Latest update March 29th, 2024 12:59 AM
Dec 09, 2008 Letters
Dear Editor,
Permit me to reply to a missive by a writer purporting to be Edward Simon.The letter is published in Guyana Chronicle dated 08/11/08 and captioned “Bynoe more man than I thought”. Mr. Simon was responding to a letter of mine published in the Kaieteur News.
As recent as last Wednesday, I had a lengthy conversation with Phillip Bynoe via the telephone. I find it eerily strange that the same views mentioned by Phillip were echoed in Simon’s article, almost in the same vein it was said by my “fallen” comrade.
However, the many issues surrounding the pardon and what transpired at the Office of the President that cost the lives of two protesters were discussed.
Bynoe also asked if I felt he should make a public apology to Mark Benschop. My answer to that is no. It is President Jadgeo who has to make that apology.
The courts of the land could not find that man guilty of anything else but being in that area at the time of the protest. Bynoe himself publicly stated that Benschop’s case was being in the wrong place at the wrong time.
Phillip must also tell this nation whether the thousands of Guyanese who marched on the Office of the President in protest should apologise for exercising a fundamental right to express their anger and disappointment at a dictatorial regime that does not pay heed to any other form of discourse or engagement.
He must tell this nation whether it was the right thing to do at that time. He must tell this nation why he, an astute politician, did not hand himself in like Benschop, and he must immediately apologise for what he now calls a wrong way of doing things.
He must tell this nation why, in all the weeks of preparing to lead thousands of Guyanese in protest, he did not know it was the wrong approach he was taking.
The six years in the wilderness have broken his spirit. If the quest for his own freedom transcends his courage of conviction, then he has forfeited the right to again be recognised as a leader. Phillip Bynoe cannot signal to this nation that the era of struggle in a particular form must forever be debunked.
As enigmatic as he is, he cannot imply that the power of protest should no longer be in the hands of the oppressed masses.
Mr. Simon, I have no apologies for what I stated in my previous letter. The President has not pardoned anyone convicted by the laws of the land. He has pardoned those who have been accused of a crime.
The law stipulates that they are innocent until proven guilty. Therefore, all he has done is pardon innocent men.
This flies in the face of true democracy. This is a President who gets involved in matters he is ill equipped to handle. He is an economist, not a lawyer or a judge.
What good does it do for the courts not to decide whether those men were guilty or innocent? Now they can be used as political footballs, because due process was ignored.
Tony Blair has never apologised for sending troops into Iraq, even when it was clear it was bad judgment and bowing to the Americans. He gave a reason why it was justified to do it at that time. It is political suicide to do otherwise.
Since Phillip is going down the sorry lane, he should say “sorry” to the many thousands of protesters for making them look like a bunch of idiots!
Speak for yourself, Mr. Simon; don’t worry about if Bynoe shares my sentiments. Norman Browne is a product of the revolutionary Bynoe, not a cry baby crying for freedom.
Martin Carter said in one of his poems on struggle, “Jail me quickly, clang the illiterate doors because freedom knows no better alphabet”.
Norman Browne
THIS IDIOT TELLING GUYANA WE HAVE NO SAY IN THE 50% PROFIT SHARING AGREEMENT WE HAVE WITH EXXON.
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