THE violence will end when political activists stop describing murderous criminals as “martyrs”, “heroes” and “freedom-fighters”, and even draping them with the National Standard, thereby dishonouring our entire nation.

The violence will end when the young people of our nation, and even the older ones, are no longer encouraged to go on mad rampages in calls for “slow fiah! Mo’ fiah!” and destroy lives and properties under one pretext or another, when the only true motive is to make the country ungovernable, and to derail societal, entrepreneurial, and governmental systems in efforts to create anarchy in the land, and force a structure that is orchestrated to benefit those who want to walk the corridors of power through the back door, because they cannot aspire to the legitimate entrances.
The violence will end when our security services are allowed the recognition for their bravery in the face of difficult and dangerous encounters that threaten, and sometimes take, their lives and the lives of innocent persons, instead of being called “murderers” and other vile names by criminal rights activists.
The violence will end when the average Guyanese recognises that criminals are criminals, with no loyalty to God, humanity, members of any race, religion, creed, or political party; that their only intent is to get rich off the fruits of the endeavours, sacrifice, and hard work of others, regardless of the race, religion, or political affiliation of their victims.
There are many ordinary citizens who attended Linden ‘Blackie’ London’s funeral; and many were sympathisers who thought that Rondell ‘Fine-Man’ Rawlins and ‘Skinny’ Charles were murdered, even though they were shooting back at the members of the Joint Services with sophisticated weaponry, and seriously threatening their lives during the encounter; and some of them became victims of the very criminals whom they supported.
But they are the victims of the school of thought that these men are victims of a society that owes them a luxurious living and riches without any effort being made to accrue riches and to create their own wealth, and that society must pay, with lives if necessary, for their easy access to a desired lifestyle.
A dangerous catalyst for further destabilisation in the social construct of this very vulnerable nation is the strident call being made for ‘reparation’. What an indictment of the descendants of a very proud and hardworking people, who elected to earn their way and establish a patrimony of pride and dignity!
Today, after demolishing the fruits of the struggle, hard work, and sacrifice of our ancestors, who refused to bow to oppressive dynamics, but instead chose to carve their own destinies with their own efforts, the descendants of the forefathers of our nation are resorting to bullyism and terrorism, including criminality, to wrest land and fortune from those who have learnt to acquire, like our ancestors, both bondsmen and free, with hard work, sacrifice, and honest endeavour.
At the opposite end of the spectrum are Barack Obama; Oprah Winfrey; the young boy from Buxton with his basket of mangoes or genips; the young lady with her bundle of brooms, walking and selling from street to street, people who are products of broken homes who decided that they will live, survive, and endure off their own efforts.
These are the real heroes and heroines of humanity; those who transform their negatives into positives without crushing the rights and lives of others in the process.
The violence will end when the real villains and architects of the criminal network are exposed and punished; and I concur with an opposition leader who, in mourning the loss by criminals of one of their supporters, Melissa Payne, cried out:
“The wickedness behind Melissa’a death will be revealed, and those found guilty will pay,” because the chickens are now coming home to roost.