I TAKE this opportunity to differ with the Kaieteur News columnist Stella Ramsaroop who has dismissed the notion of ‘anti-government’. In her article, ‘Anti-government nonsense’ (K.N. 7.31. 10), Ms. Ramsaroop states that what pro-government writers call ‘anti-government’ is actually a matter of free speech.

Ramsaroop’s research on this subject is not well done. More than likely, she is unduly influenced by a long debate in the United States on the subject. But I have some rather depressing news for Ms. Ramsaroop. If you do a simple search in Google under ‘anti-government’, you will get 64,800,000. Try it yourself.

Worse for Ms. Ramsaroop is the fact that just recently (in April), U.S authorities publicly stated concerns about anti-government activities. Fox News reported the following on April 2, 2010: “A series of letters that claim to be from an anti-government group warning more than half the nation’s governors that they must leave office immediately has caught the attention of federal and state authorities, who are concerned that the letters may provoke the use of violence.”

I hope Ms. Ramsaroop gets the point. Anti-government hysteria is big business all over the world, and Guyana is no exception.

The question is this: Who are these anti-government individuals and groups? This will be dealt with soon, but not before I differentiate between ‘anti-government’ and legitimate forms of criticism.

Democracies function in tandem with a free press, with free speech, and with the right to publicly criticize the government in office. There is no shortage of that in Guyana. There are multiple sources in the country through which citizens can and do criticize the government. Further, President Jagdeo is on the record stating that his administration will always protect the right to free speech.

The real issue though is that many of the commentators in Guyana (letter writers, columnists, internet broadcasters etc) have gone beyond what is tolerable in an open society. These people almost never make any substantive commentary. Most of what is written can politely be deemed inflammatory. Most of what is written would not be allowed in the mainstream press in the democracies that Ms. Ramsaroop admires. In many countries, such as Malaysia and Singapore, articles that are routinely published in Guyana would land the writer before the courts. There is no if and but about any of this.

Stella Ramsaroop has written some interesting pieces before. At the same time she must be prepared to receive criticism when her stuff is off the mark. Her July 31 article falls in that category.
Ms. Ramsaroop needs to understand that the bulk of the outrageous criticisms of President Obama (e.g. he is a fascist and racist) are made in extremist outlets. Skillful anti-Obama handlers then bring the trash into the mainstream via their right-wing media buddies. In Guyana, there is no need to be so complicated; the extremists actually publish in the established press.

I voted and campaigned for Obama and I will not defend the folks who call him fascist, alien, and other names under the rubric of ‘free-speech’. Remember – for some people, being anti-government is a way of life, meaning that government can never do anything right. We have those in Guyana, as you certainly do in Texas.