Dear Editor,

Because I believe the media is responsible to its public, and that the best among the media are those that uphold and defend the truth, I wish to take to task the editor for his note appended to M. Sookraj's letter captioned "Mash should not be shoved down our throats"(27-03-2002). Sookraj, like many others, was pointing out that Republic Day as it is currently observed is not a national cultural event but a black Guyanese event that is being pushed down everyone's throats. SN's position, as per its note is that there is wider support for Mashramani. Where does SN get its truth from? It is definitely not from evidence of any of the wine-down parades anywhere in Guyana. I watched the one in the city and the only large group of Indian Guyanese were those who walked along with the Ministry of Agriculture's float. They were not wearing garish costumes or disporting themselves in the vulgar Mash manner. They looked wary of all that was going on around them. There were a few other Indians and Amerindians scattered about but the Republic Day event, called Mashramani, is, in every way, a black Guyanese affair.

The very idea of putting on near-naked costumes and doing vulgar copulatory moves in public is offensive to many Guyanese and I agree totally with the position that the government has no right to spend much-needed dollars on such vulgarity and to try and justify this unholy waste by passing off Mashramani as a national cultural event. It is part of the appeasement politics they feel they need to play but enough already! It is not working, is it? A strike is threatened and the Opposition Leader talks about going to the barricades. Wasting money on a wine-down for black Guyanese is not the answer or a solution.

I agree with Sookraj that Republic Day should be observed, and that it should be observed by all Guyanese including Indians, Amerindians, Chinese and Portuguese. It is time we put our collective creativity together and come up with a celebration that shows we are a proud and a dignified people.

A news organisation of integrity would rush to uncover the government's lie about Mashramani. Stabroek News defends it, one of the very few things it does defend about the PPP/C government. In doing so, SN shows clearly, yet again, whose interest it supports and defends.

Yours faithfully,

Kamla Gopaul