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Ramharack responds to Norton
Dear Editor,
In his recent missive of June 10, Aubrey Norton, Leader of the PNC and Chairman of APNU, took umbrage with the use of the term “Wismar Massacre”.
In reality, this was the term that has been most widely used by most Guyanese to describe the ethnic cleansing of Indians in Wismar/Christianburg/Mackenzie in May 1964. At that time, the term “ethnic cleansing” did not exist. Premier Cheddi Jagan referenced the “massacre” several times in his book to describe the totality of the coordinated acts of beatings, lootings, burnings, sexual violence, and evacuation of more than 3000-plus refugees, mostly children, from the area.
Norton’s letter accentuates two troubling facts.
One, by his own admission, Norton has accepted an invitation to attend the upcoming book launch. With his letters, he now seeks to silence any discussion on this issue before the launch in Guyana. In like manner, the PNC/UF Government shelved the COI Report, submitted in January 1965, and silenced the enormity of the politically and racially directed tragedy, instead of using it as an opportunity to engage in a genuine discourse on Guyanese historiography.
Two, Mr. Norton has NOT read the book, but remains fixated on the cover. Had he done so, he would have known that the issues he raised, and much more, are addressed in the two decades of research that resulted in this study. Norton should take a lesson from Professor Odida Quamina, formerly of Linden, who participated in a discussion at the Toronto launch, and whose study on the bauxite workers figured prominently in my reconstruction of the bauxite economic enclave and its two adjacent riverain villages in the 1960s.
Sincerely,
Baytoram Ramharack
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