As a visiting group of foreign journalists, we stood that cold morning to one side, struck with silence by the sheer size and splendor of the Capitol Rotunda, as we gazed at the adorable decorated dome with its neo-classical motifs, in symmetry soaring over our heads. .
Around the delicate glossy marble statue of famous figures and founding fathers, and on the curved sandstone walls glitter the huge historic oil paintings depicting vivid scenes of the American Revolution. Intended to invoke the ancient Roman temple of the majestic Pantheon, the Rotunda is divided by swollen columns with wreaths of olive branches, an ancient symbol of peace or triumph, especially in the invocation of the Gods and people in power.
Pre-9-11 we had all gone through a barrage of security checks and scanners although we were vetted before a guided tour of Washington’s key institutions and landmarks made through an international program organized by the US Information Agency.
Later that day, acquainted with the predictability and situational nature of our British Parliament of Guyana, I ventured deeper into the chambers of the United States Congress (US) and the seat of the legislative branch of the federal Government, eventually coming to an end. shocked by what we saw.
Feudal delegates shouted, some stood up, and some walked around, even as another spoke passionately about the podium and the thundering wind. “Book! Book! “Wondering about the apparent fortress of confusion, I and my bemused colleagues grilled one of our appointed officers. He rocked, laughed and eventually summed it up in one memorable sentence, “That’s American democracy at work.”
Last Wednesday afternoon, like the rest of the world, I watched again in amazement, but in shock and horror as the historic catalog of chaos froze at unusual images of anarchists, conspiracy theorists and social media influencers, rolling across the screens. Leaving an indelible imprint on the minds of disappointed friends and dark enemies alike, these graphic scenes of the Capitol storms capture the latest attack on the heart of a large nation that is yet to be locked in a desperate crisis.
This was driven by a dangerous and secular demagogue and its enablers, unable to peacefully admit that this is not a reality TV show and that their party lost a free and fair election and the Electoral College and Popular Votes, with over 74 million ‘ r the latter against his opponent Joe Biden’s 81.3 million votes, or 51.3 percent of the amount cast. Mr Biden is the first US presidential candidate to win so many votes.
Regardless of the recounts, the evidence that the polls were not carried out, and the innumerable court rulings against his Republican party’s flagrant attempts to overturn the results, President Donald Trump, now under siege, promised on Wednesday, “never to surrender ”The“ stolen ”election in an incendiary speech on the surrounding grassy area known as the Ellipse. Making the attack a “dark moment” in the nation’s history, Mr Biden appealed for caution, acknowledging, “The work of the moment and the work of the next four years must restore democracy, decency, honor, respect, the rule of law, ”observing,“ We must step up. ”
As a Guyanese who faced a bitter five-month political crisis where the losing party and its defiant leaders cling to power, we know full well the dangers of denial in a polarizing duopoly and Parliament. It is largely due to American-imposed visa sanctions and increasing regional and international pressures that this country has always been able to witness the peaceful inauguration of new President Irfaan Ali, August 2nd, and the return of the People’s Progressive / Civic Party (PPP / C) quickly forgetting his slim one-seat majority, even as longtime rivals, outgoing President David Granger and the one-term coalition A Partnership for National Unity + Alliance for Change (APNU + AFC) continue to pursuing unfounded allegations of widespread electoral fraud, in the Courts.
A few days ago, in a New Year’s message, Mr Granger sought to free himself and his Government of any responsibility related to the two-year legislative crisis and the electoral closure period that tackled the nation, he reported Stabroek News. Mr Granger did not mention an attempt to rig a Class Four account, claiming that his administration had done what was “necessary to get the Constitution into effect.”
Blaming it all on the Guyana Elections Commission and Chairman, Claudette Singh, Mr Granger declared, “We believe the measures we have taken are fortified democracy.”
Fast forward to Wednesday’s crowd of angry American protesters, some armed, motivated by their desperate President as his war agents, easily scaled walls, flipping security barriers, smashing windows, charging past unnumbered and lawless men prepared, and swung across the hall with its center. white marble slab, reserved for important ceremonial events.
On this day, January 6, 2021 when the House and Senate met in separate wings to formally confirm the victory of President-elect Biden’s Electoral College, the United States experienced direct and dangerous conflicts inside ‘ w most inland corridors and shaking power offices, such as what was expected of a peaceful transition had to be cut short.
The viral images are unforgettable and troubling whether they feel afraid of prominent panic law makers lying on the carpeted floors; watching the black handguns ready to fire in front of besieged doors; or study the smiling man with his baseball cap and check a patterned shirt, who seized the opportunity, mobile phone in hand, to relax and record himself in the chair of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi with his foot resting with contempt upon her desk. Identified by a station in Arkansas as Richard Barnett, “Bigo” said he took an envelope because he was bitten by his cut, ironically stating, “I put a quarter on the desk cause I’m not a thief.”
The other buildings flew with huge Confederate flags, the Southern Provinces that fought to keep slavery during the American Civil War, still failing to accept defeat more than 150 years later. Who can forget the horned character who calls himself QAnon Shaman, screaming as if he had the cameras? Or the bereaved man with the Trump-beanie strolling between the guide ropes, carrying the podium with the seal of the House Speaker, as he flies in front of a painting completed by John Trumbull a century ago, depicting the surrender of a Lower Briton Major-General John Burgoyne?
In this most discourteous conflict, prompted by this most rude American Presidents of the White House, who seemed to thrive on constant chaos, the United States seemed wounded and at war with itself as it was have been more times than we want to remember in the last four years worthy of prestige, but especially in the last 12 months when being Black or different, some lives and protests were many less than others.
Just as we would like it to be different, the United States of America, too, is an imperfect union, an exasperating condom that allowed a tremendous man of Barack Obama’s character to become President, only for Donald Trump’s arguments to follow. And yet, in the nervous days ahead, as we marvel at easy access to the nuclear codes and rampant trends to jurisdiction, there are valuable lessons to be learned from the collective trauma of January 6, 2021 when the wake-up calls sounded , America infuriated credibility and place in the world, and we trembled, remembering that democracy was valuable but so fragile.
ID remembers walking down to the Lincoln Memorial, as she considered President Abraham Lincoln’s words: “America will never be destroyed from the outside. If we cheat and lose our freedom, it will be because we destroyed ourselves. ”