Indians overwhelming victims of crime
This situation continues unabated and is
encouraged by the government, the opposition parties and the media who turn a
blind eye to the effects of this phenomenon, the report added.
The report entitled ‘Cross Sectional Studies of Crime and the Criminal
Transfer of Wealth in Guyana’ was done by
Dr. Ramesh Gampat and Dr. Somdat Mahabir.
It was presented at a symposium on ethnic violence hosted by the Guyana Indian Heritage Association (GIHA) on Monday at the Hotel Tower.
The report, which was presented by Leelamatie Chaitram,
found that violence erupted in epidemic proportions following the escape of five convicts from the
Camp Street Prison in February 2002, resulting in the terrorising of Indians.
Crime has roots in politics
The report states that the epidemic is a symptom of a national duel between the African-dominated
PNC and the Indian-dominated
PPP, neither of which admits to being racist, with crime as one
manifestation of the “duel” for the control of Guyana.
Using crime data collected from the reports carried by the Stabroek News, Guyana
Chronicle and Kaieteur News and based purely on names, the analysis found that
between
February 2002 and February 2003,
155 persons were murdered in the crime wave, an average of one death every 2.5 days.
Thirty of those murdered were civilians and policemen
. Twenty-one policemen, including two CANU officers, were killed.
Eight of the civilians murdered were women: two Indians; three Africans; one Chinese and two of mixed race.
Of the 48 bandits, thieves, suspects, and ‘phantoms’ killed by policemen or gang warfare, 44 were Africans and four Indians, i.e. 92% of the bandits killed were African Guyanese.
Those killed by policemen, including the two protesters on July 3, numbered 28.
Two of the 155 persons killed were non-Guyanese: 1 Trinidadian and 1 Brazilian.
According to the report’s findings, from February to August 2002, the number
of killings per month remained relatively low albeit higher than previously -
but took off suddenly in September when the number of people murdered jumped
from 7 in the previous month to 20 and then peaked at 31 victims in January
2003.
Seventy-four per cent of all victims murdered during the entire period were
killed between September 2002 and January 2003.
During these six months, someone was killed by violent crime every 1.6 days.
Additionally, there were ten incidents of kidnapping during the February to
February period, and a total of 18 persons were abducted.
Three of them were females, one being a 13-year-old girl.
All kidnapped victims during the period were Indians and all the perpetrators were Africans, the report noted.
Two of the kidnapped victims were murdered; six escaped; nine were released on the payment of some $85M in ransom; and the fate of one, Heeraman Sahadeo, is still unknown.
According to additional figures provided by GIHA from its ethnic violence
report, out of 460 cases of assault, robberies
and kidnappings over the last year, 330 were directed at Indian individuals,
families and businesses.
1.7 violent incidents per day
Meanwhile, geographically, 88% of the reported violent criminal incidents
occurred in Georgetown and on the East Coast, an area of about 15 miles. Of 631
incidents of robberies, assaults, carjackings, kidnappings, rapes and murders -
1.7 incidents per day - 273 occurred on the East Coast and 267 in Georgetown, a
total of 540 incidents. There were 30 incidents on the East Bank, 18 in the
Linden/Wismar area, and 16 in the interior. Corentyne and Berbice had 14
incidents, and the Essequibo, 13.
On the basis of the data, approximately 20 persons have been killed for every
100,000 of Guyana’s population during the past twelve months, the report
found, jumping from the rate of 6.6 per year in the period between 1994-96, to
19.9 between February 2002-February 2003.
“Crime in Guyana has reached epidemic proportions...” particularly violent
crime which graduated to a new phase “marked by features unknown in the
past,” Chaitram said. These features include: carjackings, kidnappings, open
calls on public TV to overthrow the duly elected Government and liberate
Africans; and the use of sophisticated equipment, including computers, cell
phones, tracking devices and powerful weapons that outmatched those of the
police.
“Modern Guyana has now entered its killing age: The co-existence of democracy
and the deadly dance of ethnic violence perpetuated by one ethnic group upon
another,” Chaitram quoted from the report, adding that the Government appeared
to be no more than a spectator as this phenomenon unfolded.
It was also noted that the perpetrators of the crime wave mainly used guns in
the commission of the offences and compared to the past when revolvers were
common, the weapon of choice today was the AK-47 assault rifle.
While a large share of the weapons was stolen from the police and civilians (22
handguns were stolen from police, security and civilians), all were not, the
report stated.
“This implies that criminals have other sources for obtaining weapons, that
the heinous crime wave is an organised business, and that at least part of the
loot is probably invested in the business,” Chaitram said.
‘Crime pays’
Meanwhile, the data collected also found that as a result of the crime epidemic
there was a substantial transfer of wealth from Indians to Africans, totalling
84% of the $176.8M which was stolen last year.
The report rejected the view it says is held by leading African intellectuals,
activists and politicians who justify the criminal transfer of wealth on the
grounds that the PPP government favours Indians and marginalises Africans.
“There is little truth in this. Instead, we posit the view that the current
spate of crippling violence has a political motive and invokes economics as its
justification.”
Holding that the current crime wave has not occurred in isolation but was an
ongoing epidemic, the report noted that for the period December 1997 to December
1998, $159.5M in cash and valuables were stolen, of which $13.2M was looted on
January 12, 1998. Some 84.7% of the stolen assets belonged to Indians; 1.8% was
stolen from Africans; and 13.5% from people of other ethnicities.
