Will racial tribalism forever dominate Guyana?

Sep 22, 2013 Features / Columnists, Freddie Kissoon

Guyana is enduring a syndrome of violent robberies. It has been going on for years and it touches every part of Guyana and every race. Our Chinese and Brazilian residents have witnessed brutal robberies in which the victims have died. The General-Secretary of the PNC was violently attacked by thieves in his home. I did two columns on the Wild West madness in the mining areas of Guyana where horrible robberies have led to the deaths of many persons, and from my research, none of the victims are East Indians.
Suddenly, the Muslim Youth Organization (MYO), Ravi Dev, and the Attorney-General (AG) discovered a dimension of the syndrome that should arouse curiosity in our academic community and in political parties. Let us quote the MYO; “The recent upsurge in criminality bears a sinister likeness in the modus operandi of the 2002/2003 crime wave, where efforts were made to destabilize our country.”
Mr. Dev in his column last week wrote that he endorsed the sentiments of the MYO and posits that it brings into focus the need to balance the police force along ethnic lines. The AG implied that politics is at work in the recent attacks on families in the countryside. Now, one will hardly express surprise at Mr. Dev’s expression. He does not hide his political opinions on the race problematic of Guyana.
The AG is pandering to the PPP constituencies. And the MYO is a religious body that should not have gone in that direction. Surely, religious people ought to know better. Subsequent events have showed that what the AG, MYO and Ravi Dev have adumbrated was fictional and that this country is definitely doomed. When sociological crimes are committed and you rush into a village and tell an ethnic community that the robbers are from another race group, then you are instigating the death of your country.
Dev, the AG or the MYO have not pointed fingers at the PPP or East Indians for the bestial home invasion of the PNC’s top man. Dev, the AG or the MYO have not commented on the non-stop crime wave in south Georgetown that inevitably takes the lives of African Guyanese. Dev, the AG or the MYO have not written on the possibility that the constant imprisonment of African youths for possession of tiny amounts of marijuana may be a plot by the PPP to demoralize the African youth.
With attacks in Wakenaam, the West Coast and the Corentyne, the nation is being told by persons from the East Indian community that the infamy has a political motive. This is horrible thinking that will destroy Guyana sooner than later. Subsequent events have proven the MYO, Dev and the AG wrong, but sorry is not a word we are going to hear from these quarters. Let us describe the subsequent events.
Police investigations have led to the discovery of a gang that has been robbing and killing victims. Some of the members have been captured and charged. One was killed and a police bulletin has been issued for another gang leader. The people who did the arrest were the police, which we all know are predominantly African Guyanese. Then soldiers joined the search. The army is predominantly African Guyanese.
Up to the time of writing, none of the gang members have confessed to taking instructions from politicians and activists from any anti-government organization. So where does this leave the race conspiracy theory of the MYO, the AG and Ravi Dev?
But let us go over to New York. For this column, I did some painstaking research. I have found out that over the past ten years, most of the victims of nasty robberies on Guyanese have been Guyanese Indians. Is there a conspiracy by the Americans to target East Indians in New York?
The MYO is a 99.5 percent Indian organization. Mr. Dev is a pro-Indian activist. The AG belongs to a predominantly Indian party, the PPP. They have a God-given right to speak how they feel about the sociology of Guyana, but civilization does not give the right to any human to shout fire in a crowded cinema. The AFC, ACDA, PNC and other groups have not pointed to any conspiracy from Freedom House when Africans are robbed and killed in Guyana. Indian rights activists must act more responsibly.
More importantly, the society must speak out against what the MYO, Dev and the AG have implied. We are not going to remain a country if we keep fanning the flames of racial and racist tribalism in this country. All the old racial conflicts around the world are dying or have abated, except for the one in Guyana.

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Will racial tribalism forever dominate Guyana?

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