Hailing…

… King Charles

Your Eyewitness was looking forward to King Charles’ visit with quite a bit of nostalgia – after all, hadn’t he been shanghaied as a schoolboy to wave his flag when Charles’ Mum had dropped by just before giving us independence?? He admired Charles waiting all those decades for his mother to keel over – while keeping the old British stiff upper lip firmly in place!!
So, he was quite taken aback when he saw the commotion – broadcast live and direct via social media with all the sweaty close ups – of a motley crew of WIN supporters led by Sanction Man’s sissie Hana with a bullhorn sashaying down towards State House where Charles was being feted by Pres Ali!! Seems Hana preferred that the programme include her making a family demand that her brother – arrested for allegedly bribing a policeman to purloin a video for him – be released!! Seems nothing quite says “international statesmanship” to the WIN Director of Political Affairs like turning a royal visit into the Sanction Man family’s customer-service counter!!
While the police valiantly tried to use female officers to head Hana off from State House -your Eyewitness could imagine the royal eyebrow rising quizzically – if he’d seen her – as he wondered “Does this young lady suppose Buckingham Palace operates a bail desk?”!! The irony is delicious since back in Old Blighty, the Public Order Act 1986 allows police to impose conditions on protests when statutory thresholds are met. These include causing disruptions by loud noise when a function’s going on!! While there’s a right to peaceful protest – folks also got a right to not be bombarded by shrieks!! A bullhorn doesn’t confer diplomatic immunity – or an unlimited entitlement to commandeer somebody else’s engagement!!
Of course, British legislation doesn’t govern Georgetown but our laws are practically identical on account of our shared history- and the police conduct had clearly satisfied Guyanese law!! In fact, the police were practically solicitous as they strove to avoid her lunges – lest she started crying “rape” to go with her claims that her shirt was being stripped from her body!! But frankly, her (loud) insistence that regulating a protest automatically proves dictatorship might surprise the visiting constitutional monarch!!
While she perfunctorily mentioned reparations, practically all her efforts were geared towards freeing her OFAC-sanctioned brother!! But Charles cannot cancel American sanctions – since his ancestor George III had conceded Americas’ independence back in 1776!! Nor can he instruct Guyanese courts after his Mum had signed those independence papers!! While those OFAC sanctions aren’t themselves a criminal conviction – they’re real!! Finally, Hana’s husband appeared and took her home!!
His Majesty’s imagined verdict – quite a wrong-and-strong family!! Perhaps someone could explain about separation of powers -preferably without bullhorns!!

…mature petitioning
When it comes to seeking royal attention for justice, our workers and their representatives have been in the forefront through the hundreds of years we were under imperial rule. So Hana could learn a thing or two from their experience!! Back in 1842, an explicitly political PETITION – signed by the president of the “Guiana African Association” – appealed to Queen Victoria for redress of grievances affecting the colony’s Black and coloured population!! This was a pioneering early post-emancipation claim for reparative justice!!
Even before, in 1839, the purchasers of Plantation Northbrook petitioned through Governor Henry Light for permission to name their new village “Victoria” – expressing gratitude for emancipation. They were already free when they petitioned!! Well, the present-day representative of some of our workers – the TUC – took this proper way to remind Charles III that “The wrongs of history demand redress, and the injustices of the present demand accountability… The enslavers were compensated. The enslaved received nothing.”
No need to get all hot and sweaty!!

…British workmanship
CJIA’s Terminal Two’s being financed by a loan from Spain’s Banco Santander; guaranteed by the UK Export Finance (UKEF) – and built by British firm BHM Construction with Manchester Airports Group collaboration.
Let’s see if they’ll outdo the Chinks!!