When your Eyewitness read about the latest act of terrorism in America, he had a sinking feeling in his stomach that was becoming all too familiar and frequent. This was the third one in May alone – there was the one in California with one dead, then another in Texas with two – and we’re only halfway through the month!! But this one with 10 dead and 3 wounded brings all the pathologies that infuse the slayings. Unfortunately, they have a lesson for us in Guyana.
Here’s this young white man – just out of high school – who drove 200 miles from the small town he lived in upstate NY all the way to Buffalo, just to kill Blacks. He came prepared. He had an automatic rifle…wore body armour and had to’ve reconnoitered the store earlier to make sure that it was in a Black neighbourhood and filled Black folks. On the video circulating on the Internet – he wore a body-cam to show the world what he was doing – we can see that as soon as he stepped out of his vehicle, he started shooting persons in front of the store. He killed two.
Entering, he continued methodically murdering persons in the store, including a guard who shot at him – to no effect because of his body armour. Now the man was eventually captured and we now know that he’d already threatened to kill Blacks before. But more pertinently, he left a 180-page manifesto explaining THE PHILOSOPHY behind his murderous carnage. Yes…a philosophy!! There’s even a name for it because he didn’t invent it and – as a matter of fact – it had been behind several horrendous racial mass killings not only in America but in places as far away from each other was Norway and New Zealand.
The philosophy is based on “White Replacement Theory” and posits that America is a white nation and it is being taken by non-whites from within (Blacks and other non-whites) and from without (non-white immigrants). Positing that it’s a matter of “survival” for whites – since these non-whites “breed” faster than whites – killing them is argued as justified!! Violence against the “other” is thus normalized by narratives that are repeated incessantly in a process called the social embeddedness condition. Meaning that there are some who will inevitably be influenced by the social networks in which they operate and will become motivated to act in accordance to the premises of the narrative.
In the US, the “white replacement theory” is quite common. The danger for us in Guyana is there are some extremists on social media who’re preaching the theory in Guyana.
By substituting “black” for “white”. We’ve already had several explosions.
…democracy
Guyana’s a funny place. Not “ha, ha” funny…but “peculiar” funny. We’re supposed to be a “representative” democracy. That is, since we can’t all show up in front of the Public Buildings to vote on issues confronting the nation, we elect “representatives” to Parliament to do so. They would’ve outlined their work programme in “Manifestoes”. But the “funny” thing alluded to above is that immediately after the representatives are chosen, a few citizens can’t wait till the next elections – but insist in second guessing the representatives!!
Now, take this electoral reform business that’s on our national agenda because the PNC tried to rig the last elections. Neither of the two parties that got 96% of the populace’s votes had said anything about forming a National Government. The new government was supposed to make proposals to tighten up the voting process to stop stealing! Yet we have some “know-it-alls” who’re insisting that “shared governance” is what the “electoral reform” should impose!!
Maybe we should have a referendum?
…rigging elections
Now VP Jagdeo proposed that one reform to help stop rigging would be the GRO submits annual lists of the deceased to GECOM to take off the voters’ list.
The PNC’s Alexander wants Biometric checks? They aren’t incompatible, are they?
