Women’s rights activist and founding member of Red Thread, Karen De Souza, last evening warned that all Guyanese are in danger of suffering from police and executive excesses, since the problem was not just the deaths of young men, but also the callousness of people in high positions.
“Successive… governments have sat and turned a blind eye to the random killing of youngsters. As soon as you hear a youngster get kill by the police, you hear he had a gun; police was under fire; police was in danger…” De Souza said, addressing a small gathering of about 50 people who attended a rally organised by Red Thread and the civic grouping, the People’s Parliament.
The objective was to protest last Friday night’s killing of Dameon Belgrave by members of the Guyana Police Force as well as the murders of Shaquille Grant and the three Linden protestors.
Persons congregated opposite the White Castle Fish Shop on Hadfield Street, a stone’s throw away from where Belgrave took his last breath. They held up placards with slogans such as “How many more mothers must cry and bury their sons?” and “Stop the extra-judicial killing”. But as the speeches were made, many ‘regulars’ were at the fish shop socializing, paying scant regard to those who were standing up for justice.
De Souza, in a fired-up speech, charged that the nation should not accept scapegoats–such as the firing of an officer or even that of the Home Affairs Minister–but rather should be concerned with the supervising authority, which ultimately is the government since the buck stops at the highest level.
Video
She said Red Thread and the People’s Parliament organised the event because they don’t believe members of the Guyana Police Force should be involved in “unintentional deaths”. She said they invited a number of civil society organisations and political parties, but only one party responded. She did not name the party but many of the well-known faces of the Alliance For Change (AFC), including Leader Khemraj Ramjattan, Chairman Nigel Hughes and Speaker of the National Assembly Raphael Trotman were present. In contrast, no leader of APNU was seen.
“Only one of those parties has responded and we have to reflect on some of these situations and understand what exactly that means…” De Souza told the small gathering.
She also stated that prior to the rally, there were Blackberry messages circulating warning people that there would be trouble as a result of the event and that they should leave their valuables at home if they are travelling.
“Let me just make this clear, there would be no trouble here this afternoon. All we are here to do is to call on the people of this country to say that we have to stand up in defence of each other. We have to stand up and say when officials are overacting; when officials are out of control. We the citizens, we the country have to stand up and say enough,” De Souza said.
Video
She pointed out that there have been protest actions over incidents but these ran for a little while and then stopped because the cries, the appeals and the pleadings have fallen on deaf ears. This is so, she said, because there has not been the connecting of the various incidents.
‘Obscenities’
Making reference to Cabinet Secretary Dr Roger Luncheon, De Souza called his utterances “obscenities” and an attempt to trivialise the grief and anger of affected persons.
“There was something about ‘if you ready leh we rumble’ and there was some singing ‘we shall not be moved’, because, apparently, talking about the killing of young men is a joke to these people,” she said.
De Souza called out members of the media for laughing at the utterances of Luncheon. “But what I found even more obscene is the fact that the media that were gathered in that room for that press conference joined him in the laughter. And I have to wonder who are we? What are we? Or what is this thing that we call a media corps? What is your responsibility? Not just as media but what is your responsibility as a human being and as a citizen of this country, that you could sit down there, have a high official making fun of people’s tragedies and you laugh with him?”
Meanwhile, mother of murdered Agricola teenager Shaquille Grant, Shonett Adams, said she is not into politics, but seeking justice for her son since her wound is very deep and her pain more than anyone could imagine.
“There is nothing they can do to intimidate me,” she said. “When gathered in front of the Georgetown Magistrate’s Court yesterday [Thursday], myself, family, relatives and friends we didn’t gather there to give support, we are seeking justice.”
She said they would not stop until Police Constable Terrence Wallace, who is charged with her son’s murder, is treated like other accused and not be given preferential treatment such as riding in the front seat of the prisoners’ van. She questioned why the media are not allowed to take a photograph of the charged policeman.
Adams said they are not influenced by any political party. The government has charged that the opposition and more so, leaders of the AFC such as Hughes are the instigators of the protest. Adams said, in a quite matter of fact manner, that she is in charge of the protestors. According to her, some of the persons who were held up in the traffic on Thursday as a result of the protest indicated that “we should have done that a long time ago”.
“We don’t need no support from the PPP, the AFC, the PNC and the APNU. We need the support of the people who are standing tall with us. We are not there to score political points. We need people who are going to stand in the best interest of our youths,” the grieving mother said before quoting a verse from the national song, “This Land is my Land”.
She described the protest at Agricola as “peaceful” and warned that they will stand tall and go through to the end until justice is served and each and every member of the unit that killed her son is brought to justice.
“We ain’t backing down,” she said making reference to Dr Luncheon’s comment that he was ready to rumble.
“Since no pressure can move Rohee, no pressure can take us off the streets. I work better when I under pressure,” she added. “And this is where my mission starts. I am ready and equipped for it.”
Grant’s mother also apologised to the persons who were robbed on Thursday night during the Agricola unrest, but said her people were not responsible.
Hughes, who the government has accused of organising the Agricola protest on Thursday, said the government is frightened and it has no response because the people of Guyana, “are the most dangerous weapons we have, which is our minds and our brains. We are in the process of emancipating ourselves from mental slavery.
“The government is running scared that is why they are making statements like Luncheon made, to provoke a reaction. And the reason why they want to provoke a reaction is because they do not want the law to take its course. They have no ability to deal with justice and the rule of law.”
Hughes stated that the government is not concerned about what happens in Georgetown or Agricola, it wants people to block the streets so it can videotape the footage and take it to Corentyne where its support base is.
He urged people to be calm, adding that he is not calling for peace but rather for calm, concerned and calculative. He said it was Jamaican artiste Peter Tosh who sang that while everybody is fighting for peace, no one fights for equal rights and justice.
Video
Broken system
Region Ten Chairman Sharma Solomon said people should understand that though the struggle started in Linden, it is a struggle of attitude, of a broken system that is managing the country’s affairs and which needs to be corrected.
“[July 18] presented the perfect opportunity for what we are trying to do now. The days after, we could have saved the lives of those lost in September and into this month. You have to understand Guyana, that our consciousness has become so emotionally drained that you imagine someone could have been killed right across the street and the party goes on,” Solomon said in direct reference to the many who were socialising at the fish shop.
He said likewise, while they were struggling in Linden, the party went on in Georgetown. But he cautioned, while in July it was in Linden; in August, Agricola; in October Pouderoyen [Belgrave is from that village] “people of Georgetown they will come knocking at your doors soon…”
Video
Solomon added that there is no statute of limitations on murder or incompetence and what the country has is a very incompetent Minister of Home Affairs and with him in charge “of the Guyana killing force we are in danger and you must take that seriously.
“Let me tell you this, Linden may seem as though it is resting but I can tell you this on record, we have some concerns with recent developments as it relates to the Commission of Inquiry and as it relates to the agreement that was signed on the 21st of July….”
Solomon said the struggle will continue and all of Guyana will have to struggle against the injustice, because “injustice anywhere is injustice everywhere.
“Recent developments will give direction to our struggles. There is a new dimension to be unfolded.”
Also addressing the gathering were activist Freddie Kissoon, a member of the Society Against Sexual Orientation Discrimination (SASOD), Jermaine Grant of the Youth Coalition for Transformation, which had started out as the youth arm of APNU, among others.
