Most of us have likely not experienced intolerable levels of hardship, such as trying to live in man-made swamps, resulting from lands being deliberately flooded with foul smelling water that could possibly cause disease. Deliberately flooding spaces that Guyanese are occupying in the midst of a global pandemic is inhumane. But sadly, if we are not directly affected by the human rights violations in this country, most of us will remain silent. Because we have never experienced restless nights wondering whether the walls that hide us would be standing in the morning, we turn a blind eye. We skip the channels when the faces of the squatters are on the screen, mute their cries, or skip the pages on which their troubles are being written about. We are not at risk of experiencing the despair of being displaced during a pandemic, so we try to justify these actions by highlighting that squatting is illegal. No one is disputing that according to our man-made laws concerning these lands we came and met on this earth that squatting is illegal. Lands we will die and leave after all the fighting and wickedness. Much of the Guyanese lands were bought and paid for by the blood and sweat of our ancestors. The fact that Guyanese must still resort to squatting in a country where unoccupied lands are plentiful is another indication of our failures.
