Down with…

…race baiting
In discussing the meltdown of the three parties with the FMG of Amanza Walton-Desir that scraped out enough “leftover” votes to snag a seat in Parliament, most commentators have focused on the ambitions of the three leaders. Now there’s nothing wrong with ambition in politics – in fact some would say, along with Machiavelli – you shouldn’t be in politics if you ain’t ambitious!! The moment you choose to run for office – to run even a village! – it means you’re ambitious! You wanna be in charge!! All those who prance about talking about “servant leadership” are just virtue signalling!!
But while ambition might be the CAUSE of the catfight, the occasion for the fight is even more significant. It seems that a member of VPAC – the party insisting that the one seat oughta be rotated among the leaders of the three parties – had called out one of them for not distancing himself from some racist comments by one of his followers. This leader of TPM is a fire-and-brimstone pastor – or, as he insists, “Apostle” – who has a hard-on, as they say, for LGBTQ people. His follower had carried on at length about the inadequacies of “Coolie People”, and the VPAC guy asked the Apostle to distance himself from the statements!!
The Apostle, however, refused to do so and rather disingenuously tried to turn the tables on the VPAC guy by asking why he hadn’t denounced that right-wing fella Kirke – who was killed recently in the States for his extreme racial views. The VPAC guy rightly pointed out that they were dealing with matters in Guyana – as a political leader, he had to take a stand. Just as he had with gays and OUR laws against buggery, for instance. VPAC also extended the charge on silencing to Walton-Desir – who’d a while back made her own race-baiting statement about “PPP supporters” – read “Indian Guyanese” – being “intellectually lazy”!!
And THIS is the matter that must be dragged out from under the carpet under which it’s been swept – race!! Not only FGM but also PNC/APNU, where that race-baiting Black Pudding Man’s been awarded a seat by Norton. He’d castigated three Indian Guyanese executive members of APNU – who objected to an African Guyanese denigratingly describing “coolies from India” – as slave catchers!! Two of them quit APNU!! What’s APNU’s position now on the Apostle’s disciple “coolie” utterance?
Finally, the new kid on the Parliamentary block – Sanction Man’s WIN – must also declare their position!! They receive votes – by whatever method! – from the gamut of Guyanese society, so they owe it to those supporters and the country to clarify how we deal with each other!!
The PPP won because they set the (high) standard on race!!

…anti-developmentalism
“Race” doesn’t only enter our political discourse through use of the “C” word here. There’s a wide range of coded expressions that signal the same sentiment!! “PPP supporters”, “rural people”, “sugar workers” and “rice farmers” are only a few!! So take the criticism of the PPP Government for supporting “sugar workers” and rice farmers. It’s all about race, baby!!
Take the present situation where, because of a glut in the world market for rice, prices have plunged precipitously and our farmers are clamouring for Governmental intervention. Winston Jordan – the 2015-2020 APNU/AFC Government’s Finance Minister just declared that present “subsidies to rice are a waste of taxpayers’ money”, and we should cut back on cultivated rice acreage. In effect, derail our strategic decision to reach 1 million tonnes annually!!
This is economic backwardness of the highest order!! Every rice-producing country, from America and India to Thailand, subsidises rice production. Food security is the order of the near future.
Rice gotta be there when oil runs out!!

…genocide
As Pressie at the UNGA reaffirmed support for a two-state solution and a ceasefire in Gaza, you gotta give credit to former President Ramotar as a voice crying in the wilderness – make ye way for the coming of peace!!