Dear Editor,
Saturday night on NCN Channel 11, I heard Bishop Juan Edghill express delight during the Harmony Walk panel discussion, that they were receiving calls from the far flung areas of Guyana. Is he aware that because of government policy only NCN television has countrywide coverage? Further, we are the only country in the West where there is only one radio station, which is state controlled.
Our good Bishop was very careful on the programme to give fulsome praise to the President and his advisor for facilitating Harmony Walk. How can we talk about harmony in the face of injustice and the suffocating of information from other people?
No good or concerned citizen should fail to support the idea behind the Harmony Walk, but to achieve genuine harmony we need to create a propitious environment. We all wish for, and speaking for myself, pray fervently for, an environment of peace, love and therefore, harmony.
Thus, I listened to statements by some of our well-meaning religious and civic leaders; they gleefully tell us about the virtues of harmony, but not much about how to achieve harmony. What is worrisome, is this, are they aware of the cancer eating away at the social and moral fabric of our society? But with few exceptions, they maintain a disconnected and stony silence. But why should this be? All of human history is our best guide.
In the real world, evil was only smothered when good men and women became proactive and spoke out fearlessly against wrong. Goodly men and women who noticing the immorality, injustice and corruption spoke up, if not the old philosophical proverb that ‘Silence gives consent’ will prevail and tear us all apart.
Let us face reality. I support the wider principle of the Harmony Walk, but it is meaningless until, or unless we all tackle fearlessly, corruption and injustice, the things that will destabilize harmony. What is worrisome is the perception that the state propaganda apparatus is in full gear for obvious reasons.
Our religious leaders must not let us down at a time when they are most needed.
Let us pray for God to help us, but we need to identify particular ills and wrongs, lest these be taken for granted, and after the walk, it is business as usual.
Yours faithfully,
Hamilton Green, JP
