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YOUTHS CAN MOVE THE WORLD: First
Lady Varshanie Jagdeo addressing youths during the Youth can Move
the World workshop which is a project of Varqa Foundation and which is
sponsored by the Inter-American Development Bank and the Bahai
I'm
confused by Dev's linking up with protesters
I
HAVE always admired Ravi Dev and welcomed his message. I don't particularly
appreciate his policy of federalism, because I think it would be wrong for any
political leader to want to see us live in ethnic enclaves, separate and apart
from each other, after we have struggled with our blood, sweat and tears
through the years to fight racism.
The five
prison escapees tried to revive the race-hate plan that their mentors
implemented in the 1960s when, on stabbing and shooting their way out of jail
on February 23, 2002, they initially targeted Indo-Guyanese. Then they made
public a videocassette recording justifying their race-hate crimes of armed
robberies, beatings, rapes, kidnappings and murders.
I was
one of the persons hit on January 12, 1998 when, the minute the High Court
ruled that then President Janet Jagan had been legitimately elected to office,
a group of marauding PNC supporters pelted, beat and robbed innocent Indo-Guyanese.
So I was happy that Ravi Dev had spoken out against those attacks, just as or
even more vocal than a ruling party or government official had done.
That is
why I now feel betrayed and I am really upset by Dev's linking up with the
PNCR in organizing or supporting a march and protests in Georgetown over the
phantom squad affair.
What did
Dev think he was doing? How can he explain to me that he was marching against
a phantom squad, assuming that one does indeed exist, that brought Guyana from
the brink of social turmoil by helping to rid us of all but one of the freedom
fighters - the prison escapees and their gang members - who had been
terrorizing the Guyanese people in the form of robberies, murders, rapes,
drive-by shootings, and beatings for over a year and a half?
Did Dev
actually forget the torching an elderly
(Indo-Guyanese) widower who was
blinded and later died from being set alight at his home as he and mourners
kept a wake for his dead wife?
How can
Dev be associated with activities that harm Indians and damage businesses by
people whose violent street protests hurt innocent people, traumatized
hundreds of family members and turned back Guyana's development clock?
I can
understand Sharma and the GPSU and the TUC participating in a
PNCR
co-organized march because they openly declared support for the PNCR many
moons ago. When one listens to Sharma on television, 99 percent of his
criticisms are leveled against the government, even though the government is
supported by the majority of the Guyanese people.
The
others in the GPSU and the TUC are diehard PNCites so one does not expect
anything else from them. But does Dev and ROAR, which claims that it is
interested in Indian rights and security, so dislike the ruling party that
they had no qualms linking up with the very PNCR that demonized the police
when they sought to enforce the rule of law? In that very march were people
who to this day support the use of crime and violence as political weapons.
I am so
confused and upset by Dev's linking up with elements of the street protesters
that I can ask many more questions regarding his move. But no matter how
impressive his answers appear to sound, this is the end of my support for Dev.
Marching with people who were partly responsible for so much harm to Indo-Guyanese
was political suicide for ROAR and its leader. I at least am done with them.
Ravi Singh