Dear Editor,
Civil society is the local craze these days. I look at it ruefully; so much difference could have been made by so few, but only if the component bodies are 100 per cent, and out-and-out genuine. Here in Guyana, many of them – too many of them – have their feet in two boats, in defiance of ancient and proven Chinese wisdom. Hence, they do not inspire confidence; they generate little in the trust department.
There are some who mean well, the still unsullied, and the immovably patriotic amongst these citizens. Then there are the frauds, the infiltrators, and the political fronts in army strength. Some of them have history (not of a good kind), and present interests that coincide with the same political powers they carefully berate, or secretly serve.
Anything will be done, and anybody served to further themselves. Repeat their own welfare first. Great care is taken to manifest zero political risk, so that there is no political consequence, no retribution. Is it any wonder that this civil society phenomenon, and its component units, fail to register tangible movement, gain recognizable traction?
They think they fool the people. I say, think again brothers. The people discern – in spite of, perhaps because of – the smooth manmade haze weaved by this political-civil society complex, this equivalent of Guyanese royalty. Citizens yearn for social, political, and personal grace, and the soft peace that follows, but they sit on their hands. They do not even listen any more. It is because there are too many false prophets, too many opportunists, and too many wise guys.
At the beginning, when I was unschooled in the arts of domestic treachery, I found the presence of civil society exhilarating, then disturbing, and last not worthy of trusting. They are those who share the same experiences and same sentiments, arguably more viscerally. For the sake of this society, this is regrettable. So much difference could have been made for those who need it the most, and where it really counts – at the political level. But nobody is going there. And they take issue with those who dare to try.
I urge sceptical Guyanese to recall the experiences of that wunderkind who all like to quote and identify with, Martin Luther King. In his time, MLK numbered among his own substantial adversaries and resistance people of distinction, even class at times. They were preachers and professionals, and bankers and businessmen. Last, they were black, or in the parlance of that time “Negro.”
When he went to Birmingham in 1963 with the intention of breaking the back of segregation, the local black bourgeoisie invited him to the Gaston Motel for what the Mafia would call a “sit-down.” What you doing here brother? Why do you insist on riling these people? Well, he stayed and the rest is history that we all like to quote, including hypocrites.
Here is the point: Guyana has the equivalent of that Alabama black bourgeoisie. It is called civil society. Hear it say: Let’s not anger The Man. What is unsaid, like the Alabamans, is: We have interests to protect and relationships to cultivate. Feet in two boats, remember? Members of that two-boat patrol take comfort in group think, the camouflage of the pack, and the anonymity of deliberate and practised ambiguity.
“We must be prepared to die, before we can begin to live.” So said Fred Shuttlesworth back then. In other words, take a stand. In Guyana, let us look at ourselves and ask: Who is ready to do so?
Yours faithfully,
GHK Lall
