Violence in Guyana

Michael V. Singh

The ruling party is concentrating on injecting in the thinking of the public the idea that only one group of people are prone to acts of violence. So they say the supporters of the opposition are committing acts of violence and are so prone to violent acts that if they win the elections they will run wild attacking PPP supporters.

Now think for a few moments. Society is made up of people you know. You went to school with these people. Remember your class in school. Was everyone violent? Were only members of one race violent? No. Only a few people were violent. They were mainly violent when they were extremely angry. Quite often, when they simmered down they became calm and felt sorry for what they did.

There were times when most of us remember either feeling angry or overdoing things when you could not control your anger. In every family there are unpleasant incidents which we wish to forget. Our nation is a collection of families. No one race or group has a monopoly on good or bad behavior. In the history of the world every major nation has committed grave violent actions that cause national shame.

The PPP presents itself as the good party. It pretends that its supporters would never do the things it is accusing the opposition of doing —heckling, destroying posters and bill boards, threatening violence and doing violence. Asgar Ali’s party, ROAR and many parties that have in the past tried to campaign in PPP strongholds suffered from all of the acts I just mentioned.

What is alarming is that the PPP (like some groups in Rwanda in the 1990 genocide episode) is subtly projecting a theme that violence is endemic to one group in our society. They are the evil ones, always doing the bad things. This is obviously not true. At election time supporters will get emotional and will heckle, boo and tear down posters. I would advise APNU supporters not to focus on the PPP’s message.

 Put your attention on what APNU stands for and what it plans to do. Don’t complain about what exists and what the PPP has done. Assume that this is clear. If people cannot see that the present scenario is not good then too bad for them.

Send a clear message that better times are coming. Project in your mind the vision that Guyana is moving forward together to a happy, prosperous vibrant future. Don’t go on the defensive. If someone repeats the trash that key PPP people are saying, look at the person directly in the eye and say: do I look like someone who wishes you harm or who wants to do you harm? I am someone who loves all of Guyana. I want to work with you to build a happier and better society.

Remember your days at school. There were days when you felt compassion for even the most terrible of students. I am sure you didn’t feel that only one group was evil. I am sure you remember times when even the nicest students did mischievous things. Everyone out there in the electorate was once at school. Think for yourself. Be clear. Put your attention on moving beyond old time divisive politics. Move boldly forward beyond the era of a divided nation.