Aug 06, 2019
My disgust was combined with anger when I read the negative sentiments that they are coming to take “our economic greatness” and since they do not speak English and are not from our culture, they will contaminate it.
My vehement and emotional objection was two-fold. Such perverse thoughts should never come from the pen and lips of a Guyanese. First, we are a wandering people, journeying to all parts of the world in search of that very happiness. We have taken winged impulse since the fifties. PNC government or PPP government, the journey has never stopped. A Guyanese should never frown on poorer souls coming to this country to start a better life.
My second reason is philosophical. I do not believe poorer folks should be stopped at borders when in search of a better life. I know what the pangs of poverty are. I know them because I endured them in Wortmanville in South Georgetown. I have been a newspaper columnist for 31 years, and I have never described my life of poverty from the time I was born. One day I will.
If Haitians are coming here either to live or to pass through, then Guyanese must let them. Let the lower income people from Venezuela, Brazil, Venezuela and Haiti, and Cuba come here. We must welcome them. The peoples of this world have an obligation to the people of Haiti.
Haiti has suffered and continues to suffer from incredible levels of poverty. We who live in countries that have a higher level of development have a moral and philosophical obligation to these souls. Haiti has endured unbelievable suffering for too long. If Haitians are looking for their place in the sun, then Guyana, one of the most under-populated countries in the entire world, should extend an inviting hand.
There is talk that they are using Guyana as a transit point. What is the problem with that? If they are passing through Guyana to get to other countries then why should we stop them? I doubt any reasonable Guyanese can shape an argument to reject the Haitians using Guyana as a gateway. I would like to see the premise of that argument. What is wrong with thousands of Haitians buying an airline ticket to come to Guyana, then, buying another ticket to fly out?
Obviously, the recipient governments can object and say that you are using your geographical proximity to facilitate the Haitians into our countries. But to date, none of our neighbours have objected. If they are going to Brazil, Suriname and French Guiana, then why should Guyana stop them from coming here in-transit?
It is a different story altogether if we facilitate the Haitians to cross our borders into other territories to commit crimes. That has not been the scenario, so let the Haitians pass through and let them go to the countries of their choice. What about those who want to stay in Guyana?
Here is where the ugliness of Guyana’s politics and sociology come in. There is the talk that if we let in thousands of Haitians, the demographic shape of Guyana will change. Change to what? I must confess my ignorance here. I don’t know what will change if lots of people from India or Haiti come to Guyana. Is it our culture as one person lamented in his commentary? I would be over-anxious to see an explanation of how that can happen. What if we change their culture? That is more of a distinct possibility. Guyanese are by nature, generous, democratic and fun-loving.
The politics of it fits right into the boiling pot of electoral competition. There are those who feel, many Indians coming here will settle down to choosing a party that has Indian people in it, and the Haitians will do likewise.
Why are Guyanese so stupid to put race and politics into every aspect of their lives? If the leaders and citizens of US, Canada and CARICOM countries think in such vile terms, then Guyanese would have had to run to Iceland and Greenland.
If there is no wrongdoing by the Haitians, and if they come and they join Guyanese society, and if they come to make an honest living, then all Guyanese must welcome them. God knows, we need more people in this country. It could do with a few millions.
(The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of this newspaper)
Comments
God Bless you Freddie Kissoon…Luckily, most of my Indo-based Guyanese friends are like you; neutral and not disparaging towards me because I’m black.
I find that those who are Hindustan nationalists and Modi worshippers are the worse type of people there are in the world towards blacks, second are the backwards Arabs who chop off people’s heads for wearing the hijab or niqab improperly, yet thousands of “expatriates” are tanning nude on the beaches of Dubai and Saudi Arabia and no barbaric “Arabian prince” is chopping their heads off for their version of Islam.
Trevor man you need to get a life ! You are too paranoid about the coolie man and skank man not liking you.
I think Guyana should pay people & dog to move to.the uncivilised country !!!! Take that and stuff it in your pipe and smoke it!!!!
Honestly for one religious man you should stop showing yourself up!!!
Very backward thinking
You want to censor me from speaking the truth!
You’re just afraid that one day those who you oppress are going to rise up like that South African politician Julius Malema of the Economic Freedom Fighters.
With trafficking such a cash cow for criminals, maybe anyone using open borders to score points, should at least add, “Check em before you let em” BTW where were these Do gooders when Guyanese were treated like animals whenever they showed up on other shores, almost everyone of them well qualified. In Canada the “Refugees” return home for vacation.
