The critical imperative of self-determination and the rise of non-violent consciousness

Nov 06, 2009 Letters

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Dear Editor,
In a prior contribution to the two leading dailies, I ended by stating, “What we need is a revolution of our consciousness, a re-awakening of will to work together for change and to seek common ground where we are told that there is none or that to seek this is to invite defeat upon selves.
Wake up Guyana, wake up and let’s make it happen.”  In last Tuesday’s edition of his column, Freddie Kisoon called for Guyana to be the location of the first Velvet Revolution in the Caribbean. I share this sentiment, but would not hope for a Velvet Revolution; rather we need a self-determined process of political transformation that is built on common ground. Any movement for political and by extension, social, cultural and economic transformation requires as a pre-requisite a degree of social and collective consciousness and cohesion that is frankly speaking,  at the moment either absent or dis-empowering in  Guyana. I pen this contribution with the inspiration and intent to provide readers sources of knowledge, research and tools about alternatives to political violence, political apathy and political myopia.
We are in perhaps the most treasure rich CARICOM state, yet we are just ahead of Haiti in terms of  general living conditions and overall development; what’s wrong with this scenario, are the people to blame, is the government to blame or are our external development financing partners to blame?  In fact I posit that we all are guilty, however my immediate concern is with the majority of our populace, everyday, hard-working women and men who struggle to earn their daily bread.  In other words, the non-political have nots.
In drafting the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the United Nations (hereafter UN) implied and explicitly observed the principle, standard and right to self-determination of all without regard to race, sex, gender, political affiliation, religion and any other source of potential discrimination. Guyanese, these are our rights.
Further, the principle of self-determination observes that any person and/or group are entitled to express their political views, determine their political course and determine how they wish to be governed. Put simply, the government is employed and empowered by us, the non-governing sector of our population.  We are the ones who determine policy, programmes, vision, etc. yet when is the last time have you been consulted on Guyana’s development vision.
As a matter of what, what is the government’s vision for Guyana?  I predict that 85% of those reading this article do not know, nor have they been consulted.  Therefore, I offer the following resources as guidelines to educate and empower those interested persons motivated to work for change on common ground, but who may lack strategic resources for one or many reasons.
I’ve organised these guides in categories of articles/books and web listings. Many of the books and articles are available through the internet for download free of charge. They are as follow: (i) Nonviolent Social Change: Thomas Merton (ii) Strategic Nonviolent Struggle: A Training Manual: Mary King; (iii) There are Realistic Alternatives by Gene Sharp; (iv) Why Civil Resistance Works: The Strategic Logic of Nonviolent Conflict: Maria Stephan and Erica Chenoweth; (v) On Strategic Nonviolent Conflict: Thinking About The Fundamentals: Robert Helvey; (vi) The Role of Power in Nonviolent Struggle; (vii) Nonviolent Communication: The Language of Compassion: Marshall Rosenberg; (viii) The Power of Nonviolence: Writings by Advocates of Peace: Howard Zinn; (ix) Gandhi and Beyond: Nonviolence for A New Political Age; (x) Gandhi and Nonviolence: Thomas Merton; (xi) Why Nonviolence: Introduction to Theory and Strategy: Bob Irwin and Gordon Faison; (xii) Nonviolent Theory and Practice: Robert Holmes and Barry Gan; (xiii) The Dynamics of People Power in the 20th Century: Peter Ackerman and Christopher Kruegler; (xiv) Mathma Ghandi and Martin Luther King: The Power of Nonviolent Action: Mary King and (xv) Humor as Nonviolent Resistance to Oppression: Maiken Jul Sorensen.
The religious community, articles and books include: (a) The Spiritual Journey of Christian Nonviolent Resistance: Ken Butigan, (b) The Roots of Christian Nonviolent: Thomas Merton, (c) Rasta and Resistance: Horace Campbell; (d) Nonviolence in the Islam Context: Mohammed Abu Nimer; (e) Karbala: The Symbol of Nonviolent Resistance: Rupa Abdi and (f) Satyagraha: M.K. Gandhi.
Web resources (www.) : (1) aeistein.org; (2) nonviolenceinstitute.org; (3) fundfornonviolence.org; (4) nonviolence.org and (5) oborona.org.  It is my hope that these resources are a source of inspiration and awakening for us to, “be the change we seek in the world.”
Rawle Small

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