Dr. Clive Thomas, erstwhile anti-imperialist and dependency theorist, now a state functionary in the neo-liberal APNU+AFC government, reportedly said that the government should give US$5,000 from the oil revenue to each Guyanese household annually. He told the residents of Buxton/Friendship at the Eusi Kwayana Emancipation Symposium that a friend told him that this is what they do in Alaska. OVP called for this, based on what was done in the Libyan Jamahiriya, under the leadership of the revolutionary Pan-Africanist, Muammar Qaddafi, however the sum deposited was far more than US$5000. In the Libyan Jamahiriya, every Libyan was the recipient of thousands of dollars, deposited directly into their bank account because the Libyan revolution and its leadership affirmed the principle that the natural resources of the country are the patrimony of every citizen.
Dr. Thomas is certainly ignorant of the tremendous achievements of Libya. He heard about Alaska, but was completely unaware of what happened first in Libya on the African continent. In fact, Dr. Thomas is one of those ivory tower academics who fell for the fake news and false narratives produced by the Western corporate media that “Qaddafi was killing his people”. Dr. Thomas is on record as siding with the forces of white supremacy and the racist Gulf Arabs to destroy the most prosperous African country at that time, when he said: on Channel 9, “Qaddafi must go.” Dr. Thomas is an example of the kind of ideological schizophrenia that has Guyana where it is today. This confusion dates way back. Poor Burnham had to contend with these people when he was charting a course for true independence and a self-reliant economy.
Dr. Thomas and his party, the WPA, while claiming to be the big revolutionary socialists, hated socialist Burnham and fought him tooth and nail, eventually finding themselves on the same side as the imperialist forces who attempted to destabilize Burnham’s government. When Burnham’s programme was overturned, they were unable to offer any alternative, and the country was plunged into the disastrous period of the imperialist directed ERP (so-called Economic Recovery Programme) under Mr. Hoyte’s leadership.
This disaster opened the way for the brutal and racist PPP dictatorship. Despite their claims to be socialist and committed to the emancipation of Guyana’s suffering masses, today, Dr. Thomas and his cohorts have no problem aligning themselves with a government that is dictated to by the ABC countries, and which promotes neo-liberal policies that are causing havoc in this country. How much longer must we suffer their confusion and chaos?
Gerald A. Perreira
Organization for the Victory of the People (OVP)