Look, just me, I am suspicious of any mention of Open Borders, too many snakes in the crowd.
Benur, why did Bharrat Jagdeo and the PPP treat us blacks like animals, even worse than animals? The PPP was complicit in funding death squads to murder one black boy a day during the crime wave.
God bless you again Freddie Kissoon. If it weren’t for you, we would be living in mud huts while the PPP goons live in taller mansions and high rises. Jah bless and jah know star!:
Trevor:
So how do you distinguish ” those who are Hindustan nationalists and Modi worshippers are the worse type of people there are in the world towards blacks” ?
VedaNM.
Those images of mobs of men armed with swords ready to genocide minority groups in India= Hindustan nationalists.
Hindus, mainly ISCKON and Hare Krishna followers= peaceful Hindus who mind their own business and spread a message of peace.
India is definitely not following the principles of Hare Krishna.
The founder of Hare Krishna contends that the values of Hare Krishna is based from messages of every faiths (Hindu, Christianity, Islam). Would Hare Krishna be persecuted by Modi’s thugs, as Sri Prabhupada’s movement is based on a universal message of God?
Hare Krishna don’t seem to have the time to sharpen cutlasses and swords and chop up minority groups; they would rather spread the message of Hare Krishna than to murder and genocide.
Why can’t India follow Hare Krishna and convert people to God peacefully rather than genocide? Sri Prabhupada would bring peace if he were leader of India rather than goading and encouraging mobs to chop up people based on their minority status.
Trevor man the hare Krishna Mob is not a proper religion. They seem more like a cult that any freak can join. To be a Hindu you have to be born dharam sanatan.
Trevor man the hare Krishna Mob is not a proper religion. They seem more like a cult that any freak can join. To be a Hindu you have to be born dharam sanatan.
It is up to the individual to work hard and studyso they can live a comfortable life and get out of poverty. The ones who choose to.live in mud hut nd logee are the ones who choose not to do anything constructivr with their life by begging ; drug and drink in the answer.
I don’t know why you keep blaming certain races and accusing them of racist.
Poor, Trevor, you are seduced by a ic Chicherie planted to gain credibility. Find out where it came from: is it a. Mock up, a photo shopped or what.
Have you not listened to the BelGian scholar , Koenraad Elst, say there in nothing In the RSS-Hindutva past or present that can be equated with genocide. Defence yes. nothing in the Hindu past or present (listen to the only honest Muslim I know of, Tarek Fatah say ‘ you will never see a Hindu.try to violently Takeover New York or any other country as the Islamist 9-11 ers.
VedaNM
BTw Benhur, one doesn’t have to be born Hindu. Ask Gynese Sharon Westmas, Felicia Rashad. Etc.
VNM
I don’t have to ask anyone!!! to be a Hindu you are born one !!! May be they should join hare Krishna Mob and spread the word !!!!
I don’t have to ask anyone!!! to be a Hindu you are born one !!! May be they should join hare Krishna Mob and spread the word !!!!
Benhur: I am a Hindu, yet you who are not one knows more than me!
Here is a shocker for you guys. It will drive you, Trevor and other Anti-Hindu and anti-Indian crowd mad. They say the ‘gods drive those mad who they want to destroy’.
Tulsi Gabbard, one of the Dems for White House is a Hindu!!!!
And, I predict she will be the VP if Biden wins (and may later take over as president); otherwise, my first choice since two years ago, is Kamala Harris, whose mother was a Hindu Indian, will be the first female American woman.
Either of the will come to past! Some one
VedaNM.
Benhur: I am a Hindu, yet you who are not one knows more than me!
Here is a shocker for you guys. It will drive you, Trevor and other Anti-Hindu and anti-Indian crowd mad. They say the ‘gods drive those mad who they want to destroy’.
Tulsi Gabbard, one of the Dems for White House is a Hindu!!!!
And, I predict she will be the VP if Biden wins (and may later take over as president); otherwise, my first choice since two years ago, is Kamala Harris, whose mother was a Hindu Indian, will be the first female American woman.
Either of the will come to past! Some one
VedaNM.
Again, huge difference between someone practicing Hindu without chopping up people, and a semi-dictator using Hinduism as a tool to foment religious wars for political gain.
How do you know what religion I am Darth Veda?
Benhur: You gave yourself away. I said you’re NOT Hindu because you refer to it as “dharma sanatan”
It is Sanatan Dharma ! – translated as the eternal dharma or ‘religion’ as there is no English equivalent.
