IAC condemns race hate message posted on Facebook

Dear Editor,
The Indian Action Committee (IAC) is shocked and outraged and condemns a post on Facebook (an online social media site) which contains a message, attributed to someone alleged to be Nigel Austin whose face, allegedly, is portrayed, that is in blatant violation of the Racial Hostility Act, Chapter 23:01 of the Laws of Guyana which is an Act to make provision for preventing conduct, tending to excite hostility or ill-will against persons by reason of their race.
This posted message contains the following: “Coolie people need to take their retarded ass back to the gutter they call India and leave Guyana to the Afro Guyanese. They are worthless garbage”.
The IAC strongly believes that this vile message is a violation of Section 2 (1) (c) of the Racial Hostility Act of Guyana which states: “A person shall be guilty of an offence if he wilfully excites or attempts to excite hostility or ill-will against any section of the public or against any person on the grounds of their or his race by means of written (including printed) matter or pictorial matter published by him”.
It has come to the knowledge of the IAC that a person purporting to be Nigel Austin has denied ever posting such a message and has stated that someone else posted it instead, using a fake profile containing his face and photo.
The IAC has noticed an upsurge in social media messages that contain racial slurs against all ethnicities in Guyana, and the organisation strongly believes that such activities are extremely dangerous to the preservation of social cohesion and national unity in Guyana.
The IAC, therefore, is calling on the Government of Guyana to swiftly restore the Ethnic Relations Commission (ERC), a constitutional body that is mandatory and which was established to deal with the promotion of race hate among others.
The IAC is calling upon the Commissioner of Police and the Guyana Police Force to immediately investigate this serious violation of the Racial Hostility Act of Guyana.
The IAC, regardless of the origin of this post, is calling upon the authority of Facebook and the Government regardless of the origin.

Yours sincerely,
Indian Action
Committee