Dear Editor,
Dr. Alissa Trotz’s submission in Stabroek News dated January 27, 2020 and captioned “A race to the bottom: Election campaigning in Guyana” quoted Dr. Percy Hintzen by noting how political support in Guyana has come to “rest blindly, not on personal and national well-being and social and cultural dignity, but on absolute fealty to a racial political leadership. Political, economic, social, and cultural degradation mattered little in the face of such obedience.”
The truth of the observation made by Guyanese-born Professor Percy Hintzen is seen in the political culture that has effectively made acceptance of structural racism an illustrative centrefold of the two large political parties. Guyanese showed signs of being able to break the racist stranglehold in the 2011 elections when the Alliance For Change (AFC) won seven seats leading to a minority government.
AFC had campaigned on a platform of being Multiracial, Multi ethnic, Multireligious and Multicultural and electoral results showed that many Guyanese supported a third force that could act as a barrier to the structural racism that is steeped in our political culture.
Unfortunately AFC lost their way during the post 2011 election period by opposing many projects that were in the best interest of Guyana. Then AFC went on to lose their support base, when their Ministers became captivated with the power, status and entitlements of holding Ministerial offices, after the APNU+AFC Coalition won the majority of votes in the May 11, 2015 National and Regional Elections.
We are at another crucial point in our history where the voices of brilliant and successful Guyanese like Alissa Trotz are needed to convince Guyanese to support new parties that seek to break the racial shackles that has kept Guyana in the perpetual twin state of underdevelopment and high levels of poverty.
We only fail when we stop trying or by quitting. Guyanese with knowledge, expertise and influence need to move from the sidelines and the shadows to break the mould that has a racial culture baked into our dominant political parties and by extension our governance systems.
We cannot let the elephant and whale parties continue to trample and trash the enormous economic, social and cultural benefits that are bestowed upon us.
We need the brilliant sons and daughters of Guyana’s soil to stand up, get directly involved and play more participatory roles in changing our political culture to one of inclusivity for the accelerated economic and social development of Guyana.
AFC, like the Working People’s Alliance are enchained within the PNCR and now the Alliance parties are preserving the politics of division that has kept Guyana in the retrograde, regressive and miserable state of racial politics.
The wealth of bipartisan leaders in business and academia in Guyana and the diaspora have to step out of the shade to educate and enlighten Guyanese to inspire the unleashing of an inclusive governance system to achieve a prosperous Guyana.
It’s the least we can do to honour the efforts and sacrifice of Dr. Walter Rodney, who gave his life to unite Guyana across racial, ethnic and religious demographics.
Yours faithfully,
Nigel Hinds
