Dear Editor,
Frederick Kissoon, in a recent column, lamented the absence of struggle in Guyana today. He said, “No one is fighting” the PPP/C dictatorial regime. I think he meant that there is no meaningful/effective struggle against the regime. His observation however is timely and the absence of effective struggle is of great significance, since our collective attitude to the regime will inevitably determine our destiny as a nation.
In his column Kissoon supported his observation by citing a number of transgressions by the government which they were allowed to get away with, including the humiliation of the army by the promotion of junior officers over their seniors to head that institution.
There seems to be broad agreement that we in Guyana, are today being ruled by a majoritarian dictatorship and that our collective opposition to this falls short of what is needed.
Dictatorship brings with it its own problems. As a people we should be conscious of this and should always be prepared to resist its every attempt to trample on our fundamental rights. However, given our known history of racial voting and our acceptance of the Westminster type electoral system which is based on the winner take-all form of governance, our attempts to organize struggle along multi-racial lines becomes more challenging and difficult. We cannot ignore the fact that today in Guyana, Indian Guyanese who have traditionally voted for the PPP/C, in spite of their concerns that the regime is taking Guyana down a most dangerous path, are reluctant to take any action that has the potential of altering the status quo. By default therefore, this responsibility falls on the backs of the African Guyanese community. Herein lies the problem, because when as a result of the failure to develop the requisite broad multi-racial front to advance the cause, the African Guyanese masses are forced to go it alone, many influential organizations and individuals interpret our opposition to the regime’s excesses as counter productive. They claim that protest actions by African Guyanese produce an ethnic backlash – the Indian masses get frightened by what they perceive as an African attempt to take over and they in turn become more supportive of the PPP/C.
There is much truth in the above viewpoint, and multi-racial action on any issue is preferable. However, in the context of Guyana, a judgment has to be made on whether no struggle is more beneficial to the national interest than one race’s opposition to the regime. Those who see multi-racial struggle as the only viable approach to Guyana’s political problem have to come to grips with the fact that no struggle is our worst option or, to put it another way, it is a non-option.
It seems that the PNCR, ACDA and other African organizations have over time, listened to and have become affected by the arguments that African opposition and struggle against the PPP/C government is counter productive. If this is the case, we have allowed ourselves to become prisoners of a viewpoint that is not in our or the national interest. We are running the risk of becoming politically impotent. African opposition has moved from street protest to no protest. We are doing as the rulers and our detractors wish us to do. To all appearances our agenda and objective is in line with theirs.
Another aspect of our politics which is counter productive to the African and national interest is our inability as a community to break with the winner-take-all elections and to make our principal struggle one for shared governance based on a reformed constitution. We are unwilling to put the same amount of human energy and other resources into a constitutional struggle for executive power-sharing as we do for general elections. This is a major handicap to African mass opposition to the regime. Some argue that this is due to weak political leadership in the African Guyanese community. While it is difficult to deny this relationship, it will be a mistake to place the blame solely on the political leadership. I am firmly of the view that our inability to massively mobilize the African Guyanese community is as a result of our collective weakness. Although I recognize the role of the political leadership to lead I think that the time has come for the ‘non-political or civic forces’ in the African community to take the lead and rise up. In this regard ACDA has a major responsibility to the African masses. We must understand that we are either part of the solution or we are part of the problem.
African opposition is also undermined by the machinations of external forces that are in a convenient alliance with the rulers, which contribute to the situation. In a presentation at a symposium sponsored by the Guyana Trade Unions Congress to commemorate the Bicentenary of the Abolition of the Slave Trade in the former British Empire I pointed to the negative roles of the OAS, UNDP, US and UK representatives in the 2006 general elections. There is no need to repeat that point of view here. My present concerns are about the donor agencies unwillingness to stand up to, or their collaboration with the regime’s partisan policy in regard to the use and access of funds from those agencies. Given the serious economic constraints in the country and particularly in the African community, our economic marginalization has to be fought against tooth and nail. The point I wish to stress here is that the decisions by the government in relation to its partisan policy of dispensing funds are political decisions. Therefore, the African community and its leaders cannot, and must not be afraid to make similar political decisions in an effort to stop the assault on the African community.
Given the internal and external restraints the African community political options are narrowing, one of which is to adopt a political strategy based on massive street and other peaceful forms of protest, starting in the main African communities with clear stated political, economic and social objectives. Time is running out and my fear is not the observation raised by Mr Kissoon but the real possibility that African armed militants with their political inexperience will take the lead in the struggle against the present rulers.
Yours faithfully,
Tacuma Ogunseye