VNM
How do you know what religion I am ? If a parent or both parents are Hindu then the children can be automatically be Hindu if they want to
Listen old man go and get a life . Just because the words are the wrong way round..
Big deal !!!! You should be in the police force!!
Most people who are Hindu are born into the religion. Westerners join the sect hare Krishna instead which is not even a proper religion but man made. I don’t know of anyone converting to Hindu ism where I live
Benhur: don’t dodge the issue. I said you are not Hindu but you make pronouncements on it. Changing the around the to words shows clearly that I am correct.
BTW: I want to make it clear here that I didN’T start the debate about Hinduism, just as I didn’t start it on the Chickerie’s Modi/RSS topic. Uninformed Trevor did in both cases. He has gone on to slam India and Indians with scant evidence, the same way Trump does re Mexicans, leading to a slaughter at Al Paso.
Trevor is just a black Trump; which also lays bare the sleeper fact that racism against the ‘other’ is not just a white-man’s propensity, but some blacks are just culpable (I also give specific examples in my just released book – The Mauling of Indian – showing that African-Guyanaese were racist to the Indentured Indians from the earliest encounter).
VedaNM
“Racism” in the USA is one of genocide, murder and treating the “other” as savages, and the “racism” you are alleging against indentured migrants from Asia is one of competition.
Afro-Guyanese have every right to feel threatened by what was seemed as a British plot to maintain control over the remaining colony of British Guiana. My ancestors fought against the Dutch and British merchants long time, and of course, bringing in thousands of indentured migrants from India and China did drive down the wages of the sugar plantations, as we fought for higher pay, and refused to work for those scheming bastards.
I’ve been reading the popular threads regarding Canada, and it does look like there are nationals from India who are stereotyped as those who drive down the wages of Canadian jobs.
See a similarity or a co-incidence? There are news articles alleging that Indian nationals are even paying employers to work for them, in order to get a visa. How ludicrous is that?! Not even the Mexicans would pay employers to work, but instead work for lower wages to transfer back to their families in Mexico—huge difference!
So Trevor, if “Sri Prabhupada’s movement is based on a universal message of God?” Why he named his movement “Hare Krishna” and not Hare-Jehovah or Hare Jesus/Christ, etc?
As well, he is clearly indicating that Christianity and Islam, etc are deficient, isn’t he? And he alluded to empty Christian church pews ( since the 70’s), meaning Western Christians are looking for something more believable – hence his Hare Krishna movement.
FYI Christianity is only growing among the poor and uneducated 3rd world peoples who can be won over with a bag of rice and the fancy clothes of the preachers. The Western Church pews are empty because the westerners are more educated and can see that Adam and Eve and Christ the Saviour stories don’t make sense.
VNM.
I don’t know Hinduism to know why Sri Prabuhpada coined the term Hare Krishna, but Krishna is considered a deity in Hinduism, and it’s aligned to his Indian roots.
Sri Prabuphada hadn’t advocated genocide or hatred unlike the Hindustan nationalists, though critics have accused him of saying quotes that I can’t verify, and one could also argue that it’s easier to defame the dead, so I’ll leave it at that.
Tara claims that Hare Krishna is a man-made religion. Well Tara, I fully agree since all religions are man-made.
Benhur, born Hindu like born from a Jewish mother as in the case of European Judaism? No wonder Idi Amin accused the Indian migrants of being like those people!
Taraji: Since you don’t know any converts to Hinduism, here are a few.
David Frawley (awarded the prestigious Indian Padma Bhushan)
David Frawley (or Vāmadeva Śāstrī वामदेव शासतरी), b. 1950, is an American Hindu teacher (acharya) and author, who has written more than thirty books on topics such as the Vedas, Hinduism, Yoga, Ayurveda and Vedic astrology, published both in India and in the United States. He is the founder and director of the American Institute of Vedic Studies in Santa Fe, New Mexico, which offers educational information on Yoga philosophy, Ayurveda, and Vedic astrology. He works closely with the magazine Hinduism Today, where he is a frequent contributor.[1] He is associated with a number of Vedic organizations in several countries. He is a Vedic teacher (Vedacharya), Vaidya (Ayurvedic doctor), and a Jyotishi (Vedic astrologer). https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/65190.David_Frawley
Julia Roberts (American Actress)
by Subhamoy Das, Updated May 30, 2019
Academy Award-winning Hollywood actor Julia Roberts, who recently converted to Hinduism, reconfirmed her faith in Hinduism while commenting that her “opting for Hinduism is not a religious gimmick”.
