The desecration of the names of great humans

Oct 30, 2011 Features / Columnists, Freddie Kissoon

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I cringed. I was nauseated at what Gail Teixeira wrote in support of Juan Edghill’s
right as a religious preacher to enter politics (letter in both KN and SN). In doing so, she desecrated the priceless values religion brought to politics in the quest to save mankind from atrocities and dictatorship. One has to be sickened by the level of PPP’s political depravities in the present political campaign.
A large number of Hindus gathered at the LBI community ground to celebrate a religious occasion (Diwali) only to hear President Jagdeo address them, not on politics in general, not on the need to vote in the upcoming elections, not on the need to avoid nastiness in the election campaign, not on the need for Guyanese to become aware of politics in their homeland, but on the way they must vote.
And he urged them to vote for the PPP. That was not all. He explained to them why they must vote for the PPP. He told the Hindus that they must vote for the PPP because of what the PNC did to them in the past.
It was one of the lowest points since the election campaign began. When there are religious functions, the speakers must understand that people go to worship and in worshipping, they separate their politics from their religion. In that ground were Hindus who certainly belonged to relatives in the leadership of the AFC and APNU. I know two young persons who went to enjoy the floats; their uncle is a big backer of one of the political parties in the opposition.
Would the Christian community accept that on Christmas Eve in a church packed with parishioners, the priest conducting mass, urges his worshippers to vote for a particular party?
Let’s move to Gail Teixeira. In defending Juan Edghill’s right to support the PPP in the forthcoming elections, Ms. Teixeira went back in contemporary history and enumerated the names of great priests who were involved in politics. But her interpretation was dishonest, egregious and morally repugnant. The names that were called by Ms. Teixeira were great human beings who spent their lives in service of the poor and in the battle against dictatorship and human rights violations. Mr. Edghill does not qualify to be in this category.
In support of her argument, Teixeira left out the example that should have come first to mind. The World Council of Churches contributed financially to the guerrilla groups that were fighting tyranny in what was then known as Rhodesia. Her knowledge of history is extremely limited in that she forgot to mention that a Catholic Archbishop was the President of Cyprus.  There is no question about it; religion and politics have intertwined historically.
Because of space constraint, we cannot mention all the names Teixeira supplied, but in every instance, the priest was involved in the politics of anti-dictatorship struggle.
Teixeira supplied us with a list of phenomenal Jesuits, all of whom were engaged in the politics of liberation against brutal Latin American tyranny. She cited our own Malcolm Rodrigues. She should ask that historic figure how he feels today about oligarchic/autocratic rule under the PPP of which Ms. Teixeira has been an integral part. This same Teixeira is part of Latin-style authoritarianism in Guyana.
I dare Ms. Teixeira to challenge me on the accusation I made against her in my last week Sunday column which I will repeat here. This aging PPP leader demanded at the highest forum at UG that the UG administration terminate, immediately, the contract of a number of lecturers. I was there. I confronted her on this totalitarian demand. We had a heated exchange. Let her deny that particular manifestation of dictatorship.
It is this type of dictatorship that the priests she named fought against. Those priests would never have supported the Guyana Government given the accusations made by Ms. Varshnie Singh against President Jagdeo. Those priests would never have supported the Guyana Government given what came out of the Roger Khan trial.
When Juan Edghill said that if Jesus was in Guyana he would have voted for the PPP,  he took religion and put it right into the lap not of politics in general, but in the service of dictatorship.
What Teixeira failed to mention is that there are numerous examples where religious preachers have openly jumped into bed with dictators. I believe we are seeing such a spectacle in Guyana. If Jesus was in Guyana, he would have chastised all those who shamelessly support dictatorship, including Edghill, for his statement that Jesus would have voted for the PPP.
By the way, do you attend church, Ms. Teixeira?

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