Editorial
Guyana Chronicle
March 31, 2001

IT HAS been frequently shown that falsehood, regardless from whom, breeds destruction and leads to division.

It is, however, strange that people allow themselves to believe falsehoods and act as foolish and irresponsible as those who mouth these outpourings.

What we must understand is that those who churn out the falsehoods are the ones who profit, while those who, after being fed with the falsehoods, carry out acts of lawlessness end up being the losers.

In the words of Oliver Wendell Holmes (jnr.), "The character of every act depends on the circumstances in which it is done. The most stringent protection of free speech would not protect a man in falsely shouting fire in a theater and causing a panic."

It is rather strange that at this age and time some of us allow ourselves to be fooled and led astray by these rapscallions who when everything is over divorce themselves from these very people.

It would seem to us that the PNC/R protesters who have been roaming the streets of Georgetown since last week are now suggesting that the Elections Commission and the PPP/C are one and the Elections Commission, the PPP/C and the Police are the same.

This is so because of the false information they are being fed daily.

But we must know that "Falsehood is so utterly vile that though it should praise the great works of God, it offends against His Divinity..."(Leonardo Da Vinci).

The daily occupation of the streets does not hurt only a particular political party, businessmen of a particular race and market vendors, but most importantly, school children of all races who go through a daily trauma because of the very presence of these people on the streets.

These school children become even more traumatised when protesters turn to mayhem, and beat innocent people and loot.

They have been witnesses to numerous cases of these terrible doings.

Apart from driving fear into the children, they are instilling race hate in these young minds which will live with them to maturity.

When this happens the race problem will continue to surface and plague us and the motto of One People, One Nation, One Destiny will not worth even the paper it is written on.

The time has come for us as Guyanese to resist any further attempt at racially dividing our people.

Let our children be saved the atrocity of living through a race hate life.

In thinking of our children, let us remember the words of Isadora Duncan:

"So long as little children are allowed to suffer, there is no true love in this world."