Guyana horror

That breakdown has especial resonance for Trinidad and Tobago, since its fundamental cause is ethnic contestation. When Forbes Burnham’s People’s National Congress (PNC) took power in 1968, it did so with the military assistance of Britain, which didn’t want the duly elected Communist People’s Progressive Party (PPP) of Cheddi Jagan in power. The undemocratic ousting of the PPP exacerbated ethnic conflict, and the PNC held on to power for 24 years by rigging elections. In the mid-1970s, after the PNC got a parliamentary majority through electoral fraud, it officially made the party superior to the State.

The PNC’s political repression and protectionist economic policies led to steady migration out of Guyana, with most of the persons leaving being the country’s educated, skilled, and conscientious persons. Racial animosities increased, and politics in Guyana became nothing more than a competition to promise, obtain, and distribute State power on the basis of ethnic allegiance. Indeed, by 1975 both the PNC and the PPP had reached a mutual agreement by which neither really aimed at achieving cross-ethnic appeal — in other words, party was put before nation. Indeed, when in 1979 the Working People’s Alliance emerged with the explicit goal of multi-ethnic harmony, its leader Walter Rodney was assassinated in 1980 and the WPA repressed.

In the 1992 election, which was overseen by the Carter Centre, the PPP took office. But that party’s ascendance did little to improve the basic problems facing Guyanese society. Indeed, it is noteworthy that, while every other Caribbean country has had return migration in the past 15 years, Guyana remains the sole exception — its citizens who left 30 years ago still do not care to return to the land of their birth. And, as the killings last Wednesday show, their decision is perfectly understandable.

So Guyana’s descent into barbarism has a 40-year background. But matters have become even more savage in recent years, with the emergence of armed gangs who, according to some, have military training. There has also been talk that these gangs were originally formed with Government approval in order to target criminals — but have now turned to crime themselves, including assassinations.

Given the different historical and demographic tangents in Trinidad and Tobago, we might feel complacent that we can never reach the barbarous status of Guyana. Yet, despite our largely harmonious co-existence, we should note that nearly all the factors that have led to Guyana’s disintegration exist in nascent form in our society.

We have the cadre of young killers; we have ethnic demagogues on both sides of the racial fence; we have increasing police brutality; we have a ruling party which insists on promoting its party symbol in State functions; we have an Opposition that uses racial insecurity as its main mobilisation device; and we have a situation where both parties have shown no reluctance to ally themselves with known criminals.

None of this means that TT will reach the stage where media workers are murdered because certain groups do not like their opinions or where politicians will be killed because of their allegiances. But it does mean that we must remain vigilant in order to ensure that that never happens.