propaganda press! freedom in Guyana

Dear Editor,

I read with keen interest an article in the Stabroek News of December 19, 2007 titled “Order of Liberation awarded to Dr Jagan.”

It reported that on December 18, 2007 President Bharrat Jagdeo awarded a posthumous Order of Liberation to Dr Cheddi Jagan, for his role in restoring democracy to Guyana. I also read other press reports which state that this Order of Liberation is the nation’s highest National Award.

As Guyanese, we are entitled to the facts about our country. Unless I missed the passage of the relevant legislation and am unaware of the facts, I presume Guyana’s highest National Award, by legislative enactment, to be the Order of Excellence. I therefore ask President Bharrat Jagdeo what is the Order of Liberation, when was the relevant law enacted and what is its insignia?

Second, I continue to see references to Dr. Cheddi Jagan as the “father of the nation.” To those who make this palpably skewed argument, I ask, on what date and exactly when did Dr Jagan “birth” the Guyanese nation and secure its independence?

I ask these questions because I firmly subscribe to view of Fulbright Scholar and former Dean of the Faculty of Social Sciences at the University of Guyana, Prof. Michael Parris, that there is a revisionist scheme underway in Guyana, and that the PPP believes it has a monopoly on historical facts.

This notwithstanding, on the accurate accounting of our history, who or what can we trust, a fax from Freedom House or genuine scholarly chronicles by notable academics?

Yours faithfully,

Rickford Burke