Dear Editor,
On the eve of the second anniversary of the uniting of APNU and the AFC to remove the PPP from office, it is appropriate to speak of the AFC.
Like the ancient mariner, the AFC has shot an albatross. It has squandered sacred political capital given to create a new political canon characterized by democratic reform. To say it has lost its “focus” as one newspaper columnist wrote recently, is to fail to measure the depth of the blunder. Indeed, history offered the AFC a tiny window into time to stage an assault against the politics of race. Not easy, but possible.
But the AFC failed to capitalize on the moment. It is now gone. Forever. More than losing its “focus,” its entire moorings have become unhinged by allowing the removal of a PPP regime to become its purpose instead of the removal of a politics that prohibits democracy.
The Irish musicians, U2, once sang that: “Desperation is a tender trap; it gets us every time.” Yes. Between the militants on the outside from another party and the mercenaries from within this party, there is no hope for democracy. So much lost so quickly. Not even the legendary Icarus fell this rapidly from such tremendous heights.
Yours faithfully,
Rakesh Rampertab