Julia Feels Like Maugham’s Patsy
In an interview to The Hindu, “India’s National Newspaper” dated Nov. 13, 2010, Roberts said. “It is similar to Patsy of ‘Razor’s Edge’ by Somerset Maugham. We share a common aspect of finding peace and tranquility of mind in Hinduism, one of the oldest and respected religions of civilization.”
https://www.learnreligions.com/why-julia-roberts-became-a-hindu-1769989
In addition, the American Transcendentalists, Waldo Emerson and Thoreau and many others such as English-born, Irish freedom fighter (later moved to India for the last 30+ years of her life), Annie Besant, Herman Hesse, Aldoux Huxley and Director of the Manhattan Project, physicist, Robert Oppenheimer, were very conversant with the Bhagavad Gita, likely Hindus.
When they tested the Atomic Bomb Oppenheimer recited these lines (recalling when Lord Krishna revealed His Cosmic Self to Arjuna) – XI, 12: “If the radiance of a thousand suns were to burst at once into the sky, that would be like the splendor of the mighty one..”
He also thought of these lines about the potential destruction the bomb would cause: “’Now I am become Death, the destroyer of worlds.’..
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Influence_of_Bhagavad_Gita
Henry Thoreau further uttered: “In the morning I bathe my intellect in the stupendous and cosmogonal philosophy of the Bhagavad-Gita, in comparison with which our modern world and its literature seems puny and trivial.”
VedaNM
Saw this today in the Caribbean Camera, Aug8/19, that between January and July more than 8,600 Haitians arrived in Guyana and “only 13 left the country legally”. All this is going on when House-to-House registration is in full swing. The PNC has been rigging elections with false voter lists since 1968 elections; and the same party in power now
In 1968, Wilmot Wright was my assistant at the Treasury Dept (IBM Unit Record section); and was seconded to the Elections Comm immediately at lunch time one day so he can pad the voters’ list via the IBM Unit Record machines. He revealed all of this to me. But he also boasted that because of his yeoman service to the Elections Com he will replace me after the elections.
So, a month after the elections I left Guyana permanently both because of his boast and fearful over my safety over the revelations he disclosed to me..
VedaNM
Minister Felix confirms: 8,476 Haitians came; only 1,170 left …says police have no evidence of human smuggling
Aug 07, 2019 KNews News 1 Comment
Minister of Citizenship, Winston Felix, on Monday confirmed that for the year more than 8,400 Haitians arrived but Government can only account for a little more than 1,100 leaving. In his statement,
READ MORE:
..https://www.kaieteurnewsonline.com/2019/08/07/minister-felix-confirms-8476-haitians-came-only-1170-left-says-police-have-no-evidence-of-human-smuggling/
Taraji: I had forgotten about this incredible Polish young woman, Karolina Goswami, until I just received this video (not related to this blog). Karolina has numerous videos defending and extolling India’s greatness via Hinduism. This one deals with non-Indian Hindu monks in Hawaii.
(Also, I neglected to tell you that a US 2020 presidential contender, Hawaii senator, Tulsi Gabbard, is also Hindu)
At the end of Karolina’s, this other one popped-up on another Polish woman, who now lives 5 years in India, extolling India on the business side. The Black haters of India/Hinduism, such as Trevor and Benhur on this item and others, such as the ‘Rise of Modi’s Hindutva…’ on this blog would be shocked if not fainting, to hear these two Polish women and the monks in Hawaii extolling India.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E9_vd-dvZ-E
VedaNM.
Of course Polish will like Hindus, because the “enemy of my enemy is thy friend”. Poland is a racist country which murders Sikhs and Muslims, while gangs beat up and harass African families who visit that s-hole as a tourist.
If Poland like to follow Hitler’s ideology, why don’t they surrender to the Germans, as Germany wanted to exterminate Poles and had concentration camps in Poland?
On another topic, I revealed how I left Guyana after 1968 election because padding of voters’ list was revealed to me by the one doing it. See below for this very revealing expose of Burnham/PNC plans to use islanders to pad voters’ list.
So the Haitians/Cubans/Venezuelans in Guyana illegally could be used in the padding of impeding elections by the Granger’s administration via the House-to-House registration.
Letter in today’s Stabroek News
Documents show that in the past the PNC considered using Caribbean islanders to rig the 1968 election
By Stabroek News On August 10, 2019 @ 2:03 am In Letters to the Editor |
Dear Editor,
It is unfortunate that the Haitians, Cubans and Venezuelans who have been entering Guyana in large numbers have become pawns in the country’s politics. These individuals are escaping poverty and repression but because of Guyana’s past history with rigged elections by the PNC, now the dominant partner in the government, their arrival is viewed with concern and suspicion by some Guyanese.
