Dear Editor,
The recent letter by Mr.Vishnu Bisram SN, June 13 is appreciated and I would like to offer my deep regrets that he involved himself in a polemic discourse with such a political gadfly as Fred Kissoon. Kissoon is hell-bent on trying to destroy any positive contribution a person tries to make in the betterment of this country, starting with President Cheddi Jagan and ending, for now, with V.Bisram. I am convinced that Kissoon cannot bear the fact that no-one ever took him seriously, even, I am told, his students who all know that he has not produced any published research papers (in many years at UG) to earn credibility within Guyanese academia. Kissoon’s attacks will continue as long as he is engaged so Mr.Bisram has got to get on with the job of accurate polling and ignore him.
Mr.Bisram’s comments on the situation which confronted us in 1969 at the Sir George Williams University in Montreal, Canada (not Mc Master University) needs further clarification. After a lengthy battle for the hearts and minds of the student population at Sir George due to flagrant racial affronts to the Caribbean students attending that University, disorder prevailed and mayhem ensued, resulting in extensive damage to property and physical injuries to Montreal police and students from Sir George. Ninety-odd students (among them at least 35 white Canadians) were arrested and subsequently charged with 12 counts adding up to life imprisonment. I was among those charged after standing up for the rights of my Caribbean brothers and sisters who were the object of bona fide racialism.
I was bailed out of jail by my godfather, the late President Forbes Burnham while in the Caribbean large demonstrations were held (Jamaica and Trinidad) demanding justice from the Canadian authorities. Here in Guyana, picketing, led by the PYO was held outside the Canadian embassy. Arrested and charged with myself and Maurice Barrow of Guyana were Rosie Douglas (later Prime Minister of Dominica) and Bukka Rennie (later a well known columnist in Trinidadian newspapers) among others.
After one and a half years of legal battles while Caribbean support never wavered, most of us were found guilty of a lesser minor charge and deported from Canada. In this period I was also banned from Grenada and Jamaica along with Walter Rodney who I first met at the Black Writers Congress in 1970 at Montreal.
After the Sir George incident many changes for the better were secured for Caribbean students in Canada and incidents of racism at the level we encountered it, were mainly eliminated. Caribbean people in Canada and the Canadian authorities reached new understandings and new creative relationships.
The second item which I would like to bring to your attention is the closure of Channel 6 and the punishment of Mr. Sharma by this government. There is absolutely no situation which would warrant the severe penalty which this PPP government brought down on Channel 6. I have never heard Mr. Sharma call for the violent overthrow of this government! I have never heard Mr. Sharma call for the death of anyone in this government! I have never heard Mr. Sharma call on a foreign government to invade this country or seize a part of this country! I have never heard Mr. Sharma defend or promote any criminal enterprise or criminal conspiracy in Guyana!
I have never heard Mr. Sharma encourage the citizens of this country to break any law or to disrespect any laws of this country! On the contrary, on many occasions, Mr. Sharma has opened his arms to all those who wanted to voice their opinions, including government officials, within a context of freedom of speech which I uphold, is the most basic fundamental freedom.
Within this context, mistakes were made and even with apologies and promises to eliminate errors in broadcast mode, Mr. Sharma was severely punished above and beyond what should have been set as a standard for the future. It was a sad day when Channel 6 was closed for 4 months and it only reinforces my view of this government as a basic communist-oriented entity with no compunction in harassing the free press while dominating all government owned press.
Yours faithfully,
Cheddi (Joey) Jagan (Jr.)
