Archives for October 10, 2016
Trump’s objectification of women
October 10, 2016 By
The Donald Trump campaign for the US presidency represents one of the fastest ascents by an outsider to secure the nomination of either of the two dominant American political parties. His fall might be just as record-breaking. Trump has been known for years for his candid, off-the-cuff remarks about women that frequently bordered on misogyny: “Fat. Pig. Dog. Slob. Disgusting animal” were some of his milder descriptions of them. Most of the objectionable comments were based on his objectification of women.
But when a video of a conversation that was inadvertently recorded on an open mike had him describing – using the “f” word – how he wanted to have sex with a married woman and “grabbing (women) by the p—-“, it became too much for many of the leaders of the Republican Party. While the numbers are still rising, at this time at least two dozen Republican Congressmen, Senators, past presidential candidates, and Governors have denounced him and demanded he step down. Trump bluntly refused to do so after going on air to offer an apology.
With less than a month to the elections, the question on everyone’s lips is whether Trump has fatally wounded his chances of acceding to the presidency. This newspaper predicted even before the end of the nomination “primaries” that Trump would go all the way. It is, therefore, apropos to examine the bases of Trump’s popularity to discern whether his latest outburst would turn away his supporters as much as it did the top leadership of the Republicans. At this time, most in the media believe it would.
Trump’s attraction, we pointed out, came out of his articulating fears in a huge segment of the American populace based on two intertwined ideological strands – nativism and American exceptionalism. Would his extreme objectification of women alienate many of those supporters? While the jury is obviously out, it is quite likely that as has occurred so many times, the “pundits” in the American media might be wrong.
Neither the nativists blaming the ailments of their country on immigrants nor the demand of American exceptionalism for their leader to “get tough” with even America’s allies has been satisfied by Hillary Clinton. But there is a need to go beyond the politically correct denunciation of Trump’s attitude towards women and appreciate that it is part and parcel of how the ideal American “macho” image is defined, as part and parcel of American exceptionalism. No one has yet written off Trump for his statements on Mexicans or Muslims and on women, the envelope was just pushed a little further than before.
Very revealingly, while Republican House Speaker Paul Ryan said, “I am sickened by what I heard today. Women are to be championed and revered, not objectified”, he did not retract his endorsement of Trump. The issue is whether women in America are actually “championed and revered” or simply given lip service. And to this end, Trump’s own words in the video explaining how he was able to get away with his lewd and crude behaviour over the years is stark: “when you’re a star, they let you do it”.
And while Trump said that while he was just a “reality show” star, history has shown that political power creates just as much a “star” quality with its presumed power as a sexual aphrodisiac. While he might have been much more discreet about his womanising, for instance John F Kennedy’s, who is seen as the model of the modern, suave and collected US president, indiscretions are now very well known, even though he was married with two children whom he trotted out regularly to prove what a “family man” he was. The crudity of his successor, Lyndon B Johnson is also well known, while not surprisingly, Trump has finally honed in on the indiscretions of Bill Clinton.
It is very likely that this is another storm that Trump will ride out.
Establishment of a refinery not in the initial plans
October 10, 2016 By
Dear Editor,
I read in one of the dailies that the United States Ambassador Mr Perry Holloway, had echoed the earlier statements by an official of ExxonMobil, Guyana re: “In terms of job creation, I want to take this opportunity to remind everyone that while this significant oil find will create jobs in Guyana, it is offshore and there are no initial plans for refining the oil in Guyana.”
I have a few questions. 1. What is meant by there are no initial plans; is there a specific time (number of years attached to this initial period) 2. Is this statement about the initial non-establishment of a refinery in Guyana, an official Government position, or is it that the contract with ExxonMobil stipulates that we cannot establish a refinery unless it is in association with ExxonMobil.
If this is not the position I would like to suggest that we should be engaging entities in the United Kingdom, Spain, France, Norway, China, United States of America etc, etc, with a view towards producing a preliminary pre-feasibility analysis and term sheet so as to determine if it makes economic sense for us to establish a refinery over the next 5 to 7 years starting from 2018; I would further like to suggest that ownership should involve the Government of Guyana, the Local and International Private Sector and a Public Offering.
Regards,
Dunstan Barrow
Education Ministry practises double standard
October 10, 2016 By
Dear Editor,
It is sad to see what is happening to our education system here in Guyana. I read with disgust the situation with the sexual assault of a student by a teacher of Tagore Memorial Secondary School as reported by News Room on Facebook on the historic celebration of World Teachers’ Day on October 5.
But, I do not agree with the judgment made by the Welfare Officer, Miss Merlyn Alphonso on Facebook, who represents the Education Ministry. The matter is already before the Court and I don’t see why this Welfare Officer has to join in with other teachers of Tagore to shame and ridicule the Science teacher.
Mr Vishal Narine is the best Science teacher in the Corentyne and he received the prestigious Teachers’ Award at National Cultural Centre during the 50th Independence Celebration.
