HOW VIOLENCE BEGETS VIOLENCE
President Michel’s silence speaks volumes
The silence of President James Michel after a national guardsman went on the rampage killing two other people, one of them a civilian, using an AK47 assault rifle he took from one of his colleagues who was on duty at the president’s former wife’s home, speaks volume according to critics.
The culprit was himself gunned down by members of the Seychelles People’s Defence Forces (SPDF), - an organisation which itself seems to have gained a reputation as the army which has only killed its own people rather than any external enemy of the State. Foreign “enemies”, even those caught in “action” on our soil, were treated with leniency and even sold back to their country of origin for dollars. But, “enemies” of the party, who were citizens, were summarily executed extra-judicially or made to disappear.
It appears that the reason for last week’s carnage was a simple desire to settle a family dispute about money. The perpetrator had on many occasions accused one of his victims, another national guardsman, of cheating another member of the family of his or her State Pension money. His action, making private arrangement to drive miles away to where his victim worked, has all the hallmarks of a premeditated act.
Interestingly, the incident, which happened last Thursday evening, preceded the SPPF party Congress by less than 24 hours. In the report on SBC about the Congress last Sunday, which was edited for broadcast with the connivance of SPPF officials, no mention was made of the incident nor any condolences proffered by either Michel, as official candidate or Rene the party leader – who is generally believed calls all the shots in the party and by extension in the country too – to the innocent victims and their families. Critics say the lack of any concern for the welfare of the general public demonstrates just how much the SPPF leadership has become disconnected from the reality of the kind society it has created after close to 30 years in power, as well as of the abuse of power, based on a culture of violence and the rule of the gun.
Whilst keeping silent about the incident, Michel cynically tried to present himself as the apostle of non-violence to SPPF diehards by claiming, at least in the bit of his speech broadcast by SBC, that his party “will contribute to create a peaceful climate, a climate of non-violence in the country…” (Our translation) Critics also say that this sounded suspiciously as a Freudian slip – as if the SPPF diehards should have expected otherwise.
The National Guard – through its predecessor the Seychelles People’s Militia – was created not only in a climate of political violence following the coup d’etat, but specifically for the purpose of fomenting political violence against the enemies of the SPPF. During the one-party state, which ended in 1993, the victims of the political violence were all supporters of the Democratic Party at least at the beginning. Later, former SPPF adherents – specially the young – who became the party’s most vociferous opponents became the new victims of arbitrary violence perpetrated by agents of the State carrying lethal weapons.
The climate of political violence was festered and promoted during the one-party state by the parading of youngsters with real as well as imitation assault rifles during the celebration of the anniversary of the coup d’etat. The National Youth Service (NYS), “a camp of sombre faces” according to the celebrated travel writer Shiva Naipaul, where youngsters at the age of 16 were incarcerated for two years away from their parents to be indoctrinated in the Marxist doctrine, entertained soldiers who were sent to teach them how to parade with rifles –even though they used wooden sticks in lieu. The best marchers were given military style uniforms and compelled to march past in front of Mr. Rene with real rifles during the 5th June military parades.
Even after Rene was compelled by international pressure to restore multiparty elections and he had won the first one, the agents of the state – schooled in the use of violence to suppress dissent – thought that it was fair game to deal with its citizens in an arbitrary but violent way if they displayed dissatisfaction in public. In its official report for the 1992 election for the Constitutional Commission, the Commonwealth observers detailed just how the security forces – which they pointed out was created and armed after the coup d’etat – perpetrated wanton violence against the opponents of SPPF even though the party had won the election. “The office of the Commonwealth Observer Group was inundated with telephone calls throughout the day Monday, 27 July, from the leaders and supporters of the opposition parties, church representatives and members of the public, who had witnessed both PMU and army personnel arresting and rough-handling opposition party supporters and bystanders. …the army had intervened in… what appeared to be a routine law and order situation which could have been dealt with by the civilian police...” the report said.
Even to day, more than a decade after the restoration of a democratic system of governance, the state – still under the control of the SPPF - continues to use violence as a favoured method to deal with the unruly children of the revolution. Convicts that escape from prison are often warned on the radio and television - in front of the public at large - to give themselves up or else. Some have been gunned downed without pity by the police, armed to the teeth with AK-47 assault rifles after those announcements, even though those escaped prisoners were unarmed and fleeing. Our society today, does not offer any recourse to justice to the families of these prisoners for the actions of the agents of the state when they use violence and cause death while trying to apprehend them.
The one-party Marxist state, which our country endured for a decade and a half under the control of the SPPF (led by Mr Rene and ably assisted by Mr Michel), was a violent society by any standard. It was one where violence was perpetrated by the state against the citizen, as all societies born of violence have been. This violence was by and large arbitrary. The rule of law was operated for the benefit of those in power as well as those with power. Power was exercised from the barrel of a gun.
It is no wonder, therefore, that today our society is reaping the fruits of that culture, where ordinary citizens think of only one way in order to settle a simple family quarrel about money. Most of the murders that have come to light in recent past have been gruesome violence perpetrated by a member of the family against another or a live-in partner against another. Criminals too are more violent today than before the coup d’etat. They don’t just rob their victims of their valuables or possession they wantonly kill them.
We must disarm our society if we are to recreate a culture of tolerance, harmony and justice. Most important of all we must disarm the State – which holds most, if not all, the weapons in this country. We must be bold to make the change now in the interest of the next generation.