Seditious conspiracy or combative politics?

Jun 08, 2022 Letters

Dear Editor,

The use of misinformation as a political strategy is not a new phenomena but what has become apparent over the last election cycle as it relates to the Guyana and US 2020 Presidential elections is its unrestrained and unapologetic use in undermining the electoral system which is the cornerstone of any society that claims to be democratic. It has become unrelenting, aggressive and doctrinaire and has replaced fact, decency and respectful disagreement and debate on issues and policy. The rabid, unsubstantiated and sometimes, bizarre claims of election fraud, even before the elections are held, and the claims of victory before an official declaration is made or even after a defeat is evident, now headlines the playbook of every would-be autocrat and dictator.

The success of this strategy is based primarily on two things: 1) judicial failures and a willingness to use legal circumlocutions to justify overturning valid results and substituting alternative and artfully-contrived results; and 2) a predisposition to employ threats, violence and terrorism to forcefully achieve their objectives. PPP/C spokesperson, Clement J. Rohee, in a letter published in the March 10, 2020 edition of Kaieteur News, detailed decades-long instances of alleged election fraud by APNU+AFC and his conviction that the election, just concluded, was rigged. He then proceeded to menacingly quote Bharrat Jagdeo in 2018 as saying that “there will be no peace if the 2020 election is rigged. There will be consequences if they think they will rig and have the kind of peace we have now, they are wrong”.

In the US, Donald Trump had, prior to the assault on the Capitol, had urged his followers to ‘stop the steal’, ‘fight like hell’ and ‘take back your country’. In the aftermath of the January 6, 2020 insurrection, one rioter and several police officers died, many more were seriously injured, members of Congress and the Vice-President, their families and staff, feared for their lives. Since then the US Justice Department has charged over 750 persons with crimes associated with the insurrection at the Capitol in what has been described as “the largest criminal prosecution in the history of the USA”.

A senior member of the Proud Boys militia organization has plead guilty to conspiracy to disrupt the certification of an election, and three senior members of another militia group, the Oath Keepers, have plead guilty to seditious conspiracy to prevent Joseph Biden from assuming the Presidency of the United States, and all are cooperating with the federal authorities in their on-going investigation. The evidence, so far revealed, suggests the militia groups had amassed an arsenal and had stashed weapons at nearby hotels and were prepared to use lethal force against security services and elected representatives.

Guyana too experienced a level of politically orchestrated violence after Election Day, though it was not as concentrated or deadly as in the US. GECOM’s Command Centre, which housed the offices of the Returning Officer for Region 4, was stormed by a mob bent on preventing the tabulation and declaration of results for that region. The Commission’s staff had to flee and the Chairperson forced to barricade herself in her office until she was rescued by some international observers. Also, a rioter was killed and police officers and children injured in violent street protests. There have been no investigations here and no one charged for these actions. Nor has there been any public condemnation whatsoever. Predictably, the only response has been to ascribe blame to others and to see “dogs of war” in unlikely places.

Sincerely,

Oscar Dolphin

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