Guyanese Nationality: Was Freud Right or Wrong?
Kaieteur News – My column on Tuesday, March 16 was headed, “No government is going to listen to you unless you’re an example.” The topic was the Guyana Press Association (GPA). In case you missed that article, here’s a brief note.
I argued that when civil society organizations do not present themselves as moral examples, that powerful container – the political leadership, is going to ignore their social status. I went on to point out that GPA had weakened itself by its unprofessional statement that supporters of political parties had attacked journalists during the rigors of the election – March – July 2020.
That was a nasty thing to say because it was fictional. No video evidence exists that supports that release. Media practitioners if they are what to maintain their credibility as independent professionals cannot be so irresponsible. APNU + AFC supporters attacked journalists belonging to the independent press and those whose hooligans reported working with pro-PPP media outfits.
To be honest, in your opinion, political leadership was not disturbed by that obvious fiction? My article on the GPA was printed on February 16. On February 19, the Stabroek News conducted an editorial that was opposed to the main argument of my piece Feb. 16. When I read part of that editorial, I remembered what Sigmund Freud observed. Freud argued that you cannot refer to the existence of human nature as a collection of features. Every human being has its own nature and therefore there is no defined, collective body of traits known as human nature.
Whether Freud was right or wrong, Guyanese living here act and think in ways that make you reflect deeply on Freud’s thinking. Guyanese always say things that contradict the essence of what we know as human nature. I had a discussion with a former GuySuCo manager who demanded that the PPP government seek to revert to APNU + AFC leaders by raising them or taking back allocated lands.
My answer was based on my understanding of human nature if there is such a thing. I described to him the scenario where former PPP ministers were handcuffed and charged. The current president was accused. So these same people come to power and see the people who accused him of committing horrible criminal acts and will prosecute them. I told him this was human nature.
So if you believe in the existence of human nature, you have to grapple with how Guyanese approach human behavior to see if it supports or contradicts Freud’s understanding of human beings. Let’s read what the editorial had to say and see if it was right or wrong based on what Freud outlined.
The editorial, “Civil Society and Consultancy,” commented, “… but the point is if she and every other professional or dedicated organization monitors, and brings, what the government is doing in its area of effort to the public’s attention constantly. become more difficult for the administration to ignore such a chorus of voices. They will give expression to issues of general concern in society … ”
In what country does the person who wrote that editorial live? Which civil society group is professional and dedicated in this country? Committed to what and who? Civil society entities are either driven by ethnic feelings, political instincts, committed to the purpose of self-interest or righteousness, plain misdirected in their actions.
At the height of the alienation of AS staff with the Vice-Chancellor, Ivelaw Griffith, on issues of transparency and governance, the head of the Institute for Transparency – Guyana chapter (TIG), wrote Troy Thomas, publicly stated that TIG could not comment on poor governance at AS because he, Thomas works at AS and that could bring the parent body into disrepute. In the picket line for Donald Rodney, one of TIG’s executives told me, on hearing other pickets in full, that he only reads one newspaper in Guyana.
Here is more of that editorial, “… the GHRA had some interesting suggestions to make to the AG about how the apparent aberrations in the amended law reform law might be addressed. Traditionally, though, it must be said that Freedom House has had a long-standing relationship with that particular society. ”
Why is the relationship between the PPP and GHRA a difficult one? Who is right and who is wrong? There is a simple answer. Anyone living in Guyana would know that the GHRA, despite its long standing, as the editorial pointed out, has lost all credibility over the years and has become unashamed of its silence over five months of election rigging. The PPP is right to ignore it.
(The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of this newspaper.)