Aubrey Norton seems to be an old-time kinda guy when it comes to wooing/soorin’ political coalition partners. A practitioner, if you will, of the Mighty Sparrow school that advised, ‘Every now and then cuff them down They’ll love you long and they’ll love you strong/. Black up they eye/Bruise up they knee/And they will love you eternally.” And no!! Your Eyewitness ain’t throwing talk about that accusation by that Reg 10 lass….that was not about coalescing politically!
Elected leader of the PNC after the Sanctimonious Gangster Granger’s 2020 debacle, Norton inherited the APNU coalition that included four or five pipsqueak parties – and your Eyewitness is being kind! Norton didn’t give them no mind and didn’t even bother to show up at their meetings. But he was being consistent since he consistently pointed out that it was they who needed the PNC – and not the other way around. They didn’t have any kind of mass support – and politics in a country that tries to practice democracy – is all about mass support. Whatever value they served in hiding the notorious PNC name proved illusory – since everyone referred to the entity as “PNC”!!
He proved this point when the pipsqueaks voted him out for being a no-show at meetings and a new head was “elected”. But then fell over each other to accept him as head when he showed up – they didn’t even mention his “ouster”!! But the AFC – with which APNU/PNC had gone into a coalition for the 2015 elections and had tipped them over the tape – is proving to be a tad more problematical to get them to repeat their vows for the upcoming elections. Seems they didn’t appreciate Granger giving them the Mighty Sparrow’s “cuff them down” treatment between 2015 and 2020!!
This time, the AFC head honcho Hughes wants Norton to commit political hara kiri by falling on his sword and making HIM, the coalition leader!!. So “talks” have been ongoing for over a year but stalled because according to the AFC, the PNC sees themselves as an immovable object (Norton) while they are an unstoppable force (Hughes). Excepting that most observers feel while Norton has been shaken, the AFC has dissipated most of their force.
After the opening coalition talks, Hughes pronounced that they were on “life support” but this might’ve been a negotiating tactic to force Norton to make concessions. While Norton’s point about being the “largest party” might be true, they need additional support to win elections – and this the AFC is arguing, can come from them!! But most observers see the PNC and AFC attracting different segments of the same constituency – with the old Indian support vaporized!!
So neither will budge and both will lose!!
…activism
The PPP just commemorated the 61st anniversary of the martyrdom of the Leonora villager Kowsilla – who was crushed by a tractor driven by a scab who was breaking a 1964 sugar worker strike protesting their working conditions. Leonora and sugar-worker protests are synonymous since all the way back in 1869 a strike had reached the English Parliament which deputized a Commission to investigate the causes and make recommendations. That initiated several critical improvements.
Seventy years later in 1939, another strike resulted in five sugar workers being shot and killed in cold blood by the Colonial police. Coincidentally, while another British Commission was inquiring into the abysmal conditions in the WI colonies and taking evidence in Georgetown!! This Moyne Commission was to make recommendations that would bring us into the modern political era.
So against this background – that’s a living, breathing presence in Leonora – we can begin to appreciate what makes Irfaan Ali tick and to realize that his activism among ordinary folks ain’t just about “politics”.
It’s a legacy!!
…helping
Just before the IMF team came down to evaluate the government’s performance in achieving the human development goals by suggesting “targeted” cash grants, they’d announced the $100,000 grant to newborns!!
For immediate needs – or a college fund!!
