Blessings to the family, InI want to share this
information, InI support our Rastafari brethren Ras Tom
Dalgety who is dealing with this fight in Guyana, it's also our
fight.
the works continue...
Haile Selassie I Liveth!!!
sister Lily
Result of the SOLIDARITY WITH AFRICANS IN GUYANA
MEETING
held at
Hackney Black Peoples Association
18 Stoke Newington Road, London N16 7XN
on Sunday 7 March 2004
This meeting was very well attended by
Africans from South Africa, Nigeria, the Caribbean including Cuba and he
UK. It was addressed by Ras Dr. Tom Dalgety.
The meeting adopted the following
resolution
- That this meeting held in Solidarity with Africans
in Guyana notes that:
- Over 400 Guyanese Africans have been slaughtered in
Guyana;
- The Indians have introduced their racist Hindu
practices into Guyanese society
- The DEATH SQUAD, known as the PHANTOM SQUAD, is led
by Ronald Gajraj, the (Indian) Minister of Home Affairs
- Kean Gibson has studied and analysed the evil
practices of Hindus and Hinduism in Guyana and has called for a
separation of the races
- Similar practices exist in Trinidad and in Surinam
- The Hindu religion sanctions the slaughter of
Africans.
We therefore call for the following:
- For Africans in Guyana to organise to defend
themselves against the criminal Phantom Death Squad led by Ronald
Gajraj and any other political forces involved in the slaughter of
Guyanese Africans
- For the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) to carry out
an urgent investigation into the slaughter of Guyanese Africans that
is led by Guyanese minister of Home Affairs Ronald Gajraj
- For the African Union to carry out a similar
Inquiry
- We pledge our solidarity with Guyanese Africans and
promise material and financial assistance to resist the murderous
onslaught being carried by the Indians ruling in Guyana
- We recommend that all Africans read Kean Gibson's
book entitled: The Cycle of Racial
Oppression in Guyana.
Ends.
NB: A fuller report of Ras Dr. Tom
Dalgety's presentation will be sent out later.
Recipients of this Email are requested
to forward it to other interested parties.
Lester Lewis
Solidarity meeting Organiser
Ras Tom Dalgety:
Tel/Fax: (592) 226 5159
*************************************************************************
November 30, 2002
The Editor
Stabroek News
Lacytown, Georgetown
Dear Editor,
Even from jail, Mark Benschop continues to be daring. He sent you a
letter that caused two Editor's Notes. Letters from his wife Maria,
Jonathon St Claire, and now me are in the wake of his letter to you. St
Clair's letter focused on your editing and he missed the opportunity to
make the point that Benschop dared you to proxy for the PPP and the
Andaiye, Hinds, Kwayana faction of the WPA.
Stabroek News Editor's Note of November 25, 2002 said, "The
extra judicial killings of primarily young African men, but also members
of the WPA, started long before this government (PPP) came to power in
1992". So? Are you justifying the extra judicial killings of the
PPP/C government? The killings pre-1992 have nothing to do with the 2002
killings! Also, any killings prior to 1992 were not on the scale of the
present daily killings by the state and those fighting the state.
The "death squad" of the African controlled government
prior to 1992 did not kill young African men like the "black
clothes" of the East Indian controlled government after 1992 is
killing young Africans (some African women have been shot and killed).
Why should the East Indian controlled government kill young African men
and women? Who allows that? Is this the conduct and values of a
"democracy" state?
Benschop's allegation (what a daring!) in Maria Benschop's letter to
you (SN, 25-11-2002) and the content of your Editor's note gives me the
opportunity to point out that the killings this country
"inherited", was the practice of the British and their
"black watch" - watch the Blacks. We have to study British
killings and what they did to Africans if the present internal
dialectics doesn't lead us to partition. Remember, partition first came
on our consciousness during the dialectics of British controlled rule.
A week before Forbes Burnham died in 1985 he renamed Murray Street as
Quamina Street because Murray - a British governor - was a
"butcher". He promised that the next year he was going to
rename Carmichael Street. I was in that crowd at the corner of Quamina
and Carmichael Streets when Burnham proclaimed the change. Also in that
crowd was the artist Philip Moore when it was pointed out that St
George's Cathedral, which is a corner away at Carmichael Street and
North Road was a permanent scar that violates the beliefs and spirit of
Guyanese people. It was on that occasion that I reasoned that Philip
Moore had bunked white Christianity for the local Jordanite faith!
