Dear Editor,
As we approach our 50th anniversary of Independence, the media need to take a serious look at themselves.
Last Friday, the President of Guyana made a very important foreign policy speech as the keynote speaker at the Caricom International Youth Reparations Relay and Rally. Beyond his comments on the Venezuelan situation, this speech was his most important foreign policy speech as he spoke to ministers and parliamentarians of the Guyana government, the prime ministers of Caricom and the nine leaders of Europe whose nations were involved in ‘the greatest crime against humanity’ ‒ slavery. This event was symbolically held at the Parade Ground in Georgetown, where, in 1823, many African-Guyanese freedom fighters were hanged and some were subsequently decapitated with their heads put on poles as a warning to others not to rebel. Runners and participants from 28 villages and communities attended.
Yet, not a single private newspaper in Guyana carried his speech.
This was a Caricom sponsored event as President Granger is one of five heads of state who are members of the Caricom Heads-of-State Subcom-mittee on Reparations.
Only the Chronicle reported the President’s speech. Only the Chronicle carried sections of the message sent to the Reparations Rally by Sir Hilary Beckles, the current Vice Chancellor of the University of the West Indies and the Chairperson of the Caricom Reparations Commission.
Why did the Stabroek News, Kaieteur News and the Guyana Times deliberately censor this very important speech and message from Sir Hilary Beckles?
Clearly, the owners and editors of these influential newspapers, do not want Guyana to hear President Granger’s strong views on the topic and the fact that he publicly stressed the need for all Guyanese and Caribbean people to join the fight for compensatory payments from those who had enforced the trans-Atlantic slave trade.
In his speech, President Granger said: “What was done during the colonial times goes to the heart of our existence. Thus, Guyanese and members of the Caribbean must have a vested interest in reparatory justice.”
As reported in the Chronicle, President Granger went on to say that the case for reparative justice can be established in respect to three claims, and that in the case of enslavement and genocide, which are crimes against humanity, victims ought to be recompensed because Europe’s enrichment came through the wealth from the exploitation and deprivations of enslaved persons.
The first basis for reparative justice rests on the fact that crimes against humanity are punishable under international law and persons, organizations or even institutions who commit such acts do not enjoy the protection of any statute of limitations or immunity.
The convention on the non-applicability of statutory limitations to world crimes and crimes against humanity adopted by the United Nations (UN) provides that “no statutory barrier shall apply to crimes against humanity whether in time of war or peace.”
Apart from that fact, reparative justice can be claimed since the evidence of the huge wealth which was generated during the time of slavery by expropriation and transfer, is visible today in Europe and the UK.
“Colonisation allowed for the unjust enrichment of Europe…the vast wealth extracted through forced labour, impoverished those who generated those fortunes,” lamented the President.
Meanwhile, the third basis of reparative claims is that the Caribbean, even after gaining independence, is yet to shake off the legacy of colonialism, which left it underdeveloped due to the consequence of European conquest and conflict.
Guyana is seeking social cohesion but our people are not being given the facts by our major newspapers and are fed on a daily basis a great amount of historical misinformation which prevents a better understanding of each other’s historical contributions to Guyana.
In my address at the rally, I also gave a brief report on the work of the Guyana Reparations Committee. This too was not reported even though I indicated that the Guyana Reparations Committee after 3 years of hard work, meeting weekly, has completed its reparations claim which will be presented to Guyana’s Attorney General for a resolution to be passed in Parliament. Jamaica has already unanimously passed a resolution and this was even sponsored by the opposition party in Jamaica. Caricom recommends all states should pass a similar resolutions.
I also made the statement that the Guyana Reparations Committee believes in social cohesion but this social cohesion must be built on justice and economic inclusion. Why should the descendants of enslaved Africans who lost thousands of lives building Guyana over a period of 200 years during the worst crime ever, receive
nothing, when all others groups in Guyana have received and continue to receive state benefits?
I also said, “We seek reparations and social inclusion because we believe in the immortal declaration that all men are created equal,” he said.
Why did the newspapers also not carry the message of Sir Hilary Beckles even though it was emailed to them on Saturday last? Why did they not report that Sir Hilary Beckles said, “it was fitting that the reparations relay in Guyana was being held just days before the country celebrates its fiftieth anniversary of Independence from British colonial rule” and that “the valiant and timely struggle for reparations for the descendants of slaves and indentured labourers in Guyana and across the Region could be viewed as the next stage in the Region’s quest to consolidate its independence and sovereignty”.
“Strengthening our nations’ independence and struggling for reparatory justice are inextricably bound to each other. Our struggle for reparatory justice is part and parcel…[of] strengthen[ing] regional integration” Sir Hillary said.
I seek an answer for the obvious censorship of the President of Guyana by the Stabroek News, Kaieteur News and Guyana Times. This is a continuation of a practice of censorship of anything that highlights the gross inequality and injustices Africans have suffered in Guyana by not receiving lands , the basis of generational wealth creation, when all others … Amerindians, Indians, Chinese, Europeans have received lands from the state when it was the genocide of thousands of Africans over 200 years that built Guyana and rescued it from the sea.
More importantly, where are the investigative journalists of these newspapers as we approach our 50th anniversary of Independence?
I ask this question because over the last 3 months these newspapers, and especially the Guyana Times, have been printing political attacks against the IDB through letters from Peter Persaud who claims he is the Leader of the Amerindian group, TAAMOG. He has claimed the IDB is discriminating against Amerindians because of some ludicrous sum of US$300,000 not being given to his and other groups to build capacity. How insulting to Amerindians who have 13.8% of Guyana, to suggest that the lack of US$300,000 will send them to the breadline and prevent them from gaining their independence as Mr Peter Persaud claims.
Investigative journalism would clearly show these newspapers that Mr Persaud, who has attacked the IDB, Mr Donald Ramotar and a few others are using baseless letters against the government, when in reality they are a vile attempt to hide what the PPP did during the last 23 years as shown in the forensic audits which the Government of Guyana had asked the IDB to fund.
In closing, I again call on the media of Guyana to grow up and stop being racist and selective in their coverage. Guyanese are not stupid people and it is clear from discussions in the street that people understand what is going on. Censoring the President of Guyana because he was addressing issues of critical importance to Caricom and to all Guyanese is almost an act of deliberate scampishness and certainly shows a profound lack of integrity. Social cohesion will not be built on lies and fancy slogans and hiding the facts, but in addressing historical wrongs, ensuring economic inclusion and being truthful about our history.
I have noticed that every time I write about the 450,000 Africans lives that were lost to build Guyana, Stabroek News edits out this number. I have sent pictures of Luzia, the oldest person in this region, an African woman, yet this picture has never been printed.
If our historical truths are being censored by the existing media, then Africans need their own media.
Yours faithfully,
Eric Phillips
