School of the Nations gains 100% passes in Cambridge ‘O’ Levels

Modern Optical Service 3rd Annual Pistol Shoot…Ryan McKinnon, Yamadesh Tularam, Khemraj Haripersaud are A, B & C class winners

    By Franklin Wilson What should have been a three stage shoot was forced to be shortened to two stages when the 3rd Modern Optical Service sponsored Guyana National Rifle Association (GNRA) Pistol competition was held at the Timehri Ranges, Yarrowkabra, Linden Soesdyke Highway, on Sunday last.  Competition was underway in the third stage but shots were ordered to cease at 17:50hrs when another shower of rain and fading light had the final say on an absorbing day. The action was slated to get underway at 10:00hrs following registration one hour earlier but the skies above again took aim to the extent that the competitors were forced to seek cover under the tents provided. The action got underway just around midday. When the dust was finally settled, the GNRA shooters dominated the A-Class with Ryan McKinnon tallying a total of 195.54 points to win overall having also won the Second Stage (Going, Going, Gun 2). Dr. Johan Da Silva, who had taken the lead after the First-Stage (Kitchen Appliance), had to settle for the runner up spot overall with 190.39 points with Gordon Richards placing third on 142.71 points. Firing his way to the top in the B-Class was Yamadesh Tularam who tallied 101.86 points; he also won Second-Stage after finishing 2nd in the First-Stage. Second in the B-Class was K. Beaton (83.32 points) who had taken the lead in the First Stage. Khemwantie Persaud placed 3rd in this class and was the only female shooter to feature in the top three of the three classes, accumulating 74.71 points having placed 2nd in the Second-Stage. Top of the chart in the C-Class overall was Khemraj Haripersaud with a total of 117.17 points and was the only shooter to win both the First and Second Stages. A. Motie was second with 75.29 points with 3rd place going to Philip Zaman who also placed 3rd in Second Stage. Following is the list of the respective Stage winners.Medals were presented to the above named competitors. A total of thirty-five (35) marksmen and women participated. In brief remarks before Sunday evening’s presentation, Dr. Jose Da Silva complimented the GNRA for bringing off the event while noting the challenges that they faced which prevented all three stages from being completed. Dr. Da Silva congratulated the winners and all those who participated in the event which he said Modern Optical Service is committed to sponsoring again, next year. This announcement was greeted by loud cheers by all gathered. Stage One – {Kitchen Appliance} Class A 1st                 2nd             3rd Dr. Johan Da Silva         Ryan McKinnon         M. Melville Class B K. Beaton             Yamadesh Tularam    E. Scott Class C Khemraj Haripersaud        A. Moti            Guy Nurse Stage Two – {Going, Going, Gun 2} Class A Ryan McKinnon        Dr. Johan Da Silva    Gordon Richards Class B Yamadesh Tularam        K. Persaud        D. Armstrong Class C Khemraj Haripersaud        A. Motie        Phillip Zaman   Share this: Read More →

