We are now dealing with the WPA ‘lunatic fringe’

Dear Editor,
Polite language is a required element of civilised political discourse. All of us who engage, and are engaged, in the media have a responsibility to uphold a level of decorum. The responsibility is on all of our shoulders.
But what should we do when the most uncouth, divisive, irresponsible and downright dangerous bile is being peddled in defense of a treasonous call for subversion of the state, backed up by racial violence? This question is now apposite because of the recent letters in the press defending Tacuma Ogunseye’s racially-motivated call for subversion of the democratically-elected Government of Guyana, and also for violence against East Indians.
Mr Ogunseye has himself admitted his instigation amounted to treason, and was willing to plead guilty to the same, with explanation. But mindless defenses offered by WPA operatives, and silence by other civil society groups, such as Red Thread and GHRA, have only buoyed this WPA man, who is known for his racial charisma.
Over this past weekend, the already pathetic defense of Ogunseye’s race-baiting graduated from the unforgivable to utter madness, well within the womb of the lunatic fringe. In this effort, Moses Bhagwan betrayed his claim to reasonableness by characterising the arrest of Ogunseye as “unwarranted and devious”. What should the Police have done instead, Mr. Bhagwan? The New York-based WPA activist lamented that the Police should have gone to Ogunseye’s home, but conveniently erased from memory the mayhem that erupted only recently in Buxton when Police attempted to arrest a suspected drug dealer.
Bhagwan is content to characterise the Police doing their job as ‘terror’, but, in the same breadth, characterises the man whose inflammatory rhetoric amounted to treason (by his own admission) as a freedom fighter. Bhagwan should know two things. Firstly, Ogunseye’s call for subversion of the state would be considered a high crime in any country where the rule of law prevails. Secondly, Mr. Bhagwan should know that it is illegal for a United States citizen to support the overthrow of a democratically elected Government.
It is regrettable that Moses Bhagwan has joined the lunatic fringe. Please understand that I am using the term according to its strict definition; namely, “members of a usually political or social movement espousing extreme, eccentric, or fanatical views.” This is the only characterisation appropriate for Moses Bhagwan’s description of Ogunseye’s arrest as “cruel and unusual punishment.”

Sincerely,
Dr Randolph Persaud