THERE are a number of characters parading on our cyber spaces and occasionally, they spill over into mainstream media. They attempt to pass themselves off as African freedom fighters. In the process, they coronate APNU as the superior liberator, the only real representative and salvation for Afro-Guyanese political interests. In the course of their outpourings, they paint the PPP/C as the supreme evil supervillain who pounce on Afro-Guyanese and enslave them politically and economically.
These cyber characters, many of whose ordinary residences are not in Guyana, have been making some aberrant statements that can be described using the kindest terminology, severe delusion. In summary, their message essentially makes the following claims: only Afro-Guyanese can speak on matters affecting Afro-Guyanese. Seething with extreme delusions of grandeur, this group has arrogated and anointed themselves as the only legitimate spokespersons for Afro-Guyanese. From their overseas perch, they know and are the most accurate orators of what Africans want; no one else dare utter an alternative.
They also say that only political organisations led by Afro-Guyanese bear any legitimate claim to lead Afro-Guyanese or require their vote. I can recall a certain fringe personality expressing vehement displeasure that some people were speculating that Team Mohamed’s leader would be the presidential candidate to lead a joint coalition slate with Nigel Hughes as the prime ministerial candidate. The only reason why this is a misfit and political non-starter is that the Leader of Team Mohamed is not an African. Then there was a recent utterance that the only purpose both Nagamootoo and Ramjattan served in the coalition was to attempt to attract votes from Indo Guyanese and not to lead “black people.”
They paint Afro-Guyanese as a unitary group of people who ought to share identical social and political preferences, including support for the PNC and its formations. If Africans express another preference, those persons cannot escape derogatory labels designed to name and shame them into conforming to the unitary box designed for them.
Any African who supports or seeks membership in an organisation such as the PPP, (not led by Africans) is a slave. Actions and utterances attempting to persuade other Africans to join or be sympathetic to the PPP are deemed as slave-catching. For them, it is presumptuous and utterly disrespectful for the PPP to seek to reach out to Afro-Guyanese, both to address their concerns and seek their participation in political activities or simply to ask for their vote.
In the past, I thought that the PNCR was not broad-based enough to reach across the racial divide with any significant effect, even though the opportunities existed. I also thought that the PPP/C was careless in the way they managed Afro relations. This dual conundrum presented many opportunities for the AFC to grow as fast as it did, while being widely regarded as having true multiracial credentials.
One of the successes that the AFC stamped on the body politic of Guyana during its hey day was that it contributed to pushing these extremists to the fringe. As APNU took power, these extremists by default had ample reach to spread fear among Africans owing also to the APNU itself being even more careless with Indo-Guyanese relations than the PPP were with Africans. The coalition grew unpopular, and the AFCs lack of comprehensive response eroded its own multiethnic goodwill, further giving fringe messengers traction to spread their ethnic poison among the PNC majority African support base.
The insidious success of the fringe led to heightened fear of a PPP return. In fact, it became a contagion that helped to sustain that entire post-2020 election fiasco.
I believe that the PPP understood that given the level of racial clamour, if (on its part) it had made any (even slight) strategic political blunder, it could have ended up back in opposition despite winning the elections.
The PNC, on the other hand, saw how the voices of the fringe grew loud when it was in crisis. They knew that the racial clarion call was largely responsible for keeping the coalition floating in government for five months after losing an election. Given one or two different conditions, the coalition could have ended up back in government. This gave the PNC fillip to bring the message of the fringe into mainstream, to the extent where the opposition is consumed by it. So much so, it is a one-horse pony of political meandering.
The only sensible post-2020 response was for the PPP/C to be more careful and thoughtful in its approach to African relations. I believe the PPP has been doing so, to the extent that it is more inclusive today than it has been at any time in its history since its founding. Afro-Guyanese are coming to this realisation and are responding positively to the PPP. However, because the PNC based its political strategy on consolidating its Afro support base while doing little to reach out to other ethnic groups, it has limited its own growth. So, every African who expresses affinity and hopefulness in the PPP’s endeavours will result in an irreplaceable political loss to the combined opposition. Because of this, a new level of opposition desperation is evident.
DISCLAIMER: The views and opinions expressed in this column are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the Guyana National Newspapers Limited.