Freddie Kissoon Column
Peeping Tom
Kaieteur News
February 3, 2007
If there is any rule of social behaviour that has remained valid throughout the ages it is that without protest there can be no freedom.
No one should ever believe that freedoms are given on a platter by governments or great leaders. Freedoms have to be fought for. That is a lesson all peoples of the word should learn. One worrying aspect of life in this country is the virtual absence of a culture of protest.
This is unthinkable in a West Indian country that has led the way in protest movements.
When we speak about the great struggles of Caribbean societies, Guyana occupies several special pages in the book of Caribbean history.
This country's past is rich in the emotions of protest for right over wrong. Today, so many perversities threaten our very existence, and no group in this society is so touched as to be galvanised into protest action
No country can enjoy its freedoms for too long if its people sleep in apathy. It will wake up to find dictatorship has taken over.
What is absolutely incredible to know is that this resignation of the Guyanese people comes against a background of sustained and intense struggle against the tyranny of Forbes Burnham and the reluctance of Desmond Hoyte to speed up his democratic reforms. Burnham in particular was harsh in his retaliation, but there was continuous defiance of his oligarchic attitude.
Since I wrote on the conspiracy in high places to deny parking facilities to the Celina Atlantic Resort, I have received e-mails and phone calls and have met dozens of persons who have told me that they are incensed at what is being done to that place and it reminds them of the eerie days before 1992.
On Tuesday evening, I was at GUYEXPO, and believe me, one out of every four persons that stopped to speak to me has told me how worried they are about the implications of the high-handedness behind the parking lot ban.
I had done an article on it based on what Dale Andrews, a colleague of mine at Kaieteur News, had told me. But it was when I stopped in there on Wednesday evening that the staff painted the exact picture for me.
I was told that after the order was given to arrest all the motorists who were stationed there, three outriders came with four police vehicles. Three of the cars were manned by traffic ranks, and the other car had anti-crime personnel with AK-47s. It shows the power and venom behind the conspiracy to kill this place.
I think I have written enough on this dark tale. What worries me is that except for a paragraph by Peeping Tom, not a single person in this country has spoken out on the implication for democracy of this dangerous direction.
It leads you to ask the question again: what has become of the rich tradition of protest in Guyana ?
Any attempt to answer this question has to take into consideration the drama of “slow fyaah and “mo fyaah” and how it has affected the Guyanese people's perception of protest against wrong-doing. First, the motion of these “fyaahs” resulted in considerable damage to commercial Georgetown . Once businesses are affected in Georgetown , the situation hits the pockets of workers, because they lose pay. Business people, then, have turned their backs on the meaning of protest. They don't want to hear the word.
Secondly, “slow fyaah” and “mo fyaah” have created an enormous racial backlash. Indian people were targeted and beaten. Indian people have turned their backs on political protest directed against the Government.
Their perspective on struggle is that once it is done against the PPP Government, it has an ulterior motive – to use violence against Indian people. One can go back before the 2001 election violence to the 1999 Public Service Union strike that was openly hostile to Indian people.
Two nasty incidents have left bitter memories. One is that the PSU personnel who were manning the barricades outside of the gates of the Georgetown Hospital only allowed in one set of people and excluded East Indians from entering the compound.
Then two East Indian doctors who were working in the A&E Department were attacked and had to flee for their safety.
One circumstance beyond the control of the PNC and the PSU is the physical proximity of Georgetown to certain depressed communities. I believe the PNC had no control over the action of dubious elements during post-election protest in 2001, and will not have any control over them again if the PNC takes to the streets in downtown Georgetown . It is a gamble the PNC will have to take if it puts massive numbers in commercial Georgetown .
These reasons can account for the failure of protest action since 2001. But protest against political wrong-doing by the state does not have to be centered in downtown Georgetown .
Protest against bad governance does not have to take the form of street demonstrations. Of course, street protest is a very effective weapon, and perhaps one of the most successful instruments of showing disaffection with bad governance. One can recall the swift response of the Government to mollify the Albion crowds that had burned tyres and disrupted traffic over police insensitivity.
The Prime Minister and the President quickly journeyed to Belladrum when floods in January this year disrupted farming life there. Last week, the villagers of La Grange blocked the streets in a tempestuous demand to have potable water, which was missing in their district for one week.
They got it restored during the protest. Had there been no show of force on the West Bank highway, there would have been no water re-connection. It shows the power and potency, effectiveness and efficacy, of protest action.
There are hundreds of ways to protest excessive behaviour by the state that do not include clogging the streets of commercial Georgetown .
The Latin people like to occupy the steps of the churches for weeks. The Europeans like to use chains to tie themselves across the highways. Surely, Guyanese are an inventive people. They have to recapture the culture of protest before it is too late.