IAC wants Kean Gibson prosecuted
Guyana Chronicle
April 16, 2004
THE Indian Arrival Committee (IAC) is calling on the Ethnic Relations Commission (ERC) to recommend the prosecution of Dr. Kean Gibson for writing "The Cycle of Racial Oppression in Guyana."
IAC made the call in an oral presentation to the ERC in High Street yesterday, contending that Dr. Gibson's book "is a dangerous piece of literature that is peddling and spreading racial hatred in Guyana between its principal ethnic groups, and is constructed to provide a basis for the unleashing of race war in Guyana."
It was the only organization to have called upon the ERC to conduct a public inquiry into the Gibson publication, with a view to condemning "race hate propaganda and removing this publication from circulation."
The IAC said its contention is based on the fact that the central theme of Dr. Gibson's publication is as follows: Hindus in Guyana are oppressing Afro-Guyanese. Since almost all Hindus are Indo-Guyanese, it can be readily interpreted to suggest that Indo-Guyanese are oppressing Afro-Guyanese.
"The IAC wishes to remind the public that it is a crime for one ethnic group to oppress another ethnic group in Guyana," said the organization.
It said it finds Dr. Gibson's book "extremely disturbing not only because the allegation is false, but also because the falsehood is being peddled by Dr. Gibson who holds a doctorate from a university and because many persons may be let it believe that there is some truth in this myth because of Dr. Gibson's academic qualification.
"The IAC believes that the ERC has a responsibility to the nation to prevent the spread of such hate literature in Guyana and has called upon the ERC to summon Dr. Gibson to Guyana to defend this work. The IAC is very anxious for the ERC to obtain from Dr. Gibson where exactly this oppression is taking place: in which localities? In which countries? In which regions? In which institutions? In which organizations? In which entities? This information is necessary so that this oppression may be unveiled and eliminated if, indeed, it is occurring."
The IAC's complaint to the ERC consists of 48 statements taken from "The Cycle of Racial Oppression in Guyana," deemed by the IAC to be "particularly offensive."
"These statements, the IAC feels, are designed to sow, promote and spread racial strife, discord, disunity, disharmony, tensions and antagonism and to lay the foundation for racial violence, violent pre-emptive racial attacks against Indo-Guyanese and eventually, open race war, all of which will bring no good to Guyana," the IAC said in its presentation.
The organization, which began its presentation on Wednesday, was represented at the ERC hearing by Executive Members Evan Radhay Persaud and Arun Richard, as well as other members and supporters.
"It appears to the IAC that the laws of Guyana do not permit the propagation of race hate or the promulgation of the theoretical justification for race war," the grouping said, adding: "The IAC believes that the laws of Guyana have been broken and if the ERC concurs with the arguments of the IAC, then the IAC will recommend that the Chambers of the Director of Public Prosecutions be made aware of that position with a view of taking prosecutorial action against the principal purveyor of the race war theory in order to ensure that, in future, racists in the political arena are not allowed to peddle race hate and race war in Guyana under the guise of scholarship research."