Dear Editor,
And so again, at a time when many Christians, Hindus and Muslim are involved in different kinds of fasting and praying for Lent, Navratri and Ramadan, a woman tells her story and there will be zero accountability for the man, this time a Minister, involved. So the lawyer, the Minister. The stories don’t mean anything as the power must be preserved. The President, in his Ramadan message to Muslims, states that “Ramadan is also a time for us to reflect on the great gifts our Creator has bestowed upon us and use those gifts for our upliftment and for the common good of all of humanity.” The President has suggested that the matter be reported to the police who up to now are not handling the case of Constable Shawnette Bollers.
Aren’t Ms. Hussein and Constable Bollers part of the humanity who are as deserving of the common good which it seems the men who abused them are exempt from? All, all of us… whether we are fasting and praying, or not, have to demand that accountability from all men who are abusing women and from the people who are protecting them. What common good will exist otherwise when we have finished praying and fasting? And so as we pray and fast, many of us in different ways, we are bystanders to gender based violence and other kinds of violence. We move into modes of denial, to protection because of our fear that if we hold the Ministers, the lawyers, the MPs the other powerful men to account, we fear that things will fall apart. Are we praying and fasting that some external force will stop all this?
The President’s fear of holding his comrades accountable prevents him from recognising the opportunity to give those men a chance to become more human, to transform themselves and their relationships to women and others. That transformation might be terrifying as it would mean a dismantling of the power, a dismantling which is needed for the ‘common good’. And in addition to praying and fasting, we have to overcome our fears of holding ourselves, and each other, accountable and of creating the common good.
Sincerely,
Vidyaratha Kissoon
