Dear Editor,
It was brought to our attention that in the Guyana Times newspaper dated May 2, 2023, a letter signed by Attiya Baksh accused us of being dormant during the time the APNU/AFC coalition was in office. We suppose the purpose of the letter was to say that Red Thread only speaks out when the PPP is in office and that we are pro-opposition and anti-government (or pro government during the coalition years). For the record, in October 2015, Red Thread issued an open letter to then President David Granger and was the first on the picket line, protesting outside of the office of the President when the Coalition announced a shameful 50% salary increase for government officers. This story was covered by the newspapers. Kaieteur News covered it on October 17, in a story captioned Red Thread protests government salary increases.
We are not going to spend our time fending and proving with anyone but would like to encourage Ms. Baksh to do her research. We know who we are and what we do. There are several other headline media reports of some of our work. For example: Ministerial Code of Conduct falls short of Sexual Offences Act (Deme-rara Waves, January 5,2016); Red Thread wants Lawrence disciplined for excuses in not addressing child molestation claims (Guyana Chronicle, March 2016); Stabroek market vending: Red Thread accuses Mayor, Town Clerk of double standard; calls for compensation (Deme-rara Waves May 5,2016); Protest over VAT measures question promised good life, (SN, March 1 2017); Red Thread pickets Labour Department ( HGPTV, June 28, 2019), CJIA sexual scandal: Red Thread lends solidarity to victims with protest (KN, June 28, 2019), Moving forward forum hears calls for racism to be addressed (SN, September 13, 2020).
Our website https://redthreadguyana. org has just some of the media coverage of our actions. Red Thread is one small organization among many others and individual rights advocates. Why single us out? Why are our voices more important than the many others? It seems that the purpose of Ms. Baksh’s letter is to say that Red Thread has a political agenda. Yes Red Thread has a political agenda, and it is to work with Guyanese together, across race and political party, starting with grassroots women…..and we will keep speaking regardless who is in or out of power where we see a need to speak out. Our advice to ALL, where ever/whenever there is a need for voices to be heard, use your voices instead of looking for others to use theirs. More voices, more power!
Sincerely,
Joy Marcus
Susan Collymore
Halima Khan
Wintress White
