| Chronicle Editorial writer was only trying to articulate repercussions of actions of certain individuals |  |  |  |
| Written by JASON ABDULLA |
| Wednesday, 11 July 2012 22:34 |
| THE recent criticisms levelled against an editorial by the Guyana Chronicle are as interesting as the editorial itself. While I do not agree with certain aspects of the editorial, there are sections there which are haunting for some and quite frankly, I expected the sort of reaction by certain individuals who have been picketing outside the Chronicle and burning copies of the newspaper at the Square of the Revolution. Our wrongs in the past have a funny way of returning to haunt us and it is exactly this reality which has seen the sort of reaction by the ‘usual suspects’. There is no doubt that the editorial could have been better written and my impression is that the writer was trying to articulate the repercussions of the actions of certain individuals in our not so distant past and the effects it is having on people’s psyche, irrespective of one’s race. The genesis of this takes us back to a carefully orchestrated plan by a group of individuals who had political power in mind and decided to use whatever means they could to achieve their desire. No doubt the seeds of this was set a few years earlier when the late PNC/R leader Desmond Hoyte promised to make Guyana ‘Ungovernable’ using the ‘Slow Fiya, Mo Fiya’ method. This was no threat based on the spur-of- the-moment adrenaline rush as, when we carefully look back at the events over the years from that period, we see a clear picture, a pattern of how this plan was orchestrated. No doubt it was a modern adaptation of the infamous PNC X-13 plan of terror a few decades earlier. The Mash 2001 Camp Street jailbreak no doubt was a critical element of this plan where the authors' focus was to spread insurrection. Obviously, the entire Guyana Police Force and Guyana Defence Force could not be penetrated but, in retrospect, when we see that the head of the Police Force at that time has now become a Member of Parliament for the Opposition and likewise the head of the GDF then is now an open Opposition supporter, it does raise critical questions. The theft of 33 AK-47 assault rifles along with other small arms from the Headquarters of the GDF was no less shocking and obviously this represented another significant aspect of the diabolical plan as so many lives were lost at the hands of those using these very guns in the months and years to come, including members of the Army and Police Force. No doubt they were seen as ‘collateral damage’, a term which recently became popular once again, in achieving their objective. It is very important to note here that throughout the rampage which was to follow since February 23rd 2001, these very organisations which are so vociferous today were alarmingly quiet. It was only the PPP which constantly condemned these actions. In fact, we had the tragedy where a human rights organisation only came forward to condemn when a gunman was killed during a confrontation with the armed forces, but was silent at not only the deaths but the torture, rape and other forms of degradation of countless victims. But we know why they were quiet then just like why they are most vocal now as the author of the Chronicle Editorial merely sought to hold accountable those who tried to destroy the lives of some of our youths by brainwashing them with racist and extremist misinformation. This recent charade of burning copies of the Chronicle is another telling reminder of their mindset; one of destruction rather than development and let there be no doubt that they are extremely afraid of being held accountable for their actions. Guyanese should be aware that none other than Fredrick Kissoon in June 2003, writing for the Stabroek News then had this to say about those involved in spreading race hate to some of our youths, “In the case of the Buxton conspiracy, the people who were teaching members of Ocean Eleven the arts of politics were feeding them with voodoo political theory. These persons know nothing about Guyanese history, the political sociology of this country and how to define oppression. It is frightening what the violent youths of Buxton were educated in. They were told the most untruthful things about the government, the business class and the East Indian community.” Then in the very same series of articles Kissoon describes the individuals behind these efforts to destabilise Guyana for political power as simply racists. “These youths were being taught by men who were politically ignorant, extremist and essentially racist. The voodoo theory they taught the Buxton conspiracy was simply the language of self-destruction,” Kissoon wrote. So what we have here in essence is Kissoon admitting the dangers he saw since then of the education of youths in race hate against a particular ethnic group by a group of racists, but when the Guyana Chronicle seeks to contextualize the effects of this misinformation, the same effects Kissoon had warned about, he is now opposing. What we have now is Kissoon opposing himself and by burning