The constant drumbeat of racially charged language in the Chronicle must be confronted

Nov 25, 2012 Letters

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Dear Editor,
It is a sad commentary that the Editorial board of the Guyana Chronicle continues to allow that newspaper to be used as a propaganda rag, with no respect for the truth and no journalistic integrity. It was therefore not surprising for me to read in the November 20th issue a letter titled: “PPP must educate the nation on opposition plans”. The letter was filled with racially charged language, threats and wild innuendoes. That such reckless and racially charged rhetoric would be sanctioned by the Editor of that newspaper speaks volumes about the mission of the Guyana National Newspaper Limited, and its masters and controllers. It would be refreshing if the tax-payer funded media was allowed to engage in fact-based information and education, rather than used as a platform for furthering ethnic division and outright lies. I found it particularly interesting that the writer wanted the PPP to educate the nation on the opposition’s plans to destabilize the country. I am one who feels that Guyana needs a truth and reconciliation commission, so that we can get past the past, and strive for a better tomorrow for our people. For to accuse this opposition of attempting to destabilize the nation, is not only a sick joke, but just plain eye-pass. The PPP knows how to destabilize an economy, for they used that tactic to great effect when they were in opposition. Many are too young to remember the economically destructive and politically motivated 135 day strike called by GAWU in late 1977, that strike had a devastating effect on the sugar industry and the economy.  Economic sabotage was a deliberate policy choice of the PPP while in opposition. Maybe the writer was too young, uneducated or deliberately did not mention the burning of young cane, the destruction of machinery and other acts of terror perpetrated by the PPP while in opposition. This type of economic sabotage was not restricted to the sugar industry, but also perpetrated in the rice Industry.  Filden Singh (leader of the United Force) noted that as an arm of the PPP the Rice Producers Association (RPA), had sponsored a campaign of violence, the destruction of farmers crops and other acts, and concluded that; “the fact that the rice industry has not been destroyed is attribute to the good sense of the rice farmers and to all Guyanese who have clearly rejected Dr. Jagan’s prescription”. This is not propaganda, these are facts. As a party in opposition the PPP was quite prepared to contribute to the destruction of the national economy on behalf of its political objective of getting rid of the PNC.
Mr. Editor the PPP has not been exposed to the type of economic violence that it used on its way to power. There has been no violence over the exorbitant toll to cross the Berbice River Bridge, yet it is a fact that there was violence when tolls were erected on the Corentyne Highway three decades ago. Constable James Henry lost his life while stationed at a toll booth on that highway, because opposition elements were against the toll.  I mention these things because it is dishonest and mischievous to accuse the present political opposition of destabilization and violence. The constant drumbeat of racially charged and sinister language in the Chronicle is dangerous, and must be confronted. What can be gained by alluding to Wismar, without placing it in its full historical context? What is needed in Guyana is a massive education project to teach our youth about the excesses of our recent political past, so that they can understand when the PPP controlled media establishments engage in distortions and revisionists history. We need an education programme to inform our people about their rights, so that they do not feel that it is necessary to bribe a public official to do his or her job. We need an education programme to expose all forms of government corruption that is now an institutionalized part of the modus operandi of the PPP administration. We need an education programme and economic “Marshall Plan” to address the widening gulf between the races and economic classes in Guyana.
Mr. Editor we cannot continue with the present status quo, where PPP loyalists and one percent of the population share the riches of this nation.  We cannot continue with a constitution that allows a party that wins 48% of the vote to behave as if it won 100%. We cannot continue to accept the inequality in the distribution of land in this nation based on race. We cannot continue to accept that it is okay for media houses like the Chronicle and NCN to fabricate and instigate, without fear of repercussion. We cannot continue to allow the will of the people to be trampled on, by a minority government bent on perpetuating a style of governance that has been rejected by 51 percent of the electorate. Far from being violent and engaging in destabilization, there are some schools of thought that this opposition needs to be more militant, and the population more engaged. It is my firm opinion that power always rests with the people, and a country’s most important resource is its human resource; however, this government has neglected this most precious of resource, and have created the greatest under-class in the history of the Republic. It would wise for the PPP to remember, that a man who has nothing to lose; truly has nothing to lose!
Mark Archer

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