Guyana is one of the peculiar places in South America where extra-ordinary things — including rigged elections, government excesses, racial disharmony, bureaucratic corruption and political dishonesty — are likely to become ordinary, and the new status quo if not actively challenged by the citizenry and their bona fide representatives.
Our country’s history is rich with examples of how some of its most important architects used ‘power’, ‘force’ and ‘ ethnic influence’ to create sporadic atmospheres of compliance and fear among the populace in order to achieve their social, racial and eco-political objectives.
Many can still recall the days of Forbes Burnham and the Peoples National Congress, when ordinary citizens could not easily challenge the Government publicly about their actions or wrongdoings without fear about systemic victimization and discrimination, or even mysteriously losing their lives if their stance received widespread support from the masses and therefore led to a decline in the Government’s image or standing.
The media then adopted a quasi-compliant tone, out of fear of being censored or economically strangled by the State apparatus, which controlled most of the advertisement. Its members were either murdered, forced to flee for their lives, or made an example by the PNC and its known and unknown sponsors of terror.
Others can also recall parts of the tenure of the Peoples Progressive Party, wherein some citizens felt discriminated against ethnically because of the deliberate actions of some senior Government functionaries in various parts of the country, and the party’s failure to rein in those functionaries to quell public outrage. It is important to note that whilst the media enjoyed higher levels of press freedom under the rulership of the PPP, there were still attempts to blatantly silence certain media actors and agencies whenever the party felt it was being unfairly and deliberately criticized, scandalized, or called out. The PPP has also been suspicious of the media; and the media’s curtain tone and lack of investigative and thorough reportage of sinister and troubling events under David Granger’s Government, when compared with those that occurred under Bharrat Jagdeo and Donald Ramotar, has justified this suspicion.
And whilst many will not admit it publicly, there has been a resurgence of high-handedness and arrogance on the part of the Government about some of the decisions and policies it is implementing. Added to this, ministers, parliamentarians, and some politically-appointed individuals who are serving in public service positions behave as if they are a law unto themselves. They use every opportunity to drive home the notion that they are in charge, and the wrongs done by the PPP have somehow given them the right to also commit similar wrongs, albeit of a lesser dimension and level of crassness.
Mr Granger has not done anything to inject temperament into the psyche of his ministers and army of advisors. Whenever they have wronged the people, he steps in and orders a Commission of Inquiry, or administers a dose of his ‘my hands are clean’ rhetoric to calm a very agitated public.
The truth is that citizens must never allow themselves to reach the point where they are afraid of the Government. Ex-military personnel or not; black supremacists or not; vengeful and vindictive personalities or not; dishonest politicians or not; Guyanese must stand their ground. The people represent the source of power for those who now misuse tax payers’ funds to lead upper class lives and achieve their destructive political agendas.
Whenever a citizen feels aggrieved by the actions of the APNU/AFC Government or any other Government, they must challenge that government by moving to the courts, accessing the media, and launching protests on the various social media platforms. They should not fear being seen as anti-patriotic or anti-Government if they are against some of the recent half-baked policies of the APNU. After all, renowned political author Ron Paul expressed the view that “Real patriotism is the willingness to challenge the Govt when it is wrong”.
If they feel that they are not intellectually up to the task, then they must find rights organizations, the media, and other parliamentarians who can be a voice for them. If the parts of the media, too, appear deceptive and unwilling to tell their stories under this current regime, they should not be too surprised. They must go to those who will be unbiased and beg them to share their stories with the media. Sections of the Guyanese media has become very compliant, and appear to have lost their passion and knack for sensational reporting as well as pursuing every conceivable angle to stories that cast a negative light on the actors in the current Government. They seem to report what are some of the most ominous errors only to cover the follow-ups in the middle and end of their broadcasts and prints, where people get tired of looking for them. While many may not recognize it, this Government understands and fully implements Tom Clancy’s theory. He said, “The control of information is something the elite always does, particularly in a despotic form of government. Information, knowledge, is power. If you can control information, you can control people”.
But, in the end, the populace must remember that, as US President Franklin Roosevelt said, we must “never forget that government is ourselves, and not an alien power over us. The ultimate rulers of our democracy are not a president and senators and congressmen and government officials, but the voters of this country”.
Speak out, and take lawful action if necessary, or remain silent as a sign of your endorsement of the wrongdoings and excesses of this extraordinary Govt.
