Man’s inhumanity

May 10, 2013 Editorial

The facts surrounding the beating of 40-year-old Nigel Lowe to death by some residents of Sophia are still unclear. But what is very clear is that it did not prick the conscience of the mob that committed this murder that Lowe’s life may have had some intrinsic worth that should have been respected. What could Lowe have possibly done that so enraged the individuals who took the law into their own hands and delivered its ultimate sanction?
Whether he was a petty thief or a trespasser, Lowe’s murder – and there can be no other word for the act of vigilantism – demands a national introspection as to what is happening to our moral compass as a nation. While we may shudder at the news of the Ohio man who kidnapped and held three young women captive for almost a decade, it may be considered as the acting out of the fantasies of a warped and sick mind.
The Sophia murder, however, in which Lowe was stripped, tied to a stake and “broadsided” with a cutlass and about to be burnt alive, must have caused him to cry out in pain and agony. But evidently all the neighbours did was to close their doors even tighter. At some level they agreed with the barbaric action being taken by one of their own. But surely the spate of robberies that apparently were committed in the area was not justification for murder. The entire neighbourhood, therefore, share some of the responsibility and guilt for the commission of the murder. But at a deeper level, what happened in Sophia is a symbol of what is happening to us as a nation.
We have lost the empathy to view each other as fellow citizens worthy of each other’s help. Our society began as one in which the ordinary folks were all oppressed and from that experience we evolved the value of cooperation for survival. Our history is replete with examples of sacrifices for the ‘common good’. But gradually we lost the camaraderie and unity engendered in our ancestors and we have reverted to the philosophy of “each man for himself and the devil take the hindmost”.
And this starts, most insidiously, from the very top: “insidious” because as leaders go, so will the ordinary people. Look at the accumulation of wealth in the hands of a few in our country – headed by the politicians. To live in luxury while fellow citizens wallow in poverty, has to be based on a philosophy that tells the elite that there is nothing morally wrong with such a situation. And in fact we are being guided by just such a philosophy.
Today, in the developed world led by the USA and Europe, even as their economies crumble and millions are out of jobs, the banks are declaring record profits, which are distributed to the elite that include the politicians. It has become a cliché now to speak of the “1%” that controls the bulk of the wealth in those countries. Notice in Guyana the steady announcements about the banks raking in record-breaking multi-billion-dollar profits. Who spares a thought about those (in this instance Nigel Lowe) who essentially drop out of the economy?
We believe the lesson to be imbibed from the horror in Sophia is that we as a nation have to recommit to a vision of development that is much more inclusive than the one that presently prevails. Ironically, in 1974, the then government promulgated a “Declaration of Sophia” that was in fact couched in such aspirations. That the effort failed was due not to its aims, but to the means chosen to achieve them. Since that time we have the experience of many other nations such as China and Singapore that have managed to lift their citizens at the bottom without sacrificing the evident need to offer profit incentives to the business class.
We too must find a middle way and regain our humanity rather than reverting to the law of the jungle.

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Man’s inhumanity

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