Keeping the Natives At Bay


	Publications
SAXAKALI	Communities of Color
e a c h o n e t e a c h o n e

From an unknown, white Jewish, American woman with no grounding in minority communities, Janet Jagan has transformed herself into the most powerful political figure in Guyana, South America. Following a trend started by Fujimori in Peru, that of powerful foreign interests ruling over sovereign South American nations and nationalities, Mrs. Jagan is now set to rule after Guyana’s upcoming elections.

Who is Janet Jagan and how did she come to dominate a native population so passionate about independence from foreign, colonial rule? For over 50 years, Janet Jagan has been anti-Indian and anti-feminist in that she prevented any Indian woman from challenging her position as "the Indian’s woman representative" within Guyana’s political establishment. How did a white American woman come to claim this title over Indian women (and men) who struggled for centuries under white indentureship and colonialism? These are just some of the many paradoxes in this small country, characterized by racism, economic exploitation and political corruption.

This article makes the claim that using the murder of Kowsilla and several Indian workers in Elmore to launch their political careers in the late 1940’s, the Jagans’ rise to power was at the cost and expense of all Guyanese. Even now, as the families of the Elmore Martyrs are scattered over all parts of the globe, rebuilding their lives as low wage migrant workers, the Jagans shamelessly continue to claim the spotlight with the memories of their dead relatives’ blood. Indeed, after 40 years of "independence," the majority of the population who lived, and still live, under the poverty line, have learned that there is no cause for celebration in promoting the interest of the party over the interest of the people. Guyanese continue to emigrate in significant numbers five years after the return of the Jagans, "democracy," and foreign investment.

Before the Jagans, many East Indian women and men struggled for freedom from racial exploitation in Guyana, including leaders like Salamea, Bechu, Dwarka Nath and so on. However the party’s historians and literature will not tell you this. Indian women were at the forefront of the indenture struggle, however, during the early part of this century, as a result of class, caste and gender discrimination, the majority of Indian women were excluded from participating in Indian-based political organizations. This is not to say that there were no examples of female leaders in these middle-class groups. For example, one early legislator, Ester Day was very active in the British Guiana East Indian Association (BGEIA) and other Indian-based political organizations. However, her presence was a token one, and her position did not translate into improved status for the majority of Indian women. The same can be said of Roma Persaud and Ruby Samlall Singh of the Sugar Producers Association (SPA), and Nelly Sudeen of the Manpower Citizens Association (MPCA). And because Indian women were being oppressed within Indian-based political organizations, they were completely ignored by mainstream organizations.

For example, one of the most important women’s nationalist organization of the pre-independence era, the Women’s Political and Economic Organization (WPEO), was formed in 1946 by two women, one African and one white, Janet Jagan. Significantly, by this time, the fate of Indian women in the colony had been sealed as no one thought that it was important to include an Indian female to represent the largest ethnic population in the country. WPEO’s middle-class leadership included African women, and they claimed to represent the interest of all women, but the representation of Indian and Amerindian women was scarce.

The same is true for its successor, the Women’s Progressive Organization (WPO), formed in 1953 by Janet Jagan. After an ethnic-leadership split in 1955, the WPO began to target east Indian peasant women, sugar workers, and housewives to become members (not leaders) in the predominantly Indian male, People Progressive Party ( PPP). Female representation on the PPP executive committee is minimal; the same with government posts. Like the PPP, the activities of the WPO suggest a middle class bias, however a quasi-marxist framework is used to politically mobilize voters in fundraising and election campaigns. Once within the PPP and the WPO, Indian men and women are marginalized if they became too popular and pose a threat to Jagans’ position as leaders. Many Indian nationalist leaders like Moses Bagwan, Rajkumari Singh and others, were used and then abandoned for the party and Jagans’ benefit. Edith Persaud, the former Indian secretary of the WPO, was forced to leave politics in frustration over the leadership issue with Janet Jagan. While it is true that her husband ran the PPP and so indirectly controlled the WPO, nevertheless, it cannot be said that Janet Jagan was powerless in either of these two organizations. Mrs. Jagan could have stepped down or pave the way for other women and men to take leadership, but instead both she and late husband held on to their positions of power at the expense of many well-meaning individuals who wanted to improve conditions for their race and gender.

In any case, both the PPP and WPO have completely ignored the many widows and orphaned daughters of men who lost their lives for the party. Many of these women have had to exchange sex for survival, while the party garners political legitimacy from their husbands’ and fathers’ death. Why aren’t these women, like the families of the Elmore Martyrs, leaders in the PPP or the WPO? How come only the Jagans profit from the trappings of power, including the multi-billion dollar "investment" or re-colonialization deals? Because the politics of race, class, caste and gender continue to polarize the majority of Guyanese from re-claiming the responsibility to preserve their natural inheritance. Rather than follow the lead of indigenous peoples, the Amerindians, Indians and Africans continue to racially exclude and exploit them, and look to foreigners for leadership. The PPP and PNC parties rank and file members celebrate the fact that 80 percent of the nation’s forests are being sold to the lowest foreign bidders by our leaders with very little return to local peoples. And Indians embrace a foreign leader who has dominated and oppressed leaders from their own race for fifty years.

The Guyana that produced nationalist leaders who struggled against colonialism like Burnham, Jagan and Rodney is lost. This is a different Guyana, one ruled not by the principles of nationalism and independence but by racial hatred. This is the result of 40 years of PNC and PPP defunding of education, militarization of society, and racialization of our minds. It is up to a young generation of Guyanese from all races, classes, castes and genders to come together and formulate a new model of development, perhaps one similar to the old nationalist struggle for local rule, independence, and land rights. Until then, all hail the Queen.