BY now anyone who keeps abreast of social stuff in Guyana would know instantly who, “we the undersigned” are when they read the letter pages of the Stabroek News and the words, “we the undersigned” appear at the beginning of the letter. It is the usual suspects (TUSs). This is a group of so-called civil society activists whose relentless criticism of the government can be characterized as extreme irrationality.

Just two manifestations should let you know the depth of the resentment this motley crew has for the government. One is a letter that demands that the government end oil production because of climate harm. The other is a demand that the 20 charges of murder against an alleged arsonist be dropped, and instead the charge of arson be instituted. In that letter TUSs recommended that the alleged teenager be allowed to have counselling.
What makes this demand so unspeakably horrible is that no other country in the world has done that in the past or would ever do that in the future. In many developed nations, particularly the US, underage kids who commit murder are on remand awaiting trial. In Guyana, the alleged murderer is accused of causing the death of 20 teenagers. Which human can be so unbelievably crass to ask that the murder charges be withdrawn?

TUSs do not wait for the ink to dry on the newspapers when the newspapers publish stories on men, with some connection to the government, who are accused of alleged wrongdoing against women. TUSs come out like raging bulls against these men. The list includes Nirvan Singh, son of former Chancellor Carl Singh; Parliamentarian, Nigel Dharamlall who made an offending remark to a female parliamentarian; Charrandass Persaud, then Guyana’s High Commission to India.
But TUSs have selective minds. Their targets are carefully selected. It is not the principle of men verbally or physically assaulting women and thus denunciation is perfectly in order. The condemnation is based on the men’s connection to either the state, the government or the ruling party.

Three times the Stabroek News (SN) referred to Charrandass in their editorials as the “disgraced” Charrandass Persaud.” But the same newspaper gave a whole- page interview to the General-Secretary of the Trade Union Congress, Lincoln Lewis, who at the time was charged by the police with assaulting a woman.
SN’s reporter, Miranda La Rose interviewed Lewis in which she waxed lyrical about the TUC’s role as a civil society group in speaking out against the government. Not a word was asked about the negative role Lewis played in the five months of election drama in 2020. TUSs have never, I repeat, never published one line, I repeat, not one line on the police’s charge against Lewis.
Not only has Lewis remained the head of the TUC, but an organisation named Civil Society Forum has been formed by the Catholic Church, the TUC and others. The photo in the newspaper showed the Catholic Bishop alongside Mr. Lewis. Before coming to Daniel Seeram, Chairman of Region Four, it should be mentioned that Mr. Lewis issued a public statement requesting the state to withdraw the 20 murder charges in the Mahdia dormitory fire.

The Chairman of Region Four, Mr. Daniel Seeram is to be charged by the police for domestic violence. To date “we the undersigned” is missing in action. Is there an explanation? Of course, there is. The people whom we refer to as TUSs are intertwined with the Mulatto/Creole class (MCC).
The MCC is much broader than the 20-odd persons who have been writing letters in the newspapers every two weeks since Dr. Ali became president denouncing the Government of Guyana. The MCC is a class in itself for itself. The MCC is a category to be identified when we undertake class analysis of Guyana’s social structure.

TUSs, on the other hand, is a school of anti-government activists who are opposed to the Ali government. They are a group of people passionate about the need to confront the government. There are no grey areas for them. It is black and white- pro-government or anti-government. That is how they see politics in Guyana. They will pen any kind of asininity, absurdity, immorality, degeneracy, debauchery with the objective to weaken the government. Their two most horrible pathways are stated above — the oil-production thing and the Mahdia massacre.
So, TUSs are missing in action over alleged committal of domestic violence on the part of Mr. Seeram. Surely, you cannot be that stupid not to know why we haven’t seen the published letter yet with the words, “we the undersigned” in relation to Mr. Seeram. “We the undersigned” are only interested in cases where the alleged perpetrators are connected to the government.