IN MEMORY OF CHEDDI JAGAN

CHEDDI JAGAN
(in his memory)

Born in Port Mourant on a sugar plantation
He daily witnessed Guyana's exploitation
He saw hardship and knew there was only one cure
And Cheddi promised to fight oppression for sure

He fought against the plantation owners
Championing the cause of the sugar-workers
The gov't. of the day could not understand
For he was a force, a tiger in their hand

In those days Imperialism was in
And Social Social/Marxism was a sin
You bow to Uncle Sam and dance to his tune
Or you'd pass away like the last full moon

The people came last and politics came first
But this jingoism didn’t quench his thirst
He stood up and was counted though he was alone
In Moscow, his friends had problems of their own

Guyanese celebrated raising the Indian jhanda
As he watched, admired and even visited India
When in 1947 India became independent
To Nehru and Ghandi good wishes he sent

Then later Ghana got independence too
And all Guyanese dressed in every hue
Joined with their brothers of Ghana
And celebrated with Kwame Nkrumah

This did not deter him, he stuck to his belief
And was forced to be the opposition to a thief
As bullets replaced ballots in every succession
As Guyana was repeatedly raped in every election

All his pleas fell on deaf ears
Especially to the political seers
He went to the United Nation and lamented
But the US backed body was undaunted

The British changed first past the post
To prevent the PPP from getting the most
They did this with the sole devious intention
By switching to proportional representation

The result was no party got a majority
The British way of getting rid of the PPP
Burnham and D’Aguiar formed a coalition
Making way for Burnham’s Guyanization

The registration by the Shoup Company
Made utter sheer mockery of democracy
Padded with the dead, hanged, even the fictitious
Which the same British press called "ridiculous"

In England the press had a field day
When Granada TV did their expose`
Airing '”The Trails of the Vanishing Voter”
And "The Making of a Prime Minister"

The whole West knew of that widespread scam
But they prefer to put their money on Burnham
The Indians overseas were denied their right
The wholesale rigging was too much to fight

Rubber bands played a big roll in elections
They were used in the PNC stronghold sections
To wrap bundles of votes i.e. the PNC’s share
And ballot boxes were tampered without fear

Desmond Hoyt, the architect on the commission
He became President with Burnham's extinction
Since 1992 there was never a fair and free election
Only fear, fraud, disgust and wholesale corruption

That was the foundation of the PNC Gov’t. abuse
What do you expect such garbage would produce?
For 28 years they ruled with an iron fist
And did every bleddy thing wrong on the list

Cheddi Jagan did all he humanly could
But it was if he was preaching to wood
They rebuked him and after 28 years
The good doctor still showed he cares

Like the others who crossed the floor in stealth
He could have partook in the country's wealth
Call it quits and left like the others
But he stuck to his guns and his brothers

But behind every great man
There is always a good woman
And we can't and should never forget
His strong and faithful wife Janet

Like Nehru and Ghandi of India
He also had big dreams for Guyana
But his reign was aborted by a conspiracy of silence
Though like Rev. King he too preached non-violence

To clean up the corruption and debt is a huge task
To do it overnight in a few years we can never ask
Wholesale nepotism and corruption ’PNC made’
To wipe off the stench it would take a decade

But there is a cool new breeze blowing
With many changes for better forthcoming
The winds of change are here at last
But we should never forget the past

We have to put our shoulders to the wheel
We have to work like one people with one keel
Let no "divide and rule" come between us again
Strive for real independence, let sanity reign

Jagan never succumbed or relent
Even with his life almost spent
He fought his foes with his bare hands
And never groveled to their demands

He's no ordinary man, he dreamt in his own way
Like the Rev.Martin Luther King, he hoped one day
The people of Guyana would rise up peacefully
Become one people, one nation, with one destiny.

– Naraine Datt Tewarie (Toronto).

Dr Cheddi Jagan was convinced that with a coordinated international effort, poverty and hunger could be eradicated in our lifetime. Throughout his life Cheddi Jagan fought for the poor, marginalized, oppressed and suppressed peoples of Guyana and the world at large.

His proposals for a New Global Human Order are his legacy to the world.

Grandfather Cheddi was a devoted family man

Wednesday, March 23rd 2005

Tuesday, March 22nd, 2005 would have marked the 87th
birthday of a husband, a father of two, a grandfather
to five, a dentist and the most beloved son of our
nation of Guyana. This man is no other than the
Honourable Cheddi Berret Jagan of Port Mourant,
Berbice. Personally, as one of those five
grandchildren and as a voice for the remainder, I
declare that knowing him, talking to him, eating,
laughing and swimming with him, in sum, his mere
physical presence was the utmost privilege which shall
ever be afforded to us.

For the presence of Cheddi Jagan was in no way common,
instead somewhat uplifting in terms of the virtues of
the soul, by that I mean simply that his presence
alone was sufficient motivation to enrich one's
character, and knowledge. Philosophically, I compare
Cheddi Jagan's motives for accomplishments to Rene
Descartes, 'criterion,' in which Descartes abandons
that which is ordinary and commonplace to embrace a
sceptic view of doubt in order to form a firm
foundation of knowledge. The point to my contrast here
is that, like Descartes, my grandfather too, deserted
that which was simply trite and instead embarked on a
life long voyage of a persistent over achieving
mindset.

