By GHK Lall- Venezuela is engaging in a war of nerves against Guyana. President Ali has engaged Opposition Leader Norton. Good. But it can’t be under such conditions only. The government has alerted the international community. Good. The US has spoken, with its own interests prioritized. Guyana has no choice, but to take what it gets. In this slowly building psychological war, with physical assets deployed to complement on Venezuela’s side, a number of pieces and moves are in motion on Guyana’s side. I laud President Ali’s early actions. Then what?
What after the great show of oneness in the letter columns, pages of columnists, editorial columns? What after the political postures, the sober words? Guyanese are living under a series of self-defeating priorities. Oil numbers, elections’ numbers, personal numbers. The number one enemy aren’t those Guyanese who criticize the government and its leaders, those standing in the way of its avalanche.
In fact, they are not enemies at all, whether writers, radio and TV commentators, or whatever. The number one enemy of Guyanese is their neighbor. The first friend of Guyana today is the USA; as long as the oil lasts, or Guyana has some geopolitical value, America will be around and up to its elbows as a protective deterrent. I come back to the same place, same question: after that, what?
No Guyanese should be so mindless that when President Maduro ruffles waters and rocks boats, that he or she focuses inwardly at that time. It is largely true, but there are those who watch as to what the PNC does; and, from the other side, what the government is doing or not doing. My position has been the same from the morning of the first day, and it will remain that way until the last day.
The Guyanese people, from leaders to the little people, must be committed heart and soul on finding ways to help this country mend and heal. Mr. Maduro must not be the big, bad man that scares us and pushes out to join ranks, be one. Another well thought-out Venezuelan escalation must not be the catalyst that drives us to look and speak differently with one another. For after that pleasing interlude is over, then what? Back to the eternal bickering? A return to ripping each other apart?
It is good to know that the USA is in Guyana’s corner. But it will only have Guyana’s back, once there is oil to back that position. CARICOM has made its statement, but I wonder how much is lip service, under duress, and about going on record with what, frankly, ties its hands. Subtract these good neighbors and more distant well-meaning (and always strategically thinking) backers, and what does Guyanese have when the rattle of words has faded?
The presence of oil has pushed a broadsword into the consciousness and hearts of Guyanese. This country is cleaved in half, and no amount of reason, appeals, commonsense contributes to knit the two halves back again. It takes Maduro to do that, and often I ponder how deep the rallying and rising for the flag goes.
The foreign businesspeople and political people study Guyana and add what it has. It also sees and knows, without effort, what this country doesn’t have. Their simple conclusion is that these people don’t even have themselves, and largely depend on outsiders to bail them out. Against that backdrop, moral and diplomatic support is always plentiful. Ditto regional support. American support, with the M word featuring prominently will be that last resort, and only when Exxon’s stability and continuity are menaced, actually bottlenecked. Time for that fateful escalation and intervention, I would say.
Commonsense emphasizes, therefore, that the first ally, the first resource, is the next Guyanese. Though, there are personal doubts about how many would separate from their current programs and prosperity in a crunch, I must live with that specter, and work with what represents genuine Guyanese patriotism.
It is neither the usual part-time jingoism that is so pleasing to the ear (and for public consumption). Nor is it the regular political harmony that is dredged up to show a united face. Unless, the effort is made to have every Guyanese at the table of involvement in this country’s pluses and challenges, then all efforts are laced with the hollow, and collapses under pressure.
For, I assert that what is lived with is a table that has one side loaded, and the other bare. It is a tough proposition to get that elusive, comprehensive buy-in under such circumstances. Guyanese can shout all they wish about oneness (the new ‘one’, and the old ‘one’ which was always three in one), but when it is nothing but a slogan, then the seeds of self-wounding flourish.
In circumstances such as these, Nicolas Maduro has his touch-and-go strategy. He knows what Guyana is and has, and he also knows what it isn’t and doesn’t have. Those are to his advantage. Guyana runs to the USA, then returns to its usual ways when neighboring clouds recede. I refrain from using harsh words. I settle for foolishness, insanity that weakens mortally.
