I was one of the three presenters in the ZOOM Public Meeting, on the internet sponsored by the Indo-Caribbean Culture Centre on Sunday, September 12, 2021. As Mr. Vincent Alexander wrote the topic on which the presenters spoke was “Is Partition the Ultimate Solution to the Ethno-Political Violence in Guyana?”
Mr. Vincent Alexander in his letter to KN of 10-18-21 does not seem to agree that Indians alone are victims of violence in Guyana. Ethno-political violence in Guyana is and should be an Indian concern since Indo-Guyanese are historical victims of violence on a daily basis committed by Africans. In Mr. Alexander’s letter, he fails to address the fact that while historically Indians are victims, Africans are traditionally aggressors in Guyana’s ethno political violence.
Mr. Alexander and his “Prophet” Mr. Eusi Kawyana would like to push the political virus that there is No Guilty Race, i.e. we are all bad and good.
Mr. Alexander goes on to support there is a” no guilty race” discourse by giving opposing views incidents. For the 1964 Wismar massacre, where some 3000 Indo-Guyanese were uprooted and cleansed of he area after being brutalised by Africans, there is the Sun Chapman riverboat tragedy (43 Afro-Guyanese killed) and West Demerara/Mahaica killings. Supposedly, these incidents make the Indians and Africans equal, “even steven”.
But while it is a historically established fact that Africans committed the Wismar massacre, there is no certainty who was responsible for the Sun Chapman bombing. The commission of inquiry found no guilty race. It’s true that the Afro-Guyanese are plagued with violence in their own communities by Africans. But correspondingly, Indians are robbed and killed on a daily basis by Africans.
That is an issue to which Indian leaders failed to address. The 1964 PPP government failed to give compensation to the Wismar victims neither did they commemorate the 26th May event. The PNC, on the other hand, picked the 26th May – the date of the Wismar massacre for Guyana’s independence from Britain.
Let’s say for argument’s sake, I was to accept that there is no guilty race and to show my sincerity for peace and togetherness, I was to propose to wipe the slate clean i.e. we are all good/bad. The questions now I ask Mr. Alexander after this letter is fortunate to be published, “If violence by Africans on Indians were to continue, should it be an Indian concern or will Mr. Vincent Alexander keep blaming the colonial master?”
I submit that violence by Africans against Indians will NOT STOP, for the main reason the Africans do not consider any other ethnic groups having equal rights to political power other than the African Man.
This wave of seasonal violence against Indians is a hindrance to Indo-Guyanese reaching their optimum goals to be a progressive industrious race and that is why, I support the idea of Eusi Kwayana’s advocacy for the partition of Guyana.
