The end of the Jagan leadership of the PPP terminated the era of real, as opposed to formal, internal democracy. Its structure and leadership model, third world and Leninist influenced, lent itself to authoritarian methods. But the Jagans ensured full discussions and neither dictated conclusions. Both changed their views from time to time after being persuaded by contrary opinion in discussions.
The symbol of that openness was that after a debate where opinion was divided, a vote was taken. However, after the Jagdeo leadership gained traction, voting after discussions ceased at his instance. Jagdeo summed up all discussions and the summing up, containing his views, was the decision. He still does so. Elections at and after Congress began to be grossly manipulated. Both Donald Ramotar and Bharrat Jagdeo publicly opposed the 2011 presidential candidate being elected by secret ballot. Continue reading →
People’s Progressive Party Civic (PPPC) candidate, Clinton Urling has blamed former President Bharrat Jagdeo for the party’s defeat at the polls earlier this month and said the time has come for him to take a back seat if the party is to be rebuilt.
Urling predicts that the PPP will face a difficult task in rebuilding itself if Jagdeo remains the de facto leader. “Moreover, it would be difficult to attract, and in my case retain, the type of people who can help reinvent the party. Plainly stated, the party has to move on without Jagdeo if it is to ever recapture its former political prestige,” said Urling. Continue reading →
My Poetry Corner June 2015 features the poem “Even the Rain” by Kashmiri-American poet Agha Shahid Ali (1949-2001). This poem is part of his final poetry collection, Call Me Ishmael Tonight: A Book of Ghazals, published posthumously in 2003, following his death from brain cancer in December 2001.
The ghazal, a Persian poetic form, is five or more thematically unrelated couplets connected through rhyme and repetition. The opening couplet sets up the scheme of rhyme and refrain by having it occur in both lines. The rhyme immediately precedes the refrain. In the following couplets, this scheme of rhyme and refrain only occurs in the second line. The last couplet names the poet directly in the second or third person.
Ali’s opening couplet in “Even the Rain” sets up the refrain, even the rain, and the…
Serious episodes of impossibilities characterized the results of the 2015 National Elections. All three parties – APNU, AFC and PPP – will have to call in their analysts to help prepare political strategies for 2020.
First, the Amerindians devastated coalition hopes. In all the Regions where there were Amerindians, the indigenous people embraced the PPP. In what can be called a caricatured victory, the coalition won Region Eight by one vote. In 2011, the PPP was beaten badly there. In 2015, the coalition increased its take by a hundred votes; the PPP by one thousand. Continue reading →
The View from Europe – Is Caribbean integration no longer practical?
David Jessop
Published on May 30, 2015 – By David Jessop
Earlier this year, Owen Arthur, the former prime minister of Barbados, described the malaise that now affects much of the Anglophone Caribbean.
Delivering the 15th Archibald Nedd Memorial Lecture in Grenada, Mr. Arthur observed that the typical Caribbean nation now has to rely for material progress on economic systems that are no longer viable.
“Conditioned for centuries to depending upon preferential access to foreign markets for their exports, on high levels of domestic protection for their industries, and on generous access to concessional financing to support their development, almost every Caribbean nation, has now to face the prospect of building economic systems without the benefit of such props,” he said. Continue reading →
Former President Bharrat Jagdeo wants the High Court to quash a temporary travel ban imposed by the Lower Court on him until the hearing and determination of private criminal charge that he allegedly uttered racially divisive remarks.
Through his Attorney-at-Law, Mursalene Bacchus, Jagdeo on Friday petitioned the High Court to remove the travel restriction because of his “international obligations he is required to leave Guyana regularly” and he may also need to seek medical treatment overseas. Continue reading →
Posted: 28 May 2015 – 
Is Caribbean integration no longer practical? – By David jessop
The View from Europe – Is Caribbean integration no longer practical?
David Jessop
Published on May 30, 2015 – By David Jessop
Earlier this year, Owen Arthur, the former prime minister of Barbados, described the malaise that now affects much of the Anglophone Caribbean.
Delivering the 15th Archibald Nedd Memorial Lecture in Grenada, Mr. Arthur observed that the typical Caribbean nation now has to rely for material progress on economic systems that are no longer viable.
“Conditioned for centuries to depending upon preferential access to foreign markets for their exports, on high levels of domestic protection for their industries, and on generous access to concessional financing to support their development, almost every Caribbean nation, has now to face the prospect of building economic systems without the benefit of such props,” he said. Continue reading →
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