An objectionable article predicated on deeply flawed premises

Nov 21, 2013 Letters

DEAR EDITOR,
The article in your publication: “35 years later … Jonestown should be restored as tourist site/history and memorial ground” (see November 19, p.13) is predicated on deeply flawed premises in addition to being objectionable. The premises as stated are economically motivated (for profit), i.e. “to generate foreign exchange . . . use it to our advantage . . . [economic] revitalization.” The advocate of this sordid idea asks Guyanese “to think outside the box”; while he appears to be thinking from inside the bank.
“Hustling” has become one of our national traits. However, I cling to the belief that our people still retain some sense of propriety, even if a modicum. Establishing a memorial site to honour the dead in the single-largest mass murder/suicide is an appropriate thing to do—because it is good in itself. To exploit this tragedy using an economic argument is analogous to someone calling on the Germans to convert Auschwitz to a tourist site. Could you imagine?
Mr. Rodwell Paul who is quoted largely as proposing this macabre idea says, “[a]ll around the world where a great tragedy has occurred, it is marked and remembered.”
Yes, but not for profit. I observed with some incredulity that he is referred to as a captain of sorts. Guyanese are best advised to refrain from taking directions from this badly misguided “captain.”
Lastly, your article noted that two memorials are planned this month at the Evergreen Cemetery in Oakland, California, rightly so. Guyana, my compatriots, should be seen worldwide as a place of natural beauty where the human spirit can flourish and excel rather than a jungle of human failure.
Fuad Rahaman

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