Other stories are needed of moving beyond the violence

There are stories of different forms of violence in the news. Some of the stories of violence are reported after the cases come to the police or court. The SN of Friday 22 and Saturday 23 September, 2023 carried stories related to gender-based violence - two men reportedly using their licensed guns as part of asserting their manhood; to violence on the roads; to the violence in Guyana’s schools including the roof falling on a child after the Mahdia dorm fire; to the violence among friends who consume alcohol; to the violence of the state as teachers continue to demand better conditions; to the consequences of violence to the environment as we have to deal with climate change and the problems associated with oil money. Citizens share other stories of aggression and violence.

And President Ali’s civil response to the British journalist on reparations reminds us of the history of colonial violence. Guyana was founded brutally. The PNC response on their Region 4 Chairman comrade shows apparently there is impunity for some forms of violence as part of the legacy of the colony. What does reparations mean when the political leaders cannot be places for transformation for those who are violent and abusive in their midst?

What is absent though, is any sense of moving beyond condemnation, charges, and court cases and jail. Many are charged and sentenced, some are not. The City Constable who used his gun on his colleague was not afraid of jail it seems. The men who are drunk and driving, or beating up their loved ones don’t seem to think of jail.

Other stories are needed of moving beyond the violence. The children who are violent in schools are nurtured in minibuses which transport them which play violent music, or play the music violently and drive violently. The communities and families which nurture violent children also need interventions which are beyond police, court and jail. The Region 4 Chairman should resign. He and the other men who are facing charges, who are convicted or not convicted also have to be subjects of stories which are about healing and transformation as part of the communities which nurtured that violence.

This is not about individual therapy alone. The road safety campaign cannot be separate from the genderbased violence prevention campaign and the ‘policy against violence in schools’ and the discussions about reparations justice.

They are all connected. And since the stories of healing and transformation do not exist, we have to really try to create them.

Yours sincerely, Vidyaratha Kissoon