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GUYANA PRESS COVERAGE OF BURNHAM’S STATEMENTS IN CANADA
Date: 1977 November 3, 00:00 (Thursday)
Canonical ID: 1977GEORGE02782_c
BEGIN SUMMARY: DURING HIS SOJOUR IN CANADA PRIME MINISTER BURNHAM MADE A NUMBER OF SPEECHES AND STATEMENTS WHICH WERE REPORTED BY THE PRESS HERE. HE SAID RELATIONS WITH THE US HAD IMPROVED, BUT NO NEW US PRIVATE INVESTMENT HAD COME TO GUYANA, ALTHOUGH UNDER SPECIFIED CONDITIONS IT WOULD BE ACCEPTED. THE POVERTY GAP BETWEEN DEVELOPED AND DEVELOPING NATIONS COULD PRODUCE INSTABILITY AND, THEREFORE, IT WAS IN THE FORMER’S INTEREST TO HELP THE POOR NATIONS. HE ALSO STRESSED, HOWEVER, THAT GUYANA’S PEOPLE SHOULD BE SELF-RELIANT, PRODUCE MORE AND CONSUME LESS. UNDERLYING GUYANA’S ECONOMIC TROUBLES WERE THE HIGH PRICE OF OIL AND IMPORTED MANUFACTURES. THE UPPER MAZARUNI HYDRO-POWER PROJECT REMAINS IMPORTANT. FINALLY, ON LIMITED OFFICIAL USE LIMITED OFFICIAL USE
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HUMAN RIGHTS HE ADVOCATED THAT THE RIGHTS TO EAT, WORK, SHELTER, AND EDUCATION WERE JUST AS IMPORTANT AS “NARROW LEGAL RIGHTS”. END SUMMARY.

1. LOCAL PRESS COVERAGE AND STATEMENTS MADE BY PRIME MINISTER GORBES BURNHAM ON SUBJECTS OF INTEREST DURING HIS TRIP TO CANADA ARE REPORTED HEREIN. WITH TWO EX- CEPTIONS, ALL OF THE EDITIONS OF THE DAILY “GUYANA CHRONICLE” GAVE FEATURE FRONT PAGE COVERAGE TO THE PRIME MINISTER’S TRIP AND STATEMENTS. INCLUDED AMONG THE HEADLINES WERE: “BURNHAM EXPLAINS GUYANA’S POLICIES”, “PM CALLS ON CANADA TO BACK MOVE FOR A JUST ECONOMIC ORDER”, “BURNHAM WARNS AGAINST IGNORING PLIGHT OF POOR”, “GUYANA TO GET CANADIAN AID FOR NEW PROJECTS”, AND “BURNHAM ENCOURAGED BY CANADIAN RESPONSE TO HYDRO-PROJECT”.

