A white man won an election

OCTOBER 27, 2015 | BY KNEWS | FILED UNDER FEATURES / COLUMNISTS, FREDDIE KISSOON

The size of Justin Trudeau’s victory in Canada was against the expectation of the world. Many thought that he would have come into a minority government or barely win. He secured a parliamentary majority. One of Mr. Trudeau’s campaign promises was that he would legalize small amounts of marijuana. A white leader in a white country wasn’t afraid to campaign on the marijuana issue. In the recently concluded elections in Guyana, the topic was absent from the total campaign trail, meaning all contesting parties. You don’t have to hold a doctorate in philosophy to know that the world will pass Guyana and leave it far behind. Of course the young people who know that aren’t taking chances. They are grabbing the wings of time and leaving. I remember my child was a student at School of the Nations when the school’s management called a parents’ meeting to consult on the removal of the CXC exam structure and replace it with the Cambridge GCE. Only Roger Luncheon and I disagreed. A prominent business woman who was recently appointed to serve on one of the state boards was trenchantly frank. She told the gathering that the change over from CXC to Cambridge was absolutely commonsensical, because the graduates will not stay in Guyana and their Cambridge GCE would serve them better in their foreign application. School of the Nation has done away with CXC. This country will be among the last to legalize small amounts of marijuana. And guess why? That is the way we are. Now one doesn’t mind accepting the paralysis of mind and soul of Guyanese but it is the persistence of the denunciation of the white man colonial legacy that annoys me. At every forum when the Third Worldist perspective comes up, there is the anticipated denunciation of the damage the white man did to us. There is never even a passing word of chastisement that long after the white man left, we are doing more damage to ourselves and dishonestly blaming the white man. Do you know who the most vocal rejectionist of the legalization of small amounts of marijuana is? Clement Rohee. When he was at Home Affairs (that is now Public Security; we changed from Home Affairs because it was a white man thing) Minister, Rohee came out viciously against any kind of marijuana legalization even for medicinal purposes. Ironically Rohee’s origin was that of an ordinary, unemployed youth who grew up poor liming around the Metropole cinema. He has something in common with me; I grew up on the streets of Wortmanville. That is why I am against young people being jailed for possession of a gram of marijuana. That is not only nonsensical. It is sadistic. Trudeau becomes the latest white man to adopt a fresh, modern approach to the use of marijuana. The number of white leaders who will endorse that policy will grow. Conversely the number of non-white leaders who will frown upon it will rise exponentially. My own feeling is that it hasn’t got support among the major political parties in Guyana. But with some pressure from the ABC embassies on the APNU-AFC administration, we can see a change. The administration isn’t going to listen to its own scholars and specialists but once the ABC diplomats here nudge them they will respond. One suspects that the law against homosexuality may soon be a thing of the past. There are very strong feelings on this issue by the ABC countries. If left to the major parties in Guyana, anti- homosexual laws, like the ancient divorce laws will remain in this country forever. The key to the modernization process is the pressure the ABC diplomats and those from the EU mission in Georgetown put on the APNU-AFC regime. There is likely to be an accommodation of the persuasion of the ABC countries in the corridors of power in New Garden Street and this working relation could see a more modern, enlightened approach to life and the world among our ruling politicians in Guyana But even though our leaders will say yes to the ABC diplomats, the process will take a long time. Unless the Western diplomats really flex their muscles none of the changes – small amounts of marijuana, modern divorce laws, repeal of anti-homosexual laws – the Government will accept. It is my unshakeable belief that unless the Western missions really demand the changes and not just suggest them, this country will go into the 2020 election with the status quo. By that time many poor youths with a joint in their shirt pocket will have to watch their future sail away right in front of their eyes.