Dear Editor,
I refer to Mr Rakesh Rampertab’s correspondence, ‘Party and press seem to have become one‘ (SN, Nov 4), which in language that is unambiguous cites me for a moral failing. His argument is that I should not accept the imposition of the Kaieteur News that I cannot do commentary critical of Donald Ramotar. He feels that I have a moral obligation to reject that denial of my right
When Drs Daljeet and Beharry of Canada and Malcolm Harripaul and Jason Benjamin of the US penned a letter asking me for my attitude to the imposition, my first response was that I acknowledge that I am at fault. I now say the same thing to Mr Rampertab. But this matter is now as clear cut as Mr Rampertab makes it out to be. It was Marx who wrote that social being determines social consciousness. Though I do not necessarily agree with Marx’s observation, the social milieu in which one lives influences our conceptualizations.
As a piece of philosophical musing on morals, Mr Rampertab’s letter is valid. But Mr Rampertab, who lives in the US must know that Guyana does not embody the same moral principles as is found with the people of the US. Guyana is an extremely tragic nation where morals, ethics, logic and mores are contorted beyond recognition. Guyana is a deeply ravaged society at the psychological level where everything and anything are not what they appear to be. This context has to be borne in mind when anyone accuses me of accepting the ban not to write on Mr Ramotar
I don’t have to go far in any argument along this line. The matter is simple to understand. Mr Rampertab must know that to date his is the only voice that has looked at this anomaly. We have independent media houses, a press association, opposition parties, human rights organizations, a Bar Association, an academic community, a trade union movement, civil society. Yet did you see or hear any comments from those quarters? I repeat, to date Mr Ramotar is the only commentator on the Ramotar/Kissoon thing at Kaieteur News.
I can go on to elaborate the nature of Guyanese society but it will take up too much space. Suffice it to say I do not have respect for a majority of the major institutions and key actors in this country. Morally, they do not deserve admiration and respect. In this context, are Mr Rampertab, Drs Daljeet and Beharry and Messrs Harripaul and Benjamin asking me to be the great moral compass of Guyana? I wish I could be, but I will decline the invitation for one fundamental reason. There is a basic moral obligation on my fellow citizens to join me.
Let me confess something that I have never put in print. My mind, soul and body are tired. I have been fighting alone. I fought when I wasn’t a husband. I have been married for 33 years now. I fought when I wasn’t a father. I have a 22-year-old daughter. For twenty-six years I fought alone at UG. Maybe it is time for the Mark Benschops of Guyana to take over. I am only human.
There comes a time when you become tired. I don’t know if I have reached that stage as yet, but I know it can happen. I believe Mr Rampertab’s letter is a theoretically valid document. I have no excuse for not asserting my mental independence. But I ask the question: Why should I stop writing for the Kaieteur News when the society doesn’t give a damn if I am prevented from commenting on Donald Ramotar?
Do the Guyanese people give a damn about anything in this life? Mr Rampertab lives in the US, and he should tell me if there is one single campus there that is as dead as UG. There is none in the world. The university’s union exposed a mad act where four government officials – Gail Teixeira, Dr Prem Misir, Dr Gancham Singh and Pulandar Khandi – marched into a meeting of the highest forum of the University of Guyana and demanded the immediate dismissal of a number of lecturers in the middle of the university semester.
Where is the outcry from the Guyanese people? Which other university in the world would tolerate that? Which other country in the world would tolerate a President that misled the nation that he was legally married. In a country where a libel writ is normally heard five years or more after it is filed, the President’s libel suit against me came to a judge 11 months and three weeks after papers were filed. Such a departure elicited no response from the society except a minor comment from the Bar Association. And Mr Rampertab is asking me to be the moral guide for such a country?
This is Guyana for you. Mr Rampertab should come home and examine it. See for himself the hypocrisy, double standards and moral vacuum. I will end with a little story. Three times, one of Guyana’s most respected citizens and someone with a learned mind, advised me that I should stop writing for Kaieteur News because of the Wikileaks reports on Mr Glen Lall. I flatly and stubbornly refused. My reason to him is the same as the one to Mr Rampertab. I am not a hero and I am not going to accept the title of Guyana’s leading moral crusader. Sorry, not for this country. I will continue to write for KN until I am stopped and I will not stop because I am prevented from writing on Donald Ramotar. I have to see strong philosophical reasons within the Guyanese context why I should stop. Until then, please look out for my KN columns
Yours faithfully,
Frederick Kissoon
