propaganda press! boycott Carifesta X

by peeping tomasina
I am shocked and dismayed that those responsible for disturbing the launching of CARIFESTA were not arrested and charged. There is a right to protest but this right does not give anyone the right to create disturbance at a public event.
Just why the police are not doing their jobs and instituting charges is beyond comprehension. And yet some persons will complain that there is no freedom of speech in Guyana. There is too much freedom of speech, far too much, so much so that is it thoroughly abused in Guyana.

The protestors, at both the CARIFESTA launching and in the Freedom Protests organized by the PNCR, have been making the same point as the leader of the opposition: that unless the licence of CNS 6 is restored the situation in the country would not lend itself to the hosting of CARIFESTA. The leader of the PNCR, however, says there is no threat to the hosting of the regional cultural festival.
I am going to enter into polemics on this point. I am not going to split hairs. The chants of the protestors are very clear: No Sharma; No CARIFESTA.
What more does the Government of Guyana want to hear? Does it not recall the recent history of this country and the record of political protests since 1997?
The Government of Guyana should not suffer from any further bouts of amnesia. It should immediately cancel CARIFESTA because it cannot be held in a situation in which there is the possibility of instability.
We would be embarrassing ourselves in front of the entire Caribbean if we go ahead with CARIFESTA and protests break out in the midst of this event. We would make Guyana a laughing stock.
It is taking too much of a risk to host CARIFESTA when there are chants in the streets about “NO Sharma; NO CARIFESTA.”
The protest activity by the PNCR in this country has had its own notoriety and it would be foolhardy of the government not to take these protests seriously. In the interest of the image of this country, I would urge the government to immediately cancel the planned regional festival.
Who is going to take responsibility should something untoward happen during the actual event? The PNCR has record of side-stepping responsibility over its protest activities.
It has consistently failed to accept responsibility for the descent of many of its protests in the past into anarchy.
The PNCR never accepts responsibility for things going haywire. It is always some persons or group of persons who have infiltrated their protests which causes problems.
Yet time and time again, the PNCR has shown the capacity to have incident-free protests.
We cannot rule out the possibility of problems should Guyana go ahead with the hosting of CARIFESTA. I recall during a Test Match at Bourda, a PNCR march was taking place. There was a breakaway group that tried to get into the ground to protest.
This caused a great deal of embarrassment to the late Desmond Hoyte, yet he never accepted an inch of responsibility for what happened.
I recall during a Heads of Government Summit, the PNCR joined with an amorphous group holding a march from Buxton to Georgetown. We all know the tragedy that occurred on that day.
At a time when the entire nation should have been putting on its best face since we had international guests in the country, there were senseless acts committed that embarrassed this country.
What happened there is a travesty which caused at least one Head of Government to leave before the end of the summit. Great destruction was also caused within the city.
Guyana was shamed in front of the entire region.
Why do we therefore wish to risk holding CARIFESTA when it is clear that the political situation in the country is deteriorating? Why should we go ahead with CARIFESTA if there has been no relenting of the chants: “No Sharma; no CARIFESTA.”
The PNCR should not be linking its demands for justice for CNS 6 to CARIFESTA. It should not because CARIFESTA is the brainchild of Forbes Burnham and by not stopping its protestors from saying, “No Sharma; no CARIFESTA” the PNCR is doing a great disservice to its own history and that of its Founder Leader.

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