HERE is what the inactive Guyana Human Rights Association (GHRA) wrote in one of its episodic press releases carried (as usual) in last Sunday’s edition of the Stabroek News; “…sectors of society which in earlier times routinely voiced opinions and monitored authoritarian abuses are cowed…”

There is so much wrong with this statement that the young generation of this country needs to know about racists, false prophets, political betrayals and dangerous minds pursuing dangerous trends. For the past 35 years that I have been doing columns, I have mentioned Freud countless times.

I don’t need to take up space by explaining Freud but Freud is relevant here when you read the words above which for emphasis I will repeat because you will only understand the Freudian underpinnings of the writer of this press release when you fully study the statement. I repeat; “…sectors of society which in earlier times routinely voiced opinions and monitored authoritarian abuses are cowed….”

Can’t you see the GHRA is at a subliminal level bringing to the surface what is hidden. The earlier times they are referring to is about them; the times when they spoke up about authoritarian politics and rigged elections. The GHRA and those from earlier times, who are still around, have undergone a psychological metamorphosis. Colour and class prevented them from speaking up from 2020 to now.

Where were the voices in 2020 that from earlier times were so vocal, active, energetic in denouncing rigged elections? What has happened to those voices from the 70s, 80s, 90s? I know those voices. I was part of that chorus. I was part of that songbook.

I still had that songbook in my lap on March 3, 2020 when I monitored the election with Leonard Gildarie on Kaieteur Radio. I kept that songbook on my lap until July 30, 2020. From March to July is five months and the chorus I was part of in the 70s, 80s, and 90s, had disappeared. When I looked over my shoulder, the chorus I was part of in what the GHRA calls “earlier times” had gone. But that chorus had five months to find its voice.

It was not that the election hijacking was a putsch that lasted two days. And thus, before you can catch your voice, the APNU+AFC had a ready, water proof alibi. The rigging played on for five months. Each day, forces that wanted permanent power in Guyana hatched one pantomime after another; one caricature after another, one comicality after another; one farce after another; one nightmare after another.

On this day, on April 27, 2020, here is what happened. GECOM chairperson, Ms. Claudette Singh announced that as chairperson she cannot sanction live-streaming of the recount because it conflicts with the secrecy of the counting of the ballots as stipulated in Section 90 of the Representation of the People Act (ROPA). Attorney Sanjeev Datadin disagreed. He argued that live-streaming of the recount does not violate that section of ROPA because it is inapplicable to the recount. Datadin explained that the live-streaming process shows the mere ballot paper without any identification details.

I cannot forget those five months. As an anti-dictatorship youth from 1968 onwards, I will never forget the nearness of the abyss Guyana stood from March to July in 2020. It was COVID-19 curfew. I would walk my dog at Giftland Mall next to where I live. The place was completely deserted after 6PM. At the back of Giftland lies a private housing scheme named Demerara Estates. I would be with my dog and a car entering the estate would pull up.

“Hi Freddie. Where are we going? Will we survive?” Words like these and similar ones would greet me by different drivers in the sprawling, deserted acreage of Giftland. I never for one moment advised them with an optimistic note because no one in Guyana knew if the country would survive.

When I look back at those days, I don’t want to hear the name Mike McCormack. I was angry when I got that email from Dr. Bertrand Ramcharran. I confess; my reply was insulting. If I receive a similar note in the future I would be similarly insulting. I remember the lonely ambience in Gitfland; me and my dog alone, and my wife waiting anxiously at home for me to beat the curfew.

I don’t want to hear about Red Thread, about Transparency Institute-Guyana, about the names that make up the usual suspects. These people I fought with for free and fair elections. I saw thousands denied their right to vote from 1968 to 1985. And I was seeing it again in 2020. I chose the side of history, and I will always be mentally renewed for that.