San Antonio Spurs top Miami Heat in NBA Finals Game 5, Game 6 in focus today

    SAN ANTONIO – Something had changed about the Manu Ginobili supporters in this town. The tattooed, middle-aged guy at the bar with the No. 20 jersey spoke about the fallen San Antonio Spurs star as if he was an uncle on life support. His countrymen from Argentina were so concerned, so unaccustomed to seeing him play like this, that they brought a banner to Game 5 of the NBA Finals just to remind him of their support: “We Ginobilieve,” it read. The love wasn’t waning, but the faith most certainly was. Until Sunday night. After a surprise start from Spurs coach Gregg Popovich that will go down as the latest stroke of genius in his celebrated coaching career, Ginobili had 24 points and 10 assists in San Antonio’s 114-104 win vs. the Miami Heat. Leading the series 3-2, the Spurs head back to Miami for Game 6 today with a chance to win the organization’s fifth championship. Since the league went to a 2-3-2 Finals format in 1985, and the series has been tied 2-2, the Game 5 winner has won the series seven of 10 times. A keen battle is anticipated with the Heat looking to home court advantage to propel them to leveling the series today and go to win it in Game 7 also at home.  However, if the Spurs of the last game show up…then the Heat are in for serious trouble. One day before Ginobili’s vintage performance, he admitted that there was a remote chance he would retire after this season when he becomes a free agent. Yet with his play stellar from beginning to end Sunday and the Heat unsure how to handle this new look, the Spurs found themselves dominating. Ginobili is the first player to start an NBA Finals game after not starting in the regular season since Marcus Camby for the New York Knicks in 1999. “I just had a good game,” Ginobili said. “Playing with Tony (Parker) in the first few minutes helped me,” Ginobili said. “I tried to be aggressive. I haven’t been making shots lately, but I’ve been passing well. Today, I was just able to get it going.” The Spurs shot 60% from the field, with Tim Duncan adding 17 points and 12 rebounds. Guard Danny Green scored 24 points, hitting six of 10 from long range to set a Finals record for three-pointers. Heat shooting guard Ray Allen had set the record of 22 in the 2008 Finals with the Boston Celtics. Green has hit 25 of 38 three-pointers in the series. Parker showed no ill effects of the hamstring strain that ails him, scoring 26 points. The Heat were held to 43% shooting, with LeBron James unable to continue the powerful play he had shown in Game 4, as he hit eight of 22 shots for 25 points. Dwayne Wade had another good game with 25 points and 10 assists. Allen scored 21 off the bench.  “Their starters played big tonight,” Wade said. “Every time we made a run they answered.” Ginobili was the answer that no one saw coming. This season-long stretch of erratic play had made it seem as if the Ginobili of old had been replaced by old man Ginobili, and the doubt that surrounded him was entirely warranted considering the depth of his struggles. He had scored 20-plus points just six times during the entire regular season, and just once in the playoffs. And while his game is about so much more than that, the electric playmaking that he has so long been known for was nowhere to be found either. Afterward, Parker couldn’t help but take a jab at reporters who had deemed his game dead. Ginobili hadn’t started since the 2012 Western Conference Finals, when Popovich pulled the same ploy for the final two games of a six-game series loss to the Oklahoma City Thunder. It was a desperate move in a desperate time for a coach who had admitted his concern about Ginobili coming in. Popovich told his team that Ginobili would be in the starting lineup before practice on Saturday, though their secret was kept quiet until tipoff. The move worked from the start, as the Spurs led 32-19 after a first quarter in which their swarming defence and new-look offence were dominant. Ginobili waited all of 19 seconds before making the sort of impact that has been missing for most of the postseason, and put the Heat on their heels in the process. He hit a shot from the left wing that was originally ruled a three-pointer but later deemed a two. He found Danny Green for a layup on the next possession, then Duncan for a dunk the next time down.   Ginobili hit two free throws after an aggressive drive and foul, then finessed a tight pocket pass through two defenders to find Duncan for a floater that put the Spurs up 10-6. In the span of 130 seconds, Ginobili had put his fingerprints on more plays than the first four games combined. Parker took the lead from there, turning a 17-17 tie into the 13-point edge entering the second quarter by showing yet again that his ailing hamstring wasn’t hampering him. He slithered past Norris Cole for a scoop shot, hit two free throws after a drive and foul, then backed him down in the post for another bucket. And with Green continuing his unreal run of three-point shooting by hitting three of four in the first half, it seemed San Antonio would control the action all night long.     Share this: Read More →

