Latest update March 18th, 2024 12:59 AM
Jan 20, 2019 Features / Columnists, Peeping Tom
A grouping of professional organizations and independent Guyanese came together and launched a highly successful boycott of the 1978 referendum. That grouping was known as the Committee of Concerned Citizens (CCC).
The CCC comprised a number of non-political professional groups and trade unions. The members of this Committee were the Lawyers’ Committee, Architects’ Committee, Committee of Medical Practitioners, Committee of Concerned Educators, University of Guyana Staff Association, Clerical and Commercial Workers’ Union and the National Association of Agricultural, Commercial and Industrial Employees.
It teamed up with the Committee for the Defence of Democracy (CDD) – a grouping of opposition political parties – to mobilize opposition to Burnham’s devious plans to change the Independence Constitution.
The formation of the CCC was preceded by the establishment of a Committee of Ten, which sought to liberate bauxite workers from the leadership of one of the bauxite unions whose leadership was partisan.
After the rigging of the 1973 elections, the PPP’s campaign of civil resistance was met with extreme repression. One of the PPP activists, Arnold Rampersaud, was framed for the toll station murders. An Arnold Rampersaud Defence Committee was established and included Walter Rodney. Maurice Bishop, who was to later lead a revolution in Grenada, came to Guyana to lend his efforts to the legal team defending Rampersaud.
There were a number of other occasions in which organizations, groups and individuals, not aligned to either the PNC or the PPP, came together to fight for the rights of workers. In 1974, the Organization of Working People was established to support bauxite workers in their struggles. During the more than 100-day sugar strike, Friends of Sugar Workers helped to mobilize relief supplies for the striking workers.
In the run-up to the 1992 elections, there was a concerted effort by a range of organizations and individuals, both inside and outside of Guyana, to press for free and fair elections.
The 1992 elections marked a turning point in many respects. It freed Guyana of the PNC dictatorship, but it also led to the deepening of the polarization of society and the intensification of zero-sum politics, so much so that the independent voices have almost disappeared.
The zero-sum game of Guyanese politics ought to have led to efforts at the creation of independent ‘spaces’ for parties not aligned to either of the two main political parties. It should also have led to civil society playing a more integral role in political and social affairs.
The very opposite happened. The more intense the zero-sum game became, the more polarized became society and independent spaces for civil society were narrowed. Was it because of political repression?
Political repression in the 1970’s saw PNC thugs taking protesting University of Guyana students to the seawall and beating the living daylights of out of them, after which they were forced to paint pro-PNC signs on the sea defences.
Political repression saw raids on the homes of opposition activists and false charges being laid against them. Political repression saw persons being harassed and dismissed from state jobs. Political repression took many forms. However, it offers a limited explanation as to why civil society has been smothered.
Since 1992, civil society has been stifled. Independent voices have become endangered species. Today, only a handful of individuals and organizations are prepared to stand up and confront the powers-that-be. Those that standup such as Glenn Lall, Christopher Ram, David Hinds, Lincoln Lewis, Freddie Kissoon, Marcel Gaskin, Anand Goolsarran and Ramon Gaskin, are treated as pariahs. They are demonized and ostracized. Those who seek to carve out independence from the two main political leviathans are scandalized and threatened.
This very political culture of repression ought to have thrown up more independent voices. It has not, and that is a paradox that has to be investigated further to determine whether the present generation of Guyanese are so self-centered that they care little about standing up for principles.
It is most amazing that no effort has been made, in the present political crisis, to establish a Committee for the Defence of the Constitution. Some independent individuals have condemned the alleged violations of the Constitution in recent years. Yet, there has been no attempt to forge a grouping of similar-minded groups and individuals to defend the Constitution.
It is all well and good for new political groupings to pledge to amend the Constitution. But Guyanese have heard this before and seen very little action on this front.
Should defending constitutional rule not be a prelude to efforts at amending the supreme law? If the Constitution cannot be defended when it is being violated, what is the use of amending it when there is no guarantee that such amendments will be respected?
Listen to the man that is throwing Guyanese bright future away
Mar 18, 2024
From GT to New Jersey… Kaieteur Sports – There have been many pugilists who have excelled in the fistic sport, retired, and subsequently successfully ventured into other meaningful...Kaieteur News – The government has embarked on an ambitious infrastructure development spree. It has initiated major... more
By Sir Ronald Sanders Waterfalls Magazine – In 2024, a series of general elections in Latin American countries, including... more
Freedom of speech is our core value at Kaieteur News. If the letter/e-mail you sent was not published, and you believe that its contents were not libellous, let us know, please contact us by phone or email.
Feel free to send us your comments and/or criticisms.
Contact: 624-6456; 225-8452; 225-8458; 225-8463; 225-8465; 225-8473 or 225-8491.
Or by Email: [email protected] / [email protected]