Between February 2002 to February 2003, the spoils of crime were estimated at
$176.8M, 84% of this amount was stolen from Indians; 9% from Africans; 2.9% from
other ethnicities and 2.9% from organisations and businesses. Total losses,
including property damaged and destroyed, between February 2002 and 2003,
amounted to $231.9M, 80% of which was suffered by Indians and 15% by Africans.
Meanwhile, according to the analysis it was estimated that a 10% increase in
violent crime drove economic growth down by 0.6% due to the withdrawal of
investment, psychological and emotional impairment of the willingness to work
and migration to other countries.
Chaitram added that ... “One other aspect of the current crime epidemic should
be noted: its profitability...
“Excluding damages to property, the average loot was $327,391, which is 1.7
times the country’s per capita GDP in 2002, which was about $188,000. If only
crime against Indians is taken into consideration, then the average would be
$341,522 or 1.8 times the country’s per capita income. Put simply, crime
pays,” she said.
The report concluded that the simultaneous triple effects of the crime epidemic
are large-scale killings, accelerated migration and depressed economic growth,
which place Guyana on the precipice of chaos.
Shah blames self-censoring media
Meanwhile, discussing the “Failure of the Media to report Ethnic Crimes as
Race Hate,” President of GIHA, Ryhaan Shah said that the media in Guyana
continued to collude to hide the ethnic nature of the attacks in its reports of
crimes, in the end encouraging its continuation.
This is in spite of the fact that the majority of the victims of crime in Guyana
were Indian while the perpetrators were to a majority, African, in what Shah
said was clearly ethnic violence.
In scathing criticism, she said the unwillingness of the media to report hate
crimes negated the existence of the “pervasiveness and viciousness” of its
existence. She noted that editorials had confirmed the existence of race-hate,
hate crimes and ethnic strife. However, there were still to be news reports to
support these statements, she added, drawing contrasts with happenings in
Rwanda, the Congo and Bosnia, where she noted that ethnic violence was
faithfully reported.
You would read no report in Guyana’s media she said that “African Guyanese
political protestors who resent the political supremacy of the majority Indians
stripped and robbed Indian women in the streets of the city and burned the
properties of Indian businessmen,” or that “African bandits went on a
rampage in an Indian village and robbed, assaulted and raped Indian
villagers.”
Expressing her disapproval at this self-censorship practised by the local media,
Shah declared that the failure to report on ethnic violence as ethnic violence,
had long-reaching repercussions and because there were other types of crimes
such as drug related and gang warfare, there was a greater imperative to report
these crimes. Another shortcoming she highlighted was the failure of the media
to enlighten the public as to the rights which existed to offer redress for hate
crimes. Also coming under fire was the Guyana Human Rights Association (GHRA)
and Amnesty International, who Shah suggested had ignored the ethnic violence
perpetrated against Indians.
“Who is our media guarding?” she asked ...”In the end, it is the criminals
and our political minders. If it is all just crime, it is not ethnic or
political. The media help government with its lies that there are no ethnic
problems in Guyana. In the final analysis the media stands guard against
Indians.”
Expressing the hope that the media would both fairly and accurately report the
deaths, robberies and rapes, she concluded by noting that it was the belief now
that Indians lived at the fringes of the national consciousness, where the media
colluded to keep them.
‘Police stations are like foreign territory’
Meanwhile, in his presentation titled “Manufacturing Docility: Black on Indian
Violence in Guyana and Why Indians Don’t Respond,” Swami Aksharananda said
there was a deliberate attempt to create a feeling of docility among Indians
which had been engineered chiefly by the government.
Noting that this had dated back to the days of indentureship, he said a similar
situation continued today and had gone on to leave in Indians a fear of greater
reprisal when seeking the help of the security forces. Moreover, he considered
that this had created in the Indian mind a feeling that police and more recently
the Guyana Defence Force were not only unsympathetic but hostile to Indians, a
mindset of “you step out of line, you will be dealt with.”
And he added that this perception is further compounded by the shortage of
significant arrests or detention, citing the police response to the January,
1998, protests in the city.
“When going into police stations it is like going into a foreign territory,”
the Swami said, while relating several firsthand experiences he had witnessed
where the response of the police had been sometimes indifferent, insensitive or
even gross.
“These are not isolated cases... and I think Indians have a very good reason
for not wanting to go to the Police Station... And what is the government doing
about it?”
He cautioned that the denial of the existence of an ethnic problem in Guyana was
a clear denial of the Indian cries of suffering.
Leader of the Rise, Organise and Rebuild (ROAR) party, Ravi Dev, shared a
similar view in his presentation on ‘the Violence and the Armed forces Against
Indians in Guyana: The Ethnic Security Dilemma.’
Dev said that although Indians were a majority they felt they were a minority in
power and had “an existential fear of being wiped out.” This, he perceived,
was responsible for the Indian need to huddle together under the PPP party for
protection. Though he observed that “Ironically, the PPP has not been able to
deliver that protection.”
Dev concluded that it was the political system in the country that had
contributed to the ethnic security dilemma and it was the political system which
needed to be changed to solve it. (
June 4, 2003
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