Am I moving too fast? I need to in a letter. But Mark Benchop's
daring (he is writing letters to the Editor from prison) and your
response opens the opportunity to examine the spectrum of killings
during anti-colonial times, the struggle for independence, socialism,
and the "return to democracy".
The killings during colonialism are found in the books of Edgar
Mittelholzer, particularly the Kawana trilogy, and Morning at the
Office. Martin Carter's "Poems of Resistance", particularly
the poem: "I Clench My Fist" defined the struggle for
Independence. The video "Mutiny" featuring Guyanese World War
1 veteran soldier Gersom Browne portrays the court martial and execution
of West Indian soldiers who mutinied when the British were re-colonising
African minds in a "detention camp" in Italy - long after the
First World War had ended. (I am told that the British invented
"concentration camps" in South Africa during the Boer War).
Behind the British soldiers and police "watch Black people"
was the church schools e.g. St George's Church of England School that
terrorized African, East Indian, and Amerindian cultures and left many
bewildered. For the era of "socialism", Philip Moore's
critique of cultural terror is the 1763 Monument at Square of the
Revolution. Go, sit and do some reflection at the foot of this
magnificent monument.
In 1964, an advance class/group of Africans as the "Peoples
National Congress" took control of the government. I borrow the
phrase "advance class" from CLR James. That class began to
reorder the society on the basis of "the small man shall be the
real man" and "not a man, woman nor child shall go to bed
hungry". This African class called what they were doing in
government "socialism". It was during the rule of this class
that the internationally famous historian, and chief person of the WPA,
Walter Rodney was killed. He was 38 years old. When you write,
"young African men, but also members of the WPA", were killed
prior to 1992 you in essence mean Walter Rodney and some of his
comrades.
Let me state what Race Today Collective - a London group - said in
1983. They said, "much if not all the responses sought to explain
Walter's assassination in the following terms: "Burnham the evil
demagogue murdered Walter the good revolutionary". While this moral
approach did little harm, it failed to analyse the event in political
terms".
Let me quote from CLR James's booklet: Walter Rodney and the Question
of Power. In the booklet is written, "Walter did not study the
taking of power. There are three points necessary for the taking of
power. Firstly, there must be a clash - a revolutionary upsurge of the
people. Secondly, there must be a turning point when the activity of the
advanced ranks is at its height. Thirdly, the enemy must be vacillating.
Walter did not know that, and Walter was wrong".
According to CLR James "Walter did not wait for the
revolutionary people and the revolutionary class to be in conflict with
the government. The working class had no temper for change. Also, Walter
was wrong to depend on the knowledge of Marxism to seize power. The
knowledge you need is the knowledge that someone is waiting to destroy
you. Walter did not do that and that is why Walter found himself in a
car with a member of Burnham's army (sic) making some arrangement about
some gadget that turned out to be an explosive".
I have written previously that Dr. Walter Rodney was a magnificent
emissary for us to Africa and a great historian, but an awful
politician. He may take some responsibility for the activities of the
'death squad".
In 1992, a class/group of East Indians as the "Peoples
Progressive Party" assumed power. They proclaimed "a return to
democracy" and the practice of capitalism. Their "black
clothes" terror is go-between, between them and the African people
(SN May 16, 2002 - The Black Clothes Police are acting on behalf of the
Government). I haven't read a report that a member of the Chinese,
Portuguese, Amerindian or White race being killed by the Black
Clothes.
Who are getting suddenly rich? Not the Black businessmen, but
individual East Indians. Africans are feeling oppression and imposition.
It is East Indian businessmen that are protected by the "black
clothes" guns (SN May 16, 2002 - The Black Clothes Police are
acting on behalf of the Government). Democracy here means an avalanche
of murders to protect capital. Since Eric Williams in his famous book
Capitalism and Slavery pointed out that capitalism develops racism, in a
two-race society the inner dialectic will automatically lead to civil
war and partition. Hence the "black clothes" post-1992 may
lead us to civil war and partition.
