeanne Kirkpatrick at the UN and Cedric Grant talking to the State Department; simultaneously he was using intermediaries to have discourse with the US embassy in Georgetown. The debacle with the IMF cannot be said to have been terminal. Having said all this, the question still remains as to what direction Burnham would have finally taken. Nobody knows. It must be the greatest tease in Guyana's political history.

Editorial
Stabroek News

Written at Thursday, January 19, 2006 by jebratt.

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Public reaches out to girl with skin cancer

Stabroek News
Thursday, January 19th 2006

There has been a massive response by public-spirited persons to the plight of 19-year-old Lynear Johnson, who is suffering from skin cancer, and a bank account has been set up for contributions for her treatment.

The bank account is at the National Bank of Industry and Commerce (NBIC) and the number is 516-773-9. It has been made available through the Regional Women's Affairs Committee of Region Ten based in Linden.

Johnson is an albino, which means her skin has no protection from the sun. She was diagnosed with skin cancer 18 months ago.

Her story was published in Tuesday's edition of Stabroek News and since then there has been a flood of emails and phone calls from persons willing to help the teenager.

However, the burning issue is how much it would cost for the young woman to be treated and where.

The Ministry of Health had undertaken to have an assessment done in Trinidad but so far it has not been able to provide a target figure.

Stabroek News is in the process of attempting to ascertain how much it would cost for the young woman to be treated in Trinidad or another nearby country and as soon as this is established a further update would be published.

Meanwhile, the teenager continues to live in constant pain. Her mother, Vanessa Bellamy, said yesterday that the hospital was forced to administer an injection, which assisted her to sleep before the abscesses on her face could be treated.

Johnson has several abscesses on the right side of her face caused by the cancerous growth. Her hair had to be cut as it was too painful for it to be combed.

Chairperson of the Region Ten Women's Affairs Com-mittee, Valerie Sharp, who has been in constant contact with Bellamy said the committee was also awaiting a target cost for the treatment so a telethon could be held for the young woman. She said some persons are ready to give assistance but they want to know what the cost is.

She revealed that the present account number has been used to assist other persons who needed monetary help for medical treatment.

Persons who wish to contact Johnson and her family directly can call 444-2711 or 646-1127. Sharp can be contacted at telephone numbers, 444-6058 and 444-3048.

Written at Thursday, January 19, 2006 by jebratt.

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