Most of us have likely not experienced intolerable levels of hardship, such as trying to live in man-made swamps, resulting from lands being deliberately flooded with foul smelling water that could possibly cause disease. Deliberately flooding spaces that Guyanese are occupying in the midst of a global pandemic is inhumane. But sadly, if we are not directly affected by the human rights violations in this country, most of us will remain silent. Because we have never experienced restless nights wondering whether the walls that hide us would be standing in the morning, we turn a blind eye. We skip the channels when the faces of the squatters are on the screen, mute their cries, or skip the pages on which their troubles are being written about. We are not at risk of experiencing the despair of being displaced during a pandemic, so we try to justify these actions by highlighting that squatting is illegal. No one is disputing that according to our man-made laws concerning these lands we came and met on this earth that squatting is illegal. Lands we will die and leave after all the fighting and wickedness. Much of the Guyanese lands were bought and paid for by the blood and sweat of our ancestors. The fact that Guyanese must still resort to squatting in a country where unoccupied lands are plentiful is another indication of our failures.
Currently we are not living in normal circumstances. To protect our health, we are advised to remain indoors as much as possible, to practice physical distancing, sanitise and wear masks in public. Yet we are displacing squatters at this critical time. We think it is acceptable to convert a school into a shelter to house 50 squatters where cots too short and too narrow have been placed instead of beds. Are they not even deserving of a comfortable night’s rest? I guess it is too much to provide beds and mattresses for these poor unfortunate souls? Are the single parents who have multiple children supposed to sleep on the floors? Do not deserve a smidgen of privacy because they are squatters?
Perhaps some of us would be happier with the homeless population multiplying. We are not concerned with hiding our shame to the world. We boast of oil wealth transforming our country, while watching and enabling the transformation of the lives of our brothers and sisters for the worse.
Most of us have probably never had to watch our children crying while their beds were flooded and while the green grass on which they played was killed by stagnant water. While the innocence of the children is being bulldozed by the actions of our fellow citizens, we are saying that only the lives of some Guyanese children matter; some of them will be left behind by the ills of the system that targets the hopes and dreams of our citizens. Some of them will be conditioned to believe that they are second-class citizens in this country.
Most of us cannot relate to being offered inadequate temporary shelter in a time of COVID-19, when our mental and physical health is at risk. Our brothers and sisters have been put at risk with little regard for their wellbeing. Poor people are having their human rights violated, and their lives put at risk, but some us continue like it is business as usual. It seems like we would rather prioritize the planting of sugarcane above the safety and wellbeing of citizens of this country even if it means that half the population dies and the cane rots.
Why are citizens of this country being treated like refugees? Even refugees in some countries are treated with more dignity. But any society that is fractured, where people are continuously hurt, where injustice is rampant and the incompetent and hard-hearted are allowed to hurt the people, we all will be affected. Whether we are targeted by the less fortunate, whether our loved ones become victims or whether we battle the voices in our heads challenging us to do or say something. All is not well in Guyana.
I am not a Success squatter but I am a human who sees the suffering of my fellow citizens and choose to empathise. I am a concerned Guyanese. A line in our national pledge says “To love my fellow citizens;” where is the love for the Success squatters?
Guyana is not one people and one nation. It is time we stop repeating that lie. We are a people divided by race, class and political affiliation. We are a nation of those who pretend to be fighting for justice and peace on behalf of those who are oppressed but are selective in their outrage and have ulterior motives. Our one destiny is death for it is the only thing we cannot escape.
Many are not without land because they have not applied for a plot but there are people who have been waiting for more than a decade after applying. But some of us will sit in our cozy homes and say that the squatters are wrong because it is illegal for them to want a plot of land to live in the country where they were born, and they have been waiting for too long.
Many of the people who began squatting at Success were forced to squat because they could no longer afford to pay rent after COVID-19 hit Guyana. The economic ramifications of COVID-19 are no secret.
Is there no compassion for the poor people of the nation? The children of the Success squatters? Are they not a part of the future of Guyana? Could a president, a minister, or CEO not emerge from the group of Success squatters?
I understand that some of us are fearful to use our voices because we are afraid of victimization. I understand that some of us turn a blind eye because we are not directly affected; we are not poor or hungry, we sleep comfortably at night and no one is threatening to bulldoze our homes. But when we are comfortable with citizens being treated with contempt in this country, do we really believe the rain will only fall on their houses forever?
An indication of progress would be to develop vacant lands across this country and distribute them equitably at a reasonable cost to our citizens. Should Guyanese even be paying the government for land? We are trapped and controlled by the conditions we humans have created.
It is disgraceful that in 2020 some Guyanese must still resort to squatting. But what is even more shameful is that to force them off the land we flood them and force parents and their children to sleep in tents on the street. We place cots in a school and call them beds, and promise to do COVID tests on all those who occupy the shelter to act like we actually care about their wellbeing and are doing them a favour. The people know the truth.
