Dear Editor,
It is an amazing but hurtful cycle of events which suggest that we who profess to be civilized failed to learn from the powerful lessons history has to offer. I prepare this letter on the birth anniversary of Martin Luther King Jr, a well-known advocate for equality, peace, and freedom. I write because I am bothered by recent statements and attitudes of our political directorate, which suggest their misunderstanding of what Independence and the concomitant control of our God-given massive resources should mean to us.
What follows is to prevail upon, and persuade the current administration that our children will not remember them kindly if they display cowardice. Human experience points to this truism, that at the end of the day, cowards are not honoured. As a youngster the phrase “Remember the Alamo” was current in our vocabulary, it referred to a famous American battle cry from the Texas Revolution, symbolizing courage, sacrifice, and defiance against overwhelming odds. I mention this and what follows to urge our current captain in charge of our ship of state, to be like the proverbial men and not mice.
Recall another example when the great Napolean, considered invincible, lost a major battle at what we call the “Waterloo”. Just sixty years ago while we were preparing to welcome our Independence, about a thousand persons marched on the State Capital in Atlanta to protest the expulsion of Julian Bond, an African American pacifist from the State House of Representative. The House voted 184 to 12 not to seat the 26-year-old Bond after he endorsed a Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee statement strongly criticizing the U.S. involvement in Vietnam. Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr, had addressed the gathering, offering his support. A week earlier American troops had launched their biggest offensive of the Vietnam war, striking at a communist stronghold 20 miles northwest of Saigon.
About 8000 US Army soldiers were involved in the massive military assault intended to flush the Viet Cong out of a jungle area known as the Iron Triangle. Seven years later, having lost this war, the United Stated withdrew from Vietnan. The lesson for us in Guyana and our leaders is, that military might, and executive overreach such as the marginalisation of Parliament will not ensure victory and the well being of the majority of Guyanese.
A friend living in the United States, the bastion of democracy, told of images of Federal agents in full battle gear; helmet, goggles, bulletproof vest, and armed with, what appeared to be, assault rifles, roughing up unarmed civilians protesting in the streets of Minnesota. Reports state that much worse is taking place in Iran where live bullets are used with abundance. I ask myself what is happening to our world. Are we civilised or are we not?
This generation of Guyanese must not let down our fore-fathers, and must demand credible explanations for the massive wealth of those in high office. We must demand an explanation for the withholding of information by the agency staffed to provide that information to the public. We must ask where the ubiquitous Mr Su is, and whether as promised, Su, was sued.
We must demand truthful answers to the generally believed story that we have agreed to accommodate aliens apparently not wanted elsewhere. We must request our religious and civic leaders to speak up, and demand that our claim to be a democracy, is not translated to mean demons gone crazy, and is not a mere etymological contortion, but the new situation emerging in our Republic.
Yours truly,
Elder Hamilton Green
