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The PPP and Guyanese Indians: Malcolm Harripaul’s masterpiece of political analysis

Here is something that is very hard to come by. Search the entire internet, you won’t find it. It was recently given to me by an acquaintance. Some of you would have seen and read it years ago. In my opinion, it is timeless and a must read for anyone interested in Guyanese political history – which is all of us.

Malcolm Harripaul (MH) has more balls (and honesty!) than all the Guyanese Indian politicians and ‘Indian rights activists’ put together. The man tells it like it is, or rather (since he deals with past events in the article) the way it was. In just about ten pages, MH did what it took Dr. Mohan Ragbeer two massive volumes (“The indelible Red Stain”) to do – which is incisively and succinctly set out how Cheddi and Janet Jagan and their PPP did a head job on Guyanese Indians and badly let them down.

What is most impressive is this. MH is not a noted academic. He does not have a string of degrees. I am not sure if he ever attended a university. But he has a very clear mind (clearer than many so called ‘intellectuals’ and ‘academics’), gathers and presents his facts chronologically, meticulously and comprehensively and comes to conclusions that are convincing and unavoidable. Most admirable.

To GNI’s non-Indian members: MH’s long paper is written from an Indian perspective, so we can get that out of the way now. That said, he is fair and does not vilify black people. His focus is on the disconnect between the Jagan’s / the PPP and its Indian supporters, how Jagan royally screwed up and the catastrophic consequences it had on Guyanese Indians and, indeed, on Guyana as a whole. Malcolm’s paper gives the historical / political background, explains how Guyana became (and still is) a basket case and why most of us (nearly half of all Guyanese actually) live outside of Guyana today.

GNI MEMBERS: Threads come and go and the GNI archive only goes back a few years. One day, this thread and this article will disappear. So, here is your chance. Copy and save this article into a Word doc to keep forever and / or copy and paste it into an email and share and discuss it with you family, friends and email contacts. It is that important.

In responding to MH’s essay, try to be fair, balanced, objective and nuanced. Even if you are a die-hard PPP supporter, avoid knee jerk, dismissive, and ‘black and white’ reactions. Give credit where it is due. Yes, Burnham was bad, in many ways. He and his PNC ruled fraudulently and damaged Guyana severely and irreparably. The question is: who made Burnham’s rule possible? Who had majority support? Who was a shoo-in for national leader? Who dropped the ball? Who screwed up? Who had it all on a silver platter but - through ideological dogma, rigidity, blindness, dogged allegiance to the USSR and the Communist bloc, selfishness, ego, foolishness and stubbornness - threw it all away? That is the question.

ADMIN / AMRAL / RAY: I respect you guys. I don’t really know where you stand on these issues but I ask you to recognize the importance of MH’s essay and to consider pinning this thread to the top of the board for a few weeks, so that all members and visitors to this site can have a chance to read and digest MH’s article and take a copy for themselves, if they want to.

I don’t know MH but I am sure he won’t mind, as his article is in the public domain, is in the national interest and is clearly attributed to him at the end. His masterpiece neatly explains and sums up the historical / political background and reasons for the Guyana tragedy - better and more cogently than anyone else, in my opinion.

Now, here is Malcolm Harripaul’s classic essay:

FM
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