I LIVE in a country where people, especially intellectuals, are allowed to question any and everything about any country in the world including historical and contemporary events. Intellectuals in this country can get up at any symposium and question whether Nazi Germany was as cruel as it was presented to the world since 1945.

I raised that very iconoclastic question at a symposium on Palestine at the CIOG during the month of Ramadan. On the panel was former President Donald Ramotar. Since then no one has sought to victimise me for my delivery.
I spoke at four Palestinian events held in my country and on all four occasions I denounced Israel for committing genocide in Gaza, and I compared the state of Israel doing to the Palestinians what Nazi Germany did to the Jews.

I have done more than 10 columns condemning Israel’s Nazi-like behaviour and criticising the countries that support Israel, and to date I have not received any word of reservation from the paper I write for.
I have done about six panel discussions on genocide in Israel on the Freddie Kissoon Show and the management of the station from which the show is broadcast has shown no attitude.

What is the point? We in Guyana have freedom to criticise Israel, to accuse it of genocide, to accuse countries that support Israel of condoning Israel’s horrible violation of international laws and the laws governing civilised behaviour.
It is relevant to mention that our Ambassador to the UN has said in a speech in the Security Council recently that it is difficult to find another example in modern history of the cruelty that Israel has inflicted on the people of Gaza.
You look at the Western world today and you wonder what has happened to free speech. The latest victim of intolerance to criticism of Israel is one of the most impressive pianists in the world.

Jason Gillham of the UK is regarded as one of the best pianists performing in the world today. Here is what happened to Mr. Gillham last Sunday. While performing with the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra (MSO), Gillham before he introduced his piece titled, “Witness” remarked to the audience that “over the last ten months, Israel has killed more than 100 journalists.”

For that the MSO has dropped further performances of Gillham with the MSO. The Committee To Protect Journalists has noted that to date, Israel has killed 113 journalists.
Can you imagine what has been happening to global democracy? Mr. Gillham simply spoke a fact about the statistic of journalists killed in Gaza and for that he was removed. In the Western world today, a citizen simply cannot criticise Israel without facing reprisal whether from the state, the media, business firms and academic institutions. And the casualties have been in the hundreds since Israel attacked Gaza last October. This figure excludes students who have been expelled from American universities for pro-Palestinian demonstrations.
We need to remind readers that an American Congresswoman, Rashida Tlaib, was officially censured through a motion for saying: “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free.” The Home Secretary in the former Conservative Government in the UK went so far as call to make the statement a criminal offence. No parliamentarian in Guyana will be censured for saying so.

Leading the programme of retaliation against intellectuals and writers who condemn Israel is Germany. Germany’s official policy is that Israel is Germany’s reason of state. This is a frightening statement when it is deconstructed. A very brief explanation is that Germany’s role is to ensure on the life of Israel. Philosophically, it means Germany’s very existence is bound up with the existence of Israel. Politically, what it means is that Germany’s role is to safeguard and protect Israel.

But how can one country announce to the world that another country is its reason for existence? This is extreme language that is too complex to even contemplate. What happens when that country that Germany has a philosophical obligation to preserve its existence begins to commit genocide? The country that should be extremely sensitive to genocide being committed against another race should be Germany.

Unbelievably, Germany’s new citizen law has a few questions that all applicants must answer. These questions probe the applicants’ knowledge of Jewish heritage in Germany and what the Nazis did to the Jews. There is no question about what Germany did to Namibians when they colonised Namibia. Germany has officially recognised that it committed genocide in Namibia.
I end with the one that still has me in shock. The Guardian newspaper that I once admired sacked its cartoonist of 40 years of service for a drawing of Netanyahu. We are free in Guyana, aren’t we? We can openly defend the Palestinians.

DISCLAIMER: The views and opinions expressed in this column are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the Guyana National Newspapers Limited.