Dear Editor,
Some Guyanese and even non-Guyanese have compared the Lusignan massacre to that of the Beslan killings carried out in this Russian township by Chechan separatists who have adopted terrorist methods. Here in Guyana some sections of the media have labelled Lusignan as “more than a massacre”. This media sector at least on one occasion termed January 26 horrendous events as L/11. No doubt there is that element where the People’s Temple murder/suicides and Jones-town, including putting to death hundreds of defenceless children, historically becomes relevant.
Jonestown, Port Kaituma (1978), the Beslan school children killings (2004) and Lusignan January, 2008 evoke utter depravity and irrationalism. Could it be that the local media especially that section opposed to the Government has become itself victim of misinformation, distortion and sensationalism?
How is it that obvious clues and geopolitical inter-face coupled with desktop data (Rondell Rawlins’s telephone calls to a local editor) that reveal at an empiricist level the direct involvement of the Buxton/ Agricola gang, fail to convince certain sections as to the forces behind the Lusignan massacre?
Let us cite a few examples. Both Government and Opposition leaders have condemned the Lusignan massacre. President Bharrat Jagdeo emphasized that the response of the State was that “these killers must be hunted down.” From January 27 to the end of that month, almost all the feature stories in the mainstream covered the protests and demonstrations of the villagers.
News pertaining to whatever information there was that could lead to apprehending the terrorists took a less prominent position.
There were no interviews with local security experts such as Mr Errol Van Nooten, who served in Vietnam and is not unfamiliar with such acts of violence carried out against defenceless villagers, or with local security consultant Mr. Robert Gates, or former military officers experienced in infantry forays and tactics.
Only items that revealed “opposition to the Government.” A perusal of Stabroek News 3/02/2008 and its editorial ‘Failed strategies’ is one of many examples.
In two items Dr Prem Misir directs a focus on this phenomena. Writing in Guyana Chronicle (03/02/08) he states:
“Make no mistake about the fact that terrorism, according to the International Terrorism and Security Research (ITSR) is recognised as being political, psychological and deliberate”.
Dr Misir itemizes the objectives which terrorism (in the Guyanese experience these are described as ‘ethnic tribalists’) set out to achieve. In another article (GC 10/02/08) it is noted that:
“The coverage of the Lusignan massacre is another poignant example of distortion, deception and misinformation; ethnic tribalists are hard at work in the media to present their ethnic position and “screw” objectivity and fairness in so doing, downplay the Lusignan massacre.”
I have noted that even the articulate Abu Bakr (SN 29/01/08), careful as he is to remind of the dangers of “branding” and associating Lusignan with “the African resistance”, fails to transcend this state of intellectual and political formalism. Abu Bakr perhaps may have a point in opting to “wait and see”. But one wonders how harshly history will judge those who attempt to use the Lusignan massacre to further their own narrow, ill-conceived and demented agendas.
Yours faithfully,
Eddi Rodney
