Posted May 14th. 2004 - Special Feature by David Hinds

Ideological opposition was not the only reason for PPP's fall

Some may find Stabroek News' May 13 editorial on Mrs. Jagan overly generous. The point about forgiveness is well taken, but in addition to her detractors, Mrs. Jagan herself should be advised about that virtue.

I, however, wish to comment on another aspect of the editorial. The treatment of the ideological causes of the PPP's removal of from office in 1964 and the racial-ideological dilemma in the party was fair and on the ball. But, perhaps not intentionally, the editorial does not treat the contribution of racial causes to PPP's fall from power in 1964.The PPP had not only cultivated ideological enemies both internationally and at home, but largely through its policies and stances while in government 1957-61, it had consolidated considerable racial enemies at home. I am positing that while ideological forces played a major role in removing the PPP from office, it was not the sole cause.

While some forces were both ideological and racial enemies, others objected to the PPP purely on racial grounds-its negative attitude to African Guyanese interests and its over-cuddling of Indian Guyanese interests. The PPP 1957-61 government's large expenditure and emphasis on areas of the economy dominated by its supporters; its marriage to the Indian conservative forces at the expense of African progressive forces; its refusal to take Guyana into the West Indian Federation for stated racial reasons; and its silence, and alleged encouragement of Indian triumphalism all combined to engender African Guyanese hostility to the party and provide the basis for anti-PPP African mobilization. It was the convergence of this justified racial opposition with the unjustified ideological opposition that brought down the PPP. The CIA or Burnham or D'Aguiar did not create the internal opposition to the PPP; the PPP did. The PNC and the CIA merely exploited it.

Sadly, forty years later the PPP has learned nothing. In the 12 years since it returned to power it has again succeeded in igniting a fierce African Guyanese opposition. There is no CIA today to throw the PPP out of office, yet the government feels and act as if it is under siege. This is not an excuse of the PNC's reckless behavior since 1992, but the PPP's high handed, unaccountable, and racially insensitive governance have encouraged the instability in Guyana.

David Hinds lectures in Caribbean and Africana Studies at Arizona State University in the USA. He is also a political and social commentator who has written extensively on Guyana and Caribbean politics. More of his writings can be found on his GuyanaCaribbeanPolitics.com website.