Australia out after Sri Lanka defeat

    BBC Sport – Sri Lanka progressed into the Champions Trophy semi-finals with victory over Australia, who failed in their ‘mission improbable’ at The Oval. The holders had to win and reach the 254-run target set by their opponents inside only 29.1 overs in order to qualify, but it proved to be too great an ask. Tillakaratne Dilshan gets chased by his team-mates (AFP) After a good start, the run-rate dropped as they missed the first target before losing the match by 20 runs. Sri Lanka join England in the semis. South Africa await Group A winners England in the last-four clash at The Oval on Wednesday. Sri Lanka, who could have finished top of Group A had they bowled Australia out for 164 or less, will face India in Cardiff on Thursday. “We are playing hard and passionate cricket. That has been the mantra of our success in the past and I hope it continues in the future also,” said man-of-the-match Mahela Jayawardene. “We look forward to another tough match in the semi-final.” Having lost their opening match to England and suffered a washout against New Zealand, Australia faced a big task even before a ball was bowled.  They won the toss and elected to field with the mindset of bowling out their opponents cheaply and achieving their target in quick time. But Sri Lanka, who knew a victory without considering permutations would see them qualify, frustrated Australia with patient batting. Sri Lanka’s run-rate never rose above 5.00 after the fourth over, knowing they needed to play safe in order to set a competitive target for the Baggy Greens.   Only Dinesh Chandimal showed some urgency in the last few overs, smashing Clint McKay for six in the 44th over – the first and only six of the innings. Jayawardene hung around from the 23rd over to the very end for his unbeaten 84.  It was a good if unremarkable innings, however the 36-year-old surpassed 11,000 runs in one-day cricket – only the eighth batsman to do so. Lahiru Thirimanne was the only other batsman to make a half-century in the match, falling for 57 when Shane Watson caught his pull-shot at mid-wicket off the bowling of Mitchell Johnson. The Queensland paceman was the pick of the Australia bowlers, taking 3-48. Australia lost an early wicket when opener Watson (five) was bowled by Nuwan Kulasekara, but that did not detract them from the task in hand as the run-rate leapt to more than 8.00, near what was required of them. However, their plans were decimated as four wickets fell in quick succession to leave them on 80-5. The dismissal of stand-in captain George Bailey summed up the calamitous period when he was run-out in mid-jog unaware that Kulasekara’s throw was about to hit his stumps. Adam Voges (49) caused some frustration, but after he fell Sri Lanka must have thought victory was theirs. But it appeared there might be one more twist, as the final-wicket pairing of McKay and Xavier Doherty stubbornly batted on knowing Australia could still win the match, although tournament progression was out of the question. However, needing 20 runs to secure an unlikely victory, McKay looped Tillakaratne Dilshan’s delivery back at him to the delight of bowler and the passionate Sri Lanka fans. “It would have been nice to get over the line in the end,” said Australia skipper Bailey.   “Our goal was to do it in 29 overs, but we never got going. But it was good to see the last two fight it out.” Scores: Sri Lanka 253 for 8 (Jayawardene 84*, Thirimanne 57, Johnson 3-48) beat Australia 233 (Voges 49, Kulasekara 3-42) by 20 runs.     Share this: Read More →

Julian Moore looking to re-write history with U-15 title in Jamaica

    In 1998 Guyana won the first of its two WICB regional under-15 cricket tournaments in the third ever such tournament held in Jamaica. From July 10-26 this year the tournament will again be played in Jamaica and former national under-15 left-handed batsman Julian Moore is looking to re-write history by giving Guyana it first title since 1999. Julian Moore If Guyana is successful, the victory would be sweeter for the 27-year-old Moore since it was his father, Carl Moore, Guyana’s under-15 Manager, who tasted success for the first time at the under-15 level. Moore has on-field experience at the Regional under-15 level, having represented Guyana in 2000 in Trinidad when they finished second and made his debut against Jamaica. Moore, who captained Bermine at first division level in Berbice, was the Berbice under-15 Coach in 2010 & 2011 when he coached the team to championship honours on both occasions. Moore, who also played for the University-of-Guyana (UG) in Barbados six years ago, was appointed Berbice senior team Coach this year. “I feel honoured to be appointed national under-15 Coach for the first time and this will be my first trip to Jamaica. I am very passionate about coaching and I aspire to one day become a West Indies team Coach,” Moore revealed. “Time is never enough but I am confident that the time we have left will be enough to adequately prepare for a successful tour to Jamaica,” Moore said. Moore could have his work cut out this year since Guyana’s second place finish in 2001 was its best showing since then. The South Americans ended in the cellar position last year.  (Sean Devers)   Share this: Read More →

• My-story, the his-story and history” The 2011 elections

  

