Peeping Tom’s column “Capitalism Cannot Exist where there is Socialist Thinking” (KN Tuesday, August 29, 2017) is one of the most vexatious and vulgar opinion pieces I have come across in a long while. The Peeper clearly demonstrates his/her ignorance with regard to the genesis and development of both capitalism and socialism, both globally and in Guyana. Anyone can have an opinion, however, that opinion only becomes noteworthy and valid if it is rooted in historical facts and scientific evidence that offers an informed analysis.
First of all, it must be understood that there is nothing socialist about Guyana. The Guyana of today is nothing more than an underdeveloped and malformed capitalist country, full stop. Let’s put an end to this nonsense once and for all, neither the PPP nor PNCR are socialist in orientation. Both major parties are committed to the neo-liberal capitalist model of development and they make no bones about this.
Those persons who continually hark back to the days of Forbes Burnham and Cheddi Jagan,(who were indeed both socialist in their orientation),and insist that Guyana is still pursuing a socialist path of development, are simply demonstrating their ignorance of comparative political systems and political economy. Both the PNCR and PPP have long abandoned the vision and ideology of their founding fathers.
The only reason they still pay tribute to Burnham and Jagan is because their respective constituencies still revere these two leaders and they dare not drop their memory all together. This type of abandonment of the original principles, aims and objectives by political parties founded by visionary leaders who were anti-colonial and anti-imperialist is not specific to Guyana. Many a great leader, after passing away, is still eulogized by their founding parties, even though those parties have abandoned the vision they started out with. It happened in Egypt after Nasser, in Ghana after Nkrumah, and sadly in Azania (South Africa) after Mandela.
Peeping Tom teaches us nothing about capitalism and socialism because he/she has not a clue about either, but rather reveals everything about his/her extremely crude, bourgeois and elitist worldview. The Peeper claims that Guyanese are influenced by Dutch and English thinking and that they do not want everyone to be equal but rather “want to be rich themselves”. According to the Peeper, although Guyanese “want money” they are “full of envy for those who are wealthy”. He/she then goes on to complain about the “pressures on the propertied class” and refers to those outside this class as “under-performers”.
As if this is not offensive enough, the Peeper then launches into an attack on the vendors, “For every store on Regent Street and on Water Street south of Robb Street, there are three vendors. You have more persons selling outside of the stores than you have stores. Do these persons pay their fair share of taxes? Do they have to pay overheads, staff and for licenses, No, they do not. Yet, they are crippling the retail market…The vendors also generate a tremendous amount of garbage.”
Before we even address the Peeper’s disgraceful attack on Guyana’s small business men and women, otherwise known as vendors, we need to question the Peeper’s very assumption about who constitutes this “propertied class”. One can own property without being a member of the so-called “propertied class”. But that debate is for another time.
It is not socialism that promotes greed and class warfare but rather the very capitalist system that the Peeper extols. Capitalism instigated class warfare, and Marxism responded with more class warfare. It is important as non-Europeans that we remember that socialism did not begin and end with Marxism and Soviet-style Communism, which was a destructive parody of socialism. The socialism we speak of existed prior to European notions of socialism and is rooted in our ancient traditions and cultures. In fact, greed, selfishness, envy and rugged individualism are the hallmarks of a capitalist society, and are necessarily promoted for capitalism’s very survival.
It should be noted that these vices are condemned in the Holy Books of all the Monotheistic faiths, and also in many non-Monotheistic teachings. It continues to baffle me that so many of my Christian and Muslim brothers and sisters fail to notice the contradiction that imprisons them. On the one hand, they proclaim themselves to be adherents to the Bible and Quran, and at the same time they support parties that promote the barbaric system of neo-liberal capitalism, which is, as we speak, is not only tearing Guyana apart, but also destroying the very planet that is our life source.
I do not know which people of Guyana the Peeper is referring to. Of course, we were all influenced in one way or other by our colonial past. Although I accept that unfortunately Western hegemony continues to shape the thinking of many, including the Peeper, and that crass Western values or should I say lack of values have crept into the very social fabric of our society, I would also submit that the Peeper’s crude and uninformed analysis fails to recognize the other extremely strong influences that shape the people of this land, namely culture and religion.
Leaving aside isms and schisms for a moment, let us look at the fundamental question that must be addressed before we can arrive at any consensus about the way forward for Guyana. In speaking about a bourgeois worldview, let me identify a basic premise that underpins this worldview, that is, a belief that some people are superior to others. The Peeper states clearly and unashamedly that he does not believe that all people are equal.
Gerald A Perreira
Organization for the Victory of the People (OVP)