The President knoweth not that he knoweth not

Dec 31, 2024 Letters

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Dear Editor,

Resistance is man’s instinctive reaction to oppression and violation and must never be suppressed under any guise. Resistance is inherently protected in universal declarations, international conventions and local laws, as we navigate the complexities and challenges of human existence and forge relations based on mutual respect and dignity.

President Irfaan Ali is not only wrong but out of order in his boast last week that his regime would have successfully crushed any resistance in society, during a sit down with the female members of the media.

His statement suggests that he does not understand human relations, its structures and evolving dynamics, but is only capable of conceptualising and reasoning at the most basic. No wonder he continues to misread the tea leaves, abrogate his duties and responsibilities to the people and society, prancing around in the vacuous ‘one Guyana’ mantra as the country disintegrates; and poverty and deprivation escalate.

Statements uttered by Ali often cause the serious among us to question whether he reads, learning is ever taking place, or he relishes the comedic and brutish behaviours.

The assumed silence in society, largely in part because the people have been abandoned by an ineffective Opposition, is not indicative of the absence of resistance but the absence of formal leadership which is more dangerous. Where the marginalised and oppressed lack formal leadership natural leaders will emerge who often do not feel compelled to operate within the confines of the laws to effect change. We have seen this all over the world and a smart president would not feign ignorance.

The glee being derived seeing the aged to the young in long lines, waiting in the sweltering heat to collect a one-off $100,000 cash grant is not a reflection of achievement but failure. For it exposes Guyana to the world and all to see the level of desperation of a people living in the world’s fastest growing and richest economy.

If Ali does not see the presence of resistance, then he is not deserving of the constitutional titles he holds. No democratic leader would derive pleasure at the people’s discomfort, deprivation and inhumane treatment. The cash grant lines are stark reminders of these.

President Irfaan Ali is delusional to think in a society where at least half lives in poverty, the income gap widening between the haves and haves-not, high cost of living, denial of basic necessities, including quality health care, education, public transportation, etc, “That resistance is completely gone.”

The president knoweth not that he knoweth not, consequently posing a clear and present threat to the people’s quest for harmony, peaceful co-existence, and their inalienable right to self-determination.

Even in the most democratic countries there is resistance and that resistance acknowledges, among other things, the evolving nature of man, the importance of universal laws, that people in society are not monolithic in interests and would strive for inclusion and betterment.

Ali should not be fooled by what he thinks is growing support for his regime and party, when many people are starving and being left out of the oil economy. Some feel out of necessity to survive they must grovel by putting their pride under their feet. These are happening on his watch.

He should not be fooled by the professional who shakes his hand and bows to him, or those who jump and clap in his presence, reminiscent of bygone days. These are not characteristics of democratic but autocratic societies.

The president must bow his head in shame because the only resistance ‘that is completely gone’ in society is his inability to understand his leadership has been brutish, exclusionary, shows little or no regard for the Constitution and Laws of Guyana. His political management of this society has been inhumane at best and brutish at worst.

And where President Ali refuses to act in the interest of all and uphold universally acceptable principles he need not be mistaken that resistance does not exist. Whereas it may appear to him to be completely gone, like a volcano its simmers and will eventually erupt. This is a nation that evolved out of resistance- resistance to slavery, indentureship, colonial domination and domination of all forms, and until respect, equity and equality are achieved for all the struggle continues. Resist we must and resist we shall, when and where necessary. And the feelings of the denied and marginalised are best captured in the words of the Rev Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. that “All of the misery that stoked the flames of rage and rebellion remains undiminished.”

Sincerely,

Lincoln Lewis

(The President knoweth not that he knoweth not)

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• brutish behaviours, complexities, oppression, President Irfaan Ali, resistance

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