The "black clothes" police who kill for the social classes
that control the PPP/C government had an agenda that reached a defining
moment on February 23, 2002. The jailbreak five (Douglas, More, and
Fraser are now dead) made this a "transition point". In
natural science, transition point is the temperature at which one form
of a polymorphous substance changes into another. After the jailbreak of
February 23rd 2002 firstly, retaliation against extra judicial killings
began; secondly, the retail business community of PPP/C supporters shut
down their shops for three days all over the country as a political
anti-government act; and thirdly, the Mark Benschop Show comes from the
Georgetown jail. What an opportunity.
The Lion of Judah shall break every chain and give us victory again
and again.
Ras Tom Dalgety
**********************************************************************
PRESS STATEMENT
By The People's National Congress Reform
To The Press
Conference on Thursday, March 4, 2004 Hall of Heroes, Congress Place,
Sophia.
SUMMARY:
PNCR expresses condolences to the family and relatives
of Professor Dennis Craig.
-
The PNCR remains steadfast in its determination to
salvage Guyana from this state of lunacy.
-
The results of the census or any analysis thereof
are, in our view, of national importance and should be in the public
domain as soon as they are available.
-
The PNCR is reliably informed that Bharrat Jagdeo
personally intervened to craft a strategy of diversion and
obfuscation to shift focus away from these internal crises, and to
try to improve his own and his government's international standing.
-
The PNCR wishes to place on record its commendation
for recent acts of bravery of members of the Police Force.
CONDOLENCES ON THE DEATH OF PROFESSOR DENNIS
CRAIG
News of the death of Professor Dennis Craig was
received with shock and sorrow by the entire leadership of our Party.
Professor Craig was indeed a fine Guyanese gentleman, a committed
regionalist and intellectual giant. His multi-faceted contributions as a
Caribbean scholar and educator will remain his enduring legacy. His
service to Guyana in the field of education and more particularly in
Policy Development is legendary climaxing as it did with his services as
Vice-Chancellor of the University of Guyana. We wish to convey to his
sorrowing wife, children and other relatives our sincere sympathy and
pray that they will be comforted in the knowledge that his life was an
example worthy of emulation.
THE GAJRAJ AFFAIR: PNCR'S POSITIONS
RECONFIRMED
Recent disclosures and newspaper reports confirm the
PNCR's position that (i) the Guyana Police Force cannot be entrusted
with the responsibility of conducting an impartial investigation into
state-sponsored terrorism, (ii) if citizens are to come forward with
information on the activities of death squads, they need to be
guaranteed protection, and (iii) members of the death squad are part and
parcel of the very nefarious activities of those who were said to be
their main targets.1.1. Guyana Police Force (GPF) cannot be entrusted
with the responsibility of conducting a thorough investigation into
state-sponsored terrorism
When it was substantiated that the government was a
sponsor of the death squads, it was not on rash impulse that the PNCR
called specifically for an impartial and independent inquiry. It was not
an oversight that we did not suggest the police to be responsible for
such an investigation. For the PNCR was aware of several facts. Firstly,
some members of the Guyana Police Force work in association with members
of the death squad in such activities as contract killing and
narco-trafficking. Indeed, it was not based on guesswork that the US
State Department concluded in its 2003 report on Guyana that there
exists widespread corruption of law enforcement officers. Moreover,
Guyanese can judge for themselves what prompted the US government to
revoke recently the visas of five senior police officers.
The second fact informing the PNCR's position is that
the police have failed to act in the past on the information provided
them by relatives and eye witnesses. These citizens have provided the
police with specific information as regards identities of persons and
vehicles, times and locations of incidents, and recounts of
conversations. For instance, an article in last Sunday's Stabroek News
on the September 2003 killing of the "Pattensen duo", Clive
Mclean and Clive Savory, highlighted the fact that the police did
receive several eyewitness accounts of incidents prior to, during and
after the kidnapping and murder of the two men, but did nothing.
As reported in SN of March 1st, the new
Police Commissioner, to his credit, has also recognized that the police
force should have no role in an inquiry into the death squad, given the
public perception of police involvement.
