RONALD Daniels, the lawyer who has so far appeared to bumble and fumble his way through Magistrate Faith McGusty’s court while defending clients charged with conspiring to steal the 2020 election results, is now calling for a revolution. You truly cannot make this up.
At a sparsely attended protest over the sinking of the MV Barima and the loss of innocent lives, Daniels told MP Sherod Duncan last week that Guyanese students should lead a revolution. It is reckless rhetoric. It is easy enough to strike a match, but much harder to contain the blaze once it catches.
Whether his words cross any legal threshold is for the relevant authorities to determine. Politically and socially, however, they mark a dangerous trend. We may be tempted to laugh at the theatrics and gimmicks of Azruddin Mohamed and his relatives, but talk of revolution is not a joke.
Revolutions are not campus debates or clumsily written placards. As El-Hajj Malik El-Shabazz (Malcolm X) famously warned, no revolution has ever been non-violent. History records that revolutions always result in bloodshed, instability and shattered lives. It is a lesson Daniels either missed in law school or has chosen to ignore.
Daniels and Duncan are not alone in peddling a narrative that uses the grief surrounding the MV Barima tragedy as political fuel. Former Georgetown Mayor Ubraj Narine stood outside Minister Juan Edghill’s residence last weekend and told supporters that when government officials come to meet grieving families, they should be run off.
Consider the absurdity of that position. A minister who remains in his office is condemned as inaccessible and uncaring. A minister who attends a wake or vigil is to be chased away—not merely booed or heckled, but driven from the scene. Narine leaves it to his supporters to decide precisely what that should mean.
Mind you, no other government in the 60 years of our Independence has given the public this much face time as the People’s Progressive Party Civic. And that’s just a fact that can be verified as true or false with actual empirical evidence. Count the days, hours and weeks and tell me I am wrong. This last week alone, VP Bharrat Jagdeo was in Linden with a cluster of Ministers while President Irfaan Ali was in Region One with members of his cabinet.
Strangely, Narine invoked Hindu Dharma and the duty to feel for one another, even as he called for state representatives to be driven away from grieving families. It appears that in Narine’s reasoning, compassion is owed to the dead, but apparently not to anyone who represents a government he opposes.
That contradiction stayed with me after watching Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey on Emancipation Day. The film is not simply about a celebrated Trojan War general losing his way at sea. It is about Odysseus trying to find his way home after war has stripped away his certainty, humanity and sense of self.
Troy was conquered, but victory did not end the rampage. The killing, pillaging and brutality followed Odysseus long after the battlefield was behind him. He spent years confronting the demons unleashed by war. That is the truth too easily forgotten by those who romanticise conflict: violence never remains in the same place it began.
Daniels and Duncan speak casually of revolution, as though they are discussing a chess match in the park. Narine urges his meagre supporters to drive government representatives away from grieving families, wrapping confrontation in the language of faith and compassion. All of it is presented as righteous indignation, but none of it acknowledges where unhinged rage can lead.
The MV Barima tragedy demands answers, accountability and care for the bereaved. Based on preliminary evidence gathered, the Director of Public Prosecutions filed charges against the ferry’s captain and two crew members, and the government established a Commission of Inquiry, but that apparently wasn’t good enough for Duncan, Daniels and Narine. They want to weaponise grief by making it an invitation to intimidate, confront and incite disorder.
Guyanese have seen enough political divisions to know that words matter. Calls to “run” officials away and for revolution may sound like protest theatrics to some, but they make enemies of fellow citizens and turn peaceful engagement into weakness.
The real test of leadership is not who can shout loudest at a vigil or exploit sorrow most effectively. It is who can demand justice without inviting chaos.
Guyana needs answers for the families of the MV Barima. It does not need political arsonists standing nearby with matches in their hands.
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.