Mohan Ragbeer

The Indelible Red Stain Book 2: the Destruction of a Tropical Paradise - a Cold War Story Mohan Ragbeer

Publisher Marketing: Product Description: Book2, The Indelible Red Stain Dogged by poor planning, delays, dangers, food shortage and ominous fears of political violence in British Guiana's capital, and the collapse of the country itself, the team found ways to address problems cooperatively and to examine factors that promoted such action. Multiracial societies - increasing globally - must learn the ways of component cultures, not only to live and work in harmony, but to become enriched and nobler by appreciating and possibly embracing one another's core values, shedding biases, and thus emerge with a superior model. This volume describes the return journey. Sharp drops in river levels make the trip slower and more perilous, with near-death events requiring unified responses, giving added impetus to learn the values of various cultures and remove stereotypes and biases. The amazing history of India and richness of Indian culture are stunning revelations to the Africans, schooled to denigrate things Indian while learning little of their own; they agree that multicultural education was indeed essential. Back on the coast, the men learn that the team-leader's brother, a Georgetown detective, had just been murdered by Blacks as followers of Forbes Burnham attempt to oust his former ally, the country's Indian Premier Cheddi Jagan, using raging mobs; their weapons are robbery, anarchy, fire and murder. The country becomes a heated theatre in the Cold War, as CIA and other US agencies join Burnham's thugs to unseat Russian-backed Jagan. Despite insistent urgings by well-wishers who had detailed a superior route to self-reliance and true freedom without Cold War union Jagan incredibly flaunts his communism and the promises of Soviet friends, and ignored American threats. His weak and humble supporters begin to pay the price with their blood, their livelihood and their hopes, as first injuries then killings and property seizures terrorised them to flee. The author paints a vivid canvas of the civil strife and race riots that destabilise Guyana, from the unique perspective of a man on the spot; he witnessed the great 1962 fire in Georgetown from so close that his camera shutter jammed, his film bubbled curtailing his record. His friend, a Police Superintendent was killed by a rifleman in a riotous mob when he confronted them earlier that day. A year later he was facing down a similar mob, and a rifleman who begged his leader for leave to kill. The author had to join the flight and leave behind the flash of fire and blood swamping his native land, to escape the red stains that marked Britain's Empire, McCarthy's USA and the USSR and threatening to tarnish all. It is a fearsome and tear-jerking thing to see your community, your family and your beloved country ravaged by fellow citizens, global powers and thugs in the pay of local and foreign enemies. But Mohan Ragbeer tells it well, and brings a much needed perspective on Premier Jagan, one of the villains of the piece, who has long been an impostor posing on a hero's pedestal. Guiana is a proper biopsy of the world's dilemmas and struggles; its lessons have universal relevance. This text draws widely on global experiences with analogies, histories, human stories and behaviour, all with universal reach and appeal. The book's audience is by any measure global and no one stands to lose who studies the actions of those who populate the pages or call themselves leaders. Look around you; they're everywhere. This is a monumental work of the highest quality of writing and scholarship, an eyewitness account by a keen observer. It is a light on a dark corner of history, a damaging new portrait of a failed political leader, the consuming self-interest of international powers and the extent of the perfidy they would unleash however innocent the target, and a searing message for the future. Never let your country walk this way. The text is enriched with references, personal stories, photos and insightful epig Contributor Bio:  Ragbeer, Mohan Dr Mohan Ragbeer is a physician, with degrees from the University of London, the Royal College of Pathologists, UK, and the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada. He currently practises Geriatrics and Family Medicine in Hamilton, Canada, where he had earlier spent 20 years as a Pathology professor at Master University. Previously he had spent ten years at the University of the West Indies (UWI), Jamaica, five of them as the first full-time Dean of its Medical Faculty. There he had introduced several innovations in Medical Education including the highly-rated Postgraduate Medical Education programme. He has served several international bodies including the Pan-American Federation of Associations of Medical Schools. He has travelled widely in his profession and served as a consultant to several professional institutions and Governments, including the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario, Canada, University of Guyana, and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. He has received many commendations, honours and awards. Besides numerous articles and several book chapters on medical topics Dr Ragbeer has published regular op-ed pieces and newsletters on current affairs and has considerable unpublished work in prose and poetry. He was born in British Guiana in a farming family, and began his career as a linguist, geographer and historian aiming for the diplomatic services of Guiana but later switched to Medicine. After postgraduate medical training he worked for two years with the BG government in the turbulent years whose history and antecedents are the stuff of this book. His desire to contribute to Guiana's progress and expansion of its medical services was thwarted by Jagan's rejection of moderation and Burnham's dictatorship. He had close personal and family associations with the key protagonists and while he remained loyal in friendship to Dr Jagan he came to disagree with his chosen direction of policy for an independent state. He was a disciple of his brother-in-law, sister and other far-seeing persons whose ideas, had they been followed, might have prevented the chaos into which the vulnerable population soon sank, and the rise of Burnham's vicious dictatorship that fed on Cold War politics and CIA activities. The flight of nearly half the national population and the creation of the Guianese diaspora followed inexorably. Dr Ragbeer has married twice and has six children.