Anthropologist and consultant Hubert Wong is backing the Alliance For Change (AFC) at the upcoming polls, saying that it offers the opportunity to dismantle “the antiquated political status quo of the PPP/PNC,” which he believes has brought the country to the brink of becoming a failed state.
“We must restore dignity, peace, self-respect and prosperity to Guyana! And the only way we can do this is by voting for radical change in Guyana!” Wong, who described himself as a member of the Guyanese Diaspora, said in a statement that is dated October 26, 2011 and which was released yesterday by the AFC.
Wong, who called for an end of the “rampant lawlessness, corrupt nature and heartlessness” of the incumbent PPP/C administration, said that his endorsement of the AFC was based on an examination of the actions plans and manifestos of the respective parties contesting the November 28 general and regional elections. “…[I] have concluded that there is only one group whose Plan encapsulates the philosophies, ideas and approaches which synchronise to a great degree with my own on the way forward for Guyana. It is this realisation that has prompted me to join forces with the Alliance For Change, hence this statement of endorsement which I give unconditionally but with the confidence that the AFC will make an honest and concerted effort to fulfil and surpass the commitments it has made to the Guyanese People,” he said.
Although Wong said he had never been affiliated with any political party in Guyana, he was once associated with the Guyana Action Party (GAP), the Guyana Patriotic Alliance and Peter Ramsaroop’s Vision Guyana movement during its initial phase. According to Wong, the shortcoming of all national political leaders in his lifetime has been their relative inability to view Guyana in its entirety.
He said such a perspective is needed to craft a holistic and all-encompassing vision for the development of the country and its people.
The policies of both the PNC and the PPP supported this conclusion, he said, while contending that neither of the two parties and their leaders has chosen to venture beyond viewing the “hinterland” of Guyana as little more than the depository of unimaginable riches in the form of primary resources, including land. “Unfortunately, these resources have been exploited over time by various powerful moneyed interests, individual and corporate, local and international, with no real benefit accruing to the Guyanese masses and, more so, the Indigenous Peoples,” he said. “I should also add that this exploitation has been sanctioned over time by leaders of both the PNC and the PPP.”
Wong said “racial and ethnic exceptionalism“ now serves as a primary feature of the national culture, but is disguised “beneath a façade of seeming harmony among the races.” He said, “It is my view that the most efficient way to extricate ourselves from this self-destructive vortex lies in the emergence of a national political force that comprises an alliance of all progressive forces in Guyana, dedicated to ridding the country of racial/ethnic exceptionalism; endemic corruption; rampant lawlessness; impoverishment of the body, mind and spirit; dehumanisation of the people; the syndrome of mendicancy; and the pervasive sense of hopelessness that threatens to overwhelm each and every Guyanese!”
He added that the alliance must at the same time work to restore national pride, the national work ethic, national compassion, caring and concern for children, respect for the rights of all Guyanese, including women and the elderly and respect and care for the environment, among other things. “All of these national traits have been either greatly diminished or made redundant under the rule of the PNC/PPP dominated political status quo and we are now lesser for it as a nation,” he noted.
Wong, in endorsing the AFC also welcomed the addition of opposition coalition A Partnership for National Unity (APNU) to the political scene.
