THE current aggression of Venezuela towards Guyana should be of concern to each and every Guyanese. The movement of serious war equipment towards our borders is an act of aggression that ought to have alarmed the international community of nations. The condemnation ought to have come in thick and fast from peace-loving countries.Guyana has never been an aggressive nation to any of our neighbours, although we have had our share of border disputes. But all of those disputes were dealt with and decided upon through the legal and diplomatic processes. Any responsible nation would know that these diplomatic and legal paths are the way to go.

One of the moral duties of powerful countries is to protect weaker nations, and it is always reprehensible when strong nations resort to tactics that amount to bullying. Family bullies, school bullies, and street bullies are bad enough; but when one nation that happens to be militarily stronger than another and resort to bullying tactics, great harm could be done.
Lives could be lost on great scales. History is rife with examples, and we still read in awe of the Macedonian bullying and eventual sacking of the great city of Troy.
The feeble excuse way back in ancient times during which that war occurred was that Helen of Troy had to be returned. The real reason was power and territory. The latter was the same reason that launched World War II, although the deadly idea of racial superiority was added to the mix. The result was the loss of millions of lives.

The current aggressive posture of Venezuela towards Guyana demonstrates that little or nothing has been learned from the lessons history clearly teaches. Conventional thinking holds that the Venezuelan aggression comes from two reasons. The first is oil. A substantial deposit of oil was discovered in Guyana. In today’s world, oil is money.
The second is that Venezuela is due for elections, and election is about political power. The current President of Venezuela is under severe pressure from opposition forces, and he is predicted to lose. An external “enemy” provides an incentive for the citizens of a nation to close ranks and offers a distraction of citizens from their own suffering. This is also said to be a motive. In both cases, it amounts to nothing short of greed.

It does not matter that this Guyana/Venezuela border issue was laid to rest by a Treaty as long ago as 1899. It does not matter that there are legal avenues extant which can be used. It does not matter that there are diplomatic avenues readily available. Guyana stands ready to employ those avenues. The Venezuelan leadership does not seem to be ready to be reasonable. Bullies are never reasonable. To the credit of our current political leaders, Guyana has responded in calm and reasonable ways. This calm political demeanour and political politeness must never be interpreted as weakness. Too many people seem to fall into that trap: they mistake kindness and politeness for weakness. This is the time for all Guyanese to put away their political differences and support the Government by words and by readiness for action. Not just the politicians, all of us. This is not the time to emphasise our differences, however many those differences may be. Ethnic differences and political affiliations and social stratifications are all irrelevant at this time.

This nation — its Government and its political Opposition and all of its citizens must stand together and speak with one voice: Not one blade of grass!
This Land is our Land and this nation is our home! No one should be allowed to defile our nation by their greed, whether that greed be for territory or for oil or for political mileage.
The people of this Republic of Guyana shall not allow it. And it is imperative that our international partners stand firm and say that they will not stand idly by while bullies run wild.
We may be out-gunned and out-numbered, but we are armoured with Truth.