The present may now be haunted by the past. Freddie Kissoon, Kaieteur News columnist who is no friend of the PPP and who is well informed on Guyana’s politics, in his July 16, 2019 column “President Granger is violating the constitution” writes “This columnist has opined in private emails and in his columns that Guyana is heading for instability. I repeat my fear here which I will not be fearful in asserting – Guyana is about to atavistically return to the seventies of rigged elections.”
Centuries ago, preeminent English playwright, William Shakespeare, informed us “What’s past is prologue” meaning that history sets the context for the present. Archival documents of the US Department of State,
(https://2001-2009.state.gov/r/pa/ho/frus/johnsonlb/xxxii/44659.htm) may now help to understand the apprehension regarding the influx of these foreigners. These documents show that in the past the PNC considered using Caribbean islanders to rig the 1968 election. The following extracts are informative:
September 16, 1965 – Telegram From the Consulate General in British Guiana to the Department of State
“Had long and useful discussion with Burnham evening September 15 lasting until well after midnight… Opportunity arose early in conversation to seek determine how he views central problem of assuring re-election in 1968. It is clear that he prefers to hope that significant fraction Indians can be won over to his party or to one he can work with. If, however, it appears that such development not occurring he then strongly favors program for importation West Indian Negroes and while conceding there would be practical problems, believes they could be overcome. If such program not possible, I gather he would be willing consider such ideas as unitary statehood with Barbados or, conceivably, disenfranchisement of illiterates. He finds such thoughts very distasteful but believe he would do so if convinced there is no other way to survive politically against PPP.”
July 15, 1966 – Telegram From the Ambassador to Guyana (Carlson) to the Department of State
“ Prime Minister Burnham is reasonably convinced that West Indian (Negro) immigration might well solve his electoral problem… he has entertained the possibility of putting together some form of unitary state with Barbados or Antigua, or one or several of the smaller islands. (Burnham told the U.S. Ambassador on July 4th that Grenada and St. Lucia had recently expressed an interest in merging with Guyana 927 Guyana.)
August 4, 1966 – Letter From the Ambassador to Guyana (Carlson) to the Assistant Secretary of State for Inter-American Affairs (Gordon)
“I thought you would be interested in the Prime Minister’s brief confidential summary to me of the topics discussed with the President privately… Burnham related to the President the idea of migration from the over-populated British West Indian islands to Guyana and the needed electoral benefit to the Burnham administration. The President’s subsequent inquiry to you as to whether we are “on top” of this idea has been interpreted as a very significant indication of the President’s sympathetic attitude toward it.”
December 7, 1967 – Special National Intelligence Estimate
“Burnham, whose coalition with the small, conservative United Force (UF) has always been fragile, /2/is working on various schemes to enlarge the Negro vote. He will try to obtain a substantial number of absentee votes from Negro Guyanese residing abroad. Beyond this, he is exploring means to merge Guyana with one or another Caribbean island (most likely St. Vincent) /3/ so as to increase the proportion of Negro voters”.
June 5, 1968 – Memorandum Prepared for the 303 Committee
“… representatives met with Prime Minister Forbes Burnham in late April to discuss operational matters related to the electoral campaign. At this meeting Burnham stated unequivocally that he plans to conduct the registration and voting in such a manner that the PNC will emerge with an absolute majority in the Guyana National Assembly. Burnham said that he will never again allow the life of his government to depend upon his coalition partner Peter d’Aguiar and that if the voting should turn out in such a manner that he could not form a government without the help of d’Aguiar, he would refuse to form a government. Burnham said that he plans to register 17, 18, 19 and 20 year old PNC adherents (minimum voting age is 21 years) to make up part of the vote he needs and will direct his campaign in such a way as to attract enough additional East Indian voters to put the PNC approximately on a par with the PPP in Guyana.”
Based on the preceding and the Government’s determination for House to House registration, one can understand the concerns over the influx of the Cubans, Venezuelans, and Haitians. Hopefully, Madam Justice Claudette Singh, the new Chairperson whose appointment was supported by both the Leader of the Opposition and the President, will be able to restore confidence in GECOM and the electoral process, and ensure a free and fair election.
Yours faithfully,
Harry Hergash
https://www.stabroeknews.com/2019/opinion/letters/08/10/documents-show-that-in-the-past-the-pnc-considered-using-caribbean-islanders-to-rig-the-1968-election/
VNM