February 20 marks the birth date of Linden Forbes Sampson Burnham (LFSB). While some use the date to reflect on his life and work, some use it to continue vilifying him. LFSB remains one of the most misunderstood leaders of our time. From his policies, deportment, competitiveness, intellect, philosophy, patriotism to his charisma, detractors have found ways to downplay and demonise attributes that normally would be sources for discourse to arrive at an objective understanding of the man. As we face elections his name surfaces with vengeance and is being associated with untruths. He becomes the bogeyman to pronounce why a group/party is unworthy to govern. It is time to kill this germ with some home truths:-
For keeping his eyes on the prize to achieve independence and having successfully influenced the colonizer and its ally (Britain and USA), in a Cold War era, to accept his embrace of socialism as unthreatening and posing no opportunity for USSR/communist expansion, his detractors refuse to acknowledge his shrewdness and accuse him of being power hungry. That he subsequently fought for Republican status, finally breaking the yoke of domination and a compromise struck for 23rd February, he is accused of fixing this date to celebrate his birthday. It is ignored February 23 marks the slaves’ first (1763) major blow for freedom in the New World, and this final attainment (1970) is a fitting homage to those who began the struggle centuries before.
When Guyana joined the Non-Aligned Movement, an organisation conceived by India Prime Minister Jawaharal Nehru, LFSB was not condemned. When LFSB and other Caribbean leaders in the new post-colonial societies saw the need to establish regional institutions in furtherance of the interest of the region’s people, he was accused of trying to submerge a race.
All Guyana supported the visit to India by Cheddie Jagan and LFSB in the struggle for independence, given that country’s attainment in 1947. Guyana became divided when LFSB used India and Guyana experiences to help the anti-colonial struggles in Southern African. He remains accused of lending support because of race and budgetary allocation to the struggles was not supported by the PPP. He is denied the Oliver Tambo Award because his detractors managed to influence others to accept, that albeit his support satisfies the criteria for the award, he remains underserving under criteria created by them.
He is accused of banning flour, spilt peas and potato to punish Indians. Ignored is the fact that the restriction of these items impacted on all races. The race-hate propaganda is moving at whirlwind speed in this silly season. It matters not that flour was/is used to make bakes, bread, cakes and, roti is a staple of all. It matters not that split peas was/is used in soup, cook-up and, dhall is a staple of all. It matters not that potato was/is a staple of all. More importantly, it is ignored the circumstances under which Guyana was unable to continue the importation of these items.
Disregarded is the function of government to make choices or tough decisions spending scarce foreign exchange on expenditures and debt repayment. The oil crisis of the early 1970s that sent economies reeling and non-producing, oil-dependent countries like Guyana into a tailspin was seen as LFSB’s fault. That Guyana, unlike countries like USA and Trinidad, had no social safety net to cushion the effects made matters worse. Efforts by his administration to encourage citizens to conserve and be self-reliant were labeled as a return to dark times. Where developed societies are driven by the ingenuity and entrepreneurship of its people, at home forces influenced the masses to think self-empowerment equals deprivation and anti-development.
Alongside the oil crisis, were political strikes and economic sabotages causing millions of foreign exchange to the Treasury, an insight which can be gleaned from Dr. Tyrone Ferguson’s “To survive sensibly or court heroic death….” In 1976 sugar workers led a 135 days political strike that caused Guyana to run into conflict with the buyers. Recall too, rice farmers were told not to engage in large scale production.
LFSB stands accused of being anti-Indian, racist, even though he zealously pursued the aspiration of One People, One Nation, One Destiny. His remains an unsurpassed record to bring racial healing and forge positive race relations. This record includes the designation of major religious and race observances as national holidays, legitimising Hindu and Muslim weddings, allowing pandit and imam to become marriage officers, the repeal of the Obeah Ordinance, the legitimising of children born out of wedlock which also impacted on Indians who did not confirm to the western marriage, the policies of mandatory early education and free education from nursery to university which opened the doors to learning for all.
We see his additional achievements in our national symbols including naming of awards, the Coat of Arms, the reconfiguration of local government boundaries which allows for diverse groups to work together in common pursuit, honouring the 1948 struggles of sugar workers via Enmore Martyrs monument and national commemoration, the building of all-weather road in Canal No. 1 & 2 that allowed farmers improved access to bring their produce from the backdam to the main road, the Demerara Harbour Bridge which improved trading, the construction of silos that allowed for improvement in rice storage, Hinterland Scholarship, Mashramani events which showcase cultural diversity in celebration after hard work, etc.
As Head of Government he used his power to remove the Jim Crow laws and topple the class, colour and race barriers in sugar and bauxite. This policy had a domino effect in Guyana Stores, Fogarty’s etc. No longer if you were non-white, dark and from poor families you had to stay back. He established financial institutions such as GAIBANK, GNCB, GNCB Trust Cooperation and Mortgage Finance, making it possible for the ordinary man to own his home and engage in business. Amidst accusations that he wanted to steal workers’ money and calls to boycott by his political rival, he forged ahead with the National Insurance Scheme (1969), which remains the nation’s major social safety net in times of sickness, maternity, injury, death, invalidity, disablement and old age. The single largest bloc of beneficiary to the Industrial Branch benefit remains sugar workers. Today part of NIS financial woes is the PPP’s misuse of the workers’ money to ‘invest’ in shady schemes and a $1B owed by GuySuCo.
Added to the above is his godson, Cheddie Jagan’s revelation that, “As a teenager I remember during the dark period of the early 1960s, when the PNC and PPP were engaged in spreading violence, my godfather, Forbes Burnham, and my father, Cheddi Jagan met on several occasions secretly (they even went to the seawalls some evenings), I am sure to contain the violence. As recently as 1985, these great Guyanese leaders met to discuss a coalition government of the PPP and PNC….” (http://www.stabroeknews.com/2010/opinion/letters/02/08/shared-governance-is-what-we-really-need) That a man so slandered was able to maintain cordial and working relationship with the country’s leading Indian icon is the ultimate exposure of the deceit of his detractors.
If LFSB was anti-Indian, with a record as outlined above, then it doesn’t say much of elder Jagan who had close relations with him. While LFSB was a complex man, a misunderstood man he must no longer remain! Let’s truthfully and contextually examine his record, give him his credit and where mistakes were made, let us learn from them. Members and supporters of his party must become uncompromising and intolerant of the effort(s) to unjustly malign and deny him his contributions to society. To do otherwise would be tantamount to maligning and denying ourselves, allowing others to wipe us from history, make us irrelevant, and settling for less when we know we deserve and are capable of more!
Minette Bacchus
