Indian supremacists are coming out; they are desperate

Dear Editor, I am responding to the letter of Ryhaan Shah in SN of May 6 and Baytoram Ramharack and Rakesh Rampertab in SN of May 7. Ms. Shah wrote; “I would never negate my Indian self. It is my DNA. It is my history, my legacy, my traditions, my culture. It is my spiritual home. If I ever denied any of it, that would be the real dishonour. And if anyone asked that of me they would be trampling on my guaranteed human, spiritual and constitutional rights.” (end of quote) Anyone who studied philosophy and history and understands how genocide come about would be shocked at that statement. It has subliminal and Freudian overtones of racial chauvinism. In many European countries, particularly Germany, Austria, Turkey and Serbia, the editors would not carry such a correspondence. It is pregnant with racist bravado. I studied the cause of genocide, I taught its origins and perpetuation in history to UG students in my philosophy class. Humans should never lose sight how easy a nation can become victim to genocidal preachers. It is really a horrible indictment of Homo sapiens that in the modern world, a woman who claims to be a novelist can write such chauvinistic chants about racial feelings I would advise non-Indian people to be very careful if Ms Shah is ever to have jurisdiction over them in employment or in any other way. I would say thank God, Ms. Shah does not have a position where she possesses state power and such power is translated into policy. What I find reprehensible about the statement is that it is not an acknowledgement that one accepts being Indian but the elaboration that race is an integral part of the persona and character of Ms. Shah. Personally speaking, I hope Ms. Shah never attains authority over non-Indian people Ramharack’s letter is pathetic. This is a man in his letter says that the PPP represents the best choice for Indians. But he lives in the US where a Blackman is president but he would not come home to serve the cause of his chosen political party that has been in government for near to twenty three years. But one thing can be said of Ramharack, a founding member of ROAR with Rave Dev and Aksharananda; the PPP is not the best choice for him, because he will not work in a Guyana controlled by the PPP, even though the PPP is the best choice for Indians and he is proud to be an Indian. Ramharack repeats the sickening, morbid, depraved, worn-up, nauseating mantra of supremacist Indians. These “proud Ryhaanian Indians are so easy to predict. The PNC must apologize for past mistakes, Desmond Hoyte never existed, the PPP never committed atrocities similar to the PNC since 1999. But perhaps the most sadistic overtone in Ramharack’s little missive is his embrace of Shah’s frightening exhibition of proud ethnic blood. I would recommend to readers the work of Arthur Koestler on understanding how Homo sapiens can easily commit genocide. For me, he remains the authority on how deeply rooted is the instinct of ethnic willingness in tribes to confront and fight other species different from them. Nazi Germany and Rwanda are graphic tales of the deterministic drive of the genes in Homo sapiens. For a good scientific explanation of Koestler’s philosophical take on the willingness to commit genocide see the work of the Harvard biologist, Edward Wilson Finally, Rakesh Rampertab, another of the “proud Ryhaanian Indians” who is scared about the impending loss of Indian hegemony in Guyana and thus has reappeared in the letter pages after years of dormancy, has written a letter to me in the SN. He reminds me that Yesu Persaud had high praise for Aksharananda. I don’t understand the meaning of his missive. I never for a moment doubted whatever integrity or genius or erudition or religiosity Aksharananda had. For me, he has shown over the past week that he is happy with perpetuating sociological, historical and political distortions to influence Indians to vote for the PPP. For me, this man has changed and has submitted to what Koestler and Wilson wrote about, with regards to the power of tribal instincts. I cannot see him the way I did before. But is it not commonsensical that people change when faced with special circumstances? Aksharanda reminds me of the Archbishop of Rwanda during the ethnic conflict there. I will leave it at that. Frederick Kissoon