    In the recording of history, one’s objectivity becomes enmeshed with my story, his story and history itself. How do we separate my story, his story from history itself? My long standing friend, Devo (Professor Hubert Devonish from the Linguistics Department of the Mona campus of the UWI) in a 2004 research presentation titled, “Black My Story not History: The Walter Rodney Story,” puts it this way; “The study of the story of one’s society is not an objective factual “his- story” but of how each one of us came into being, a very subjective My Story.” Understanding the story of the 2011 general elections falls into this line of thinking. The focus is on the My Story of Tacuma Ogunseye, the PNC’s story and objective truth. What really happened on November 2011? Tacuma Ogunseye has become the first high ranking member of the broad coalition APNU to have publicly asserted that the poll was rigged. On Sunday night on television, Ogunseye argued that the 2011 election was rigged but did not elaborate. The statement is pregnant with analytical angles. Why would a formidable force in the Guyanese social structure, the PNC accept to be cheated out of power by an organization, the PPP that itself accused the PNC of rigging elections? Why would the winner of a general election just fold its arms, and walk away from its rightful ownership of the governmental machine? Ogunseye briefly mentioned that he believes that the PNC avoided confrontation because it accepted a deal involving the PPP and foreign powers. This writer is in possession of a statement from accountant Nigel Hinds, who was asked by the leadership of APNU to analyse the statements of poll. His conclusion communicated APNU was that the election results were not reliable. The words “not unreliable” were chosen by Hinds over “rigged,” “fraudulent,” “flawed,” and other similar adjectives. What does Hinds mean by “unreliable?” This columnist has heard many influential figures in the PNC say that the PNC won a plurality of the votes but these were spoken privately and the speakers will not allow themselves to be quoted.  So far only Ogunseye has come out publicly. But Ogunseye has always been a fierce voice of independence and for the forty years I have know him he will not hesitate to speak his mind. What post-election arrangement is Ogunseye talking about? A very prominent lawyer who was a close confidante of President Burnham explained to me why the PNC did not take to extra-parliamentary roads to force a confrontation over the results. He said the Americans made promises to the APNU leadership. When I write a commentary of this nature, I usually get bombarded the next day for my opinion. What follows then is my assessment but it is informed by my presence on polling day, and speaking to many informed political actors including my friends in the WPA and the AFC. It is my opinion that APNU won the plurality of votes in the 2011 elections by a very tiny majority. I would put it as no more than two percent. I also believe the AFC got about one percent more of what was declared. I also believe that Ogunseye is in the right direction when he spoke about a brokered deal by foreign powers. He meant the Americans. It is my understanding that the Americans requested no action from the PNC (not APNU; APNU is not a national political party in the way the PNC is) out of concern for the resulting consequences – violence, extensive instability, effects on the Caribbean and refugee problems for the Americans. In turn, the Americans gave the assurance to the PNC (with Rupert Roopnarine from the WPA included) that the ABC countries will pressure the PPP to implement power-sharing. Mr. Corbin put pressure on the PNC leadership to accept this covenant and Dr. Roopnaraine felt that given the little years left in his political career, it would be in his interest to go along with the agreement. I believe Dr. Roopnaraine has not shared this sensitivity with the WPA at both the formal level or through his personal relationship with selected members of the WPA leadership. Mr. Granger chose to please Mr. Corbin but without Corbin, Mr. Granger would still have bought into the American rendezvous. Whether the AFC liked it or not there was nothing it could have done about the post-election scenario. And there is division in the AFC about whether the elections were rigged. In any case, the American-led arrangement is also within the AFC’s interest because it feels the PPP will lose future elections.     Share this: Read More →

• WRITING A PRESCRIPTION WITHOUT A PROPER DIAGNOSIS

  

