WHEN you came out of a certain zeitgeist where race and religion were no barriers to socialisation and political camaraderie; where class struggle for equality was a national motto, where civil society and the private media were seen as platforms of freedom to proudly be associated with; where young people were courageous and morally empowered to denounce wrong-doings; where students and lecturers led from the front; where big, bad countries were denounced at large rallies as imperialist bullies, then what you see what Guyana has come to today, you are psychologically deflated at this cruel infamy.

This was the zeitgeist I came from. One image sticks out in my mind about this revolutionary epoch. Popular UG lecturer, Dr. Josh Ramsammy was a target for assassination and was shot in the lung. There were emotional indignations all over Guyana. Representatives from civil society groups, the Bar Association, political parties sought an explanation from the police commissioner.
The Guyana Graphic carried a front page photograph of the Vice Chancellor of UG, the head of the Bar Association, representatives of civil society climbing the steps of the building that led to the office of the commissioner.

Today, that beautiful moment is replaced by the ubiquity of infamy. The Bar Association has become infamous, UG has become infamous, civil society has become infamous, the private media have become infamous.

When you survey Guyana today and you see this infamy, you ask; “where have all the flowers gone?”

This was a period in current Guyanese history where one could hear the voices and see the faces of patriotism. One of the enduring motifs of this era was the heroic struggle for free and fair elections.

This was a united bandwagon. Class differences took a back seat. Ethnic loyalties were ebbing, trade unions were united, and political parties put aside differences. Guyanese wanted free and fair elections.

That epoch produced men and women of exceptional character led by Dr. Cheddi Jagan and the PPP, Walter Rodney and the WPA, the University of Guyana’s students and lecturers, the indomitable Jesuit priest, Father Andrew Morrison who put his newspaper, the Catholic Standard, in the way of danger, the Anglican church led by Bishop Randolph George who put his church at the service of patriotic Guyanese who wanted the right to vote.

There was Father Malcolm Rodrigues and deacon, Mike James from the Catholic Church. The Catholic Church under Bishop Benedict Singh stood out like a beacon in the fight against Burnham’s totalitarianism.

School teachers on the Corentyne were exemplary examples of workers in struggle for freedom and justice. Civil society groups and the independent press were important foundations in the struggle for the right to vote and have that vote counted.

Where have all the flowers gone since March 2020. Where is the free press, civil society and the churches? What can you see in Guyana in July 2023? Whatever is there to see that is beautiful and soulful in this country alongside that ethereal horizon, there is the presence of infamy. The remaining paragraphs of this article and the contents of part two to come are a description of this infamy.

I am about to describe mob rule in Guyana whose ugly presence was on the front page on last Sunday’s edition of the Stabroek News. Let me be pellucid before I continue. The Dharamlall scandal has damaged the politician forever. I believe once the scandal broke out, the legal procedures should have been allowed free rein. But while Guyana waited for the processes to work, mob rule stepped in.

I am going to describe infamy in Guyana in the paragraphs below, and if what I will assess below is not infamy, then, the mind that does not agree that this was infamy is a disturbed mind that has no idea what constitutes civilised society where behaviour is governed by laws.

An almost non-existent organisation with no functionalist dimensions named the Guyana Human Rights Association (GHRA) issued a press statement about the Dharamlall scandal. This simply, incredibly silly emanation became the lead story for the Stabroek News.

The front page headline screamed: “GHRA says public interest demands trial in Dharamlall case.” This exclamation by an organisation that the public interest demands to know who its functionaries are comes after the virtual complainant refused to proceed with her story.

Whether we believe that some external factor was at work, whether money or cajoling was involved, it becomes mob rule when an organisation and a newspaper want the police and the DPP to proceed in what can only be described as a bizarre de-recognition of the rule of law under which this country is governed.

The police and the DPP must ignore laws and the constitution and charge a man even though, the laws say there must be evidence and a complainant. Really!