It is encouraging that Guyana has freedom of expression

I live in a country where people, especially intellectuals, can question everything about any country in the world, including historical and contemporary events. This is a country where intellectuals can stand up in any seminar and question whether Nazi Germany was as cruel as it showed the world since 1945.

I raised this very unconventional question at CIOG’s Palestine Symposium during Ramadan. The panelists included former President Donald Ramotar. Since then, no one has tried to attack me for my speech.
I spoke at four Palestinian events in my country, and at all four I condemned Israel for committing genocide in Gaza, and I compared what the State of Israel is doing to the Palestinians to what Nazi Germany did to the Jews.

I have written more than a dozen columns condemning Israel’s Nazi behavior and criticizing countries that support Israel, and so far I have not received any reservations from the newspapers I work for.
I did about half a dozen panel discussions on the Israeli genocide on “The Freddy Kissoon Show,” and the management of the TV station that aired it showed no attitude.

What is the point of this? We Guyanese are free to criticize Israel, to accuse Israel of genocide, to accuse countries that support Israel of condoning Israel’s gross violations of international law and the laws governing civilized behavior.
It is worth mentioning that our ambassador to the United Nations recently stated in a speech to the Security Council that it is difficult to find examples of Israel inflicting such brutal atrocities on the people of Gaza in modern history.
Look at the Western world today and you’d wonder what has happened to free speech. The latest victim of Israel’s critical intolerance is one of the world’s most impressive pianists.

British pianist Jason Gillum is considered one of the best pianists in the world today. Here is what happened to Mr Gillum last Sunday. During a performance with the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra (MSO), Gillum told the audience before introducing his piece, Witnesses: “In the past ten months, Israel has killed more than 100 journalists.”

As a result, the Israel Symphony Orchestra has stopped performing Gillum with the Israel Symphony Orchestra. The Committee to Protect Journalists states that Israel has killed 113 journalists to date.
Can you imagine what has happened to global democracy? Mr. Gillum was fired for simply stating the statistics of journalists killed in Gaza. In today’s Western world, citizens simply cannot criticize Israel without facing retaliation from the state, the media, commercial companies and academic institutions. Casualties have numbered in the hundreds since the Israeli attack on Gaza last October. This number does not include students who have been expelled from American universities for supporting Palestinian demonstrations.
Readers are reminded that US Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib was formally censured and condemned by a motion for her statement “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free”. The Home Secretary of the former Conservative government of the United Kingdom even called for the statement to be criminalized. No Member of Parliament in Guyana will be censured for making such a statement.

It is Germany that is leading the plan to retaliate against intellectuals and writers who denounce Israel. Official German policy is that Israel is the foundation of the German state. If you deconstruct this statement, you will find it terrifying. Simply put, Germany’s role is to ensure the survival of Israel. Philosophically, this means that Germany’s existence is closely related to the existence of Israel. Politically, this means that Germany’s role is to defend and protect Israel.

But how can a country announce to the world that another country is its raison d’etre? This is extreme language, incredibly complex. What happens when the country whose existence Germany has a philosophical obligation to defend begins to commit genocide? The country that would be extremely sensitive to genocide against another race would be Germany.

Incredibly, Germany’s new citizenship law includes several questions that all applicants must answer. These questions test applicants’ knowledge of German Jewish heritage and what the Nazis did to the Jews. There is no question about what Germany did to Namibians when it colonized Namibia. Germany has officially admitted that it committed genocide in Namibia.
Finally, I want to say something that still shocks me. The Guardian, a newspaper I once admired, fired a cartoonist who had worked for them for 40 years because he drew a cartoon of Netanyahu. Guyana is free, isn’t it? We can defend the Palestinians openly.

Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in this column are those of the author alone and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the Guyana National Newspapers Limited.