It is the view of the PNCR that the new commissioner
should mount an internal audit of the police force's responses (or lack
thereof) to the numerous eyewitness accounts and other evidence on
execution-style killings over the last several years.1.2. Protection of
citizens who may wish to volunteer information on the activities of
death squads.
Most Guyanese were outraged but were not surprised
over the fact that Ms Pam Fletcher, the mother of Victor Bourne, a
victim of the death squad, received telephone threats after her
interview appeared in the Sunday Stabroek News of 22nd
February. Ms Fletcher, in seeking justice for the killing of her son,
had decided to tell the media what she knew of her son's activities just
before he was murdered. The PNCR has been able to confirm that Ms
Fletcher received several telephone calls from persons promising to
seriously harm her should she continue to speak out. The PNCR applauds
the courage and determination of Ms Fletcher, but we call on the police
to diligently pursue this matter with a view to bringing the
perpetrators to justice. Our party is monitoring the situation closely.
This incident only supports the PNCR position that if
the government was serious about encouraging citizens to come forward
with information, it should provide protection for them. The truth of
the matter is, of course, that the PPP/C does not want anyone to step
forward with such information, since it fears the total exposure of its
criminal network -- a network that is involved in kidnappings, murder,
extortion, and drug-trafficking.
It is none the less evident that enough information
already exists for an investigation to be launched. That the government
is still pussyfooting on the issue only hardens the public resolve to
ensure that the PPP/C does not escape with impunity. 1.3. Members of the
death squad are part and parcel of the very nefarious activities of
those who were said to be their main targets
The reported association between known criminal
suspect, Mark "Big Batty" Phillips, and members of the death
squad confirms that both groups at times worked in consort and supported
each other. It also raises the question: how involved were the members
of the death squad in the crime wave before they were recruited by
Gajraj? The PNCR is not surprised by the reports of this unholy alliance
between criminals and hired killers. They were cut from the same cloth.
The demise of the prison escapees and others has only served to give the
members of the death squad more turf to carry out their own criminal
agenda. Already, there is an emerging resurgence in violent robberies,
kidnappings and drive-by shootings. The disturbing new feature, however,
is that several of the perpetrators have state protection.
But there is a further dangerous factor we must
emphasise. Our Police Force, already plagued with a milliard of
shortcomings, is now placed in a state of further disorder that should
it receive a report of an on-going crime, it may not respond on the
assumption that the crime in progress may involve Gajraj's boys. In such
circumstances who among us can claim to be safe?
The PNCR remains steadfast in its determination to
salvage Guyana from this state of lunacy. We intend to up the ante of
our protests in the coming weeks. Failure to remove Gajraj so as to
facilitate an independent inquiry and to uproot the scourge of death
squads from our midst is not an option. We must succeed. And we will.
THE NATIONAL CENSUS RESULTS
The PNCR notes that the preliminary results of the
2003 Census have not been made public. Indeed, it is our understanding
that this information has not even been tabled or discussed at the board
of the Guyana Bureau of Statistics. We do not accept the assumption that
the results of the census and the analysis of the results are a
political matter or one in the preserve of the government's discretion.
The results of the census or any analysis thereof are, in our view, of
national importance and should be in the public domain as soon as they
are available. The manoeuvrings of the government have given rise to
public speculation and suspicion that it is up to mischief. We will keep
this matter under scrutiny.
JAGDEO'S BRINKMANSHIP ON THE SURINAME BORDER
ISSUE
Within the last few weeks the nation has seen a flurry
of diplomatic and related activity emanating from the Office of the
President. First there was the sudden visit by President Chavez of
Venezuela, then the revelation of the existence of a secret maritime
treaty entered into with Barbados in December, 2003, and finally the
latest frenzy generated by the government's decision to take the matter
of Suriname's objection to the exploitation of resources to the United
Nations Commission for the Law of the Sea for settlement. The PNCR has
said before and will say again that these latest manoeuvers by the
Jagdeo government are a desperate and futile attempt at diverting the
citizens' attention from the internal crises posed by the revelations of
the existence of state-sponsored death squads and by the collapsing
economy. The party is reliably informed that Bharrat Jagdeo personally
intervened to craft a strategy of diversion and obfuscation in order to
shift focus away from these internal crises, and to try to improve his
own and his government's international standing.