  The President has thrown down the gauntlet to the sugar unions, and to the many critics who feel that simply changing the Board of Directors is the panacea to the woes of the sugar company. He has indicated that he is open to any ideas as to how to turn the fortunes of the company around. In so doing he has effectively challenged the critics to move beyond their criticisms and instead to come up with solutions to the problems of the industry. There are two propensities in Guyana. The first is to criticize without offering solutions. The second is that when one does not have the answers resort is found in calls for individuals to be removed, as if this has ever solved anything. There are many critics but few solutions. By declaring a crisis in the sugar industry and calling for ideas to turn the industry around, he effectively throws the ball into the courts of the critics and challenges them to rise to the occasion. In recent times, the sugar industry has been over-diagnosed. Each week, there is some letter in the newspaper expounding on what has gone wrong and who needs to be replaced. The difficulty with most of these analyses is that they have not emerged from a study of the sugar industry; they have not been validated and they have not been tested to determine their validity. Much of the analyses do not have an empirical or informed basis. Take for example the ridiculous question as to how the corporation could have shown a loss when with less production they had shown a profit. That analysis seems to have overlooked the fact that export prices have been slashed by one-third since that period when production was lower than what it was last year. The presentation of these facts and analyses about the corporation’s performance and financial health will lead to a more informed discussion about the state of the industry. The President therefore needs to ensure that there is an informed basis for any ideas that will emerge. The best way for this to happen is to have an expert panel assembled to undertake a forensic study of the sugar corporation, to examine the pitfalls of the sugar corporation and to determine the best way forward. This study can then form the basis for an informed discussion on the future of the industry. Ideas such as cooperatives, workers participation in management and a change in the Board are not going to be helpful unless there is a study to determine the causes that led to the decline in production and the failures of Skeldon. Thus, instead of a call for ideas there should be a commitment to have an expert study done. This study will be costly but it will be costlier if it is not done. The sugar industry is too big to fail. It is also too big to fork out into cooperatives or to the sugar workers as was suggested for some of the plantations in West Demerara. There is a sunken investment on all estates; there are sunken investments by workers and their families in areas that surround these estates. These investments cannot be picked up and moved. The population on the coast who depend on the sugar industry for a livelihood cannot simply pick up and relocate or even for that matter move easily into other forms of production. That requires an investment which will exceed ten Skeldon estates. There is need for a national response to the problems of sugar. The president is having a major summit with the leaders of big business. He should do the same for sugar and he should invite all stakeholders and have a thematic approach to the industry as is being done with the conference being organized for the private sector. But before that special conference on the sugar industry takes place, it is necessary for those who have a stake in the industry to have an informed view about just what is the state of the industry. Without this it makes no sense doing anything. It would be like administering medicine without knowing the nature of the illness. Share this: Read More →

• No need for a Trade War between Jamaica and Trinidad and Tobago

  

