Buxton has spoken! Their message is absolutely clear! This does not amount to a “slavish deliverance of their ancestral house”

Terrence Greaves: AS would be expected, a response to President Jagdeo’s visit to Buxton has been made via an article in the Stabroek News by Professor Dr David Hinds, Buxtonian and a well known WPA activist. This article, which must be described as being very angry-toned and vitriolic, begins with describing President Jagdeo’s visit as a “political charade”; and is further laced with stinging criticisms at what Hind’s has described as the “accomodationist attitude being promoted by some African Guyanese leaders” and the slavish deliverance of “our ancestral house” to the ruling party and government among the heavy broadside he fired.
First of all, let me say that I have the greatest of respect for this Guyanese-United States-based academic, who stood up fearlessly against the Burnham dictatorship and felt the repression of its jackboot, as well as his condemnation of the gunmen’s presence in his beloved Buxton during those horror years. Believe me, I felt very disappointed and sad at what he has had to say in this article, for there is no doubt that he loves his village and wants to see it progressing. However, regrettably but quite frankly, his must be a lone voice in this angry outburst. But let me begin my response to his description of President Jagdeo’s visit.
There is no “charade’ about the President’s visit to the rural community of Buxton, since charade is about pretence to create a pleasant impression. Neither was it a political expediency because of the nearness of the 2011 poll, as Hinds perceives. It was a visit that had to be done, because this was the opportune time for such a visit
. And though it is the President’s prerogative, in deciding the when/where of his visits, this particular one, I dare say came about when Buxton would have been normalised and Buxtonians ready for such an important occasion. In fact, this was a visit that Buxtonians coveted most and unanimous in wanting, not as “beggars” and “weaklings” as they are derisively described by this activist, but as Guyanese in their own right who understood the great damage that had been done to their once-proud village, and who wanted to signal to the Executive that they were ready to move their village forward, taking its place in the productive mainstream of national life. And this is precisely what President Jagdeo advised and accordingly offered, because this is central to this community’s future well-being, as any other, especially its young. Can you, Dr Hinds, better in a practical manner, what His Excellency has offered?
Of course Dr Hinds, they have the right, like any other community, to ask for assistance, a fact which you supported; but that does not necessarily mean that such will shift their political allegiance. But, in the end if they do, who can fault them? They will only be giving just reward to an administration which led them to an improved life. I need not remind this academic that such is political realism.
The tone of Dr Hinds’ discourse, suggests that Buxton ought to be still resisting when he mentioned about the “right to self-determination” for there and other communities. What does he mean? How can he make such a statement when Buxton is an indivisible part of Guyana. There is not anything “accomodationist” about some African leaders, as he contended. Instead, there is a realisation that this nation is witnessing a great social and economic transformation, and rather than listen to the negatives of ethnicity being pedalled in all subtleties, many African leaders are correctly advising their constituents to partake in this great dispensation and become beneficiaries for themselves and families.
This does not make any black community “beggars” and “weaklings”, above all, Buxton, Dr Hinds! No doubt, your views did not find favour among the enlightened majority in your village.
Buxton has spoken! Their message is absolutely clear! This does not amount to a “slavish deliverance of their ancestral house”