YESTERDAY, Wednesday January 29, a senior staff member of this newspaper witnessed what, to her, was a horrifying scene, but one which occurs with a great degree of frequency, almost as a norm, in the Guyanese society. It is especially frequent in the rural areas, although it is possible that there is a proliferation of such incidents in urban areas, albeit behind closed doors.In full view of interested bystanders, including several hefty males, none of whom tried to intervene, a man was kicking his partner, who cowered on the ground, hands held protectively over her head, with the vilest expletives and terrifying threats about ending her life accompanying each kick.

The Chronicle staffer rushed up to the man and tried to pull him off the badly injured woman, but received a back-hand slap for her effort. Nevertheless, she persisted, eliciting a shame-faced clamour and intervention from some of the male bystanders, which forced the perpetrator to desist from inflicting any more blows on the hapless woman.
As is usual, the victim refused to report her abuse, claiming that the police never bother with her complaints, because they always contend “…is man and wife story.”
Domestic violence is defined as; inter alia, “Behaviour which causes one partner in a relationship to be afraid of the other. Domestic violence can take the form of physical or sexual abuse and forced social isolation away from friends and family members.”
It prescribes one’s rights, which are laid out in the Domestic Violence Act (1996) as “Recognised under the law and law-enforcement agencies, such as the courts,” and stipulates that the Guyana Police Force must help to enforce the rights of, and offer protection to, any man, woman, or child who may be experiencing domestic violence.
Yet, many victims end up dead at the hands of their abusers because the police decided it “…is man and wife story.”

Some forms of domestic violence are:
(a) Persistent verbal abuse. For example, quarelling and cursing (one can add to that derogating one’s character, and making unjustifiable, insulting remarks about one’s self and one’s loved ones).
(b) Threatening the person with physical violence (threatening to hit the person with hands or objects), as well as actually hitting the person.
(c) Damaging the property of a person. For example, breaking a person’s cell phone, and tearing or burning a person’s clothing, among other things.
(d) Following a person from place to place, even though that person does not want to be followed.
(e) Hiding clothing or property used by the person. For example, hiding a person’s cell phone, their clothing, their identification card, their passport, and even their money.
(f) Making persistent and/or unwelcome contact with the person. For example, calling the person on their cell phone or home phone many times per day, watching the person’s house, waiting for the person to leave work or place of study, following the person from home or work, even though that person does not want to be followed or watched.
(g) Using abusive language to a person, or behaving towards a person in such a way that could result in that person being ill-treated. For example, cursing and quarrelling with a person in front of others, and then encouraging others to do the same.
The Ministry of Human Services and Social Security ran an advertisement in the print medium on Sunday, November 9, 2008 headlined, “DOMESTIC VIOLENCE: BREAK THE CYCLE, TAKE CONTROL”.
They suggested, among other things, action one should take to protect oneself (and possibly others) from domestic violence, and provided a descriptive analysis of a Protection Order.
One of the suggestions made is to make a report to the nearest police station; and therein lies a conundrum. Those who are supposed “To Protect and Serve” most often provide the catalyst for a tragedy to occur by their attitude, attention, or lack thereof, and plain don’t-care-a-damn attitude when a complainant drums up the requisite courage (most often with great difficulty) and lodges a complaint.
Many victims of continuous abuse are killed because of the complacency of the members of the Police Force, who refuse to investigate complaints and lay charges, or take the action necessary to protect the victim from further abuse.
Guyanese have stopped being our brother’s (and sister’s) keepers because, in many communities, neighbours witnessing a continuum and escalating instances of abuse refuse to become involved; they prefer to enjoy the unfolding tragedy, even adding to it with malicious rumour-mongering and strife-making, because the titillation of feuds and wars within families find a corresponding resonance in the dark nuances resident in every soul; and the average person refuses to rise above their more decadent equivalencies to achieve a higher plane of thought and action, enough to maybe intercede, and probably save a family from ultimate destruction.
From remarks made by onlookers at the scene of the incident referred to earlier, apparently the victim received a thrashing because a neighbour told her spouse that she had been talking to another man on her way to the supermarket.
He became enraged, flew down the street to meet her and, upon encountering her on her way home, demonstrated his “manliness” by raining blows on her for “giving him blow”, all because a neighbour saw her exchanging pleasantries with another male neighbour.
One wonders what part the church bodies and religious leaders play in melding communities into units cohesive enough to fashion strategies for interventions within families and the general society in efforts to divert energies into more productive and peaceful approaches to conflict resolution… even to the point of empowerment.
The acceleration of violence-prone conflicts within families and societies is spiralling out of control, to the extent where many lives have been lost, with many more dislocated; and there seems to be no end in sight.
Unless there is an holistic, proactive approach where all stakeholders in the nation are made aware that this cause and this fight is a national one because, more often than not, it is our children – the future generations of our nation, who are the statistics of domestic violence, every effort made – valiant and committed as they may be- will prove woefully inadequate, because domestic violence is a national tradition entrenched in the Guyanese psyche which is exacerbated by the escalating use of substance abuse, which is another problem area where a holistic approach is necessary to curb.
Unless and until drastic steps are taken to address these burning problems affecting families and communities, the Guyanese society, despite the most expansive economic growth and social development, will never achieve its full potential.