    By Sir Ronald Sanders The state of the Jamaican economy and the increasing hostility to trade with Trinidad and Tobago by Jamaican manufacturers are matters that should concern all of the other 13 member countries of the Caribbean Community and Common Market (CARICOM). It may be that in some form of quiet diplomacy unknown to the public of the 15-nation CARICOM, the Secretary-General of the CARICOM Secretariat is already engaged in behind the scenes activity to try to end the verbal slogging that has characterised the recent relations between Jamaica and Trinidad and Tobago.  If that is so, then hopefully his efforts will result in an understanding of how the two most populous English-speaking countries in CARICOM can resolve the differences that have arisen.  If no such initiative has as yet been taken, then consideration might be given to doing so. The intra-CARICOM trade figures reveal two important facts. Trinidad and Tobago is the most outstanding beneficiary of intra-CARICOM trade.  For example, the value of its exports to CARICOM in 2011 was US$2 billion while the value of its CARICOM imports was US$140.9 million.  By the same token, in that same year, Jamaica was the biggest market for CARICOM with imports valued at US$1 billion. However, the value of its exports to CARICOM was US$67 million. The bulk of Jamaica and Trinidad and Tobago’s trade relationship in CARICOM would be between each other. At a recent Investment Conference in Trinidad and Tobago, the Minister of Trade, Industry and Investment, Senator Vasant Bharath, stressed the importance to Trinidad and Tobago of the health of the economies of neighbouring countries which, combined, represent the second largest market for Trinidad and Tobago’s exports after the United States of America. He made the telling point that Trinidad and Tobago has a vested interest in the health of Caribbean economies since, if their economies decline, so too does their capacity for buying goods and services from Trinidad and Tobago that contribute to sustaining revenues and employment. By extension of the Minister’s insightful observation, Trinidad and Tobago should have a keen concern about the economic circumstances of Jamaica. So too should all CARICOM countries that recognise the size of the Jamaican market as important to their own exports. To be fair, manufacturers in Trinidad and Tobago are alert to the troubling financial circumstances of Jamaica.  The majority of them want the Jamaican economy to improve so that Jamaica can continue to purchase their manufactured goods.  For this reason, many of them are anxious to see the allegations in Jamaica against some Trinidad and Tobago products dealt with and settled satisfactorily.  They also want the accusation that unfair non-tariff barriers are being applied by Trinidad and Tobago to some Jamaican products to be investigated and resolved. These are issues that are now crying out for urgent attention in the spirit of “community” that is the purpose of the CARICOM Treaty.  One thing is for sure and it is that if Jamaica follows the call of the lemmings to withdraw from CARICOM, it will do no more than go over the cliff. For CARICOM is much more than about intra-regional trade – important though it is.  No one throws away a motor-car because one of its tyres is punctured. The imperative, therefore, is to fix the puncture, inflate the tyre and get the motor-car back on the road.   To do so, in this case, may require a mix of innovative approaches which could include the deeper integration of the factors of production between Jamaica and several CARICOM countries, particularly Trinidad and Tobago; investment by Trinidad and Tobago financial institutions and companies in the productive sectors of Jamaica to help promote economic growth and more employment; and, maybe even an “aid for trade” component given that Trinidad and Tobago has enjoyed a consistently high balance of trade surplus with Jamaica. Another factor to be considered is that the recent effective devaluation of the Jamaican dollar, which makes US$1 equal J$100, means that the cost of Jamaica’s imports of goods from CARICOM would have increased, making them less competitive against Jamaican-produced goods, and Jamaica’s labour cost of production would have decreased, re-balancing the higher costs for energy that Jamaica pays, and making the cost of their exports cheaper.  This is now an advantage to Jamaica. With regard to the fact that Trinidad and Tobago companies pay less energy-costs than do other companies in CARICOM making them more competitive, this is simply a reality.  If Jamaica or Guyana or any other CARICOM country were to discover oil and gas tomorrow and could begin production, every government would pass on the benefit to its domestic and commercial consumers to make them more competitive in the international market and to reduce prices for their people. Many of the difficulties of price differentials for oil and gas between Trinidad and Tobago and other CARICOM countries might be overcome in a CARICOM Single Market to which regional governments have said they are committed.  But, sadly, the single market is still to be completed. In this connection, Trinidad and Tobago’s advantage of being a significant oil and gas producer should be acknowledged for the reality it is, and further ways should be explored of how a portion of the revenues earned by Trinidad and Tobago, through oil and gas sales to CARICOM countries, might be utilised for concessionary loans or budget support for big importers of CARICOM products such as Jamaica. At the end of the day, neither Trinidad and Tobago by itself nor CARICOM as a whole can cure Jamaica’s present difficulties, but they can be helpful in easing the burden through creative approaches worked out and implemented jointly with Jamaica. The complaints of Jamaican manufacturers should be taken seriously and dealt with expeditiously and thoroughly. If their present concerns about competitive access to the CARICOM market, including Trinidad and Tobago, can be addressed, perhaps the discussion can be taken to a higher level of how the factors of production can be integrated to sell joint CARICOM goods and services in the global marketplace and so accelerate economic growth, increase foreign exchange revenues and expand employment for the region as a whole. Myriad reports exist on how to integrate CARICOM production to sell globally.  What is needed is the will to implement them. (The writer is a Consultant, Visiting Fellow at London University and former Caribbean diplomat) Responses and previous commentaries: www.sirronaldsanders.com Share this: Read More →

• Father’s Day? That is a strange observation

  

