Protests – there is only one valid kind

Jun 29, 2022 Letters

Dear Editor,

Peaceful protests under certain ingrained conditions provide the best value, possess the most durable outcomes. I recognise that I am speaking to myself since the more aggressive easily dismiss what I place in public. Regrettably, it is becoming more apparent that protests, in all their different shades and intensities, are going to be the order of the day going forward. Whatever form they take, the greatest care must be taken that protests get their messages across in an appropriate manner, with fairness and justice being the prime objectives.

Already, I detect that there will be problems with this. Because even in those instances of the well-organized, well-planned, and well-controlled protests, there is the first probability of outlier sections of people breaking away, running rampant. The second concern is that because of heavy perceptions of lawlessness in high places by high officials, protesters in the streets and villages have little to zero patience with listening to what is moderate and orderly. They are willing to run the risk of being labeled lawless themselves, which does no justice to their cause, regardless of how justly it is founded and powered. Guyanese are this fed-up with what they believe is a return to targeted killings, the return of corrupt practices, and the return of a thinly veiled way of governance and life that fools no one. Leadership platitudes about democracy, the rule of law, transparency, and fair play are all laughed at, and concluded to be part of the game that wreaks havoc with our state of mind, and the peace of our environment.

As I see it, anything and everything now becomes rich soil for escalation into protests. The thinking is that, if this is the way it has to be, then let it be. My fear is that politics has to make its inevitable intrusions and associations, and this compounds further what is on the ground, as already stirred and primed. Second, there is the thought that many believe that swamping the streets and locking down this country are the alternatives left to bring this uncontrolled, unhearing, and unresponsive government to its senses. I go back for a moment: well-organized, well-disciplined, and well-presented are priceless for sustained protests and the values that emerge from those. My concern is whether we have any patience, interest, tolerance left for such cautions. I think not.

There is a school of thinking that politeness and calmness have never brought about change, the radical changes needed. The more radically inclined have little energy for such ‘niceties’, such playing by the rules of the oppressors. The trouble is that when there is a profusion of such heated people in this tiny society, then calls for a measured approach, and Gandhian practices, go out the window. As we all know, it doesn’t take much for points of contention to flare into flashpoints here. When, and it is only a matter of when, such are coordinated tactically, then there is little to hold us together. Citizens are looking for that catalyst, that right opening to vent their frustrations, their condemnations, their visions (whatever those are). To repeat what I have been sharing in spaces like these, huge swaths of the Guyanese populace are at their boiling point. Though it may seem a stretch, this country is never far from its breaking point. The forces are there; so, too, are the armories for aggression; I am not speaking of plowshares.

It is clear that the attitudes and actions of this PPP Government and its leaders in a broad range of settings have contributed to what is a combustible situation under the surface gloss. Unfortunately, there will be those dreadful developments of trapped innocents, the luck of the draw, and collateral damage. I think that the East Coast provides a glimpse of where we could be heading. We can continue to insult and degrade one another politically (meaning, racially); or we can invite and engage and workout. Somehow, I don’t see the latter happening. As to how long we will rush forward and fall back like this, I leave that alone. I envision that we have some problems ahead. They may not be handled in the best way possible. Peacefully may just not be available at that time.

Sincerely,

GHK Lall

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