Dear Editor,
Reference is made to Mr Mike Persaud’s letter (‘There is evidence to indicate an evolving political consciousness among the Guyanese people,’ SN, Dec 11) in order to clarify some factual errors as well as his misunderstanding of the protocol and management structure of a publication. Mr Persaud referred to “Bisram’s paper …” I did not own a newspaper in 2008. I used to publish a paper called Guyana Abroad (GA) (which Mr Persaud was familiar with) in the late 1980s and early 1990s that exposed human rights violations and the suffering of Guyanese, bringing awareness to North American politicians to take action against the PNC regime. That publication emerged out of deep involvement in the democracy struggle since 1976. GA was entirely funded by me as Mr Persaud well knows, and I also contributed financially towards the publication of other organs as Mr Dev and others could attest. A publication is costly and I could no longer afford to bear the financial burden of GA and ceased operations shortly after democracy was established in Guyana.
Mr Persaud levelled an allegation that I penned letters under a “fictitious name” in the weekly Caribbean New Yorker (CNY) urging Indo-Caribbeans not to vote for Obama. I did not read the letters and as such I do not know if Mr Persaud’s paraphrasing of the contents is accurate since he incorrectly paraphrased my views on other issues. As I responded then and I repeat now, I do not write under fictitious names. I am very proud of my writings and views and have no reason to hide behind any other name. I stand behind my views. Whenever and wherever I travel, people tend to applaud me for my writings and views. Thus, I always write under my own name because of the large following they attract. Whenever I erred, I apologized. Was the name used in the letters fictitious or was it that of a real person? I am not familiar with the nature of the comments against Obama or anyone else as published in CNY as I never read them since I was away from the city. As Mr Persaud, himself wrote, the attacks occurred during the summer and fall of 2008. As he knows, my summers, as indeed all school vacations (including the fall) and long weekends for the last umpteen years, were spent away from NY pursuing my academic interests, conducting opinion polls overseas or participating in democratic struggles; he, himself, dropped me off or picked me up at the airport. Thus, I could not have any knowledge of any letter exchanges in CNY or any other publications in NY. He raised the issue with me then and I informed him of my complete ignorance and have never read the exchanges till this day.
As Mr Persaud noted, a Paul Sanders accused me of being the writer behind the attacks on Obama and unjustly slandered my name in the Caribbean Daylight without evidence to substantiate his claim. I denied it (and I believe the denial was carried in Daylight although I stand to be corrected). Sanders wrote several other pieces attacking me arguing that as “Diplomatic Editor” I should have known about the attacks and dissociated myself from them. Daylight did not carry my several responses and the publisher, himself wrote a scathing commentary on me without carry my responses to Sanders or his own commentary. Mr Persaud criticized CNY for “shutting down” responses to the exchanges but not Daylight for refusing to carry my responses. I condemn attacks on people as it is not my style of writing unless it is a justifiable tit for tat (re Sanders). I had a weekly byline in CNY and also did a lot of reporting on community events. My name appears in the masthead as ‘Diplomatic Editor’ (not International Editor) although I hardly edited anything in the paper. There was hardly any news of a diplomatic nature to edit. CNY operated on a shoestring budget. I believe the publisher managed and edited the paper on his own given his small budget. I was a voluntary contributor (never paid) and in fact at times I offered financial assistance to help with publications given that it served a greater community purpose. I also raised funds for the paper from my contacts and supporters as the publisher and donors can attest. Mr Persaud himself applauded the paper for serving community interests, and in fact, some of Mr Persaud’s submissions were published in the paper. On my writings on or about Obama, my
recollection they had to do with analyzing opinion surveys. I never attacked Obama or anyone else or urged people not to vote for him. In fact, the opposite is factual. I campaigned for Obama as Mr Persaud well knows. Every election cycle for last several decades, I volunteer for Democratic candidates (at my union office – this information can be verified) and often phoned Mr Persaud to join me on the campaign. He worked in the afternoons and could not take part in election campaigns as I did almost on a daily basis when I was in the city. Sanders also did not campaign for Obama. Most recently, I campaigned for Bill DeBlasio. Others talked and criticized while I performed! Also, for the record, during the mid-1980s, as I faintly recall, Barack Obama, then a young man studying at Columbia University or living in the area, came to nearby CCNY to jointly work with student leaders to organize protests and a petition drive opposing Ronald Reagan’s budget cuts on public tuition assistance. I served in various capacities of the Graduate Student Council including as President, Treasurer, Vice President, Councillor, etc. Several of us cooperated or worked jointly with Obama. I was responsible for getting student signatures on mass circulated petitions. I believe Obama addressed several of our gatherings (I stand to be corrected). I urge Persaud, Sanders and the SN editor to write the White House to confirm this episode in history.
Messrs Persaud and Sanders need to understand that in journalism a writer is not responsible for anything not under his byline. I have a depth of experience in journalism (because of the encouragement of Vassan Ramracha to write on oppression in Guyana) having been writing columns and reports since 1977 and having served as a student reporter for the City College of New York (CCNY) campus newspaper, The Paper (a Black students’ paper) and occasionally for the Source (a Jewish students’ publication). Also, I did a radio show at CCNY radio and had some training on TV (CCNY SAME) – don’t know whether these media institutions are still around. The editor is responsible for content. I was not the editor of CNY, as Mr Persaud himself noted, and I had no control over the content of CNY.
Yours faithfully,
Vishnu Bisram
