Dear Editor,
After reading the very mean, foul attack on Mr David de Caires, Editor-in-Chief of the Stabroek News, by Rickford Burke in last Saturday’s edition (May 24) of this newspaper (‘Stabroek News has sold its soul’), I wondered whether this is the same individual who manages an organization in New York that carries the strange, convoluted name of ‘Caribbean Guyana Insitute for Democracy’? Or if he is that political fellow who, in a letter published in the Guyana Chronicle of February 13, 2008, had boldly called on Mr Robert Corbin to “resign” as leader of the People’s National Congress Reform (PNCR) and savagely ridiculed him?
If this is the same Burke, then he would also be the rabble-rouser who craves the publicity offered him to inflate a seemingly enormous personal ego as he ventures into political engagements, spewing rabid racism. Not just against well known Guyanese of the repute of de Caires, but also in the venom he often pours on a broad mass of our diverse ethnic communities with claims like “the Indian Guyana Government attempts to drive blacks into servitude…”
In his vicious personal attack on de Caires, Burke accused the Stabroek News of having “sold its soul” to the PPP/C government for the restoration of public sector advertisements to the newspaper.
He went on to make the reckless claim that the SN was now “pursuing an anti-black agenda…” offering in the process a few examples of individuals whose perspectives and politics he naturally fully shares, but without any regard for accuracy.
As one of the regional journalists involved in seeking the resumption of public sector advertisements to the SN, and who went public quite early in denouncing the government’s decision to suspend the flow of those advertisements, I happen to know that no deal was ever cut between President Bharrat Jagdeo’s administration and de Caires on behalf of his newspaper.
It would be up to the Guyana Press Association (GPA) to make a statement, if it cares to, about its own knowledge of the restoration of government advertisements to the SN.
It may be normal for political elements like Burke to make wild statements in attacking political leaders, organisations or a government. But to resort to the bitter, racist attack as he did against de Caires should be disgusting for Guyanese across ethnic, political and class boundaries. Silence on matters of this nature helps to make more vocal the perpetrators of racism and the reckless with scant respect for a law and order environment.
Burke’s outpouring of bile against de Caires and the SN should not really be surprising to those who may be more familiar with his political agenda and the manner of ‘democracy’ he practises in the operations of his own ‘Caribbean Guyana Institute for Democracy’ that he uses as publicity platform, and which publicity he secures from those apparently starved for copies.
Just recall, for example, how dismissive Burke was of Corbin as PNCR leader in the Chronicle’s letter of last February 13.
“The current leadership of the People’s National Congress Reform has no vision to offer as an alternative government and has failed in every respect to represent its constituents. Unfortunately, its failure has been catastrophic, and is the biggest disappointment of the decade.”
In that same contemptuous dismissal of Corbin, Burke, who likes to remind readers that he is a “former Special Assistant to the Leader of the PNC,” had thought it necessary to state that “I did not support Vincent Alexander’s bid for the leadership…” (at the party’s last Congress). He made clear that he did not think then, or now, that Alexander was an alternative to Corbin as “the best person to be leader.” So, if not Corbin or Alexander, I think readers can guess who they think Burke has in mind as that “best leader”? They can direct responses to Burke’s ‘democracy’ organization in New York.
It is perhaps to the credit and generosity of the editors of the Chronicle and Stabroek News, that they could be so accommodating to the egotism, the arrogance of letter writers, or occasional contributors, like Burke.
Incidentally, Burke has a handful of local counterparts, one of whom delights in feeding his own ego by attracting publicity to himself by what he regularly offers in another newspaper. No need for me to also give him publicity here.
David de Caires does not need me to defend him. Nor do his editorial colleagues. But there is a limit to tolerance when confronted with the political/cultural sickness of those who have nothing but venomous accusations and outright racism to offer in support of their desperation to gain political recognition.
Yours faithfully,
Rickey Singh