copies of the Chronicle he, himself, is engaging in self-destruction. But this act of self-destruction does not end there, in his series of articles, Kissoon makes several references to a ‘Mr. Wild Man’. Kissoon does not name the individual but belabours certain facts about the individual and circumstances to make it palpably clear to even someone who is not even remotely familiar with all the events during that period, to understand who is the individual he is referring to: “ It is public knowledge that state security has put away Mr. Wild Man not only because of what happened outside of the presidential complex last year, but also because intelligence officials knew that he made the Andrew Douglas tape in Buxton…” Kissoon goes on to paint a picture of the individual as an extremist, but in so doing also inadvertently confirms a link with the opposition, “Hoyte had nothing but contempt for Mr. Wild Man because he saw him for what he was - an extremist, wild, unstable person infatuated with himself who showed no respect for established political leaders in the PNC and who thinks he is a leader better than those he came and met. There is the definite suspicion that Robert Corbin wants to keep his distance from Mr. Wild Man, who would have no hesitation in challenging Corbin publicly for leadership. The reason why I belaboured this point about Mr. Wild Man is to drive home the danger Guyana faced when criminals with guns and empty heads and dangerously misguided activists filling those heads with everything that was historically and politically wrong, went on the rampage.” It would be kind of Kissoon to advise us today as to if the extremist and racist ‘Mr. Wild Man’ whom, in his words, deliberately led some of our youths down a path of destruction using blind race hate messages was with him during the picketing action outside the Guyana Chronicle and at Square of the Revolution during their exercise of burning copies of the newspaper. It would also be kind of him to clarify his position whether he has now changed his mind as to the effects those race hate messages would have had on some of our youths, particularly those targeted for a campaign of misinformation by ‘Mr. Wild Man’ and crew’. What the recent events surrounding this Chronicle Editorial shows is that there are some individuals out there who would suppress their own convictions, rationality and even their own words in the past for political attention today in achieving their desired agenda at the present moment. It would also be remiss of me to point out some of the areas where I do not agree with the Chronicle Editorial as history would show that from the inception of the February 23rd 2001 jailbreak, it was not only one ethnic group which was the target of the attacks. All law-abiding Guyanese who are in the significant majority were in fear and were affected in some way or the other. In fact, I have to disagree with the sentiments expressed by no other than Kissoon who had argued that people were targeted because of their ethnicity, “While one can argue that hard, concrete, tangible evidence needs to come out so commentators can comment on this accusation, the glaring fact, the incontrovertible fact, remains that a group of seasoned criminals with no scruples or remorse in raping innocent women, robbed and killed people savagely because of their ethnicity.” While this may have been the ultimate objective of ‘Mr. Wild Man’ and crew, the end result today is the picture which reveals the opposite. In the end, this sad part of our history is behind us, but obviously memories may still be fresh in the minds of some, particularly relatives of the victims. If we were to have a memorial of the victims as is the case with the Indian Arrival Committee every year in Lusignan and Bartica for the victims of the two massacres, we would see people of all walks of life present which clearly indicates that all Guyanese were affected by this tragedy. What we owe to the victims is that we should never allow those responsible for this tragedy to get away with it and while they may have escaped a prisoner’s cell, such writings will ensure it never escapes their conscience but after all of Freddy’s description of these individuals, presence of a conscience may very well be wishful thinking. Finally, we as Guyanese have quietly spoken as despite their best efforts to divide us as a people and history would show, this was an effective method in the past for a small few to achieve political power, we remain strong as a people. Yes there will be challenges and while the odd incident will make all the front page headlines, the countless acts of random kindness irrespective of one’s ethnicity or race goes almost unnoticed. However, that does not mean we the people out there do not notice and it is what in turn inspires us to do likewise and play our small part to end race hate in Guyana. It is such a tragedy that the AFC/APNU closed the Ethnic Relations Commission which was tasked with leading the charge in racial conciliation, even more sad when the Humans Rights Association of a country publicly supports such a move. |