    Guyana is never out of strange happenings. In fact, scarcely a day goes by without people scratching their heads and wondering at what could have caused the nonsense. We start with the case of the policeman running after an escaped prisoner. Two policemen went after the prisoner and lost him. That is not unexpected in some communities where there are so many nooks and crannies into which a person could disappear. Then there is an astonishing discovery—a policeman is found dead on the track. People suspect murder, but there are no marks of violence on the body. A post mortem reveals that the policeman died of cardiac arrest, but this was a young man who never displayed any sign of a heart problem. Yet society has a way of finding reasons, so people claim that the policeman came into contact with an exposed electric wire that had been illegally connected. And indeed there were illegal connections, but no one has been arrested. The next strange thing happened to another young person. In her seventeen years this girl behaved as though she was three times older. She did tell the police that she was 22. Her parents had long given up on her because she insisted that she was old enough to take care of herself. A plane lands and this girl behaves as though she is approaching a car so she walks into a spinning propeller. There was no security at this hinterland airstrip as has been the case for decades. The arrival of an aircraft is a holiday event and people lose all sense of responsibility. They did say that she was going to the pilot to collect a package. And just as the week is winding down a boat captain is killed. His boat reportedly develops some problem and there he is fixing or trying to fix the problem. Another boat comes out of the blue and strikes him dead. One is left to wonder at the extent of careless on the waterways in the same way that there is excessive carelessness on the hinterland airstrips. So here we have three cases that should keep the police busy, but the woes for the police do not end there. There are motorists on the roads who are equally careless; behaving as though there is no tomorrow. People on West Demerara spotted a car buried in a swamp. There is no report of any accident and surely the police report nothing. The society is left to worry about what is happening. People simply do not care but then again, there are those with so much money that anything goes. A car accident is nothing to worry about. “We will buy another.” Guyana insists on telling the world that it is a poor country, but the way its people behave one is left to wonder whether this is really true. The news came that one of the richest men in the country actually bought a T20 franchise. The sum paid for the franchise is undisclosed and try as reporters might, they are not being provided with the answer. A cricket franchise is not expected to be cheap because the cricketers do not come cheap these days. They play a few matches and they become millionaires. One would expect the franchise holder to pay each player a few million dollars in local currency. Those who are already internationally famous are paid a lot more. I asked myself how is it that a Guyanese, a man from a poor country, could buy a franchise when there are others in other countries who are supposed to be so much richer but who cannot buy a franchise. Is it that Dr Ranjisinghi Ramroop is richer than Ansa McAl? Is he richer than ‘Butch’ Stewart who owns so many Sandals hotels that exist in so many Caribbean islands? If that is the case, then some of the allegations made against Ramroop and his friendship with the government may hold water. The story must be told but when told, will the head of the Guyana Revenue Authority tell us about the paper trail and the taxes paid as this man accumulated his wealth? However, there is another strange thing, but this has been happening from time immemorial. Today is Father’s Day. Just a few weeks ago the world observed Mother’s Day. The shops trotted out just about everything and these were sold so fast that the shop owners wished that every day could have been Mother’s Day, which it should. I walked around the stores and it was as though there was nothing exciting happening. I saw some of the offers, but it was as if the merchant community knew that creating a special day for fathers was like flogging a dead horse. I fathered three daughters and they always ensured that they got something for me. I always got a book or some cologne or a card proclaiming me to be the best dad in the world. But then again, I was a good father, because these girls always collected something from me to give to their mothers. One of my daughters-in-law always made certain that Father’s Day was special. She would come and cook up a storm. She gave me my first pedicure and this was on Father’s Day. I was one of the lucky fathers. I still have two boxes of chocolate, gifts from my eldest daughter and granddaughter on Father’s Day. Why are fathers so ignored? That is a silly question. Many are hardly around; some forget that they are fathers and there are those who want to be fathers in many households. Imagine getting all those children and their mothers under one roof. I remember providing my wife with breakfast in bed and cooking lunch on Mother’s Day. I never got a meal in bed unless I was ill. Suffice it to say that some children would be heading to the cemetery to paint the tombs or to do some weeding. I will spare my children that task. I will be cremated. To those good fathers, enjoy the day. To those who make the rest of us feel despised, it is still Father’s Day.   Share this: Read More →

• OF ‘POLITICAL SUBSTANCE’: ASSASSINS OF CONVERSATION

  

