I QUOTE from a letter from Ms. Simone Mangal Joly (SMJ) in the newspapers of September 9, 2023 in which she denounces people (even though they are intellectually trained) who write in favour of the government.
“Some individuals supported by public salaries or other incentives, or who are otherwise openly egged on by leaders, patrol the airwaves and personally attack citizens who voice valid democratic concerns. They use their intellect to defend the current path of decay rather than protect our society.”
If this is not a graphic expression of mental jadedness then universities should stop teaching psychology courses. SMJ complains that anti-government critics are attacked when they denounce government’s undemocratic action, but in the same breath she attacks writers that treat the government favourably. She implies that pro-government voices are given incentives to attack. She went on to state that these voices are egged on by leaders.
It flies into your mind immediately to ask SMJ who is egging her on in a letter in which she paints Guyana as an authoritarian state. SMJ does not live in Guyana and since she is not trained in political theory, maybe she should get some help in penning a comparative analysis of Guyana and the country she lives in.
One can ask SMJ who is egging on her friends in the Mulatto-Creole class that have referred to me twice as a dog. First, the editor-in-chief of Stabroek News (SN), Mr. Anand Persaud described me as a PPP lapdog. Then SMJ’s colleague, Dr. Nigel Westmaas referred to me as the PPP’s attack dog.
There is more. If you go to the online edition of SN, you will see there are comments attached to readers’ letters. From time to time the paper’s known moderator of the comments would respond to the readers’ comment. I am not spared his wrath.
I am literally scandalised by the moderator. Maybe SMJ can tell us if, in the country she lives, a leading newspaper would openly refer to a national columnist and known academic as a lapdog.
Putting that aside, let us travel on the highway of SMJ’s hypocrisy. She writes: “They actively deny and try to destroy any citizen space in which legitimate democratic concerns can be addressed.”
“What kind of nation do we envision for ourselves? One that suppresses and shames or one that listens, understands, and reforms? Do we expect the latter to emerge from silence? And do we not see our democratic power in collectively breaking this silence?”
In the quote above, SMJ is referring to the government but her words apply with equal force to her colleagues in anti-government circles. SMJ publishes her letters in SN and Kaieteur News (KN). But the very newspapers she has space to roam about in, that space has been denied to others.
There is a young man in Guyana with a fine analytical mind. He is perhaps the best financial analyst in Guyana today. His name is Joel Bhagwandin. KN has a barefaced policy of not carrying his letters. Maybe SMJ can ask Mr. Glen Lall why he carries her letters and not Bhagwandin’s.
Then there is one of the most learned professors in International Relations that Guyana produced – Dr. Randolph Persaud. SN informed him, through direct contact with Mr. Persaud that the professor’s opinions and analyses will not be published if they carry attacks on civil society organisations. SN specifically named an anti-government outfit named Article 13 headed by Dr Yog Mahadeo and Christopher Ram. Where was SMJ when that scandal broke out? Only the iconic Guyanese, Ian MC Donald, had the courage to disagree with that decision by SN
For emphasis, let’s repeat the quote above because in hammering home its meaning and bringing out the hypocrisy of those who criticise the government what is laid bare for Guyanese to see are the threats to Guyana’s democracy.
Here is the quote from SMJ once more: “What kind of nation do we envision for ourselves? One that suppresses and shames or one that listens, understands, and reforms?”
Let me leave SMJ with a fraction of my memory bank in a country I have given all my life to. I hope this adds to her knowledge of politics. My research of declassified British documents led me to conclude that Martin Carter was the mole for British intelligence in the PPP in the early 1950s.
So, I wrote what I discovered about Mr. Carter with supporting evidence of his close relationship with the colonial administration in British Guiana. After its publication in the Kaieteur News, Carter’s relatives and family members protested to Mr. Lall who ordered that the column be removed from the online edition. These are the people that deny us democratic space. I include SMJ among them.