We should worry about Guyana not America

Nov 20, 2016 Features / Columnists, Freddie Kissoon

If there is any human being out there who thinks Donald Trump will subjugate the US, usher in authoritarian government and Americans will cower in silence, then you know absolutely nothing about the real world. It means you do not understand how the real world operates. There are dozens and dozens of millions in the US that will confront Trump on policies that are racist and dictatorial.
There cannot be even the slightest of doubt that Americans will just go about their business and let Trump dissolve the traditions of democracy that Americans have accepted as essential to existence. President Trump will no doubt be assertive in the things he wants to implement and will be confrontational, but his opponents are going to meet fire with fire. The first salvo has been fired by democratic forces. New York City mayor Bill de Blasio says his police force will not deport people en masse and his office will not pass on to federal agencies New York’s database on illegal immigrants. That is a serious attitude and it is only the beginning.
Guyanese who are worried that the US will become an intolerant autocracy need not worry. Their perturbations should be about the decline of Guyana, not the US. To compare the spirit of resistance between the American and Guyanese people is like comparing Usain Bolt and an injury victim that lost his legs. Newspapers, magazines, journals, television shows, books are going to flood the world from the US condemning the unpopular policies of Trump. That is predictable as when night follows day.
Back here we have an ironic situation that is a frightening indication that Guyana is becoming more and more Orwellian. And while Trump may be an episodic moment in the life of the average American, Guyana seems set in its ways of dark silence journeying towards a dark future.
It is this writer’s contestation that despite the election of a hopeful government last May, deep fear still stalks this land and there is absolutely no indication, however infinitesimal, that people feel that they are more mentally comfortable to speak and write about things they disagree with in relation to the State sector, ruling regime, powerful organizations and people with wealth and status.
The newspapers are inundated with letters exposing wrongdoing and there is the inevitable false signature. You pick up any issue of the two independent dailies (KN and SN) after May 2015 and compare the letter sections with the papers before 2015 and you will see an unchanged nation beset with trepidation.
My life in this country is about observing unchanging trends. I would go into an office in 1998 or 2006 and would be told; “Please Freddie, I can’t be seen talking to you; I will call you.” This was the voice of people who feared that their employer, whether the boss is a businessman or a Minister or a party big wig, will victimize them for talking to a well known media figure. The exact sentiments are expressed to me in Guyana since May 2015.
If Trump decides to dismiss a federal official or withhold funds from a federal agency that brings service to the poor (like abortion) or victimizes a university that receives federal assistance, then pick up the newspaper or turn on the television and you will see the anti-Trump anger in all colours, shapes and dimensions. Here in Guyana, the people with the mentality and world view of Trump are gone since May 2015, but we are still drowning in the vortex of tempestuous waves of fear and resignation.
No one says anything about any violation in this country. I remember a few months back, Carol Ann Munroe, who was charged for treason by the then PPP Government, described in a letter in this newspaper how the events unfolded and how her rights were denied before she was taken into custody. One particular description would have moved any human. She said as the police escorted her and husband from her home, she asked for time to make arrangements for her two sick children one of whom suffers from severe asthma. The police refused her request.
There was never one, just one letter of expression of denunciation or sympathy. No one ever commented on what Ms. Munroe endured. Ms. Munroe may have given only her side, but I say without even a fraction of hesitation, Ms. Munroe’s ordeal in any other country would have seen responses of sympathy. Not one voice was raised in indignation about the UG graduation fiasco. Mr. Trump may not even rule for a full term. But after his four years, America will survive. I’m not sure Guyana will.

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