THE AWAKENING OF CIVIL SOCIETY IS A CAUSE FOR CELEBRATION

Nov 08, 2009 AFC Column, Features / Columnists

---

By Raphael Trotman
AFC Leader

As the week ended on the latest revelations of torture committed against the Leonora youth and others held at that station, we have seen a flurry of activity on the government side, with the usual grandstanding and platitudes about “full force of the law” to be applied etc.
The PPP General Secretary, true to form, linked the recent guerrilla-type attack on police stations, the High Court and a High School to Opposition and media pressure which he claims has emboldened the criminals. We know Mr. Ramotar to be a reasonably intelligent man, and have to say, that even he must be surprised and shocked at this balderdash coming from his mouth.
But, this is Guyana and the usual blame-throwing and name-calling will start, and the people, who are suffering, will be ignored by the administration, and there will be photo opportunities and threats to use “lethal force” and routing out “terrorists” so as to calm the frightened and confused people and to convince the Norwegians that Guyana is a stable and thriving democratic state. The administration itself has done a good job of creating the madness and mayhem and the images seen internationally of Guyana.
Most heartening for the week was the various initiatives taken by members of civil society; some of whom have started to find their voices and legs, while others remain in hiding even in the face of this atrocity. The AFC therefore hails the work of the Guyana Bar Association, the Catholic Church, the Private Sector Commission, Red Thread and other organizers of the Friday vigil outside the Public Hospital, and the scores of organisations and decent citizens who put pen to paper and vented their outrage at the assault of a child, and have called for a change in the way this country is governed.
The struggle continues, and the AFC will join and give support to the struggle as it has done in the past when atrocities have been committed against the citizens of Guyana.
Extracts of a letter which I wrote, calling on civil society to speak out against the victimization of citizens and the disregard for the rule of law by this administration are set out for emphasis and from all reports, it has been well received and is being responded to:
AFC SAYS RECENT TORTURE INCIDENT CREATS A DEFINING MOMENT FOR CIVIL SOCIETY
Recent revelations of the barbaric torture of a child by ranks of the Guyana Police Force have had a chilling and devastating effect on the minds of most Guyanese, yet there remains an eerie silence from the non-political leaders in our society. Those, who we would have expected to speak out and stand up against the continuous brutalization of citizens by members of the coercive arm of the state.
In the past, when details of similar tortures against citizens:- Leander, Wilson, Sumner, Robertson, Jones, Dunn and Edwin Niles (who died after being similarly burnt and tortured) were revealed to the public, “civil society” sat back, and for the most part, remained silent.
The AFC believes that we cannot achieve change and transformation if only the political parties, the GHRA, Red Thread, and a few voices remain the only ones being heard on these issues. This silence of the religious organisations and their priests, pastors, pundits, and imams, the social organisations, youth clubs and organisations, the United Nations Association of Guyana, the ex-police officers association, and ex-members of the disciplined services, other associations of business and manufacturing, and leading citizens in our society, is what makes this administration, and these psychopaths who are state actors, bold and brazen enough to do what they do to other human beings who are Guyanese.
The getting together of a few dozen lawyers to protest the torture and general denial of rights of persons held for questioning, is a good start, but this start must proceed in the beginning, without the usual high-pitched political screams for justice and the respect for the basic human rights of citizens coming from just the political parties to whom the brunt of protest has been shunted.
The AFC will support any people’s initiative that stands up to confront and defeats this scourge. We want to see how the rest of society reacts and responds in the main.
The torture of this teenager, followed by the silence of so-called ‘civil society’, is a defining moment for them. The Oxford Dictionary describes this condition as “sufferance” where silence can be interpreted to mean “tacit consent” or “toleration”. Everyone wants to wash their hands and pass the responsibility to the politicians by asking “What are you going to do about this?”
I believe that we are all involved and are going to be consumed at this rate, and that it is cowardice that keeps those who have a moral duty to speak out, silent. So I, and the AFC, are now asking ‘civil society’ what have you to say and what will you be doing about this latest atrocity?
I reiterate some of the words that I recently addressed to the heads of the disciplined forces, and which I had borrowed from a former US President: “there comes a time in the affairs of men (and women) when they must prepare to defend not their homes alone but the tenets of faith and humanity on which their churches, their governments, and their very civilization are founded.” I say that that time is now.
We are waiting to see whether the many professional associations will take this matter further and whether for once, the initiative will not have to be begun and sustained by the political opposition, but rather, will see us all standing side by side, as we confront and defeat the evil within our society.

---

---