Stabroek News, in my opinion, continues to act as an enabler to the PPP regime in Guyana. Many Guyanese believe that the PPP government has an oppressive noose around the necks of Afro-Guyanese, their communities and trade unions, which they attempt to subjugate. Efforts to expose the PPP regime in the press continue to be encroached and censored by the management of Stabroek News, an occurrence that I and others have highlighted over the years.
I recently wrote a letter to the press in Guyana and the Caribbean criticizing the Guyana government’s inaction in the prolonged dispute between the bauxite company – BCGI – its employees and their union GB&GWU. BCGI is owned by the Russian company, RUSAL.
By all accounts, RUSAL is in violation of domestic and international labour laws, and the PPP government has countenanced this lawlessness in an attempt to destroy GB&GWU.
My letter was published in both the Stabroek and Kaieteur on Tuesday, April 6, 2010. If the two letters are juxtaposed, it would be obvious that Stabroek News, as is customary, elected to edit out most of the criticisms of the PPP government as well as many enumerations of their policies.
To its credit, Kaieteur carried the letter in full. The letter was also published in full in the region. There is no legitimate reason for Stabroek News to edit the letter as it contains no slander, libel or factual inaccuracies. Clearly, therefore the intent is to censor free speech in favour of the PPP government. Many individuals have expressed the view that Stabroek News is a PPP appeaser with an anti-black agenda. I do not know what Stabroek News’s motivations are, but I know that their actions are inimical to the interest of half of the Guyanese population, and as such, undermine the national interest.
Oppression is not only a political tool that despotic governments employ to bring about dictatorial control of their political opponents or sections of a population from which they get no support.
It is also a weapon that is used by destructive, nefarious forces in a society, who attempt to influence the population in a fashion reminiscent of George Orwell’s book Animal Farm. Stabroek News’s conduct is a manifestation of such a destructive, nefarious force at work.
Yours faithfully,
Rickford Burke
