Examining the phase ‘predatory political culture’
Dear Editor, I refer to Dr. Prem Misir’s letter titled, “Racial incitement is an illicit mechanism in the pursuit of power” (Kaieteur News of July 19th). Dr. Misir is accusing unnamed persons or institutions of “racial incitement to sustain a predatory political culture”, and further reminds them that such behaviour is against the law. Let [...]
Violence, murder, mystery and the vanishing truth
If social commentators, editors in the private media and opposition parties had inquired as to a Roger Khan connection in the death of Sash Sawh and his siblings, anger, rage and cussing down would have emerged from New Garden Street and Robb Street. The charge from the ruling cabal was that mischief was afoot. But [...]
Union unrepentant about Pegasus picketing exercise
“FITUG has taken up this matter of the Pegasus…We have done the picketing. We have no apology to make to have gone and picket the premises, and to go and picket the premises where we did. We have no apology to make for that, we feel that we had to register our position and we [...]
Autocrats and Democracy
Commenting on ex-dictator Desi Bouterse’s accession to the presidency of Suriname (“Return of the Strongman”, July 20th 2010) we posed the question, “What does it say for democracy, when Surinamese can overlook Bouterse’s chequered past and place the future of their country in his hands?” What it says, at a minimum, is that while democratic [...]
The negative power of music on youth
Dear Editor, It is dangerously callous to underestimate the power of influence that music and films carry. I have argued with social activists in the UK, that when looking at the continuous increase in knife crimes that is rife among black youths in London, we must not ignore the choice of music they embrace. London [...]
MMU’s operations to end July 31
More than a dozen professionals would be on the breadline after Government’s decision to shut down the operations of the Guyana Elections Commission’s Media Monitoring Unit (MMU) this month end. This was talked about a few months ago. Rumours abounded of the imminent closure of the unit for quite some time but it was only [...]
Journalists have to be careful – new software can alter, shape and change reality
Dear Editor, It was a really eventful week for journalism in the US when an altered recording of a speech delivered in 1986 by Mrs. Shirley Sherrod was aired on Fox News sparking racial outrage among white conservative Americans and the call for the subsequent resignation of Mrs. Sherrod. The video clip was posted by [...]
Digical to sponsor major track and field meet in Linden
Local, regional and international telecommunication giants, Digicel Guyana will sponsor a major track and field meet that is set for the Mackenzie Sports Club (MSC) Ground, Linden on August 29, and is billed as the premier competition for top athletes. Digicel has confirmed their major sponsorship of the President’s/Jefford Track and Field Classic, which should [...]
Not a single day passes without concerns about political corruption being expressed
Dear Editor, In 1968 Samuel Huntington argued that by greasing the wheels of the economy and so removing bureaucratic and other practices that impede investments and development, political corruption is efficiency-enhancing and inevitable (“Political Order in Changing Societies”). However, notwithstanding Huntington and others, national societies caught in the spiral of massive political plunder (see following [...]
