Approximately 100 protesters yesterday held placards at Buxton venting their frustration over issues ranging from discrimination against African Guyanese, police killings with reference to Quindon Bacchus and calls for inclusion and equality.
The protest occurred at the same time as a high-level government team headed by Prime Minister Mark Phillips was meeting with residents of Buxton at the Buxton Community Centre.
Most of the protesters came from other villages that supported recent anti-government protests. They held up placards with messages such as, “Stop The Attacks on Afro-Guyanese”, “Racial Discrimination Against Afro-Guyanese Under Corrupt PPPC Government,” “$$$$ For Mon Repos None for the People of Golden Grove” and “Counselling for Mon Repos, None for Golden Grove,” among others. The group protested under the presence and watchful eyes of unarmed members of the police force and chanted “We demand Justice,” “No Justice, No Peace,” “Who Kill Quindon? – government”, “Who kill Boston?-government” as they gathered on the Buxton Public Road. Their chants were accompanied by African drumming.
Working People’s Alliance Executive Member, David Hinds, who held a placard that read “A son is left fatherless,” told Stabroek News that the gathering was not a protest but more of a movement to demand the PPP/C-led government end their discrimination against Afro Guyanese.
“This is a resistance movement. A movement against oppression, a movement against dictatorship and this includes judicial killings of mainly African Guyanese young men. A movement we are building against economic inequality in society. The government is going around distributing hampers and moneys to people and they are doing so in an unequal way and we want to draw attention to that…” Hinds pointed out as he braved the scorching mid Sunday heat. He argued that the selective forays into communities by the government should not be encouraged, as whatever is being handed out, should be equally distributed among all Guyanese, regardless of class, ethnicity and social standing.
He stated that they are also rallying against poverty, and with oil revenues now being added to the country’s coffers, some of it should be used to aid in the eradication of poverty.
“If you decrease poverty in our society, you are taking care of other problems. You are taking care of instances of crime, problems of low education and problems of low health care. We are out here rallying so that some of the oil money could go to the working people,” he posited. He went to say that their movement is also calling for government to recognize the “Buxton Proposal”. Economist, Professor Clive Thomas at an engagement in 2018 in Buxton, had called for government to tap a portion of oil revenues and distribute it to the people. He had opined that such a move, called the “Buxton Proposal” will promote true equity and see a real lowering of poverty.
According to Hinds, the Government is being hypocritical in their actions. He stated that they are preaching a message of “One Guyana” but their actions are the opposite of that message. He stated that it is against this background they are speaking out and championing the cause for an equal, fair and just society. He noted that while just one ethnicity was out protesting, their struggle is not about ethnicity. “This is not a black versus Indian struggle and the attempt to turn what happened at Mon Repos into a racial struggle was undignified. There were certain people in the crowd, who did what they did there, and not the marchers who marched from Golden Grove and saw all these Indian villages and did nothing… when we win, Indian Guyanese win, Amerindian Guyanese win… Our struggle is against the police state, against dictatorship and against inequality,” he poised.
Other protesters told Stabroek News that their call for justice was based on the injustice that they experienced. They stated that their demonstration is to send notice to government that they are not giving up on their fight for equality and fair treatment. One woman said she was a part of the protest to return attention to the brutal killing of Quindon Bacchus, a youth who was shot by an undercover cop. That cop is expected to be charged soon. She stated that the events of June 28, where over a dozen protestors raided the Mon Repos market and destroyed and stole items form vendors, took away the spotlight on Bacchus’ death. “We are here protesting because we need justice. Without justice there is no peace and we need to highlight the fact that Quindon was innocently killed at the hands of a police,” the woman on the picketing line said.
