Dear Editor,
Though Guyana has for most of its history been living in the very “shadow of violence,” the Justice, Compassion and Peace Committee of the Guyana Presbyterian Church (JCPC-GPC) notes with deep concern the recent pervasiveness and intensity, in time as well as physical and social space, of every sort of violence – physical, verbal, psychological, emotional and even economic – perpetrated by individuals as well as corporate bodies and agencies in our society. But even as our Guyanese society qua society seems to be falling apart, and as life for many seems to have become „nasty, brutish and short, ‟the JCPC-GPC is acutely reminded of the words of Jesus, who at the beginning of this ministry said „The Spirit of the Lord is upon me … He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives, and recovery of sight to the blind, to set free those who are downtrodden, to proclaim the favourable year of the Lord.”
It is in this spirit that the JCPC-GPC feels compelled to say that arresting the decline of our society cannot simply be achieved by “more government,” “more law,” or “more State.” Jesus himself was adamant – to the point of being crucified for it – that demanding adherence to a litany of laws and regulations will in no way transform and liberate us, but may in fact enslave us and condemn us to a life of despair and death. This is especially so when norms (e.g., of violence) exercise powerful social influences on individual behaviour. Formal laws, protocols and regulations require strong, even-handed enforcement to be effective, but such enforcement is both difficult to achieve and very costly.
Part of the problem is that the enforcers themselves need the prompting of a higher-level enforcer, who would also need the prompting of a prior enforcer, etc. – a problem of “infinite regression.” The buck of course must stop somewhere, and the JPCP-GPC is of the strong view that the political leadership is one of those prior enforcers to be held accountable for the state of the society because, as the proverb puts it, “The fish rots from the head down.” The other part of the problem however is that our social institutions have themselves failed our society. The JCPC-GPC recognises further that behavioural change can only come about with the support of these social institutions – the families, churches, schools, communities and other such social units that hold the pulse of the nation‟s values and its sense of morality.
It is in this context that the JCPC-GPC recalls the salience of the ethics of Gospel that we “do unto others as we’d have them do unto to us” even if doing so would cost us and place our very lives, including our political lives, at risk. Indeed, the JCPC-GPC believes that if only a „remnant‟ of our society were to adopt these ethics and to do so persistently, this would tip our society out of the palpable state of social anomie in which we find ourselves, into one where we all demonstrate a deep concern for our neighbours and a willingness to be our brothers‟ and sisters‟ keepers. We therefore issue a call for all our social units to promote attitudes, actions and language norms consistent with these ethics, and we hereby make public commitment to doing so ourselves.
Sincerely,
Thomas B. Singh
Guyana Presbyterian Church
