Scores of Guyanese rose early from their beds Wednesday and assembled in Brooklyn, New York, USA at 6:30 a.m. to protest President Irfaan Ali who is attending the General Assembly of the United Nations, which is headquartered in New York.
Bundled in jackets, braving a cold autumn morning and under a heavily overcast sky, they made their presence felt in front of the Waterfall Lounge where President Ali and his entourage were having breakfast. Whilst the president was inside the building the demonstrators held a spirited protest, that last for approximately three hours demanding racial respect and better governance in Guyana.
The event organised by the United States-based Caribbean Guyana Institute for Democracy (CGID) and the Guyanese Diaspora Organisations of the USA, saw persons from all walks of life participating.
Persons carried placards and banner, highlighting claims of discriminatory management in Guyana, racism, unsolved extrajudicial murders of hundreds of Guyanese, mostly African, during the Bharrat Jagdeo presidency, crime and corruption, among other grievances.
Guyana is ranked poorly on the Transparency International Corruption Index, after showing improvement in curbing corruption during the A Partnership of National Unity and Alliance for Change (APNU+AFC) David Granger/Moses Nagamootoo government.
The local Institute for Action Against Discrimination (IFAAD) and United Nations Human Rights Committee early this year added their voice to calls by CGID and others for an investigation.
A statement release CGID on the protest today, says among the demonstrators was Courtney Crum Ewing’s mother, a former Guyana Defence Force officer and community activist who was allegedly shot to death on 10th March 2015 by operatives of the People’s Progressive Party (PPP), while campaigning for the then opposition, A Partnership of National Unity and Alliance for Change (APNU-AFC) Coalition in the village of Eccles.
CGID President, Rickford Burke, addressed the protesters and called on the elected officials who attended the breakfast to hold Ali accountable for the atrocities against African Guyanese and for the Guyana Police Force’s harassment of Guyanese in the U.S who speak out against the Ali government. Burke is among the persons targeted and has been charged by the Guyana Police Force under Guyana’s Cybercrime Act.
Burke also slammed the U.S Joe Biden/Kamala Harris administration for carrying on normal relations with Ali’s government despite widespread racism and corruption. He called for Guyanese Americans to unite and demand a change in US Foreign Policy towards Guyana.
Burke said Ali’s presence in Brooklyn is a sham, devoid of sincerity as evident in the way his administration discrimination against African Guyanese at home and hound those who in the diaspora that speak out on their behalf.
The CGID said while Ali is rushing to meet with selected African Guyanese leaders in Brooklyn and U.S Black politicians, he has refused to meet with African Guyanese leaders in Guyana and that he has taken away funding from the two largest African Guyanese organisations in Guyana, African Cultural and Development Association (ACDA) and International Decade for People of African Descent Assembly – Guyana (IDPADA-G).
In 2022 IDPADA-G filed a lawsuit against the government. The matter is still pending.
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