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Reply to "Wismar contextualized with the 1964 low-intensity tribal war . . . Eusi Kwayana is correct - there is no guilty "RACE""

Django posted:

http://www.guyana.org/features/Day_1.pdf

Part of TranscriptsDay 1

SUGRIM SINGH: Prior to 25th May, 1964, you having been there since November last year, do you recall any racial or other disturbances in Wismar?

BENDER: No, I don’t recall any.

SUGRIM SINGH: Do you agree with me that the residents in that area, Indians and Africans, lived in complete harmony up to around the 25th May?

BENDER: Yes.

SUGRIM SINGH: Do you agree with me, Mr. Bender, that in the social field I am talking about clubs, debating societies and other social amenities in the district Indians and Africans were together? Could you of your own knowledge living in that district at the time give this Commission any reasons in the light of the background you have admitted of complete harmony, any reason for this sudden outbreak of violence, Africans attacking Indians on the 25th May?

BENDER: It was surprising to me.

SUGRIM SINGH: My instructions are that there was an allegation of an adult Indian kicking a Negro boy. Did you hear of this?

BENDER: Yes I heard.

SUGRIM SINGH: And my instructions are that this touched off the occurrence of the 25th May. Do you agree with this?

BENDER: Yes, I heard so.

SUGRIM SINGH: Again, I promise not to ask you what you heard. Now, let us come back. Mr. Bender, is it within your knowledge that it is usual for the Mackenzie area to be visited by ex-convicts and people of questionable reputation ?

BENDER: Yes.

SUGRIM SINGH: Do you remember seeing any outstanding criminals on the relevant date, May 25th, 1964?

BENDER: Yes, I had heard there was an abnormal influx.

SUGRIM SINGH: Mr. Bender, do you remember seeing strange faces from Georgetown? Crowds of young men, strangers in the district in white shirts and dark trousers?

BENDER: I heard about this.

SUGRIM SINGH: Are you aware of the fact that bombs were used in the destruction of houses?

BENDER: There were loud explosions.

SUGRIM SINGH: Are you aware, Mr. Bender, of men, women and children seeking shelter and this request was refused by their immediate neighbours of African descent? In a population of eighteen thousand people, two thousand were attacked by a comparatively speaking small crowd of unruly people? Are you aware of any efforts by the rest of the population in that area to intervene to avert this catastrophe?

BENDER: No.

SUGRIM SINGH: Mr. Bender, are you aware of any effort by the local authority, the Churches and prominent individuals in that area to intervene to avert the atrocities at Wismar?

BENDER: No.

SUGRIM SINGH: I am sure you will unhesitatingly agree with me that had the other fifteen thousand people intervened they would have averted this happening?

BENDER: Yes.

a couple things of note:

Wismar at that time was mostly an unorganized squatting area with a deep reservoir of poor, unemployed people, unlike the situation obtaining in Mackenzie proper

same for Kara Kara which had sprung up in proximity to the mine of the same name

the institutions of governance, Law & Order, the hospital, the bauxite/Alumina operations all resided in Mackenzie, across the river . . . there was no bridge then

yes, Wismar was a nightmare in late May 1964 for any Afro sympathizing with Indian life and property under attack . . . in fact, many of them so inclined fled to Mackenzie for the duration of the pogrom along with many Indians whose properties were looted and destroyed

FM
Last edited by Former Member
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