Dear Editor,
Reference is made to your news item on the Richmond Hill protest (GT Jun 11), and I applaud and salute the efforts of the organisers of last Saturday’s picketing exercise held outside the Zen Lounge in Richmond Hill during a Government fundraiser.
The purpose of the protest was to highlight serious issues confronting the Guyanese nation, especially the predicament in which sugar workers, farmers, and Amerindians have found themselves.
It was a very hot morning, and the protesters showed commitment to their cause, to rally against what they claim is racial injustice and widespread corruption in Guyana. In the US, unlike in Guyana, people have a natural right to protest, as permitted by the constitution. People have the right to assemble peaceably to express their views. The undemocratic efforts of those who tried to stop the protest by appealing to the NY police to remove the protesters failed. They don’t understand American democracy, mistaking it for Burnhamism, during which resistance fighters were bullied or beaten.
As someone schooled in protests, I laud the organizers. It takes a lot of time, energy, resources, courage and commitment to organize and/or participate in a protest. I organized many protests (between 1975 and 1993) against injustice in Guyana, Trinidad, and New York, and participated in countless more for justice and freedom in South Africa, Harlem, Washington, India, and elsewhere.
When one engages in protests, the act makes the cause one is supporting or championing feel special. You feel close and attached to it, and you want to see results. You are committed to the cause. Besides, protest events also give activists and supporters opportunities to meet (people not seen in a long time), network, swap ideas, build community and help each other. Also, you build special skills and experience in engaging in protest activities. I got my start as a protest organizer by joining protest events in Guyana during the early 1970s, and later became an organizer of protests in Guyana and New York when I became a student leader.
During that bygone era, there was very little public support out there for resistance activities or movements combating injustice in Guyana. A few of us led and participated in the struggle to liberate Guyana.
In Richmond Hill, in front of Club Zen, freedom fighters mounted the protest against officials of what they say is a racist APNU-AFC government, which has flagrantly discriminated against non-supporters. Picketing and other forms of protests are justifiable acts to seek redress for grievances.
Black Americans have used protest as a means to redress discrimination and injustice, but in the Guyanese diaspora, there are some who would sell their souls for a few crumbs. Not only would they not support a protest, or be neutral at one, but they would give support to a regime that oppresses people. Those who supported the fundraiser say in private they condemn the Government for its racist practices, but they still find themselves at Government events. The very things they condemn when the PPP was in office are what they support now, and from which they hope to benefit. They are equally as corrupt, if not more.
Picketing, rallies and other forms of protest are encouraged because they help bring about change, as has happened in America, India, South Africa, UK, etc. Black Americans successfully have used protests to highlight their grievances (fighting racism, and to gain racial equality). Had Martin Luther King Jnr, Mahatma Gandhi, Nelson Mandela, Bobby Sands, etc. not engaged in protests, equality would not have come to their societies. So protests as a tool to combat injustice must be encouraged. Organizers may need to launch more protests for desired objectives.
Yours truly,
Vishnu Bisram
