Apartheid is a dangerous word to use in the Guyana context

Dear Editor,
A very disturbing political news item out of Guyana recently is that a consortium of PNC-aligned groups is claiming that Guyana is becoming an “Emerging Apartheid State.” The Rome Statute defines the Crime of apartheid as: “inhumane acts…committed in the context of an institutionalised regime of systematic oppression and domination by one racial group over any other racial group or groups and committed with the intention of maintaining that regime.” Under apartheid, the dominated racial group is legally sequestered apart, almost “quarantined” from the favoured dominant group.
Is this happening in Guyana? This dangerous claim is made against the background of the African group, the International Decade for People of African Descent Assembly – Guyana (IDPADA-G) receiving $468 million of public funds from the period of 2018 to 2022. These funds were allocated through the national budget by way of a subvention from a Government Ministry.
This “apartheid” claim is a descent to a new low. Using this epithet in an ethnically polarised nation such as Guyana is tantamount to hate speech. The European Commission against Racism and Intolerance defines hate speech as speech “…which advocate, incite, promote or justify hatred, violence and discrimination against a person or group of persons for a variety of reasons.”
The leadership of the consortium of PNC-aligned groups are playing with fire, reinforcing the old siege mentality but in more inflammable ways. They are exacerbating the permissive conditions that spur violence.
Is our Guyanese landscape and society descending into apartheid? The answer is, of course, a vehement no. Such bold and barefaced “speech” should not be tolerated. And this not a suppression of “free speech,” as it wholly meets the exception to that rule: that of yelling “fire!” in a crowded theatre metaphor.
Racist false claims obviously pose grave dangers for the cohesion of a democratic society, the protection of human rights and the rule of law. If left unaddressed, it can lead to acts of violence and conflict on a wider scale. In this sense hate speech is an extreme form of intolerance which contributes to hate crime. When lies like this prevail, democracy is in peril. Societies depend completely on the ability to demonstrate truth with objective evidence: truth reinforced by evidence. But this is a whole new level of chutzpah. The new PNC have abandoned the God-given gift to make intellectual distinctions and recognise distortions. When we surrender our duty to make discriminating moral judgements, we forfeit our own intellectual integrity and moral authority. The PNC/WPA leaders must cease and desist from such volatile call to arms and engage their political opponents in a practical, constructive manner. As others have suggested, they can use provisions of the Constitution (Article 149 and Article 160A (1) for example) that allow citizens to challenge Government policies and protect them against discrimination. Or resort to the Ethnic Relations Commission. Otherwise, we will have many more, and more violent “Mon Repos”.

Sincerely,
Dev Persaud,
Director Of Finance &
Administration
National Student
Nurses Association
Inc