Tagore Memorial Secondary has a very good Head Teacher and the School Board works well with the school. They boost the performance of the school. I don’t know why persons on Facebook are trying to attack them.
The Ministry practices double standard and they pick stories to deal with and this looks like racism. The Head Teacher of Skeldon Primary School takes all the school funds and she always asks parents, children and the business people for money. The canteen vendor sells expired things and any hour of the day about 5-6 teachers can be seen relaxing on the front landing.
Are there extra teachers in the school? All the teachers from the school keep extra lessons at school, and each child has to pay the $500 for the lessons Saturday morning or else licks and embarrassment Monday. Much of the classroom work is done at the lessons, so who cannot afford lose out.
Yours sincerely,
Mr Mohanlall
AG manufacturing stories once again
October 10, 2016 By
Dear Editor,
My attention was drawn to a most bizarre article published in the Guyana Chronicle dated Saturday, October 8, 2016, at page 8, under the caption “PPP initiated process to acquire Carmichael St lots-AG.” In that article, the following statement is attributed to the Attorney General and Legal Affairs Minister Mr Basil Williams, “The nation should know that when we [APNU/AFC] entered Government, I inherited that proposal by the PPP to acquire those said lots. And the staff I inherited recommended those lots… So the issue of the compulsory acquisition was something inherited from the PPP. So perhaps the problem Mr Nandlall has is that he didn’t get to do the transaction.”
I wish to make it unequivocally clear, that as Attorney General, I had no intention whatsoever of compulsorily acquiring the said two lots of land and that no step whatsoever was ever taken by the PPP/Civic Government to compulsorily acquire the said two lots of land; that all I did in relation thereto, was to make contact with the owners of the two plots of land and enquired from them whether the lands were for sale. Both owners answered in the negative and that was the end of the transaction. I never even took a proposal to Cabinet in relation to this matter.
The article next outrageously quotes Mr Williams as recalling that I raised the issue in Parliament and “the project was then approved by the Ministry of Finance and Cabinet, after which it was passed and approved by the National Assembly.” I am flabbergasted! I raised no such issue in Parliament. In fact, there was no issue to be raised.
The story becomes even more sinister. The article next informs that Mr Williams disclosed that if the PPP had remained in office, the PPP would have paid five hundred and sixty million dollars ($560,000,000) more than the current Government for the same two plots of land. The article quotes Mr Williams, as saying that I told him that the lots are worth six hundred million dollars ($600,000,000). Mr Williams must be hallucinating! I had no such discussion with Mr Williams about these plots of land. If this was not a serious matter, I would have found it hilarious.
I challenge Mr Williams to produce one shred of evidence to support ANY of the contentions that he has made. I do so knowing fully well that a person who is of the iniquitous propensity to contrive and concoct such an elaborate tale is quite capable of falsifying documents to support these preposterous claims.
This is not the first time that this Attorney General has been caught manufacturing stories to blame me and the PPP/Civic Administration as part of his clumsy strategy to defend himself. Readers will recall that he alleged that the PPP Government had agreed to pay BK International when he was publicly pounded for paying millions of dollars on a mere letter threatening litigation. I challenged him then to produce evidence of this Agreement to pay. He never did. Again, the imbecilic contention is that the PPP had begun the compulsory acquisition process in respect of these two plots of land. Assuming that he is correct, this Attorney General appears to lack a mind of his own and seems incapable of doing anything other than robotically follow PPP initiatives. Whatever it is, that the President has a serious problem on his hand, I am in no doubt.
Mohabir Anil Nandlall,
Attorney-at-Law, MP
Mazaruni channel now 90% clear, life returns to normal
October 10, 2016 By
Dear Editor,
Interestingly, I noticed a letter written on Saturday mentioning that the channel at Piremap Falls never affected river traffic over the past three months. Strange!! One only has to check with the two main jet boat operators, whose offices are located a stones’ throw apart at Charlotte and Light Streets, Georgetown, or the boat operators at Bartica, the parents and teachers of the secondary school children from Issano, Kangaruma, Enachu, or the Medics at Issano etc, to ascertain the facts.
It is a fact that the jet boat services were directly prevented from operating by the dredge blocking the channel for 43 days total since the mishap back in July. The other boats from Bartica were directly affected also, only less as those boats are narrower in structure and were able to, at high risk, sneak by the wreck for a longer period when the water is high, and even those boats were prevented from operating for close to a month in total.
On a lighter note however, the wreck was finally hauled significantly from the channel yesterday, I repeat, yesterday the 8th October, and the channel is now about 90 per cent cleared. May I take this opportunity to express on behalf of all the residents, the Police, the miners, the health workers, teachers, boat operators and all others affected, a heartfelt thank you to MARAD, the relevant Ministries, the salvagers and anyone else who contributed in getting the channel cleared.
Life will once again be returned to normal. We the citizens that were directly affected know of the sufferings we went through, and will continue to observe with calm the opinions of experts, and others who from their writings and uttering, know very little of the actual facts.
Thank you,
Ralph Persaud
Lower Corentyne cop inaugural title
October 10, 2016 By