Dear Editor,
When the Mahdia school went up in flames a few weeks ago, several women-children and a male child perished. One woman-child is being made to bear the brunt and burden of that unfortunate accident. In it, to me, there was no sign of criminal malice.
With the recent outburst of accusations about the ravishment of a young woman-child of the first nations there is every sign of not only premeditation but of cover-up and official participation in this cover-up. These incidents, I want to say as an old man of 98, are of the type in which I have been engaged in fighting at all stages of my life, from my late teenage years.
All I want to do at this stage, in my old age and with the little experience that has come to my account, is to say to those who suffer in conscience, and in concern with those suffering their fate, are paying “a price worse than death,” the words of our celebrated poet, Martin Carter:
“Give me your hand. This is the bond we make in the dark gloom around us, hand in hand, heart in heart, strength in strength.”
We shall follow up this menacing and spreading pestilence of social and sexual exploitation of the innocent until we bring it under effective control. Then, maybe, we shall see something of the much proclaimed “triumph of good over evil.”
Please be cautioned that this is not a partisan struggle. If we treat it on party terms, we enter a road of opportunism and futility that will solve nothing. We are faced with an unfortunate and mainly male disorder present always with relations of power. We must fight it in the name of humanity and with the aim of protecting innocent victims, like the young woman-child, and dozens of others in our country, and unfortunately every country, every people, every place of the earth. In this spirit let us come to the support and defence of the present victim.
Yours respectfully,
Eusi Kwayana
