The days of protest may be over

Mar 31, 2013 Features / Columnists, My Column

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There is a saying; ‘If you don’t stand for something you will fall for anything’. Last week I saw the truth in this saying and I remarked at how the people of Guyana appeared to have been beaten into submission.
I had begun to recognize this for a long time, ever since the strike of 1999 came to an end, that many of those involved in it considered the end a letdown and a dissipation of their efforts for nearly two months. They had gone on strike for better pay and they recognized that they would not be paid for the days they refused to work.
They were public servants who were earning little as it was, but that they would stand up for something at great sacrifice to themselves was something worth remembering. Some of them were pregnant nurses; most were office workers and more than a few were people who held executive office.
They shut down the wharves until the various businesses began to complain. And here I must remark at the selfish nature of the business community. The various business owners would sit back and offer what they hoped would pass for support because they did not want to offend for fear of attacks. At the same time they would not want the authorities to know that they were actually giving the strikers anything because they feared reprisal.
When that strike started to bite the businessmen raised their voices to high heavens in condemnation of the strike although they knew that once the public servant got a pay increase they too would squeeze any increase they could out of the very public servant. So they screamed to the authorities, some to the government to make peace with the striking workers and others to the authorities to bring out the police to forcefully end the strike or at least to clear the wharves.
The police did come out and they shot at the strikers, to the extent that to this day many policemen are afraid to undergo medical attention at the Georgetown Public Hospital. I knew back then that the police dared not go to seek help from the doctors and workers they shot at.
The strike ended abruptly and I saw another thing; I saw trade unionists turning on the very people on whom they depended for their existence. I was outside the Guyana Public Service Union that night when angry public servants descended on the union hall. I saw a minibus take off east along Regent Road, then turn and head straight at the people in the crowd at speed. A young man got hit and the bus sped away.
That was when I knew that the GPSU would never get nurses to strike again, although the union leaders claimed that in the first instance they were sucked in because they never authorized the strike.
Life went on until former President Bharrat Jagdeo decided to liberalise radio in Guyana. Indeed that was a good thing, because the monopoly had become such that unless one was supporting the government, then one did not have a voice on radio. However, the allocation of the licences to private people left a bitter taste in the mouths of many. They cried discrimination because they saw that most of the multiple frequencies went to people close to Jagdeo and his political party.
And strange as this may seem, some of those named are still to get their licences. I thought that once the President pronounced the issue was a done deal. But one potential radio owner has said that he is awaiting his licence and that he cannot do anything until he gets it.
Those who were opposed to the manner in which the frequencies were allocated, and to whom none was given, opted on many courses of action. One of these was a street protest. I saw some people who had applied for their licences for as long as a decade meeting to plan measures. In the first instance they agreed to a demonstration.
Lo and behold, when it was time for the demonstration only three of them were there. The protest outside one of the media houses shocked me. Not one from among the management or the staff joined the protest line. That was when I realized that there will always be talk, but don’t expect action for the most part.
The government knows this and uses it to its advantage. It has done some controversial things such as construct the Skeldon sugar factory. This was the largest investment in the history of the country, even higher than the construction of the Soesdyke/Linden Highway. That factory is a dud, using more cane than its fifty-year-older predecessor and producing even less sugar.
Guyanese have to repay this debt and they are not getting what they paid for. The protest is sporadic at best. The construction of the Marriott hotel falls into this category. Guyana cannot even fill those rooms that it has, yet the government is putting more rooms in place.
At best, this would put some of the rooms permanently out of circulation. Already, Eddy Grant’s Blue Wave hotel is closed. Protest against the Marriott hotel has been negligent, even the protest against the non-employment of Guyanese on the project.
It is clear that protest is something of the past. The political parties are hard-pressed to bring out their supporters to protest anything. There was a time when the People’s National Congress nearly brought the government to its knees. One doubts that this could ever happen again. People have been beaten into submission. Some say that they have become apathetic. The reason? Some fear that they would lose their jobs with those entities supportive of the government and they know that it is not easy to get a job anywhere.
Kaieteur News continues to highlight the woes and the government’s indiscretions, but even though this newspaper is not fazed, will it continue to be the voice of protest? Only time will tell.

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