2. QUOTES FROM BURNHAM’S SPEECHES AND STATEMENTS ON SEVERAL TOPICS OF INTEREST FOLLOW:
A. RELATIONS WITH THE US: RELATIONS WITH THE US HAVE IMPROVED ESPECIALLY SINCE THE CARTER ADMINISTRATION TOOK OFFICE IN WASHINGTON; HOWEVER, THERE HAVE BEEN NO NEW PRIVATE INVESTMENTS FROM THE US IN GUYANA. HE SAID THAT GUYANA NEEDED THE TECHNOLOGY OF THE WEST BUT TECHNOLOGY TRANSFER WOULD “HAVE TO BE NEGOTIATED AND THEY WILL COME TO GUYANA ON TERMS WHICH ARE MUTUALLY AGREED AS BETWEEN THEM AND OURSELVES. WE DID NOT SUFFER THE EXPLOITATION ALCAN, REYNOLDS AND BOOKERS TO INTRODUCE ANOTHER SET OF EXPLOITERS”, HE SAID. “BUT WE ARE PREPARED TO DO BUSINESS”.
B. FOREIGN INVESTMENT: “OUR POLICY IS THAT WE ARE WILLING TO ENTER INTO A CONSORTIUM, BUT ANY MAJOR INVEST- MENT HAS TO BE ON TERMS WHICH WE AGREE BECAUSE PRIVATE INVESTMENT FROM ABROAD IN THE PAST HAS MEANT EXPLOITATION
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OF OUR RESOURCES WITHOUT OUR BENEFIT”.
C. CANADIAN AID: CANADA HAS INCREASED ITS AID TO GUYANA BUT THE OVERALL INCREASE IN ASSISTANCE WAS NOT IN PROPORTION TO THE RATE OF IMPORTED INFLATION OR THE HIKE IN THE OIL PRICE, BUT, STRESSING GUYANA’S SELF-RELIANCE, HE ASSERTED, “IN THE FINAL ANALYSIS THE RESPONSIBILITY FOR BUILDING GUYANA RESTS ON THE SHOULDERS OF GUYANA AND NOT ON THE SHOULDERS OF THE CANADIANS, OR ANYONE ELSE”. HE PRAISED CANADA FOR HAVING ACTED IN THE COMMONWEALTH AS AN INTER- PRETER OF THE VIEWS AND ASPIRATIONS OF THE POORER MEMBERS TO THE INDUSTRIALLY ADVANCED ONES AND INVITED CANADA TO DO THE SAME IN THE WIDER WORLD COMMUNITY.
D. NEW INTERNATIONAL ECONOMIC ORDER. DURING HIS SPEECH IN HALIFAX BURNHAM REPORTEDLY FOCUSED ON THE NEED FOR A NEW WORLD ECONOMIC ORDER. HE ARGUED THAT THE MAJOR CONCERNS IN THE WORLD TODAY REVOLVED AROUND THE “POVERTY GAP” BETWEEN THE INDUSTRIALIZED AND DEVELOPING NATIONS. THIS GAP COULD PRODUCE INSTABILITY; THEREFORE, IT WAS IN THE INTEREST OF THE RICHER NATIONS TO HELP IMPROVE CON- DITIONS IN POOR NATIONS. INDUSTRIALIZED NATIONS SHOULD NOT ASSUME THAT IF THE NEEDS OF POOR COUNTRIES ARE SATIS- FIED IT WOULD RESULT IN IMPOVERISHMENT OF THE RICH NATIONS. THE DEVELOPING WORLD, HE CONTINUED, DID NOT NEED CHARITY OR HUMANITARIAN AID, BUT RATHER JUSTICE.
HE CRITICIZED THE ARMS RACE AND SUGGESTED THAT THE ENERGIES AND RESOURCES DEVOTED TO IT BE TURNED TOWARD HUMANE OBJECTIVES.
E. GUYANA’S ECONOMIC CRISIS: SPEAKING TO GUYANESE IN TORONTO ON THE FINAL DAY OF HIS VISIT, BURNHAM ASSERTED THAT GUYANA WOULD SURVIVE ITS CURRENT ECONOMIC CRISIS BUT THIS WOULD TAKE A DEEP COMMITMENT TO ACHIEVING MAXI- MUM PRODUCTIVITY AND PRODUCTION. THE GUYANESE PEOPLE THEMSELVES WOULD HAVE TO WORK MORE, DEFER CONSUMPTION AND MAKE GREATER SACRIFICES. LIMITED OFFICIAL USE
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F. GUYANA’S DEVELOPMENT PHILOSOPHY AND STRATEGY: GUYANA’S ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT WAS PREMISED UPON THE PHILOSOPHY OF SELF-RELIANCE AND THE MAXIMUM MOBILIZATION OF ITS OWN RESOURCES. UNFORTUNATELY, ITS EFFORTS HAD TOO OFTEN BEEN MINIMIZED BY EXTERNAL PRICE FIXING OF COMMODITIES SUCH AS SUGAR AND THE RUNAWAY INFLATION OF THE PRICES OF GOODS WHICH GUYANA AT ITS PRESENT STAGE OF DEVELOPMENT MUST IMPORT. DIVERSIFICATION OF GUYANA’S ECONOMY AWAY FROM SUGAR WAS ALREADY TAKING PLACE. FISH WERE BEING RAISED IN FIELDS UNDER FALLOW, AND SUCH CROPS AS BLACK EYED PEAS, OIL PALM, AND SOYA WERE BEING PLANTED ON SUGAR LANDS.
HE ALSO ASSERTED THAT GUYANA’S IRON ORE RESERVES WERE RICHER THAN THOSE OF FRANCE AND THAT IT HAD MORE CHROME RESERVES THAN RHODESIA.
G. HYDRO-POWER: ASSERTING THAT THE MAIN REASON FOR GUYANA’S ECONOMIC DIFFICULTIES WAS THE PRICE OF OIL, HE STRESSED THAT THIS UNDERLINED THE IMPORTANCE OF HYDRO
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POWER DEVELOPMENT. THE MASSIVE UPPER MAZARUNI HYDRO-POWER PROJECT WAS NECESSARY AND IT WOULD BE BETTER THAN A SMALL HYDRO-PLANT OR A SERIES OF SMALL PROJECTS. THE LATTER WOULD NOT SOLVE GUYANA’S NEED FOR POWER AND, IN THE LONG RUN THEY WOULD COST MORE THAN THE US$500 MILLION THAT THE MAZARUMI PROJECT WOULD REQUIRE. HE CONTINUED, “UNLESS GUYANA IS ABLE TO HAVE VERTICAL INTEGRATION, UNLESS GUYANA IS ABLE TO MANUFACTURE FINISHED PRODUCTS BASED ON HER NATURAL RESOURCES, SHE WILL CONTINUE TO BE POOR AND CONTINUE GOING AROUND WITH A BEGGING BOWL”.

