The
WPA panacea that is really a placebo
Posted August 5th. 2006 - by Gokarran Sukhdeo
Two hours into the WPA town hall meeting on Liberty Avenue last Sunday, I graciously took leave. I had gone hoping to hear some new wisdom and balmy answers to burning questions from their erudite prophets, Moses and David, and leader, Rupert.
That was not to be.
First, they started on a wrong note, playing with my intelligence and offering me a bitter pill for Rupert's absence. Didn't the learned leader listen to Bharrat last week saying that elections would be held no later than September 3, and since the closest Monday to Sept 3 was August 28, did he not know he had to be in Guyana 32 days prior to elections for nominations? And, what difference would it make in traveling on Monday, after the meeting - he would still have made it in time for Wednesday (nomination day).
Then, Moses, in exodus and from the security of his US refuge gave a long oracle on the insecurity of Guyanese and visitors to Guyana. It wasn't even yesterday's news. It wasn't even the Moses I knew. This impersonator was obviously suffering from chronic hemorrhoids.
Then David, stuck as usual in his power sharing déjà vu, continued his lamentation of racial voting in Guyana, the genesis of which he was careful enough not to place on the head of either of the political behemoths, but on our former colonial masters. Another insult to my education. He may be a good political scientist but a poor historian.
I will therefore not take advantage of his knowledge of history, but examine his political theory on racial voting.
What I admire most about the man is his obsessive sincerity. He is a sincere believer that Guyanese have always voted racial, and if they can be educated and persuaded to abandon racial voting all Guyana's problems would disappear. His entire proposal for the development of Guyana is built on this theory. Even the Trotmam/Ramjattan team is staking their entire political fortunes on this hope that Guyanese will cross the racial divide (while Ravi, on the other hand, is hoping they don't).
But this is not a very pragmatic position, and, in my opinion, a Faustian obsession. Because the entire theory is based on an erratic premise, an untested one, an assumption only - that the Guyanese people vote racially. What if they wake up tomorrow morning and discover that they are all sincerely wrong? What if they find out that the Guyanese electorate is one of the most educated, and the Guyanese constitution one of the most advanced, and that people actually vote not for race but for the party they believe can best look after their welfare? Do Blacks in the US vote overwhelmingly for Democrats because of race? If Indians in Guyana were voting race, why isn't Ravi Dev the President?
I asked myself sincerely. Did I vote racial? The resounding answer was no. I asked my friend Gary the same question, and he, too, said no. I went around like a madman asking Tom, Dick and Harryram the same question, even Paapi, formerly from Mahaica, who can barely spell his name. Same answer. How is it then that all the people they spoke to, answered, "Yes man, I am coolie, I have to vote PPP"? If Indians are voting racial, how come thirty of the thirty four parties are trying to cut into the Indian electorate? And how come the PPP/C won 52 percent of the electorate at the last elections when Indians account for only some 44 percent of the population?
Well, you can understand how badly these guys insulted my intelligence. But an even greater insult is being done to the intelligence of the Guyanese people. They sincerely believe the Guyanese people are stupid, but I believe Guyanese rank among some of the most educated peoples in the world, and I would dare to venture that Guyana has on a per capita basis, one of the highest graduate ratio in the world.
Then came the next insult at the meeting.
At question time they heaped all the questions together and provided one generic answer for all - (Indians must) stop voting race, the PPP/C (if it wins) must share power with the PNC/R. It was the panacea for all ailments. But if it is true, and I believe so, that Guyanese are not racial voters, then their panacea is nothing but a placebo.
That was when I realized they wouldn't have specific answers to my questions. That was when I gracefully exited, for I implicitly gathered from the presentations and answers, that despite all the rhetoric:
(1) David's theory is sincerely wrong because it is based on an erroneous premise.
(2) That he has subtly deviated from the principles and works established by Walter Rodney, and, like Rupert, is subtly championing a PNC/R agenda.
(3) That the present WPA has forgiven the PNC/R for the murder of Rodney and several other former WPA activists.
(4) That the present WPA wants power to be shared unconditionally with the PNC/R, irrespective of past record of destroying the country, present propensity for violence, continuous engagement to make the country ungovernable, and questionable character of their leader.
I personally do not subscribe to the above conditions, or lack of. I do not believe the PNC/R is reformed enough, if any at all, to deserve participation in government. I do not believe the leadership of the PNC/R is worthy of the support of decent Blacks. I may remind all that I was an Economist at the Ministry of Agriculture and was on the job that Saturday morning, September 29. 1986 when the infamous act was committed. I do not believe the PNC/R is matured enough or nationalistic enough or peaceful enough to want the country advance or be governable.
Yes, I believe in national unity. I believe if the PPP/C wins (and I think they will with an even greater margin), they should share power with a party or parties that represent Black people, but not the PNC/R unless they convince the people beyond any shadow of doubt that they are truly reformed. There can be no forgiveness without genuine repentance.