The most recent decision regarding Suriname's
objections to our exploration for marine resources is nothing new and
was decided upon early in 2003. Moreover, the Leader of the Opposition,
Mr. Robert H. O. Corbin, was briefed by the government on this matter
since then. Yet the regime last week sought to present a picture of an
emerging crisis on our Eastern border and even went as far as seeking to
inveigle the military to stage exercises in the Corentyne area. These
actions could only have had the effect of provoking unpredictable
military responses from Suriname. The PNCR is of the considered opinion
that the decision to take the territorial dispute with Suriname to
arbitration was inevitable having regard to the prolonged stalemate in
the talks that ensued following the June 2000 ejection of the CGX rig.
However, the Party is also of the opinion that the matter could have
been managed without cavalier ship and more in the sprit of good
neighbourliness. We may have lost a golden opportunity, notwithstanding
the decision to go to arbitration, to convince the Suriname government
that such an action would be in our joint interest. The PNCR calls on
the government to resist any further acts of brinkmanship.
We support the decision to move to international
arbitration. But we call on the Guyanese people not to be fooled by any
suggestion that there exists a new border crisis with Suriname. We warn
that Bharrat Jagdeo's dangerous games of brinkmanship with the
Guyana/Suriname border issue can boomerang and cause untold harm to
Guyana in the future.
GUYANA POLICE FORCE: BRAVERY IN THE MIDST OF
TRAGEDY
Even as the Commissioner of Police and his ranks are
coming to grips with the causes and effects of the madness which saw
several dedicated officers and ranks losing their lives and being
injured in the line of duty; the March 1 tragedy has come as a grim
reminder of the ever present danger to which members of the force are
exposed. The PNCR wishes to use this opportunity to once again extend
our heart felt sympathy to the Griffith and Latchana families in their
time of bereavement.
At the same time the PNCR wishes to place on record
its commendation for the recent act of bravery by members of the force.
We were particularly impressed that quick thinking and immediate action
undertaken by members of the police force on Thursday, February 26 last
foiled the kidnapping of Narissa Persaud, a student of a city school.
The party hopes that this show of bravery and professionalism will
inspire the entire force to new levels of commitment to its credo of
service and protection of the people of Guyana.
People's National
Congress Reform
Congress Place, Sophia,
Georgetown, Guyana.
Thursday, March 4, 2004
**********************************************************************
Body
of evidence on death squad : Sunday, March 7th 2004
Although the government remains unmoved on the question of a death
squad investigation, evidence continues to implicate suspects in several
unsolved murders over the last two years. Allegations about a death
squad first gained momentum after the murder of suspected member, Axel
Williams. He was killed in December in a manner that was eerily similar
to many of the killings that have been credited to him and his gang - in
a carefully planned hit involving several accomplices. No one has ever
been arrested.
Since his death Williams has been linked to at least ten murders,
including the killings of Othniel Embrack, Andrew McPherson, Derrick
Torrington, Oliver Springer and another man who was identified only as
`Buckman,' who were all killed on the night of November 4, 2002.
Williams was also said to be one of the men behind the deaths of Lloyd
Bourne, Sherwin Manohar, Clive McLean and Clive Savoury, who were all
killed last year in incidents which while separate, were similar in
methodology: in the plain sight of witnesses each of the men was
abducted. They were killed and their bodies dumped on a deserted roadway
on the East Coast Demerara.
Williams had by then already killed food vendor Rodwell Ogle, whom he
shot in the presence of witnesses on August 8, 2002, after a row over
twenty dollars. Ogle died in hospital two weeks later, but not until
after he gave a statement to the police who were also given statements
by the eyewitnesses.
An officer of the Chambers of the Director of Public Prosecutions
recommended that the police charge Williams for Ogle's murder in
September. But the direction was amended on the same day and it was
recommended that a Coroners' Inquest be held instead.
Williams's firearm was returned to him and an inquest was never held.
There was no record of the amendment in the files of the Chambers, only
on the police case file, which showed that an inquest was ordered.
And Axel Williams was approved for an upgraded firearm licence
authorised by former acting police commissioner Floyd McDonald. When
asked about it recently he said that after three decades in the police
force he did not deserve to be harassed.
