By GHK Lall- BBC and other Western media called them irregulars. Unorthodox also sold well. I fuse elements from irregulars and unorthodox to my preference for unpredictable. Guerrilla fighters and stealth operators have still endured. In any study of both, there’s none better than the PPP (old or new).
Take Cheddi Jagan. The Americans cut the floor from under him, dropped him into a deep, dark hole. Though clobbered, he didn’t cry. Never was crushed. He worked the wilderness, traveled the edges, kept his chin up. His fighting spirit never deserted. Despite many electoral defeats. In sum, he laid low; adapted. Changed from a lion to chameleon; won the day.
Discard burnt cane fields. Discard the Sun Chapman. Discard the Abrahams; later the Sawh family. Discard boycotted parliament. Discard when he took matters in his own hands -the Mace. Recall: Cultivating his local and foreign assets. Training for his loyalists. Moses can testify. There was Dr. Jagan: environmental scholar and guerrilla fighter, who never gave up. One who never yielded to superior forces, the odds. Rallied loyalists. Donald and Clement can testify. One who never crossed the floor beyond ‘critical support’; and to use the lavatory. A simple man became sophisticated under duress. Mention guerrilla fighter and stealth operator, and CBJ was it.
Then there’s Dr. Bharrat Jagdeo. The PPP best imitation of a guerilla fighter. He’s so good that an American ambassador paid court; not the reverse. Oil. Check history. When Jagdeo is cornered, he gets flustered first. Oozes hostility next. Becomes increasingly aggressive. Everything vented; not for delicate stomachs; shaky nerves. The guerrilla fighter side of the PPP flares when Live in Guyana and State Media are unleashed to assassinate those pressuring PPP luminaries. In classic guerilla fighter mode, there’s deniability.
None of Guyana’s Excellencies, not Ali, not Jagdeo, not Nandlall, not Phillips, not Hicken, not Waldron has any knowledge of what Live in Guyana is. Nor who are the guerrilla fighters inside Live in Guyana carrying on psychological warfare for the PPP Govt. So, what’s this omnipotent, untouchable, Live in Guyana: Vatican Radio or the guerrilla arm of the PPP? Now, try this dessert. The PPP loves guerrilla fighters so much, it even welcomed a Palm Tree explosives expert into the PPP cup, and one of Guyana’s highest offices. With guerrilla fighter recruitment like that, who can best the PPP Govt?
Recall the Mash jailbreak and mayhem. Recall how Jagdeo marshalled his forces, deployed his assets. Who was he, General Westmoreland or Ho Chi Minh? And wasn’t the latter a great guerilla fighter? Operating from shadows, or tight pockets, is guerrilla culture. Operating with secret powerful backers is the modus operandi of guerrilla fighters. The PPP Govt’s Live in Guyana neatly fits all three slots. Thus, I submit the PPP as Guyana’s best guerrilla fighters. CBJ ran with the greats during his years. Mohandas, Martin, Mandela. The underground was their home. On the run their existence. Jagan and Jagdeo learned from them, got made enemies pay.
Burnham -5th richest Black man in the world. Nonexistent Swiss bank account. A fairytale sold and bought by many. Guerrilla fighters in action. Talk about a bloodless assassination! Cells planted in the political opposition; sleepers in churches, everywhere. Stealth operators living double lives. Who’s better than the PPP Govt at this type of guerrilla fighter. Paid trolls to multiply online numbers (likes and dislikes for speakers and programs).
Another kind. Incumbent advantage that misuses State assets to sabotage adversaries, and persuade Guyanese of their own purity. Recall people hurled from a bus in the interior; men in red with baseball bats cutting lines of approach and communication. Ask Azruddin. Guerrilla fighting writ large. A different approach. Reserve strike force to berate opponents.
Coerce the compromised and cowardly. Turn them against their own. Then laff at their weakness and humiliation. Stealth operators culling the field and cultivating human assets to do dirty work. Lawmen. Political men. Religious men. College men and women.
The PPP is the best by far as guerrilla fighting and stealth operators. Re-examine the PPP as guerrilla fighters and its biggest coup: the parliamentary no-confidence motion that toppled the PNC. Howzat for guerrilla fighters and stealth operators pulling off a stunner! A government betrayed for cash. Beat that one. Jagan did several time
Last, Jagan embraced the trenches and forests of cane. Mohandas, Martin, and Mandela fought their battles in unique ways. All four, guerrilla fighters of special distinction, had one defining standard. They didn’t see themselves as guerrilla fighters or stealth operators. From Cheddi to Madiba saw themselves as freedom fighters. A distinction without a difference, I say.
