Masses of people are on the move in several countries around the world

Oct 24, 2019 Letters

---

DEAR EDITOR,

People in those countries have become totally fed up, disgruntled, frustrated and angry with those who hold power or, with others who, like barnacles, want to cling to power.
The people have been pushed, shoved, kicked and insulted.
They have decided that they can’t, and won’t take it anymore.
They want change, real change.
And they know exactly what change they want.
The people have taken to the streets in mass protests in Bolivia, Chile, Ecuador, Haiti, Hong Kong, Iraq and Lebanon.
Ironically, in Iraq sixteen years after American soldiers were once welcomed as saviours with roses in the streets of Bagdad following the overthrow of Sadam Hussein, now the saviours, perceived to be the casus belli for the current political crisis in Iraq are being asked to leave.
In Canada and Israel, indications are that Canadians and Israelis, utilizing their democratic right to elect a government of their choice have given a clear indication of their desire for a change in government.
Will it go from bad to worse? Who knows? It’s the change the Canadians and Israelis voted for. Time will tell.
Both the Likud and Liberal parties in Israel and Canada respectively, once had governments with comfortable majorities, now, just after four years in government, both parties are saddled with either a minority government or will be struggling to stay in power or to form a government.
In Hong Kong, Lebanon and Haiti there have been clashes with riot police.
In some cases, armed thugs supporting governments of the day have been identifying, picking out and arresting protestors involved in street protests. There have been reports of snipers shooting at protestors with rubber bullets.
The protestors in Hong Kong are masking their real intentions behind a range of demands.
The goal post has shifted from withdrawal of the extradition law to human rights issues and police brutality.
The international community is watching with bated breath to see if there will be a replay of the Tina-mien movie in Hong Kong. Many would have bought ringside tickets only to find that production of the movie never materialized.
The Lebanese and Haitians want regime change without outside interference. History has shown they’ve had enough of that.
In many instances, the business community in these countries, knowing that they will be affected, have nevertheless come out in support of the protestors.
They know that in the final analysis, they stand to benefit in times of peace and political stability when people, rather than not, have money to spend.
In the case of Haiti, leaders of the Catholic Church and their congregation have joined in the protest.
Millions in Haiti live on less than one American dollar per day.
Government after government has failed the Haitian people. And the international community seem to be suffering from donor fatigue in the face of widespread corruption and successive governments indifference to the human suffering affecting Haitian women, men and children.
There is no Moses at Port-au-Prince asking to let the Haitian people go, but there is one here in Guyana who welcomes them with open arms much to the disdain of more than half of the voting population who suspect that the caretaker government is up to some tomfoolery contrary to the wishes of the electorate who are chomping at the bits to go to the polls primarily because they want to vote out the APNU+AFC caretaker government.
In the cases of Ecuador, Chile and the Lebanon, the governments have either withdrawn or about to withdraw the austerity measures that would have brought unconscionable and additional economic and financial suffering on the working class, farmers and the middle class in all three countries.
Though no mention has been made of it, the discernible eye can recognize the hand of the international financial institutions most like that of the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
Had the new taxation measures and withdrawal of subsidies, plus the other heavy handed austerity measures been imposed, it would have come as no surprise were huge loans doled out to the governments in the three countries in the form of Structural Adjustment Programmes aimed at softening the impact of the austerity measures on already suffering peoples.
Realizing that it was not only economic reforms but political reforms and regime change that were being demanded by the people, both Moreno and Pinera in Ecuador and Chile respectively, were quick to dump the austerity measures recognizing that it would have cost them their governments.
However, in the case of Chile it was too little too late; the Chilean people would have none of the government’s half-way measures.
The Chilean people have not given up. The demonstrations are continuing with even more vigour.
The Saad Hariri Government in Lebanon is caught in a vice. It is reluctant to withdraw its austerity plan in its entirety for fear that it may have to turn to the Saudis for help which they don’t want to do.
But the pressure on the government is mounting and the popular call has shifted from calls for economic reforms to calls for the government to resign. The hope is that with a new government the corruption and extravagance will end and money saved can help offset the costs of government’s useless spending.
In Ecuador, President Lenin Moreno has proven himself to be a disaster.
Since taking over from his erstwhile companero Correa, almost every policy measure promulgated by Moreno has proven to be against the national interests and, by extension, those of the Ecuadorian people.
Moreno is now in love with neo-liberalism and a staunch believer in market economics.
In Bolivia the love affair with President Evo Morales seems to have gone sour.
Half of the voting population wants to see him go.
Popular opposition to his changes in the Bolivian Constitution to extend his time in office never went away. It was just a matter of time before that popular resentment would rise up once again to tell Morales loud and clear that the sun was setting on his regime and that the Bolivian people wanted change.
That opportunity is now manifesting itself in the streets of La Paz and other major cities in Bolivia.
Will Carlos Mesa be a better president with a better government for Bolivia? Why not let the electorate decide in free and fair elections? If they are denied that sacred right then there will inevitably be political and social turmoil.
In Guyana, we have witnessed a few sparks vis-a-vis street protests in Georgetown, the rural and interior areas following passage of the No Confidence Motion.
But the potential of these protests should not be underestimated.
Like the underlying resentment that surfaced in mass protests in Bolivia following the recent controversial elections in that South American country, we should not be surprised if protests on a much larger scale were to take place in Guyana, once the March 2, elections are found to be fraudulent beyond the shadow of doubt.

Yours faithfully,
Clement J. Rohee

---

---