…shades of autocracy
And the argument goes on – ad nauseam, in the opinion of some – about exactly which shade of “autocracy” is being practised by the PPP Govt – after the topic was raised by a Guyanese from foreign. And that latter designation is very pertinent since having worked at a very high level in the UN Human Rights departments for over three decades, Bertie Ramcharran lived a very peripatetic life – mostly in European capitals on high perks and mega salaries from the UN system. As such, he hardly experienced what “democracy” means to ordinary European citizens – much less us in a Third-World country like Guyana.
So he gets his info from reading books – most recently from a journalist/historian who’s known for her liberal bent. And from this, he tried to fit her conclusions onto Guyana – in a rather procrustean manner!! You remember Procrustes, don’t you, Dear Reader?? He’d cut the legs of visitors who wanted to sleep overnight to the length necessary for them to fit into the bed!! Never mind what it did to visitors – they got beds that fitted, innit??
But back to Bertie. The book he read – Autocracy Inc – while dissecting Russia and Putin, for example, was quite reticent about which shade her own US of A government was practicing. He should brush up on the account recently delivered (Sept 12) by the New York Times – as liberal a paper as you can get – on that subject!! Without getting into the details, the point the NYT makes is that in the PRACTICE of democratic norms – context is critical. And that ALL presidents have pushed the envelope when it came to increasing Executive Power – and hence autocratic rule. The present democratic contender for the presidency Kamala Harris was just as strong as Trump to insist she’d do whatever it takes to protect her country.
And this brings us to what kinda rule we’re experiencing in Guyana. The first question we gotta ask is “what’s the context”?? Here we’ve got an Opposition that’s explicitly demanding their supporters – in control of the armed forces, the governmental services and most institutions of the State – “undermine” the Government at every step of the way!! Here we have incendiary statements issued on their social media platforms to “behead” Government officials! Not to mention attempting to rig elections to subvert the will of the people – but which certain NGOs are mum on – but vociferous on lambasting the present govt!!
In such an environment, who can blame the Government from responding to such forces condignly?? Let’s take the use of the cyber-crime laws. Weren’t laws passed by liberal English governments to control, say hate speech??
And so on and so forth…
…Venezuelan democracy
As Mad Maduro continues to crack down on Opposition forces – after forcing the latter’s candidate in the July 28 elections to flee to Spain – all eyes are on the US. They’ve declared that the rule-based international order they support will absolutely not accept elections rigging. Up to now, they’ve been demanding that Mad Maduro provide the electoral machines’ tally sheets – equivalent to our SOPs – to prove that he won. The Opposition have produced theirs that show he LOST – massively!!
But Mad Maduro’s been to this rodeo before – most recently in 2019 after rigging that election also – and continues to stonewall. So what does the US do to make him relent?? Apply sanctions to sixteen of the madman’s colleagues who assisted in the electoral fraud – like the head of the Electoral Committee who announced the fake results. But this is just a tap on the wrist – and will fall like water on duck’s back!!
Reimposing oil sanctions – like halting Chevron’s operations – are the only action that might have some effect.
…British crime
Your Eyewitness offers this without comment: “Britain’s police and crime minister Diana Johnson had her purse stolen at a meeting of senior police officers on Tuesday – when she spoke about the growing problem of theft and shoplifting”!!
