Khan's Chronicles
by Sharief Khan
Guyana Chronicle
May 13, 2001

I'VE been trying to figure out this talk by the main Opposition People's National Congress Reform (PNC/R) about `social revolution' on the East Coast.

In my column last week, I tried to figure out the tactics of the `channa' revolutionaries who seemed to take delight in hurling bottle bombs into mini-buses to maim working class men and women.

A social revolution against the working class?

Since then, the `channa' (bottle) bomb revolutionaries have turned to rumours as another revolutionary tactic and to sending gangs of young boys armed with cutlasses into a school to terrify little children and teachers.

Is this the East Coast `social revolution' of the PNC/R? Is this the defence of the `marginalised' of the society?

These are in fact evil assaults on some of the most marginalised of the marginalised and if this is a social revolution, the great revolutionaries of our era must be hanging their heads in shame at the ignominy being wrought in their name and cause.

This is worse that the sham `socialist' revolution the PNC pretended it was engaged in while it was in power between 1964 and 1992 when all it was bent on was to use socialism to entrench itself in power.

In trying to make sense of the events on the East Coast where PNC/R supporters have been in different forms of unrest since the People's Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) won the March 10 elections, I have been going back to what party leader, Mr, Desmond Hoyte told the faithful last month at a rally in Georgetown.

He said the top priority was for his party to remain intact and that it will be changing the tempo of its treatment of the governing PPP/C from one of 'slow fire' to `more fire'.

"...comrades, as we set about to begin negotiating with the PPP, we have to ensure militancy, and cannot relax at this time", he said.

"We are talking about negotiation, and we shall be negotiating with the PPP from a position of strength", Mr. Hoyte vowed.

"Comrades, it is absolutely important that we keep our party intact; that we remain mobilised; that we remain motivated; because the only way we are going to achieve anything; the only way we're going to wring from this PPP regime and get any redress for grievances will be by a show of solidarity", he stressed.

Referring to the then recent disturbances along the East Coast Demerara in villages including Buxton, Golden Grove, Plaisance and Belladrum, Hoyte argued that the people of those villages were rebelling against the system.

(Rebelling against the system by running children and teachers out of school?)

He said the party clearly understood their anguish, contending the issue was not merely about disenfranchisement and elections results, but the fundamental issues affecting their daily lives.

"Comrades, this is time for sustained action. We have started a protest which is going to escalate until the People's Progressive Party understands that we mean business."

He said that what started at Buxton, Golden Grove, Plaisance and Victoria was a social revolution.

"We have got to stand up for justice, because the real revolution has started now...," he declared.

So, is this the "real revolution" Mr Hoyte regaled his supporters about last month that is unfolding with terror on the East Coast?

This talk about a social revolution sent me back for a while last week to my classic texts on revolution, to writers like Regis Debray and Frantz Fanon.

I couldn't find them talking about gangs running with cutlasses into schools to terrorise the children of working class people and working class teachers. The Lusignan Primary School from which Police said teachers and students had to flee after the cutlass-armed boy gang stormed into the building cannot be ranked among the schools of the upper class or the bourgeoisie.

So, who's the target?

On Friday, rumour that two children had been hospitalised after drinking water that was poisoned, triggered panic among residents of the neighbouring East Coast villages of Melanie Damishana, Bachelor's Adventure and Paradise.

Police, noting again the untold damage that could result from rumours, said a man who gave his name as 'Buddy' went Friday to the home of a resident at Melanie Damishana and "advised the resident that her two children had drank poisoned water and had been referred to hospital."

In a statement Friday afternoon, Police said, "The children have just returned home and reported that they had been at school all day."

"Rumours have been spread to the effect that these children had been poisoned. It is important that members of the public recognise that there are some sick persons in the society who are spreading rumours designed to create confusion and mayhem", Police said.

Scores of visibly upset villagers converged on the Guyana Water Authority (GUYWA) office at Melanie Damishana after word spread that the two children had been hospitalised.

Police on routine patrol Friday morning in the area saw the men tampering with the pipe main valve outside GUYWA pump station at Melanie, officials said.

Police apprehended the men who were seen with a pitch fork and shovel. The men claimed they were employed with GUYWA but that proved to be false after checks with the water authority.

Pipe mains have been damaged at Lichfield and Belladrum, West Coast Berbice, in anti-government protests on the East Coast since the March 19 elections. A pipe main was also chopped and burnt by anti-government protesters at Coldingen, East Coast during last month.

President Bharrat Jagdeo last week urged the media to ensure they do not help in the creation of an atmosphere of panic, fear and tension by reporting rumours and falsehood, adding that they have an obligation to the country.

He also appealed to residents in the affected communities not to listen to the rumour-mill.

Police Friday recalled rumours were spread a few weeks ago in Hope that two children who were lost had been killed.

The children were found the next day after they had lost their way when they went to pick plums but those who had been accused wrongfully and assaulted "took to the bushes in fear", Police said.

Panic spread Monday in Enterprise when it was rumoured that a group was heading to burn down the Enterprise Primary School.

This led to tensions among neighbouring villages and Police and Army patrols have been deployed along the coast.

A Police spokesman said at least three trucks, four mini-buses and two cars have been set on fire on the East Coast since the unrest began.

Many other vehicles have also been damaged in the mob attacks and people beaten and robbed, Police said.

I don't see what any of this has to with `standing up for justice' and a `social revolution'.

And as the thousands gathered Friday to bury the 10-year-old boy, his father and the young father shot dead execution-style last Sunday on a dam in the East Coast back land, the agony and the questions mounted.

Seems to me that the working class and other classes around the country have no illusions about this `social revolution' and what it is really aimed at.

`Mo' fire' and 'slow fire' are not causes around which the working class of this country would rally and despite the broken water mains and damaged roads along the East Coast, the coals will soon grow cold.