Dear Editor,
THE Guyanese public is constantly treated to the voice of so-called civil society groups and personalities in the press, not least so in Kaieteur News and Stabroek News. The groups and persons have made big names for themselves, and many have become local celebrities.

Some time ago, I introduced the idea that many of the big names seem to be pursuing jouissance, meaning involvement in anti-government activities simply for the pleasure of doing so.

Well, now is the time for those who claim to have an interest in our national well-being to speak up. The occasion is the recent whip-lash racism and treasonous pronouncements aired by senior WPA personalities, the most well-known of them being Tacuma Ogunseye.

I call on the following organizations/groups and persons to openly and without reservation condemn in the strongest possible terms the abject racism and violent rhetoric of the WPA – Mike McCormick and the Guyana Human Right Association; Yog Mahadeo and Article 13, Lincoln Lewis and the Trades Union Congress; Melinda Janki, Janet Bulkan, Mike Persaud, Charles Sugrim, A. Brandli, Alissa Trotz, Norman Browne, Troy Thomas, Vanda Radzik, Alfred Bhulai, Danuta Radzik and Kenrick Hunte.

The same call goes to the entire PNCR and AFC, especially Opposition Leader Aubrey Norton; Leader of AFC Khemraj Ramjattan; MPs Annette Ferguson, Cathy Hughes, Amanza Walton-Desir, Sherod Duncan, Roysdale Forde, Vincent Henry, N.N. Flue-Bess, Vinceroy Jordan, and others.

Though failure to condemn the WPA’s violently-racist rhetoric and their call for subversion does not necessarily mean approval, your silence could be interpreted as personal and political weakness, and lack of courage in a time of clear threats to the Indian population of this country.

You cannot and will not have any credibility to speak in the name of national unity, national progress, and national well-being. And most certainly, you will be severely compromised in asking upstanding Guyanese for their votes.

Yours sincerely,
Dr. Randolph B. Persaud