A letter on Bolsonaro that actually carried signatures

Jan 22, 2022 Features / Columnists, Freddie Kissoon

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Kaieteur News – It is literally impossible for any normal human to see anything positive about current Brazilian president, Jair Bolsonaro. Billions of people in this world think that Donald Trump may have a serious mental problem. Those billions think Bolsonaro is a worst case scenario than Trump.
One can never disagree with any criticism of Bolsonaro. The man is far more dangerous than Trump. My feeling is that he will lose the next presidential election and will end up in jail. I hope they jail him for life. So yesterday, there was a very strong denunciation of the visit to Guyana by Bolsonaro in the form of a letter in the newspapers. The content of the letter is not only perfect but politically impeccable.
We must not confuse the message with the messenger. But context is everything in life. Human action will not be understood unless context is recognised. Today in Guyana, there are messengers that compose messages and when you apply context, you don’t want to be associated with the messages they publicise.
If that letter on Bolsanaro was submitted to me for my signature, the first thing I would have done is invoke context. I would not have signed because I would not have been happy sharing a platform with those messengers given their silence on the near destruction of Guyana.
A human must at all times have an obligation to him/herself about their own moral make-up. Each time I receive an invitation to be on a pubic panel discussion, I would ask who the other panelists are.
No matter how prestigious an international organization is, I will not participate in any forum with certain people in this country based on their behaviour in the context of race and freedom if that organisation chooses me. If you advocate harm against people because of their sexual orientation or race or religion, you are a threat to the social foundation of the world.
For me, the two most racist statements ever made in this country was by Ronald Waddel and a certain trade unionist. I want nothing to do with that trade unionist and I will forever paint Waddel as a racist.
I saw with my own two eyes, Waddell advocating violence against Indians on channel 9 in 1997 because they voted for the PPP. That was an advocacy that invokes memory of Rwanda. No one should have any appreciation ever for Waddell. The most racist xenophobic statement in the world about foreigners who are coming to Guyana was made by that trade unionist.
Read it and you cannot find a more descriptive account of racist xenophobia anywhere in the world including Brazil under Bolsonaro. Please email me at [email protected] and I will send the statement to you. Where were those signatories who have now denounced Bolsonaro?
Where were those signatories when Guyana was facing literal implosion and subsequent destruction from March to July? Where were they when the racial riots of the 1960s almost repeated themselves when in September last year David Granger and Joseph Harmon went to Region 5 and the words they used in an address to African Guyanese resulted in widespread violence.
The denunciation of Bolsonaro is an act for all humans to make but some of those signatories must be exposed. Let’s name some of them. Dr. Nigel Westmaas was a friend for decades. I have an email from him in which he declined to comment on the attempted rigging of the election. I can forward his response to you.
Dr. Alissa Trotz edits the “In The Diaspora Column” of Stabroek News which did not comment on the election rigging and what Granger and Harmon did in Region 5. David Hinds is a signatory so is the man who penned that racist xenophobia. The WPA is a signatory. Please go through the lists and you will see that if you believe in the equality of races, you would not want your signature alongside their own.
The usual suspects were at work; those jaded, faded publicity seeking mandarins that we are accustomed to seeing, are there. The usual suspects composed the letter denouncing Bolsonaro for his anti-African insanities and sent it to others for approval of their signatures. There are 72 names. Only nine names are Indians of which eight are part of the usual suspects. Are Guyanese Indians not philosophically equipped to denounce Bolsonaro for his racist policies against Afro-Brazilians?
I could list literally 50 prominent Indians and Indian organisations in Guyana and the diaspora that would have signed that missive if it was sent to them. Those names should not have been overlooked. They deliberately were. Remember that saying – show me your company, and I will tell who you are.
(The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of this newspaper.)

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