Guyanese Protesting Outside UN

Sep 28, 2026 Letters

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Dear Editor,

I read and watched on TV as well as on social media reports of protests, rallies, marches organised by varied groups, including Guyanese, on a variety of issues in front of United Nations. It has been an annual ritual (for Guyanese a couple decades) going back as long as it was founded whenever the UN met in September.

I was in the thick of protests there years ago, cutting classes from college or calling in sick from work. The area has served as a stage for the public to bring their causes to the attention of the world. From opposition to wars to campaigns for democracy, climate action and racial justice, rallies outside the UN have reflected many of the defining concerns of the modern era. The protesters were clubbed together; they were separated if on opposing sides.

The gathering of world leaders gave protesters an opportunity to showcase their grievance, appealing for intervention to bring about justice. Many groups of protesters wanted to grab the attention of the leaders of the western democracies (US President, in particular) to help in their struggle against human rights violations in their former countries while at the same time exposing authoritarian governance back home.  I and a handful of other Guyanese partook in the annual ritual for a couple decades. Protesters would poke fun that the largest group of murderers and thieves were meeting at the UN and were being protected; indeed, many were known (from Asia, Africa, Latin America) to murder political opponents and media people and loot the treasury of their countries.

America gave unlimited rights to protest and to petition the government for redress, a right few other countries grant the public; even non-Americans are protected and granted the right to protest unlike in other countries. In initial years, up until the 1990s, protesters were kept directly across the road from the UN. In recent years, they have been pushed blocks away from UN. One was (is) free to use any kind of broadcast device (megaphone, microphone, etc.) to air views and hold up any kind of picketing signs, a right not available anywhere. One does not have to obtain a permit to hold a rally, but the permit from the police precinct offers protection and right of space to protest.

I was at many of those protests and even helped organise many going back to 1978 as pertaining to Guyana during the dictatorial period advocating for the restoration of democracy and holding of free and fair elections. Democracy was restored in 1992, but thereafter I still organised and partook in rallies and protests in front of UN to support other causes including when the Chief Justice of Trinidad and Tobago Sat Sharma was arrested by the Patrick Manning administration in 2006. I had my fair share of protests including reporting on them for various publications and commend those who feel justified to organise and or participate in rallies, marches, protests for democracy, fair play, justice on varied matters.

When a group of us staged annual protests in front of UN in September of 1978 to 1992, in addition to similar protests in other places of New York, Washington, etc., attendance (and even support) was very thin. Protests were held as Guyana’s then delegations attended the U.N General Assembly; Forbes Burnham and Desmond Hoyte were not regular attendees at the UN but Hoyte, Ptolemy Reid, Hamilton Green were at meetings in Brooklyn with Afro Guyanese supporters in what has always been a racially divided diaspora. Hoyte attended banquets in Woodhaven, Queens at the World Trade Center during his presidency. Granger attended UN Assemblies as did Jagan, Janet, Jagdeo, and Ramotar. Irfaan Ali was present at every assembly going back to 2021; Jagdeo attended every Assembly during his presidency 1999-2011.

Vassan Ramracha, Chuck Mohan, Arjune Karshan (deceased) and two of his nephews, as well as Baytoram Ramharack, Samad Ally (deceased), and a few others were a constant fixture at protests going back to 1978; Mel Carpen, Mike Persaud, Ravi Dev, Rennie Ramracha, and Raj Singh as did others were there on several occasions.  There were the leftists (ACG), the right (our group, URP, etc.) and the centrists (DLM, others). Our protests were always peaceful and did not pose a threat to anyone;  immigration and police could not be bothered with us.

Guyanese were for the most part uninformed and uneducated about their rights in living in USA; many feared they could be arrested and deported if they partook in protests. They also were busy at work and uninterested in Guyanese affairs. They wanted to earn money and build their lives in USA with no time to be bothered about Guyana. As years went by, size of the rallies grew as did support. Guyanese began to acquire comfortable wealth in the late 1980s, and as they understood their rights in a democracy, they felt emboldened to demand that their former homeland be governed democratically. Many joined the call in late 1980s for restoration of democratic governance in Guyana. And when democracy was restored in 1992, the UN protests relating to Guyana ended.  Occasional protests pertaining to Guyana took place elsewhere in Queens and Brooklyn during the rule of David Granger and Moses Nagamootoo recently and the one at the UN and in Queens Village last Thursday 24^th  September. Recent protests were very small, bringing back memories of protests during the 1970s thru the 1980s in front of the UN when we were demanding restoration of democratic governance in Guyana. As now, we carried signs and chanted messages critical of Guyanese rulers. Police cordoned off areas and warned not to cross or else we would be subjected to arrest. We called on the international community to not only condemn authoritarian rule and rights abuses but also to hold the rulers accountable.  We sought support for our struggle.  The authoritarian regime had to go. But because the alternative was a communist opposition, support from American politicians was not forthcoming until the collapse of the Soviet Union and the agreement by President Bush and Gorbachev permitting Guyanese to choose their own government in a free and fair election. Bush Sr. warned of consequences if free and fair elections were not held. Democracy came in October 1992, Guyana’s first FFE.

The causes that led to UN protests from decades ago have not changed. UN protests are a reminder that people around the globe continue to demand dignity, rights, democracy, and accountability, among other causes.

Yours truly,

Vishnu Bisram

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• Letters, protest, United Nations

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