A dangerous phenomenon of recent re-incarnation reminiscent of an earlier parlous period of critical insecurity has become a matter of general concern to the more vigilant of social onlookers in our mutually suspicious plural society.  This current pervasive insecurity is fuelled by public sentiments of the intellectual authors of discord, both in Guyana and abroad, and has given rise to a pronounced disposition on both sides of the social divide, which can develop into an ethnic insurgency, if left unaddressed and/or unchecked. 

Deeply ingrained in the minds of some sections of our people were the resonant calls for cleavage to “kith and kin” and “slo fyah, mo fyah” by a former President and then Opposition Leader, after consecutive defeats at General Elections.
This most recent egregious, episodic development came in the form of an allegation of education apartheid by highly placed opposition  spokesmen, given the context of the obvious ethnicity of the valedictorians in the recent CSEC Exam Results, coupled with the publication of their pictures in the newspapers – no doubt in their minds, another expression of triumphalism.   Some of these public figures, regular correspondents in the media, both electronic and press, appear unconcerned with its brutal consequences, and perhaps, it is their perception that there is adequate self-insulation against any possible infliction of injury or fatality.  In the past, experienced politicians have had cause to voice their apprehension about a Rwanda-type reaction and  Guyanese need recall that some years ago, Bishop Randolph George, both prior to and at the time of his farewell Benediction, had warned of the dangerous developments that would ensue from sustained public mutual mistrust in a parochial society such as Guyana’s.  The smoldering embers of angst can become a ready source of the raging pyre of internecine strife.

Civil stakeholders can play their role in defusing, if not arresting, the inevitable downward spiral into unrest, if not anarchy, by sensitizing their members about the marauding bands of the urban ghetto-type youths, influenced by these inflammatory statements.  These youths frequent the streets on bicycles, CG motorcycles, yellow taxis and other motor vehicles with scant regard for other law-abiding citizens, and recent incidents point to orchestrated events to intercept attack and rob the unfortunate race group identified with the valedictorians, if the reports in the Press are any indication.  People of any ethnic grouping, when their tolerance levels reach saturation point, will not unreasonably react instinctively in an attempt to provide them with commensurate protection by way of self-defence.  Thus it has quite rightly been observed that anarchy should replace civility, tolerance and respect for one another, the Rule of Law will be displaced with the law of the Jungle with concomitant consequences.
Gone are those dark days when the glamour of insurrection was the sole alternative to perceived political oppression of constitutionally expressed freedoms deriving from the guarantee of electoral contests.  The notion that the tyranny of the majority becomes less plausible is indefensible where the ground rules were inherited from a constitutional framework which formed the only universally approved process for electoral success and vindication.   Where the playing field is level, the goal posts are fixed, the referees are mutually approved and the third umpires in the form of observers are omnipresent, a losing contestant can hardly expect a sympathetic ear from judicially inspired quarters on the basis of a pre-existing inequity or disadvantage.

Whoever heard or called for redistribution or a sharing of the earned medals in the Sport of Athletics where one race group generally predominates and is universally applauded and hero-worshipped without condemnation for their acknowledged superior prowess, after playing by the preset rules and procedures?  Electoral contestants must plan, strategise, form coalitions of productive forces, make sacrifices, and compete by lawful means to secure the glory of the reins of Government.  In the Bible it is written – there is no glory without sacrifice.
Ethnic insurgency has no place in a democratic polity and other means of redemptive suasion must be the preferred option.

MATTHEW HENSON