Dear Editor,
The Linden killings came on the heel of the following actions by the PPP since the November 2011 election: (1) the PPP accused the PNC of rigging the election when the PPP controlled the election machinery; (2) the PPP’s mouthpiece, the Guyana Chronicle, published a racist editorial which enraged Africans throughout Guyana; (3) the PPP bigwigs never apologized for the editorial; (4) some PPP persons sought to defend it as factual; (4) the PPP did not have heavily armed forces at a sugar workers’ protest in Albion that started before Linden, but it did so for Linden; (5) a top PPP leader stated before the election that no Africans were qualified for ambassadorial posts; (6) the PPP failed to listen to Lindeners on the tariff issue; (7) the PPP’s press release shortly after the Linden killings was boorish, inappropriate and uncaring; and (8) the PPP knew the protests were planned for only five days and that a restrained approach was preferable. Either to give orders to use force or to fail to prepare the forces for a colossal protest on the back of simmering ethnic acrimony caused by a racist inflammatory editorial was irresponsible. The PPP cannot in the light of its conduct and actions claim it could not see the danger of escalation from the police force shooting and killing peaceful protesters.
Some would argue that for a few votes more some ethnic entrepreneurs were hoping that an outbreak of outrage over Linden would spark political tension along ethnic lines in this country. They argue these agents provocateurs hoped that in the aftermath of this, those who left the trap of ethnic voting would return. It has backfired. It exposed the serious intellectual deficits of those who may have sought to benefit. In looking at narrow ethnic gains, they forgot to look for the repercussions of the failure of their plan. The consequences are now being felt across Guyana and in harsh economic terms. There is now a prolonged blockade which is crippling the largest industry in Guyana, the gold production sector and bauxite, which contribute more to the national coffers than sugar. Gold and bauxite combined account for more than half of Guyana’s foreign exchange earnings. These two industries are deeply affected by the blockade. Supply lines to the interior are severed; in a struggling economy with sugar declining this year and budget cuts and oversight the rage, the PPP could not afford anything tragic in Linden for economic reasons. The PPP will attempt to blame any economic fallout on Lindeners without acknowledging that its actions or omissions caused the resulting economic mess to vital industries and the country as a whole.
To make matters worse, the PPP is already on shaky ground with the mining industry with Robert Persaud firmly rejected by that industry. The Linden blockade now cripples Amerindian communities, which will see this as an opportunity to break free from the political control of the PPP.
There is no sign of when this blockade will end since the PPP has done nothing to indicate good faith empathy on its part. It continues to be callous and combative. This arrogance and hauteur bring serious economic risk. Even worse, the loss of Amerindian political support from this fiasco will further weaken the PPP. Now that the military has seemingly developed a decent relationship with the people of Linden, the PPP’s headaches deepen. Yet, the PPP continues its crass and callous response to this issue.
I have always maintained the problem with those PPP hijackers who seized the party from its working class base is not just hubris but a lack of intellectual depth, strategic vision and realpolitik analysis. These individuals simply cannot think beyond short term personal benefits and they end up with long term losses from it. When sons, nephews, brothers, uncles and fathers are killed, you cannot predict the ensuing anger and pain of a community and how long it will last. It looks like Lindeners plan to mourn their own for a long time. A little contrition and decency from the PPP would have gone a long way in resolving this mess. But then again, this is the PPP we are talking about.
Yours faithfully,
M Maxwell