As a result, my grandfather's achievements
soared loftily above all expectations due to his
seemingly poverty stricken upbringing. Furthermore,
unbeknownst to most, was Cheddi Jagan's dedication,
not only to his nation and his people, but first and
foremost to his family. This dedication was so closely
embraced by him that I doubt any member of the Jagan
family would deny me the right to propose that any of
their success was directly due to his dedication to
them. What I am referring to at this point is that my
great-grandparents could only afford to send their
eldest son, my grandfather, to school in the US. Upon
his return as a graduated dentist, my grandfather was
responsible for funding the education of his younger
siblings to a large extent.

Morally, my grandfather was sound both in his
principles and his actions. Take for instance, two
things I clearly remember which exemplify this, - his
hatred for wasting food and for violence. I recall not
being allowed to leave the dinner table unless every
single morsel of food was consumed. My grandfather was
an avid opponent of violence as one can tell by
studying his political actions. Despite heavy rioting,
killings and other bully tactics by opposing parties,
my grandfather never once took up arms or preached
violence as a means to an end.

Consumed in non-violent tendencies to the point where
he never swayed, even though every Guyanese knew that
he was being deprived of votes at the elections for
many years.

It is in actions such as these that my grandfather
exhibited his chief quality, that being persistence. A
biography of his life would make this clear.

My grandfather was a dentist, an occupation which many
consider to be a source of wealth, yet he was unmoved
by the motivation of finances. He did without, wearing
shirt jacs instead of the usual suit attire of
politicians worldwide.

He had little or no currency on him when he wasn't at
home. I even remember a story my mom told me in which
he was given a gold Rolex watch as a present from
China, I believe, upon reception, my grandfather sold
this Rolex in order to give more money to his party,
the PPP. I can never disregard the persistence,
dedication and uniqueness of my grandfather,
for these qualities gave me the life I have today.

Grandpa I love you, happy birthday, you live on in
my heart and  my soul, I will keep my promise to you,
that is a guarantee.

Yours faithfully,

Cheddi Berret Jagan II

LINKS

• Cheddi Jagan - Father of the nation of Guyana.
• Cheddi Jagan - Guyana's Hero.
• Cheddi Jagan - Photo and Poster gallery.
• Cheddi Jagan - Books.

YOUR COMMENTS

Comments

[Ravee Raghavan]

Where you have 2 distinct races like Indians and Africans or Whites and Blacks, miscegenation is the only way out, even if it only results in a small strata of mixed people; as long as they can act like a bridge between the two and are not looked down upon as "freaks". It takes time I guess for "Douglas" to be seen in a positive light, but eventually we will all come to the realization that they are the future and a bridge for regular links so others can follow suit.India is "screwed up" with it's caste,class and color issues to this day, but thank god that the West Indies has made much better strides in race relations. The "wounded civilization" that India is(Naipaul)is not something to emulate. They may never get out of their social mess in terms of caste and race problems.I am of Indian origin from Malaysia and although there was much social mixing, to this day there is very little miscegenation, and so while Malaysians,eat,sleep (residence that is) and work together, they continue to lead emotionally and racially seperate lives. I was always sad about this and was always proud that there was another person of East Indian origin(Cheddi Jagan)who believed in full racial miscegenation as the answer to ultimate nation-building.Your grandfather was a man way ahead of the times.Take care.Dr.Ravee Raghavan

[Suresh K. Pillai]

JS,
I found this piece of letter very interesting for its emotional appeal. Is this written by Cheddi Jagan's son who also bears the name of his father whom I had the opportunity to interact with a couple fo times when I was in Guyana. The younger Jagan was interesting as he was intolerant of any criticism against his father and mother Cheedi and Janet Jagans.

I do agree that Cheddi Jagan is the most outstanding of politicians of Indian origin from Caribbean. His passionate writings about World politics during cold war era are brilliant and were honest in every sense of the word. Though the western and Caribbean and Indian left failed to give him due status such as Simon Bolivar or Fidel Castro or even Dr. Eric Williams, a number of Caribbean scholars do recognise and acknowledge his contribution.

Today if one revisits Jagan's writings and his political position with respect to developing secular politics in Guyana I must say that he is an enormous failure.

He failed on two accounts, unlike many of his leftist contemporaries.

He could not see through the designs of US and UK installing Burnham and thereby creating a racial division. His own or his family (mainly wife Janet Jagan's) interests for power overide the interests of the Guyanese public, particularly Indian communities, Hindus more importantly. He failed to see the emerging racial polarisation in Guyanese politics and played almost into the same hands of the African racists or their white masters, thereby endagered Indian interests.

It is fact that most of the educated Indians in Guyana chose to distance themselves from Jagan. His own political party still riding on the racially polarised politics is a major failure in addressing either Indian or African dilemma.

But all these failures does not mean that he was neither important nor mean. It would be interesting to look at the Jagan kind of politics from a new perspective.

Jagan's advocacy was of total integration of Indians and Africans racially to produce a hybrid people, which his wife Janet Jagan still believes is the only solution to Guyanese problems.

SKP