Dear Editor,
“Hope has two daughters. Their names are Anger and Courage; anger at the way things are, and courage to see that they do not remain the way they are.”
The Guyana Peace Builders Network expresses its sincere sympathy to the families and friends of those so brutally killed on the fatal morning of January 26 in Lusignan. We join with the family members who have publicly called on the nation for peace and restraint and commend them for their courage and the example they have set, in the midst of their own trauma, by which to guide all Guyana.
As we mourn the lives of these eleven Guyanese and the young children killed and condemn their brutal and senseless killing, and hope for a full and speedy recovery of those injured: We must remember and mourn too, the many other fellow Guyanese – a mother here, youth everywhere, gunned down in an ever-widening web of violence.
The Guyana Peace Builders Network recognizes that resolving the citizen security crisis depends on Government demonstrating leadership and courage for the sake of the country. The government must be committed to addressing grievances and tensions that give rise to situations like that which occurred in Lusignan.
There can be no doubt that from the recent statements by political parties, civil society organisations and individuals the gun culture that has this nation in its grip has to be stopped and that we have to do something about the intrusion of weapons in our communities which are brandished with such impunity.
We call on those in authority to mobilize, with alacrity, all available resources to ensure that justice is served and the perpetrators face the consequences of their actions, within the rule of law. We call for a firm and effective gun control policy so as to limit access to arms in our communities. We call for accountability on the part of the Joint Services and security forces. The inability and / or refusal of police officers in nearby police stations to effectively respond to Lusignan’s calls for help must be confronted.
We call on the Political Directorate, the Opposition and Civil Society to take a hard, honest look each at itself to see how each has failed in its own role and so failed the nation as a whole. Easy rhetoric must be thrown away. It will require an acceptance of failure on all fronts, a new dialogue based on understanding the roots and causes of this escalating violence, and a demonstration of practical and effective joint action – for all our sakes.
The Guyana Peace Builders Network asks of itself: How do we move forward as a people from this point on? And find there is no easy answer. We need, as individuals and as a nation, to face up to the reflection of our several selves – as those who kill and those who are killed, those who stand by while killing is done, those who call for the killing to continue and those who call for the killing to stop. After all, it is we who have grown the society that we live in and are killed in today. We can either choose to continue to be a part of the problem that we have caused, or we can change. Change our attitudes and behaviours to each other’s race and class and start with the way we grow our society – with how we raise our children. Violence, hatred and prejudice, are the “communicable diseases” that we pass on from generation to generation and they are deadly.
The Peace Builders Network also salutes all Guyanese who do not kill, and do not hate, and do not beat up on women and children, and who everyday live like people – showing ordinary kindnesses; who have disagreements and conflicts with each other, as all humans do, but without committing acts of violence. This is who the many of us are, and we need to let this fact win the day, today, and for the future always of Guyana.
How do people, like ourselves, who call for peace and want to build peace do so, with effect, in this dark time? The Guyana Peace Builders Network believes that Peace can only be built with Justice, Truth, Understanding and Mercy. We call on each other to use our collective grief and anger from all corners of our land to build a Peace that is Just in Guyana. This is our Hope for Change. This is the pledge we call on all Guyana to make.
Yours faithfully,
Roxanne Myers, Terrence Simmons, Rajkumarie Singh, Pandit Chrishna Persaud, Rolinda Kirton, Treena Dundas, Abbas Mancey, Samuel Small, Rohan Sagar, Gavin Gounga, Joel Earl, Cheryl McClure, Dauren Deonarine, Bhisham Mohamed, Christine King, Vanda Radzik, Kala Seegopaul; Volunteer Youth Corps; Bikers Uniting Guyana; Evangelical Lutheran Church of Guyana, St. Andrews Parish; Spirit of Guyana (representatives and individuals of the Peace Builders Network)
