As a patriotic and revolutionary-nationalist formation, Organization for the Victory of the People (OVP) will always prioritize the defense of Guyana’s sovereignty. A fundamental tenet of our ideology is to move beyond what we call “flag-and-anthem independence”. Our aim is to achieve true independence and economic justice in our lifetime.
Given our position, we are once again appalled by the blatant interference in our domestic affairs by diplomats from the US, UK and the European Union. They need to understand that the political quagmire we find ourselves in is one that can only be remedied by the Guyanese people themselves. One of the factors that has contributed to the current situation is our misguided mimicking of others and following the directives of these imperial countries. In 2019, can anyone really believe that the ABC countries and the EU have anyone’s interests at heart but their own? Former US Secretary of State, Henry Kissinger, said it in plain language for all to understand – but still our leaders cannot seem to heed the man’s words: “The US has no permanent friends and no permanent enemies, only permanent interests”
Guyana is no longer a colony. Do we really understand what this means? It means that our political leaders must stop allowing these same ABC countries and the EU to lecture us on how we must comply with the CCJ ruling. In simple words, how Guyana proceeds from this moment onwards is, in truth, none of their business.
The ABC countries have the audacity to lecture us on what we should or should not do, even though these countries themselves can best be described as lawless. They have collectively broken every international ruling, law and fundamental understanding of what it means to be a member of a community of nations. They have this audacity because our leaders allow it and enable them. Their behaviour is not only inappropriate in that it clearly oversteps the boundaries of their role as diplomats; it also exposes their contemptuous and racist, neo-colonial mind-set.
Instead of our conceptually incarcerated misleaders tripping over each other to please their foreign masters, they need to remind them of their duplicity. In 2004, the World Trade Organization (WTO) ruled in favour of Antigua and Barbuda regarding a ban on gaming imposed by the US. The ban deprived Antigua of over 200 million dollars in revenue, and to this day, the US continues to ignore the ruling and has still not paid the compensation ordered by the WTO. In another case, the International Court of Justice has recently ruled that the UK should cede control over the Chagos Islands after it illegally carved up Mauritius. So far the World Court’s decision has been ignored by the UK. As we say in Guyana: “Jackass ears big, but he don’t hear he own story”.
Gerald A. Perreira
Organization for the Victory of the People (OVP)