H. COOPERATIVE SOCIALISM: IN RESPONSE TO A QUESTION CONCERNING COMMUNISM, BURNHAM SAID HIS GOVERNMENT WAS SOCIALIST AND WAS WORKING TOWARD MAKING GUYANA A SOCIALIST COUNTRY. THERE WAS NO INTENTION OF COPYING FROM ANYONE AS FAR AS INTERNAL STRUCTURES WERE CONCERNED. HE WOULD COPY FROM NEITHER THE SOVIET UNION NOR THE U.S. HE RE- AFFIRMED THAT COMMITMENT TO THE COOPERATIVE AS THE INSTRUMENT FOR SOCIALIST TRANSFORMATION, AND ADDED THAT WHAT WAS SIGNIFICANT “IS WHETHER WITHIN OUR LIFETIME WE WILL HAVE SUCCEEDED IN BANISHING POVERTY, WANT AND UN- EMPLOYMENT IN GUYANA RATHER THAN WHICH ‘ISM’ WE SUBSCRIBE TO”.

I. HUMAN RIGHTS: IN HALIFAX, BURNHAM TOLD AN AUDIENCE THAT CONCERN FOR HUMAN RIGHTS SHOULD NOT STOP AT EQUALITY BEFORE THE LAW AND PERIODIC ELECTIXNS BUT MUST PERVADE THE WHOLE INTERNATIONAL SOCIETY. “THE RIGHT TO EAT, THE RIGHT TO WORK, THE RIGHT TO SHELTER, THE RIGHT TO BE CLOTHED, THE RIGHT TO EDUCATION, ARE AS IMPORTANT AS, IF NOT MORE IMPORTANT, THAN THE FORMAL BUNDLE OF NARROW LEGAL RIGHTS OF WHICH WE HEAR SO MUCH TODAY.”

3. THE “CHRONICLE” ARTICLE OF NOVEMBER 1 MENTIONED THAT PRO-BURNHAM AND ANTI-BURNHAM DEMONSTRATORS HAD BEEN PRESENT WHEN HE SPOKE DURING HIS FINAL DAY IN CANADA. THE
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PAPER SAID THAT PEACEFUL DEMONSTRATIONS WERE A REMINDER OF THE POLARIZED POLITICAL SITUATION BACK IN GEORGETOWN. THE ANTI-GOG PICKETS WAVED PLACARDS CALLIVNG FOR “FREE AND FAIR ELECTIONS” AND URGING “NO CANADIAN AID”.

4. COMMENT: NONE OF BURNHAM’S COMMENTS STRIKE US AS SURPRISING. HE STRESSED SELF-RELIANCE AND THAT GUYANESE MUST DEPEND UPON THEMSELVES, BUT UNQUESTIONABLY ONE OF THE MAJOR PURPOSES OF HIS TRIP WAS TO DRUM UP ECONOMIC ASSISTANCE. ANOTHER WAS TO TRY TO DEVELOP POLITICAL SUPPORT AMONG GUYANESE RESIDING IN CANADA. BURNHAM’S IRREPRESSIVEL EGO AND ARROGANCE CAME THROUGH IN SOME OF HIS STATEMENTS. FOR EXAMPLE, HIS CONDESCENDING TONE IN SAYING THAT FOREIGN PRIVATE CAPITAL WOULD BE WELCOMED IN GUYANA UNDER CERTAIN CONDITIONS, APPEARED TO UNDERMINE THE POSITIVE SIGNAL THAT HIS WORDS SHOULD HAVE CONVEYED. IT IS POSSIBLE THAT THE REPORTING OF HIS STATEMENTS FOR HOME CONSUMPTION WAS CALCULATED TO PROTECT HIM FROM ATTACK FROM THE OPPOSITION ON HIS LEFT. HIS DEFINITION OF SOCIALISM, HOWEVER, REMAINED PRAGMATIC AND NON-DOCTRINAIRE. HIS COMMENTS ON HUMAN RIGHTS ACCURATELY REFLECT HIS TRUE SENTIMENTS ON THIS SUBJECT. PROBABLY THE MOST SURPRISING FEATURE IN HIS VARIOUS REMARKS WERE HIS REFERENCES TO GUYANA’S MINERAL DEPOSITS. ALTHOUGH GUYANA REPORTEDLY DOES HAVE IRON ORE DEPOSITS, THE ASSERTION THAT THEY ARE RICHER THAN FRANCE’S IRON ORE DEPOSITS IS UNDOUBTEDLY AN EXAGGERATION. AS FOR LARGE CHROME RESERVES, THIS IS THE FIRST WE HAVE HEARD OF CHROME DEPOSITS IN GUYANA. BURKE LIMITED OFFICIAL USE NNN