Dear Editor,
The outrage that occurred on Saturday June 26 at a conference hosted by the Guyana Institute of Historical Research must be condemned in the strongest possible manner. The actions displayed by agents sent by the Guyanese state machinery are ominous, especially in the light of forthcoming elections in 2011, and provide an insight into the lengths to which the state will go to control and stifle dissent. The target of the whole organized operation was clearly Mr Frederick Kissoon, who had risen to present a paper comparing the presidency of Bharrat Jagdeo with that of his predecessors when the disruption began.
Present were a senior government propagandist and his associate, two men from some section of state security, and about seven or eight Afro-Guyanese men and women obviously hired for the occasion. Once Mr Kissoon began his presentation, two of these individuals, a man and woman, loudly interrupted Kissoon. The chairman for the panel in which Kissoon was slated to speak, Dr Thomas Singh, managed to escort two of the individuals through the door, but the lead woman came in again and began to berate Mr Kissoon once more. Again the chairman intervened and peace reigned for a bit. The striking feature was the disconnect between the insults hurled at Kissoon and the content of his presentation. One man was shouting something about “Muslims” over and over again in a way that made it clear that those who had hired him had not shown him the respect of briefing him. That the action was orchestrated was confirmed when the main organizer of the attack was seen receiving a cell phone call, after which he came back into the conference and gave the signal to his henchmen and women to depart.
One of the stories told in a presentation during a later panel on the last writings of then WPA co-leader Walter Rodney was about a speech he made at a public meeting in defence of Arnold Rampersaud, an Indo-Guyanese PPP activist falsely accused of murdering an Afro-Guyanese policeman in the 1970s. Saying that he was speaking as an Afro-Guyanese to other Afro-Guyanese, he recounted what he called the proud history of Africans in this country and appealed to them not to be used for “skullduggery.” Today, this dirty work is not being done “for free” but instead, women and men who need incomes and jobs are given a “small piece” as their reward for disgracing themselves. Like many others at the Library on Saturday we were ashamed at this latest example of the hiring of African-Guyanese women and men (and no doubt cheaply) to perform transparent, slimy acts of intimidation on behalf of a government which has reduced them to this level of degradation.
The episode at the National Library is ominous from two standpoints. First, it tells us that in spite of all of the proclamations to the contrary, the government is hyper-responsive to criticisms of its policy and personnel and is now turning to denying prominent critics such as Freddie Kissoon the right to speak. Secondly, it raises questions about Mr Kissoon’s physical safety.
Guyanese must not stand idly by when attempts are made to curtail and trample on the fundamental rights of any citizen in this society. If we do, worse will come. Writing in our individual capacities, we call on all Guyanese to stand in defence of Freddie Kissoon in the face of these blatant assaults on his liberty and freedom to speak.
Yours faithfully,
Andaiye
Nigel Westmaas
Desmond Trotman
Deon Abrams
