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Guyana Politics 6: Martin Carter: Poems of RESISTANCE

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Politics  in our time has come to mean the  numbing quietude  of the polling booth, the  deadening platitudes  of petition campaigns &  political  oratory, car-bumper & T-shirt sloganeering, the  contradictory rhetoric  of manipulative  politicians , the  spectator sports  of public rallies & the  larger-than-life posters that assault our senses . All  hollow  political  theater  that has replaced genuine  politics . .............................. ................ Salaam All...Let's keep getting to know our  political  history through the e yes of the poet Martin Carter. These emails warn that we must learn from the past or be prepared to  relive the worst of historical experiments and disasters .  In 1950 Carter became one of the founding members of the socialist and anti-colonial People's Progressive Party (PPP), led by Cheddi Jagan.  Martin Carter with Cheddi Jagan 1994...In 1970 he received the Cacique Crown of Honour and in 1994 the Order of Roraima. Carter is

Guyana Politics 5: "People's Power, No Dictator"

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Salaam All...Let's keep getting to know our history through the eyes of Walter Rodney. Back in the late 70s as our fists pumped the air the cry of " People's Power, NO DICTATOR  " left our lips...over and over again we shouted that slogan as thousands of us marched behind the renowned Walter Rodney. Jagan was still the force but our young blood needed the militancy that Rodney brought.  The following piece by Walter Rodney who was murdered (1980) by Burnham is a  MUST-READ . It has many gems...like these (a-f):  a.  An old woman at Bourda shouted at a recent  political  meeting that "Burnham mek Satan cry!"  This remarkable piece of wit from the Georgetown streets was in response to the deviousness of a man who has worked out a long-term plan for  dividing and ruling the  Guyanese  people  - all of whom  he holds in deep contempt . (It's possible that with all the sins of APNU that  "Granger mek Satan bawl!" ) b.  Neither the land nor the right

Guyana Politics 4: Desecrating Scriptures

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Political  power,  cut adrift from religion, is a deadly poison ; wedded to religion, it is an antidote for all poisons. Gandhi confirms this: “Those who say religion has nothing to do with  politics   do not know what religion is .” And so does Einstein: Those who believe that politics and religion do not mix, understand neither. How powerful the following poem...shedding light in these dark  political  times (dark because of the vulgarity, the blatant lies, the racism, the attacks)... .............................. ........ Where the mind is without fear and the head is held high; Where knowledge is free; Where the world has not been  broken up into fragments by narrow domestic walls ; Where words come out from the depth of truth ; Where tireless striving stretches its arms towards perfection; Where the clear stream of reason has not lost its way  into the dreary desert sand of dead habit ; Where the mind is led forward by Thee into ever-widening thought and action Into that heaven o