Guyana’s historical ethnic tension between the Indo-Guyanese and the Afro-Guyanese communities is routinely manifested in the political life of the small South American country. In Guyana, the larger Indo-Guyanese segment of the population favors the ruling People’s Progressive Party (PPP/C), while Afro-Guyanese largely support the coalition A Partnership for National Unity (APNU), which was formed in 2011 primarily by the People’s National Congress, as well as the Alliance for Change. In the November 2011 elections, the PPP/C-backed candidate Donald Ramotar was declared the presidential victor, but his party lost its parliamentary majority by one seat for the first time since 1992, giving the opposition alliance of the APNU and the AFC a virtual veto power over the national agenda.
Source: Demerara Waves
The current tensions between Guyana’s major two parties boiled over during July in the country’s second largest city, Linden, a traditional stronghold of Afro-Guyanese electoral strength and political muscle. On July 18, three Lindeners partaking in an allegedly APNU-supported demonstration were killed and dozens more were injured while protesting the government’s increase of electricity rates in the region. Resulting protests and acts of arson inflicted significant infrastructural damages on the city, including the burning of the One Mile Primary School. The PPP/C pointed to the protestors, who they believe were incited by APNU agent provocateurs, for the damage. In turn, the APNU has accused the police force, acting under PPP/C influence, of being racially motivated. PPP/C defector Khemraj Ramjattan, now the leader of the opposition Alliance for Change, went as far as stating “It is my firm view, I can’t prove it, but my firm opinion that there are state agents involved (in Linden) operating under the arrangements of some of the people in senior government offices that are creating these burnings. I cannot believe that Lindeners are going to burn a school that 800 students go to. It has to be state agents doing that. The PPP thrives on these situations and the situation has the capacity to bring back their supporters into their wagon and they want that to happen.”[i] The state-run Guyana Chronicle fought back against these accusations with an editorial titled “Ramjattan has gone into pure, unadulterated evil,” which accused Mr. Ramjattan of treason and adamantly denied any governmental involvement.[ii] Eusi Kwayana, himself a former member of the PPP/C in the 1960s, came out strongly against PPP/C actions in Linden, denouncing their one-party administration and accused the government of a “barefaced and cowardly attack” on critical journalist Freddie Kissoon.[iii]
On August 21 President Ramotar signed a pact with Linden leaders, finally bringing to an end the four weeks of chaos and negating the provocative rise in electricity costs for Lindeners. In response to a request from the Guyanese government that was also approved of by the APNU, a CARICOM committee consisting of Justice Lensley Wolfe, KD Knight of Jamaica, and Ms. Dana Seetahal of Trinidad and Tobago will investigate the situation and is expected to announce its findings by the end of September.[iv] It is certain that the late President Cheddi Jagan would have just cause to weep for the rack and ruin of contemporary Guyanese politics gutting the nation’s political life.
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[i]“Ramjattan has gone into pure, unadulterated evil.”Guyana Chronicle, August 14, 2012. http://www.guyanachronicleonline.com/site/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=47852:ramjattan-has-gone-into-pure-unadulterated-evil&catid=1:editorial&Itemid=11 (accessed August 24, 2012).
[ii] Ibid.
[iii] Kwayana, Eusi. “Letter to the Editor.” Kaieteur News, August 18, 2012. http://guyaneseonline.wordpress.com/2012/08/18/letter-to-the-editor-by-eusi-kwayana/ (accessed August 24, 2012).
[iv] CARICOM, “Statement by the Caribbean Community Secretariat on the Recommendation of Commissioners RE: Linden Inquiry.” Last modified August 20, 2012. Accessed August 24, 2012. http://www.caricom.org/jsp/pressreleases/press_releases_2012/pres228_12.jsp.
This is a really bad analysis. It begins with an error — that A Partnership for National Unity (APNU) is a coalition of the Alliance for Change (AFC) and the People's National Congress (PNC). This leads to another error – unawareness that the opposition's one seat majority in the Parliament depends on APNU and AFC ( a separate alliance) working together at the parliamentary level. And a third and truly unforgivable one – that the recent uprising in Linden was a struggle between APNU and the governing People's Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C). If the writer wants to insist – incorrectly – that what happened in Linden is about political parties and ethnic groups confronting each other, at least she should know that the AFC was as involved in supporting the people of Linden as APNU was. But the worst
mistake is actually in seeing the struggle in that old-fashioned way. Yes, parties were involved; they always are in our partyocratised political culture, and race and racism were involved . But (1) the Linden uprising was not under the control of any party or parties but a community-wide, community-led resistance and i(2) it was also about class – about women, men and youth living with 70% unemployment refusing to accept that those with power could inflict on them a sudden increase in their electricity rates by 300-800%..
Thank you for bringing to light the error regarding the APNU coalition, it has since been corrected.
Not sure what to say about this one guys. Yes Afro Guyanese largely support APNU, however Afro Guyanese make up only 30-32% of the population and APNU captured 42% of the vote. Therefore its support bases goes beyond just Afro Guyanese. Additionally, Upper Demerara Berbice- the Region in which Linden is located, is only 55% Afro-Guyanese. Therefore, the issues goes beyond mere ethnicity.
Secondly, while the increase in the electricity tariff was the spark that began the process the actual reasons go much deeper. Since 1992 Linden- formerly one of Guyana's most prosperous towns, has been politically and economically mariginalised. The region and its inhabitants have been denied access to private media- no private tv or radio stations are allowed to broadcast from or to Linden, since it is perceived as a opposition stronghold. Additionally, Linden receives a smaller share of government revenue despite its population and contribution to the national GDP. I
These are the causes of the protest not the electricity price hike. On numerous occasions I have complained that your briefs on non-Lusophone or Spanish speaking Latin America lack depth. Two and half paragraphs is not enough to really analyze the situation in Linden or Guyana as a whole. I really hope COHA can do better in the future.