-AG denounces Kidackie for permitting hate speech, racist threats on show
– points to increased public awareness of race-baiting tactics
THE Attorney-General and Minister of Legal Affairs, Anil Nandlall, S.C., has expressed strong disapproval of the conduct exhibited by talk-show host, Kadackie Amsterdam, for permitting racial animosity on his programme, an offence that could result in criminal liability.
Amsterdam, an activist with the Working People’s Alliance (WPA), is under investigation for cybercrimes following a controversial episode of his social media program where a caller incited violence against high-ranking government officials.
Amsterdam’s program recently became the centre of a national uproar when a caller suggested that President Dr Irfaan Ali, Vice President Dr. Bharrat Jagdeo, Attorney General Anil Nandlall, and Finance Minister Dr. Ashni Singh should be beheaded, and their heads displayed publicly on the seawalls.
Nandlall, during his programme “Issues in the News” on Tuesday, warned that talk show hosts are equally responsible by law when viewers or listeners called to express their opinions, especially such hostile remarks.
“Kadackie has a programme in which he encourages people to call in. Now, when you have a programme and you encourage colleagues, you encourage listeners and viewers to call in and you give them a platform, you are responsible equally with them for what they say once you offer them that platform. Because had it not been for your platform, they would not have been able to say what they are saying,” Nandlall said.
He explained that providing a platform for public discourse does not absolve the host of responsibility to intervene when statements verge on criminal conduct.
“From the moment you hear that the person is saying something that you know as an ordinary reasonable, sensible human being, something that a person should not be saying, something that can put you in trouble, something that can make you an accomplice or an accessory to a crime, you have a duty to shut that caller down,” he said.
According to him, Amsterdam’s failure to act, not only facilitated the spread of hate speech but also implicated him in the criminal conduct of the caller.
“If you entertain that caller, you are participating in the criminal conduct. And don’t tell me that you don’t know, because ignorance of the law is never a defence,” Nandlall stated firmly.
He pointed out that the gravity of the caller’s threats is compounded by the context in which they were made.
Nandlall explained that the caller targeted four prominent officials, all of Indo-Guyanese descent, raising alarms about the potential for ethnically motivated violence.
“You are talking about the Vice President of a country, the president of a country, the Attorney General of a country, and the Minister of Finance of the country. And you will note that all four are of one ethnicity. So, this thing has several layers, and the context in which the man is speaking is one filled with racism,” Nandlall pointed out.
Amsterdam’s program is just one example of a broader issue of incendiary rhetoric in Guyana’s media landscape by the APNU+AFC.
Over recent months, other critics of the People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) such as Rickford Burke of the Caribbean-Guyana Institute for Democracy (C-GID) and activist Mark Benschop have also faced backlash for race-baiting on their social media platforms.
As such, Nandlall stressed the need for national unity and the dangers posed by those who exploit racial tensions for political gain.
“More and more, it is losing its potency with them, because Guyanese are becoming more and more educated. We don’t do ethnic breakdown, I mean, we have to start to do it. When you’re dealing with a racist that we’re dealing with, more and more of our people are becoming empowered, they are becoming educated,” Nandlall noted.
He argued that as the public becomes more informed, the influence of those who prey on ignorance and incite division diminishes.
The Attorney General also took aim at the defence tactics employed by Amsterdam’s lawyer, who objected to the use of the term “Negro” in police reports, a term historically used by the Guyana Police Force.
Nandlall criticised this focus as a diversion from the more pressing issue of the violent threats made on Amsterdam’s show.
“Suddenly this lawyer who Kadackie retains…finds the use of the term negro by the Guyana police force as objectionable. He doesn’t find objectionable the content of the video…He doesn’t have a problem with four East Indians being beheaded. He has a problem with the police using the term Negro to describe Kadackie—that’s his problem,” Nandlall said.
The Attorney General further critiqued the motivations behind the lawyer’s objections, suggesting they were politically calculated to attract the attention of international figures, such as U.S. Congressman Jonathan Jackson, a member of the Congressional Black Caucus.
“Because Congressman Jonathan Jackson, who’s a member of the Congressional Black Caucus of the US, is in Guyana, this lawyer now finds the use of the term negro by the Guyana Police Force as objectionable.
“The Guyana police force was formed 180 years ago, and they are using that term. This lawyer never found it objectionable. But because he wants to pitch to the congressman here, he finds that objectionable,” Nandlall stated.
Over the years, APNU has been facing numerous backlashes, with one being over comments made by an executive member of the WPA, David Hinds, who disparaged a number of PNC/R Indo-Guyanese members for speaking out against racist and incendiary remarks made by the WPA.
Hinds had also directed comments at PNC/R Parliamentarians Ganesh Mahipaul and Natasha Singh-Lewis; Regional Chairman Daniel Seeram, and Former Mayor Ubraj Narine, who had issued a joint statement condemning the remarks of another WPA member, Rhonda Layne.
Nandlall explained that a strong message must be sent since it come at a time when Guyana is grappling with issues of racial tension and political division being peddled by the PNC-led APNU+AFC.
He called on citizens to reject the race-baiting tactics of certain political leaders and media figures, urging them to focus instead on national unity and personal accountability.
“They want to blame race for every problem that they have in life. It is because of race. They don’t look at their own personal performance. They don’t look at the type of political leadership that they subscribe to.
“They don’t want to look at their own personal life or their personal environment in which they operate. No! Racism is a very good excuse for whatever plight they find themselves in,” Nandlall said.
