Marxism has been in the news recently with our governing political party, the PPP, finally removing it from its constitution on the ground that it’s an ‘ism,’ a relic of the past. There are good reasons, other than immediate political gain or convenience, for removing Marxism-Leninism from the PPP’s constitution which I have advocated in these columns in the past. In any event, the PPP, seeking to preserve the baby while throwing out the bathwater, declared full-throated adherence to the working class and its interests, did not succeed in exorcising Marxism from its constitution.
Continue reading “MARXISM IN THE NEWS”THE PPP CONGRESS
The Congress of the Peoples’ Progressive Party, few and far between, is taking place this weekend in the elevated ambience of the Arthur Chung Convention Centre at Turkeyen, Georgetown. It is the largest in PPP’s history, attended by 3,000 delegates and observers. The number of delegates has not been revealed, so it is impossible to calculate the membership of the PPP, which has always been proportionately low in comparison to its support, and secret. The reasons for this occurred from the early 1970s when membership rules were tightened to create a more disciplined party to contend with its changing nature and the intensification of authoritarian rule. If the same rule of one delegate to three members apply, then a publication of the number of delegates would indicate the size of its membership.
Continue reading “THE PPP CONGRESS”PRESIDENTIAL IMMUNITY
The issue of presidential immunity reached a high point in the United States during last week in the hearing of a case in the United States Supreme Court brought by former President Donald Trump. Mr. Trump has long vociferously advocated that he is protected by presidential immunity from the prosecution instituted against him against him relating to the violent January 6 insurrection in Washington aimed at preventing the declaration of the election results and, consequently, a transition of power. There is no dispute that, based largely on US case law, a president is not immune from prosecution for unofficial conduct which constitute criminal offences, but is immune from acts arising from official conduct and the “outer perimeter” of such conduct. Mr. Trump’s lawyers argue that his actions in the January 6 events constituted official conduct.
Continue reading “PRESIDENTIAL IMMUNITY”THE HINDRANCE TO STRIKING
Article 147(2) of the Constitution provides that: “Except with his or her own consent no person shall he hindered in the enjoyment of his or her freedom to strike.” The next article, 147(3) provides that: “Neither an employer nor a trade union shall be deprived of the right to enter into collective agreements.” Guyana has gone further than any other Caribbean country in enshrining in its Constitution positive references to striking and collective bargaining. This attests to Guyana’s specific history and to the history of the Caribbean where most ruling and opposition political parties have their origins in trade unions.
Continue reading “THE HINDRANCE TO STRIKING”EXPLORING GUYANA WITH KNOWLEDGE, HONESTY AND SYMPATHY
“I lived here when I was a little girl,” Gaiutra Bahadur pleaded nostalgically to the security guard, unsuccessfully seeking entry to the derelict Wales Estate compound. Ms. Bahadur was in Guyana to prepare for an article, “Is Guyana’s Oil a Blessing or a Curse,” which was published on March 30 in the New York Times. Migrating with her parents to the US as a 6-year-old, Ms. Bahadur has returned often and written extensively about Guyana. Her ‘Coolie Woman,’ published in 2013, a ‘master chronicle’ focusing on the journey of her great grandmother, Sujaria, who left Calcutta in 1903, is a widely praised, landmark study, of indentureship and indentured women. In her NYT article Ms. Bahadur grapples with the issues arising from Guyana’s discovery of oil in 2015 with balance, integrity and sympathy.
Continue reading “EXPLORING GUYANA WITH KNOWLEDGE, HONESTY AND SYMPATHY”