  OF ‘POLITICAL SUBSTANCE’: ASSASSINS OF CONVERSATION Reflections on the 1980 Exhibition, ‘Images’ of Dudley Charles By Bernadette Persaud Assassins of conversation They bury the voice They assassinate, in the beloved Grave of the voice, never to be silent. Martin Carter INTRODUCTION The following article, commenting on the ‘political substance’ of an exhibition entitled, Images, by the distinguished Guyanese artist, Dudley Charles, was published 33 years ago in the Catholic Standard 19 October 1980. The paintings in that memorable exhibit daringly critiqued the legendary ‘Anancy’ (Forbes Burnham) holding court in a brutal arena of ‘sharp steel’ and interrogated the assassination of Walter Rodney. Study, Anancy Story, 1980. Dudley Charles 1 Though the themes of Charles’ canvases remain topical and the death of Walter Rodney heatedly debated today, we would like to bring to the attention of a new generation of artists and art students the incontrovertible fact that works of ‘political substance’ have always been part of Guyanese Colonial/Postcolonial art-history – from E R Burrowes, Philip Moore, Stanley Greaves to Dudley Charles, Bernadette Persaud and Desmond Alli, among others, in and out of the mainstream. Contrary to what has been dangerously propagated by the National Art Gallery, there is no contemporary artist who is ‘a pioneer in the political substance of his messages’ (See catalogue entitled, ‘Innovators’, February, 2013). Works of ‘political substance’ (sic) and overtly political works, critical of the status quo, have never been snuffed out – even when reduced to a trickle, in the most desperate of times (as Charles’s exhibit so aptly illuminates). For the young artists of Guyana, this is the most important lesson of that 1980 exhibit of Dudley Charles: ‘never to be silent’, never to be complicit with the questionable doings of the status quo – at all times – despite the ever present “assassins of conversation”. Catholic Standard 19 October 1980  — REFLECTIONS The just concluded exhibition at the Umana Yana featured daring and revolutionary images. Charles’ new forms, with their full –blooded vigor and intrinsic honesty, starkly contrast with those which have in the past graced the Umana: studied, clever concoctions of form and colour, by his contemporaries – excursions into the realms of Cubism, Surrealism, Primitivism and other fashionable ‘isms’ – pale into insignificance next to his images of pain, pathos, cruelty, horror and oppression. It is a momentous happening in the field of Guyanese Art! The Artist has finally managed to transcend the ongoing intellectual agony over Identity and Roots. He has dared to respond as a human: has refused to be numb and detached; and this constitutes a landmark when one considers our arid aesthetic traditions over the last decade. GRIM, GHASTLY POLITICAL IMAGES Study, Anancy Story, 1980. Dudley Charles 2 Charles’ obsession, for many years, with images of the Old Colonial House (obviously encouraged by his patrons) illustrates visually the old futile quest for identity. In this exhibition (25th September – 2nd October, 1980), which features not only his latest work, but a selection of his earlier pieces, one sees clearly that the Gothic and Georgian paraphernalia of intricate tracery, turned balusters, carved mouldings, and ghostly presences, are all superseded by grim, ghastly, political images. Most significant was the central, overwhelming image of ‘Anancy’ – a green, loathsome presence emerging from a primeval jungle. Such images as ‘Death of a Slave’, ‘Anancy Story II’, ‘Landscape (Shadows)’, the ‘Crucifixion’, and the ‘Transfiguration’, became charged with new meaning in the presence of this legendary character. ‘Anancy Story II’ depicts sinister, sharp forms, fused into a closely-knit, dynamic design. One can almost hear the clanging of dark metal and cries of agony. Surely this is a part of the tragedy of our society. DEATH OF WALTER RODNEY ‘Death of a Slave’, captures, not merely that terrible moment when Walter Rodney is killed, but shows dramatically that in death, his is the final victory. For though the body lies blasted apart, the arm rises, outthrust, defiant, in a seemingly clenched fist – a symbol of his undying hope and utter belief in man…’dear Comrade, I salute you and I say/ Death will not find us thinking that we die.’(MC) One views the ‘Crucifixion’ with a mixture of revulsion and anger. It is a cruel caricature of a man whose life was an embodiment of genuine compassion and humility: a man reduced to a laughable, ‘comic-strip’ figure.  This canvas shows an ill -proportioned body strung up on a cross – which captures of course his real crucifixion after the death: a broken body, ridiculed, cartooned, flayed and the nails finally driven in …… ‘he was a bright chap, after all’ ……..One can almost hear the Comrade Minister chirping…. And finally, in the ‘Transfiguration’ one sees the body still on the Cross, enveloped in clear blue flames, the face warm, vital and aglow, as in life – but the heavy-lidded eyes, forever closed in death. It is an utterly simple composition, its rigid symmetry reinforced by a rhomboid-shaped frame: a moving testimony to a people’s sublimated grief. No one can leave such an exhibition undisturbed. Bernadette  I  Persaud October, 1980 (Re-published, with slight revisions, through the kind permission of the Catholic Standard) The editor of The Arts Forum Column and The Arts Journal, Ameena Gafoor, may be reached by e-mail: theartsjournal@live.co.uk or by Telephone: 592 227 6825. The art editor of The Arts Forum Column and The Arts Journal, Bernadette Persaud, may be reached by e-mail: bernadettepersaud5@hotmail.com or by telephone: 592 220 3337.     Share this: Read More →

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