Role of the Social Media

Another most ominous development has arisen in this period whereby Guyanese citizens are being targeted for their political persuasion and their ethnicity. Incitement to violence against Guyanese of Indian descent (the largest ethnic minority) was being promoted on social media such as Facebook and Twitter.

Elements of the media supportive of the opposition parties were also involved in the incitement of racial hostility and the spread of misinformation. For instance, on one of the influential online media outlet Demerara Waves, a blog posting calling for the mass murder of Guyanese citizens of Indian descent was not blocked or removed.

An internet radio owned by Mark Benschop, a man who was charged for treason for the assault on the Office of the President in 2002 and who was subsequently pardoned by the President in 2009, also posted race hate and misinformation.

Both online media outlets are responsible for the violence and burnings which erupted in Linden in the early hours of August 10 when they misinformed Lindeners that the Joint Services were in Linden and instructed by the President “to shoot to kill.”

A list of supporters with their photographs of the governing party from the Linden area was circulated online in order to facilitate the targeting of these persons during the Linden protests. Most were forced to go into hiding. The Headquarters of the PPP in Linden was attacked and partially burnt and properties of party members were robbed. One of the female supporters found that her photograph, address, telephone number and her young child were posted on Facebook and labeled a PPP informant.

Even at this time of writing, the blog sites and websites of known opposition personalities such as OneVoicecanWin and Brutalfacts continue to try to fuel and create more “Lindens” and “openly call for the government to be brought to its knees.”

Fanning the flames of ethnic insecurities and promoting racial hostility and racial hatred and conflict are particularly reprehensible in a multi-ethnic society such as Guyana which has made steady progress over the years in overcoming the bitter legacy of racial antagonism which was sown in earlier times.

The internationalization of developments in Guyana

The July 18 killing of 3 protesters was brought to the attention of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) which made a public release on August 3rd, the GoG publicly responded on August 8th to the IACHR.

Due to the gravity of these developments, the Government requested and was permitted to brief the OAS Permanent Council on August 23, 2012 and indicated to that body that it “is deeply concerned about this new political environment and the behavior of the official parliamentary parties and fringe elements following the November 28 2011 elections, and is thereby warning that the situation in Guyana is precarious and one that warrants close attention by our friends in the OAS.”(Please find attached Appendix V111 Government’s statement to the Permanent Council of the Organization of American States on August 23, 2012)

Conclusion

These developments in the Guyana National Assembly over the last 11 months are at their least disturbing and worrying, however, they become more sinister when taken holistically with the consistent undermining and subversion of parliamentary democracy based on “the dictatorship of one” and repeated declarations of the “new dispensation” by the two opposition parties that their supporters are the majority and they must have their day.

Examined together with the Linden disturbances (July 18-August 22, 2012), the Agricola protests ( October 11, 15 and 16, 2012), and continuous attempts to have similar such road blockages in other areas (which in contrast have had little success thus far), threats of more protests, the targeting of ethnic groups and threats against individuals in Government and anyone who publicly defends the Government in the social media, the Government of Guyana by way of this document is convinced that Guyana is under threat.

It is therefore again warning, as it did the OAS Permanent Council, friendly international and regional organizations that the developments in the National Assembly and the wider society in Guyana are subverting parliamentary democracy and posing a serious and real threat to political stability.

The Guyana Government calls on your organization to monitor and to consider what statements and postures it may wish to make in support of the protection of parliamentary democracy and the legitimacy of a democratically elected government.