Not Nasty, But Feisty

Across A Bridge in Linden: To El Dorado or a Symbol of our Historical Dilemma.

Wismar-Mackenzie Bridge, Linden The Guyana Police Force. Improperly Dressed for Peace (C) Norvell Fredericks Demerara Bauxite Company was Canadian owned before nationalization in 1970.Things have changed ((C) N. Fredericks) The People United ((c) N. Fredericks) By: Clairmont Chung On July 18, 2012 residents in Linden, Guyana, blocked a bridge in protest against a plan to increase electricity rates. The State responded by firing on the unarmed crowd. Three people died and several more were wounded. Residents responded by seizing and occupying that, and a second, bridge. A state of siege, undeclared martial law, descended on the community and continues as I write. Here I attempt to show the history of our dependence on fuels, energy, and violence and why the bridge at Linden is such an important symbol. Linden is not alone, it’s happening to people everywhere. It is not a romantic lament about the good old days. They were not. It’s the same strategy of old...

The Beckles’, The Gayles, The Dons, Caribbean Cricket, and Slavery: A Rudie Awakening

By Clairmont Chung All of the three people, who read my blog, counting my siblings, know I have written about the strange decisions of the West Indies Cricket Board and proposed reasons. Now, one of the WICB’s directors, Sir Hilary Beckles dramatically clarified these strange decisions and the WICB’s intentions. The WICB has dropped, fired and maligned some of the best players in the world. Prof. Hilary Beckles, also the Principal at University of the West Indies, Cave Hill Campus, Barbados, recently addressed an audience in St. Kitts, at the annual Frank Worrell Memorial lecture entitled “Frank Worrell: The Rise & Fall of West Indies Cricket” [i] . In that address, Dr. Beckles described the attitude some players, namely Chris Gayle and Marlon Samuels, exhibit as ‘donmanship’. He said, "Those who follow him (Gayle) and his cohort in the team do relate to him as their don and it is said that he has brought the donmanship into how things operate in the (West Indies) team....

The Real Gangsters: Spreading Silence by Violence

by clairmont chung While reasoning with a youth-man-friend from Kitty, it struck me: we are approaching our lowest levels of depravation. We are being robbed and killed by the police and without reprimand from their superiors. It is not new. Some live in fear and silence. This youth left The Edge, a Main Street nightclub, early one morning. He decided to walk home to Kitty, because it was one of those special early mornings: dewy but fresh, wet but dry. He made it all the way from South Cummingsburg, through Albertown and almost Queenstown, next was Kitty, before being stopped. The police, Black Clothes -it’s really a darkish blue, faded-, pulled up. They took his cell phone and returned to their vehicle. He was told not to move. They returned to say his was a stolen phone. He needed his Blackberry. It was a birthday gift from his family. He offered $6000.00 for its return. The police took the $6000.00 relieved him of his remaining cash and drove off. But not before a few ...

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