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Dear Editor,

I respond to Jean Ramroop’s letter in the Guyana Chronicle of Thursday, March 13, 2008 captioned “Teaching hatred and bitterness,” and wish to begin by saying that this is just another unjustified attack on Walter Rodney’s “Groundings,” the WPA and HBTV Channel 9 that is intended to silence views that are critical to developments taking place here in Guyana.
Such views are not being exposed to the people in the society. This attack on “Groundings,” WPA and HBTV Channel 9 is consistent with the assaults on CNS TV Channel 6 and the Stabroek News. As Guyanese, we must join together to resist this attempt to curb freedom of expression on individuals and on organisations.
Ms. Ramroop is, to all appearances, a supporter or member of the ruling party, through which her access to the Guyana Chronicle to spew the bile that is contained in her letter is guaranteed. What I find most reprehensible is that people like Ms. Ramroop, who pontificate when forces and individuals opposed to the Government comment fairly on issues, are noticeably silent when Ministers of the Government and members of the PPP/C preach their diatribe on television.
Ms. Ramroop’s attack on my colleague Deon Abrams is particularly worrying since, in her letter, she raised the “spectre” of him becoming what she referred to as a martyr. The implied threat on his life and on his job cannot be ignored, and must be exposed for what it is. Mr. Abrams’s prowess as a teacher/educator is well known. His students are drawn from across the wide spectrum of races in Guyana, and he is not known to have ever discriminated against any of them. In spite of this, she talks about her, “serious difficulty with him teaching or having any sort of influence over my child.” Presumably, Ms. Ramroop is trying to mobilize parents to agitate for Deon Abrams’s removal from the profession to which he has given so much.
The letter by Ms. Ramroop confirms one of the things that I feel particularly strongly about, and that is that any expressed view of the situation in Guyana which does not confirm to the view of the party in government and its supporters is considered to be subversive and, by extension, seditious.
It is unfortunate that the messages that are contained in the discussions have been missed by Ms. Ramroop. If she was not so narrow in her observations, and was not consumed by her intolerance of an opinion that differs from hers, she would have heard me say regularly on the programme that I was reporting on what people on the streets were saying. Ms. Ramroop, the PPP/C and the Government can, in their arrogance, ignore at their own peril what people are saying. But they cannot claim that they were not forewarned if the situation further deteriorates.
Incidentally, Ms. Ramroop, six years ago, in 2002, at Ocean View Hotel, at a forum organised by the Government, I was bold enough to warn participants that unless Government was prepared to examine all areas of criminal activity, including the impact of narco trafficking in Guyana and the corruption that was endemic in the corridors of Guyana, and until it was prepared to examine the core problems that contribute to the involvement of young Guyanese in criminal activities, even if it succeeded in killing all of the alleged “criminals” at that time, the situation would very likely worsen.
That audience included Dr. Roger Luncheon, former Minister of Home Affairs Ronald Gajraj, Actg. Police Commissioner Mc. Donald, COS, GDF Brigadier Michael Atherly, Retd. Major General Norman McLean, Bishop Juan Edghill, Kit Nascimento and NY trained Crime and Security expert Van Nooten, among others.
Government, in its normally cavalier fashion, ignored those recommendations and chose instead to appoint a committee headed by Bishop Edghill to go around the country in what it deemed a consultation. In a number of instances, these so called consultations had more committee members than audience. Because of the Government’s intransigence on this matter, Guyana is faced with a worse situation six years later.
It is also significant to note that at that forum COS Brigadier Atherly called on officers of the GDF to ensure that the army adheres to and upholds the Constitution of Guyana at all times.
Six years later, the army under COS Gary Best, who is renowned for his famous call to soldiers to be loyal to the Government, is now embroiled in accusations of violations of Guyana’s Constitution and of torture, not only of ordinary citizens but also of members of its own ranks.
If Ms. Ramroop’s sense of righteousness was not so warped, she would have heard me say on the “Groundings” programme that what is happening in Guyana today should not be construed as blacks against Indians, and that I also went on to plead that people of one race should not allow themselves to be used in attacks against people of another race.
Just as importantly, if she is really concerned about “anti-social behaviour in youths,” she should begin by trying to understand that the bulk of the people now being suspected of involvement in criminal activity came of age under the PPP/C Government. Note what I said Ms. Ramroop, CAME OF AGE, not under the PNC, but under the PPP/C Government.
Any responsible Government would have been moved to examine this phenomenon a long time ago, and would have taken the kind of corrective action to address the situation. But not the PPP/C.
It is also true that I offered on the programme my own analysis of the situation, but in doing so I supported my arguments by the presentation of factual evidence. Ms. Ramroop is free to disagree with what I said, but her disagreement does not make me wrong. I therefore want to use this opportunity to extend to Ms. Ramroop, or to anyone else, a challenge to disprove any of the facts I presented on the “Walter Rodney Groundings” programme on Tuesday, March 11, 2008.
Finally, I want to use this opportunity to first reiterate the validity of the statements I made on the programme, and second, to assure Ms. Ramroop and whoever else needs this assurance that I am not a candidate for martyrdom, but, as a person who has lived all of his life so far in Guyana, and who intends to live all of the remainder of it here, I will not allow myself to be intimidated into silence. I will not be afraid to speak to issues of wrongdoing wherever it exists. I struggled against the PNC for the right to do so, and am prepared to do the same against the PPP/C without fear and in the face of threats of charges for sedition and incitement and worse.
I will continue to struggle in the spirit of Walter Rodney and in the established tradition of the WPA and in keeping with the examples of Eusi Kwayana, Clive Thomas, Rupert Roopnaraine, Tacuma Ogunseye, Andaiye, Karen de Souza, Stanley Humphrey, Ali Majeed, James Hytmiah, Sase Omo, Moses Bhagwan, David Hinds, Nigel Westmaas, Rohit Kanhai, the late Herman Holder and, of course, Deon Abrams, just to name a few.
If Walter Rodney was alive today, the cry of “Peoples’ Power No Dictator” would have been just as relevant and potent as when it was first made.

Desmond Trotman

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