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When people speak about the wrongs in society and discriminatory treatment meted out to some there is an attempt to shut us down, deny or trivialise the seriousness of the claims. This could only be for one reason, i.e., the misplaced notion that we are not all equal and deserving to be treated with respect and dignity and guarantee exact protection under the law. We who have stood up against the wrongdoings of those we voted for or may look like us, cannot, as Guyana enters its 55th year as an independent nation become tired, grow weary or still our voices.
The attacks and denial may grow louder from those who reside in ‘ivory towers,’ are beneficiaries of an unequal society and have more access to public media and other resources. We need not forget that as in the days of yore where these were not hindrance to the fights for justice, they must not be hindrance now. Nobody has a right or privilege to treat any son and daughter of Guyana as though they do not belong, as though they are aliens in this nation their forebears fought to create and laid the foundation for. Nobody.
And if we accept that each is entitled -yes, entitled -to participate in and reap of this nation’s bounties as prescribed under the law, no man, woman or child must tell us otherwise. We are not a people that have accepted marginalisation, discrimination silently or with a whimper. It is not within mankind’s DNA. We must not accept being treated like dogs and even dogs are protected from mistreatment.
As we look around the world no society gets better, or a people guaranteed equal rights and justice sitting silently. Improvements are fought for through actions on the street, in the legislature, judicature and boardrooms. The Executive, by law and function, is administrator of the day-to-day business of the state. And where the Executive, particularly this one we have, is administering the business of the state in an exclusionary not inclusionary manner, those affected by this action must raise hell. No society can function properly when any part is excluded, violated, and mistreated. It is like a car- for it to function properly all the mechanical and electrical parts must be working effectively.
My ancestors were brought here against their will. They toiled for centuries on this land and helped lay the foundation for modern Guyana. Whips rained down on their backs as they resisted the inhumane conditions under which they were forced to labour and live but they succeeded in the fight to be treated as human beings with inalienable rights and freedoms. I will be damned, after what they went through, to accept today any resemblance of mistreatment that would erode their gains.
This land belongs to all who came. We who own this land called Guyana must refuse to let anybody or government tell us we are not deserving of the protection and participation that come from being Guyanese, inheritors of this land. It is not for the Irfaan Ali regime or any government, group or individual to determine whether we should participate. They do not have the right nor power to do so unless we surrender that to them.
They cannot determine for us what is good for us and what we must have unless we cede the constitutional protection of involvement in the management and decision -making processes of the state on issues that affect our wellbeing (Article 13). And should we cede this to those we have not entrusted the responsibility we invoke the wrath of our ancestors. They did not die for us not to live; they did not stand up and fight against oppression for us to live on our knees.
We are not a people who settle for being talked down to, deprived and accepting the occasional truck load pulling up with supplies, someone lording over us, insulting and instructing us how to behave. That image in Ruimveldt hurts. We are a people capable of self-reliance and fighting for self-determination. At times situations may be hard but we must never settle to have to depend on others to do for us what we can and must do for ourselves.
We must find within that strength to stand up and fight, to refuse to accept that after more than half-century as an independent people we are content accepting handouts, and think the only way we could survive is being insulted, demeaned, dehumanised and accepting the crumbs from ‘massa table.’ This must not be the thinking of the descendants of braves who fought chattel slavery and colonialism.
Guyana belongs to all of us. No person-brown, black, white or red; straight hair, curly or no hair; fat or slim; tall or short- must treat us as though we do not equally belong. No government-whether Indian, African or whoever led must treat one race as superior to the other. No man, woman or child must make us grovel for what is rightly ours, what our ancestors have fought for and bequeathed to us. No person must make us feel or accept we are lesser than when we settled that matter long ago. We must stand up and fight to preserve our rights and freedoms. Nobody could do this but us.