Home Minister Ronald Gajraj told reporters that he could not recall
instructing the police commissioner to approve the upgrade. But it was
later revealed that he had written his approval on the top of Williams's
application letter.
Gajraj has admitted that he once knew Williams and told reporters that
Williams visited him several times at the ministry.
"As a matter of fact, at the time he had some problem. He used to
be a taxi driver and he had made an application for a licensed
firearm... and as far as I am aware his application was processed... and
approval for a licence was issued to him. To the best of my knowledge,
he was a licensed firearm holder..." Gajraj said of Williams at a
press conference on December 19.
Telephone records show Williams had been calling the minister's house
and the Ministry of Home Affairs. Gajraj did not divulge the details of
the conversations, citing national security reasons.
More evidence of a death squad surfaced with George Bacchus.
Bacchus claims he was once an informant for the group for which he used
his own money to locate criminals who were then murdered in well-planned
executions.
In statements he made to the local media and officers of the United
States Embassy, he said the gang was formed to hunt down criminals who
had escaped from the Camp Street Prison on February 23, 2002.
The inability of the police force assisted by the Guyana Defence Force
to contain the criminals resulted in several calls for Gajraj's
resignation.
Bacchus identified Axel Williams as a key member of the group
responsible for many of the killings. Aside from naming Williams he also
named Gajraj, who he said provided the group with tactical support.
Businessmen and senior policemen were also implicated.
Although Gajraj has dismissed the allegations, he has not denied knowing
Bacchus who said he had visited the minister's office and his home on
numerous occasions. Bacchus also said he had telephone contact with the
minister, whom he phoned on the night that his brother was killed, the
event that prompted his disclosures.
Bacchus believed that he was the intended target of the execution. Based
on the information he gave to the police three people, Ashton King,
Shawn Hinds and Mark Thomas, were arrested and charged with his
brother's murder. Thomas mysteriously died in hospital almost two weeks
later.
Gajraj has confirmed that he was telephoned twice by Bacchus on the
night his brother was killed and says he was asked to investigate the
shooting. But he said his contact with Bacchus, as in the case of
Williams, was solely in his capacity as a minister. He noted the
importance of getting information from the people who possess it and
pointed out that the police force did have a problem with
confidentiality.
"Even George Bacchus has said he did not want to go and talk to the
police for whatever reason, so there are people who have criminal
records who might be in contact with me for the purpose of information.
"And there are others as well who would have been from all walks of
life that might have been in contact with me. Not in contact with me as
Ronald Gajraj, but because I am Minister of Home Affairs," he told
the BBC Caribbean Report.
Bacchus, who has not been available for comment for some weeks, has
communicated his desire to keep a low profile for fear for his life.
Meanwhile, since Williams's death and the public disclosures by Bacchus,
more people have come forward with information about the killings.
One witness recalls seeing a man beating his handcuffed fists against
the glass window of a car that Axel Williams was driving.
His body was found dumped a few hours later.
**********************************************************************
PRESS RELEASE
REGION
No. 3 RDC MEETING ABORTED OVER GAJRAJ AFFAIR
The
statutory meeting of Region No. 3 was aborted today after Regional
Chairman Esau Dokie refused to entertain a motion to suspend the
standing order's to allow a citizen to raise matters of urgent public
importance, including the Gajraj affair. After the adjournment, the
PPP/C councilors convened a meeting in the Chairman's office during
which the Regional Chairman sent a message to the Opposition councilors
informing them that the day's proceedings had been aborted, to be
reconvened at some other date to be determined. When approached, the
Chairman refused to reconvene the meeting to formally announce an
adjournment to another date.
The
PNCR is concerned over this development since on previous occasions
members of the public, at the instigation of the PPP/C, were entertained
by the RDC to raise matters said to be of urgent public importance. The
PNCR is also concerned that the action of the Regional Chairman was
influenced by the simultaneous energetic picket mounted by concerned
citizens calling for investigations into the Gajraj Affair and
corruption in the Region No. 3 Administration.
People's
National Congress Reform
Congress
Place, Sophia,
Georgetown,
Guyana.
Thursday,
March 4, 2004
