Making the right choice: Learning from Gandhi and Martin Luther King in the context of Guyana’s Future

May 11, 2015 Letters

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Dear Editor,
On June 7th, 1893 –  Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi ,  the father of the modern Indian independence movement was unceremoniously kicked off the first class section of a train whilst travelling from Durban to Pretoria in present day South Africa.
Gandhiji  or ‘Bapu’ as he was later on affectionately called was asked to move from the first class cabin to that of the van compartment because a white man sitting in the first class section objected to an Indian person sharing his same space.
Gandhi refused to budge on the basis that he was holding a first class ticket which he paid for and secondly having been admitted to practice as an Attorney in The British Commonwealth (South Africa was still a British colony) that he was therefore a subject of the British Realm and therefore entitled to the same priveleges and civil decorum he had come to enjoy years earlier as a law student in Great Britain. Regrettably, that right was not realized until Mandela became President of South Africa more than 100 years later but that event was the start of South Africa’s long walk to freedom.
This epochal event in Gandhi’s life is what ultimately shaped his outlook on life thereafter because as he was kicked off that train in Pietermaritzburg – he chose to spend that cold and shivering winter night in the train station’s waiting room where he decided to stay in south Africa and wage the struggle against socio-economic and human injustices not just for persons of East Indian heritage but for the local black community as well. It is out of his principled stand that his policy of non-violent resistance or “Satyagraha’ emerged as the most potent and powerful force known to mankind in fighting against racist or political oppression and tyranny.
Gandhi himself inspired the formation of the African National Congress and several persons of Indian ancestry born in South Africa such as the venerable Naidoo family, Moosa Meer (father of the ANC activist the late Fatima Meer) and others played a pivotal role in same which even led to Ahmed Mohamed Kathrada being jailed for life together with Nelson Mandela and others on Robben Island following the Rivonia Trial of 1963-1964 on the oppressive charge of treason.
Gandhi’s teachings and philosophy eventually led to India’s freedom from British colonial rule on August 15th, 1947 following his famous ‘Quit India’ movement.  In the mid 1950s, Rosa Parks refused to give her seat on the bus to a white person in Montgomery, Alabama and that was the spark of the US Civil rights struggle against Jim Crow laws of racial inequality and in 1959 – the late Dr. Martin Luther King whom had embraced Gandhi’s philosophy travelled throughout India with the late Coretta Scott King to see firsthand the results of Bapu’s unparalleled philosophy of peaceful and non-violent resistance after which he (Dr. King) became a lifelong apostle of.
In 1963, Dr. King led the freedom movement across the famous Edmund Petus Bridge in Selma, Alabama and during which one of my heroes – Congressman John Lewis (Democrat – Georgia) was beaten severely by the oppressive forces unleashed by Governor George Wallace upon innocent men civilians merely exercising their God given right to peaceful assembly and freedom of expression.
Congressman John Lewis to this very day still shows the scars and nurses the pains of a cracked skull that he suffered at the hands of a repressive state government and brutal system that was legal until the passage of the US Civil Rights Act of 1964.
Tomorrow, hundreds of thousands of Guyanese of all walks, religious beliefs and ethnicity will line up early to cast their electoral ballot in what is undoubtedly the single most important political elections in almost twenty five years or since political independence.
It is a clarion call for change, it is a choice that has to be made once and for all as to whether we simply allow the arrested development brought on by the divisive agenda of ‘Apanjhaat Politics’ of the past fifty years or will we as a besieged, oppressed,  brutalised  and deceived nation choose the path to the future, a future where each and every Guyanese irrespective of race, colour , creed or class can feel that we are an important stakeholder in the country’s future socio-economic development.
We need to embrace each other’s diversity as a sign of our richness of cultures, creed and everything else noble that we can pool together because this is a country that is endowed with so much that no person should ever be left behind. Our future must be one that offers the hope for a brighter, better and prosperous tomorrow and one that is free from the shackles of mental bondage and the evil thoughts of racial superiority.
It matters not whether we are African, East Indian, Portugese, Chinese, Amerindian or European or Hindu, Muslim, Christian or even Jewish – what matters is that we are all God’s children  and the only thing that makes one of us better than the other is the pureness of one’s thoughts and actions or ‘Karma’.
I implore all of my brothers and sisters of this great land to respect each other, treat each person with the love and respect you will expect of yourself and to desist from any acts of political or racial violence which will derail the electoral process.
The will of the electorate must be respected and that is why there are so many international observers present in Guyana – to ensure that there is no electoral fraud  or hanky panky taking place.
These elections are more about the choices we make for the country’s future than they are about Granger or Ramotar, so please do not be baited by anyone to commit any act that can and will result in the innocent loss of lives.
I am certain that as nation that is now better informed and exposed thanks to the role of social media – one has the intellect and the ability to discern the truth from any kind of Stalinist malarkey being peddled by those that view Moscow and of late Beijing as their new masters.
When was the last time did you receive a Christmas barrel or a small piece from Moscow or Beijing?
I have seen firsthand what the long lasting effects of what politically inspired violence or ethnic cleansing has done to societies in places such as Afghanistan, Rwanda and even India where I have either lived in or visited many times. It is not a pleasant sight because it is the mental pain, physical anguish and despair that has affected millions of innocent lives in the final analysis.
In a society, where we have a peaceful and orderly transfer of power – we will have the hope of a better tomorrow, a tomorrow that will bring investments from reputable western companies, creation of well paying jobs, technology transfer, respect for the environment, an improved quality of life and a better standard of life for all Guyanese.
However, in order to achieve these things, we do need to create the enabling environment  and this means making the proper and informed decision of voting for a leader that is above board, beyond reproach and is willing to bring this beautiful motherland of ours back to a place where public security, safety, zero tolerance for corruption, zero tolerance for narco-trafficking, zero tolerance for domestic violence, zero tolerance for money laundering, good governance, accountability, transparency and the rule of law will not be ever compromised. Anything less is a recipe for continued disaster.
Mike Singh

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