It is sometimes the case with the international events surrounding us that an occurrence in a distant country can have relevance for us, in completely separate matters, in our homeland. This week, we had a classic, indeed startling, example in the furore raging in the USA over the nomination of a judge for that country’s Supreme Court when accusations of sexual dalliance by the candidate, Judge Brett Kavanaugh, were raised by Dr Christine Ford, which she says occurred when she and Kavanaugh, were both teenagers in school. With the judge stoutly denying the accusation, the matter came before the Senate and, as various Senators spoke on the matter, a vexing issue that arose from various contentious points, was the call from Dr Ford, and others, to have an FBI background check done on the issue. This suggestion was dismissed by the Senate body and also ruled out as “this is not what the FBI does” by President Donald Trump. The matter boiled with various women’s rights’ groups and the American Bar Association calling for the FBI review, and came to a crescendo on Thursday last when two women, who had been subjected to sexual violence, confronted one of the Senators, Jeff Flake, blocking his way as he exited an elevator in Washington, demanding that he join the call for the FBI review.
Captured, apparently inadvertently, by television cameras, the encounter showed Senator Flake, who had said earlier he would vote “yes” for the nominee, clearly discomfited in the incident. The verbiage from the women was loud, intense and persistent; they would not permit the Senator to pass and they kept insisting on the need for the FBI review. Senator Flake was not rude to them and actually said very little, but he was clearly wishing to be somewhere else and kept averting his eyes until one of the women shouted, “Look at me, when I’m speaking to you.” It was an astonishing moment; this is a Senator of the most powerful body of the most powerful country in the world being berated by one of his own citizens. The impact of her remark was reminiscent of an encounter, many years previous in Washington, during the Army-McCarthy hearings when then Senator Joe McCarthy was raising questions of “communists” in the American government and the U.S. Army, and after a long McCarthy series of accusations, Joseph Welch, Chief Counsel for the U.S. Army being investigated for communist activities, said to McCarthy, in an almost pained tone, “Senator, have you no sense of decency, sir? Have you not done enough?”
That remark, made in 1950, left Joe McCarthy’s assault in tatters and remains a much quoted aspect of the hearings. The woman’s shout to Senator Flake is in the same category; persons who saw the incident on television are phoning others to relay it, as I did. It was a quick outburst, partly muffled, but it came across like a gunshot. The incident can be followed readily online, but suffice it to say that Republican Senator Flake spoke to a Democratic colleague Chris Coons afterwards and shortly came out with a statement saying that “to do things in a correct manner, there should be an FBI examination of the issue.” Within the hour, a complete Republican reversal took place ending with President Trump asking the FBI to do the review.
The issue is a many-faceted one, and can be examined at leisure online with copious assessments from television professionals, but it stands as a striking illustration of the power of organised and reasoned protest in a democracy (other women’s groups had also been holding sidewalk protests calling for the FBI review) and within minutes of Senator Flake’s statement to the nomination hearing, the previous barriers all came down, even the President’s.
Being around a matter in our lives for a long time, we can sometimes lose sight of an essential ingredient in it, and that scenario on Thursday in Washington should serve to remind us that within democracies there is the significant power of organised and disciplined protest. Very often, in Guyana, on chats about one government issue or another, one hears the comment, “Wha yuh gun do, bhai? Dem in power don’t listen.” In fact, as the matters in America reminded us on Thursday, the picture, while varied, is not totally bleak; the power of people speaking passionately and responsibly about an issue often turns the tide. Television, much maligned on this point or that, must be given some credit here for its ability to bring vivid light to bear on an issue. One does not have to do a survey on the impact of the women protesters confronting Senator Flake; that clip undoubtedly has gone around the world and into every corner of America and stirred many; several said it brought them to tears for the pain it reflects, and for the shift it triggered.
Indeed, one is reminded of exactly such a reversal here recently, when a plan to bring parking meters to Georgetown was met with organised and mature protest by the Movement Against Parking Meters. Some of the meters were already in place around town, rates were being proposed, it looked like “boat gone ah falls” on the matter, similar to the Supreme Court nomination in Washington, but the protests succeeded and the plan was aborted. Those two situations – one from abroad and one from here – show that organised citizen power can bring change when properly applied. Admittedly, one voice alone does not swing the issue despite how gratifying it may be to the one speaking out, but in these two fiascoes – one in Washington and one in our Georgetown – we see the value of reasoned protest. For those who feel sidelined and take the “wha yuh gun do?” position, remember that there is a strategic alternative. Realistically, the evidence suggests that Guyanese are not always inclined to take it, but it is there. If enough reasoned voices are raised, barriers can fall.
