The arrival on the scene of the People's Movement for Justice (PMJ) [ please note: link provided by LOSP web site ] in the wake of the allegations of government involvement in the setting up and operation of a death squad is most welcome. This group, which includes opposition parties, the TUC and other civic organizations, reflects the view by some in the society that no single party or group of organizations has all the answers to the problems facing Guyana. Alliance or consensus politics is one of the most potent answers to the political instability and socio-economic crisis in the country.
Although consensus among all parties and groups should be the ultimate goal, achievement of this among the non-governmental parties and groups is a step in the right direction.
This act of coming together in the PMJ must, therefore, be seen as a healthy signal. At first it gave hope that the new grouping would look seriously at the recent past and approach it in a way that does not repeat the denials of either major party.
We assumed that the presence of certain groups in it meant that they had begun to show real concern for public safety. But after observing the group for a few weeks we are forced to register serious reservations about the limited emphasis of its platform. The limited, one-sided emphasis is disappointing. It is a pity that a new civic organization is formed with the same rotten principle of denial.
The PMJ seems to have consensus on two things-boldness on the Gajraj affair and silence on the Buxton affair. The PMJ organizations seem to correctly agree that the Gajraj affair is serious enough to warrant the most comprehensive national response possible. On the other hand, given the fact that none of them, except ROAR, expressed the same level of outrage against the happenings in Buxton, one can conclude that they do not see them in the same light as the Gajraj allegation.
It is a political mistake to not see the Gajraj affair as part of the larger political degeneration that took root during the PNC's tenure and gained speed after the December 1997 election. While the Gajraj allegations represent the ultimate in a season of political gangsterism, it is only part of a larger development that includes the Buxton affair. To explain the Gajraj affair only within the context of state sponsored murders under the PPP and not as part of a wider culture of violence that has increasingly characterized the dominant political approach in Guyana is counterproductive to reason, national peace and political solution. The fact that the PPP is the ruling party and that persons in the administration have been named make their actions an issue of State violation of human rights and the constitution. Only gangsters can ignore these allegations. But even though no high profile opposition person has been exposed or named in the same way, that long season of violations did prevail and may not be over. A struggle against lawlessness will be suspect if it refuses to include the longer period of active lawlessness on the East Coast.
What we have had is a series of responses and counter responses. The Phantom squad was a response to Buxton, and Buxton was a response to the arming of Enmore, and Enmore was a response to the composition of the security forces. "Mo Fire" and "Slow Fire" were responses to the election results and PPP's arrogance and PPP's arrogance was a response to PNC's arrogance, and PNC's arrogance was a response to PPP's arrogance, and all of the above have been crazy responses to the central question: how is political power to be distributed among the races in Guyana?
The PMJ's case against Gajraj would be stronger and the movement might have attracted PPP supporters had ACDA, WPA, PNC, and the TUC held vigils, pickets and marches when Buxton was raging. These organizations, in particular the PNC and ACDA, should have an interest in Buxton. The Buxton affair not only murdered and intimidated Indians, it destroyed Buxton as a community of reason. The raping of the young black women by the "Freedom Fighters," the criminalizing of the young black men and the bullying of the elderly in Buxton has marginalized Buxton in the most bizarre manner and deserves the same energy as the Gajraj affair. The scars are plentiful and the hurt is deep, yet these victims, who still live in fear and terror, can get no vigils, no marches, no solidarity, and no calls for justice from the black leadership in Georgetown.
The PPP did not share out guns in Buxton; so-called black leaders did. So the shameful outcome of the "freedom-fighting excursion" must be laid at the doorstep of these so-called black leaders. So long as the PNC, ACDA, TUC, and WPA treat Buxton as a non-event or simply as the work of drug barons, wayward youths, the Phantom, and bandits they must bear the responsibility also. Yes there are drugs and banditry in Buxton now, but these were not always there.
The young boys and men who were/are armed in Buxton have been abused by so called leaders. Many of these young people had a sense of justice; they cried out for fairness and economic justice; they could not deal with the fact that Black people were being permanently excluded from the governance of the country; and they were against corruption in high places. But instead of channeling that energy into righteous struggle, the so-called Black leaders gave them guns and anti-Indian ideologies.
So long as the PMJ treats the Gajraj issue as the only sin, they will be guilty of creating a black movement whose motivation will be perceived by the PPP and Indians as a cabal out to overthrow the PPP government. The PPP has wasted the democratic opening so many of us fought and sacrificed for and by its actions has created the conditions for a return to authoritarian rule. The PPP's condoning of corruption, insensitivity and narrow-minded politics follows in the footsteps of the PNC's authoritarianism, but in many respects it has taken the abuse to unprecedented heights.
But the answer to the PPP's misrule is not its replacement with the PNC; we did that before with dire consequences. One answer to the PPP's misrule is the creation of a community of reason and a government that reflects this community. A national government including the PNC and PPP, but not made up solely of the two, represents hope for Guyana.
The PMJ can help with the creation of this community of reason if it targets the whole problem, rather than a part of it. Any movement rooted in one section of the society like the PMJ will in the end become both a victim of and a lighting rod for the racial insecurity and fear that already stalk Guyana.
In closing, we must reiterate that Ravi Dev and ROAR are the only ones in the PMJ who hold the corner on correctness on this issue; they cried out for justice for the victims of the gunmen concentrated and oriented in Buxton and they cry now for justice for the victims of the Phantom Squad. He was the only speaker at the PMJ symposium at the City Hall that addressed both issues as part of the same development. It is not too late for the rest of the PMJ to do likewise.
In closing I must take note of Mr. Corbin's statement on the suspension of the dialogue with the PPP, his call for a widening of the dialogue, and the unambiguous commitment to power sharing as the foremost item on the agenda. This statement came after I finished writing this. Despite my reservations, as a student of politics and an activist, I cannot ignore this declaration, which is the first clear PNC statement on the future of Guyana since Mr. Hoyte's death. The PPP's response to Mr. Corbin is outrageous to say the least. Although Mr. Corbin named only one agency of violence in his address, this is expected given the fact that he is the leader of a party that draws its support from one side of the racial/political divide. This is not the case with the other groups in the PMJ.