The poetic essence of history: Clive Thomas--Freddie Kissoon

JUNE 25, 2015 | BY KNEWS | FILED UNDER FEATURES / COLUMNISTS, FREDDIE KISSOON

Professor Clive Thomas, one of Guyana’s iconic citizens, has assumed an important role in post-dictatorship Guyana – he is responsible for assets recovery within his jurisdiction as Advisor to the President. A long-standing liberator in 20th century Guyanese history, Clive Thomas, (referred to by all who knew him in the Working People’s Alliance from the seventies onwards as CY, the Y is for Yolande) always had my undying admiration. I would rate Thomas as one of the left-wing intellectuals who had a strong influence on my human rights praxis. I first met CY when I gravitated to the Movement Against Oppression (MAO) in Tiger Bay in the early seventies. As one of the leaders of MAO, CY has always been the quietest of the middle class leaders that formed MAO then later, the Working People’s Alliance (WPA). In MAO, people like Dr. Joshua Ramsammy, Bonita Bone-Harris (her defence of supremacist Hindu priest Aksharananda in a letter in the Stabroek News was a piece of memoir I found personally shocking to the point where a Freudian analysis should be done), Andaiye and others would be the radical face. But Clive Thomas always appeared the more likeable. I got to know CY better when I became a UG student and an activist of the WPA. Even in the WPA, CY turned out to be the more inviting of the WPA’s middle class hierarchy. There was Eusi Kwayana and Moses Bhagwan in the WPA leadership but I wouldn’t classify them as middle class. Even though working class oriented, Kwayana was a very difficult person to get close to and he was always very formal with people. I believe deep down in his heart Kwayana cares for the poor and powerless but there is an enigmatic content to his character that prevents him from having the humble touch and embracing the ordinary people as his friends in the different organizations he was in. I always wondered why of all the WPA middle class leaders, Thomas with his world class scholarship and charismatic national status had a style that encouraged the working class membership of the WPA to seek him out. My interpretation would be that it had to do with skin colour. The African middle class of the West Indies, without exception of any island, has a Fanonesque preference with light complexion. This is what African middle class Guyanese and Guyanese East Indian have in common. Once you are light-skinned then you are more accepted and entertained. The light complexioned African Guyanese middle class from the forties onwards has not moved out of that mode. Sorry for this long digression but it was important in contextualizing the role of CY in the class structure of Guyana’s struggle for post-colonial liberation. After Walter Rodney, I would consider Clive Thomas to be the biggest name in the search for ethnic harmony, spiritual elevation and philosophical truths in Guyana. His praxis will occupy chapters if we were to write the story of the search for post-colonial justice. We are talking about half a century of struggle by CY for the betterment of the Guyanese people. One of the saddest moments in my long activism is the mistreatment of Clive Thomas by Cheddi and Janet Jagan and the PPP. CY has offered priceless service to GAWU and the PPP as a top class economist. When the PPP came to power, Clive Thomas was shunned by the PPP. No Guyanese should forget this and forgive the PPP for this. After more than fifty years, CY now has a policy-making role in the government of Guyana. For me it is not enough. I think there should be a much bigger role for him as Guyana sets out into a future that holds so much promise. Donald Ramotar once wrote a letter in the Kaieteur News asking me what the poetic essence of history means. When Clive Yolande Thomas accepted the appointment of Advisor to the President of Guyana, the poetic essence of history flowed all over Guyana. Every young Guyanese should at least attempt to read and keep one of his great books or articles on Guyana as a mark of both respect and admiration for CY. Every young Guyanese owes a debt to this man. But why should it be young Guyanese only? Because they will benefit the most from the 50 years of Clive Thomas’s struggle for the liberation of Guyana. Thank you Clive for all you have done for me and for my country. I don’t drink so I will ask for big ice-cream as you hold a little “lime” for your new appointment. Good luck in your work. History has honoured you.