A TIME WHEN THE NATIONAL ANTHEM WAS PLAYED IN THE CINEMAS
June 17, 2014, By KNews, Filed Under Features/Columnists, Peeping Tom, Source
We have amazing people in Guyana. They at times get so carried away by the occasion that they do some unusual things.
During the opening match of the FIFA World Cup, I actually saw some Guyanese- yes they were Guyanese- -actually standing and singing the national anthem of the host team, Brazil.
These were no Brazilians. They were Guyanese and they knew the words of the national anthem of Brazil. They not only sang; they also stood at attention during the anthem.
This discovery brought back a flood of memories about back in the day when the cinema was very popular in Guyana. One day, the PNC government which was in power then was concerned that people were becoming apathetic towards the government.
They decided that they had to ensure that the people understood and so they passed a directive that before the airing of any movies in the cinemas, the national anthem had to be played. This was very upsetting to many people because for the years and decades prior that they had been attending the cinema, the national anthem was not being played.
At the same time, the concept of paramountcy had blurred the lines between the ruling party and state institutions. This blurring meant that there were many persons who did not distinguish between loyalty to country and loyalty to the ruling party.
Sadly, the national anthem became a victim of this blurring of lines. There were many people who did not stand up when the anthem was played in our cinemas because they had come to associate the national anthem with the ruling party. They did not like what the ruling party was doing at the time in the country and so they refused to stand when the national anthem was being played. Others did not stand because they felt that it was an authoritarian directive to play the national anthem in cinemas. They resented this and so protested by not standing.
Many patrons could not be bothered when the national anthem was being played. But that did not go on for too long because the “cochores” went back and told their political masters that persons were not standing up when the national anthem was being played in the cinemas.
As such, the police were sent to arrest and charge patrons who were not standing when the national anthem was being played. Many patrons were dragged out of cinemas, roughed up and taken to the various police stations where they were slapped with charges for not standing while the national anthem was being played.
When some of them appeared in front of a city magistrate, the man was surprised. He could not find an offence for refusing to stand up when the national anthem was being played. In other words, the police were arresting persons, taking them down to the station and charging them for a non-existent offence in the law.
Despite there being no charge for refusing to stand while the anthem was being played, many patrons decided to stand up because they did not wish to be snatched up by their shirt collars, dragged out of the cinema thrown into a police van and marched down to the station where they would have had to be bailed before being charged and ordered to appear in front of a magistrate.
The government of the day could not be bothered by what the magistrate had said. It behaved like bullies in respect to persons not standing for the national anthem and they harassed those who refused to stand.
This was the sort of climate and regard for the law that existed at one time in Guyana and which many persons are today fearful will return should the main opposition party ever return to political power. Those are lingering fears that exist.
Therefore it is not simply a question of the PNC deciding that it has nothing to apologize for or that all parties have reason to apologize to the Guyanese people.
Hidden within the recesses of the minds of older Guyanese is the memory of Guyanese is that memory off a bygone age when political bullyism took center stage and when the law was not allowed to stand in the way of the authorities doing what they pleased. This memory creates fear and this fear drives insecurity.
Whether or not there is apology for the excesses of the past do not remove this insecurity. This is something that the PNCR has to concern itself about because this fear will continue to paralyze its non- supporters from giving a second thought towards supporting that party.