Barack Obama’s “Change” and the Alliance For Change…“A vision shared”

Nov 09, 2008 AFC Column, Features / Columnists

By Raphael Trotman, AFC Leader

This week the word “change” took on a whole new meaning for the people of the world. Amazingly, it appeared to have resonated in Guyana as much as it did in the United States.

People here seem to have been filled with euphoria and a renewed sense of hope that the change in America can also be possible here in Guyana.

Why, after all, can’t we have a washing away of the old, and the establishment of a new order that sees the peoples of Guyana working together with a shared vision and agenda?

One commentator had expressed the view that there is perhaps no other country in the world where the society is so integrated in that our children go to school together, we worship together, play together, do business together, but yet are so politically polarized to the point that every five years we go at each other’s throats.

It used to be believed that racism was so entrenched in the United States to the point that no minority, or person of colour, could ever emerge as its leader.

The question is whether the polarization that is perceived to exist in the Guyana far exceeds that in the U.S; thus suggesting that Obama’s task was relatively easier than similar attempts made, and to be made, here? I refuse to accept that our country is doomed to an eternal life of strife, hatred, and bitterness.

If anything the Obama victory proved, was that the seemingly impossible is indeed very possible, and that is the message of hope that we in Guyana need to take with us across the length and breadth of our beloved country in the months ahead.

Those who vote along racial lines have got to acknowledge that they are doing so to the detriment of themselves and future generations, and resolve to choose the best party and candidates on the basis of what is in theirs and the country’s best interest.

The election of Barack Hussein Obama to the Presidency of the United States of America cannot by any means be described simply as historic.

This is so because there is nothing with which to compare his election. By winning the elections and becoming the 44th U.S. President he has achieved something never done before by a “black” person, but what takes this out of the realms of the simply historic, is how it was done.

In a sense his victory can best be described as revolutionary, in that it broke the old established template on which all past elections in the U.S. were run.

Predictably, Obama’s victory will have a transformational effect on the world taking us all, in a manner of speaking, into a new sphere of existence and organization.

When President-Elect of the U.S. Barack Obama first burst unto the scene fours ago as a virtual unknown, people began to take notice of the first-time Senator. His slogan of “change” used in the just concluded elections took on a wholly different meaning than ever before in his homeland.

It was not that there was expected to be a routine change from the Republicans to the Democrats, but a change in the way the political and economic systems were to be re-configured and how America itself was to be reorganized and managed.

This change was intended to address the issues and concerns of the hundreds of millions of America’s different peoples, and just as importantly, there is an expectation that there will be spill over benefits for rest of the world. This was the vision that captivated the people not only of America, but of the world.

It has to be accepted that in many regards people in, and out of America, were tired of the policies of the Bush White House and this led to a shift in their voting patterns. This however cannot diminish the fact that Obama’s persona and message made the difference.

The Change that we could believe in for Guyana is the one that looks beyond race and to country. One that sees a higher objective than merely replacing one party and transplanting another.

In 2006 we saw the opportunity to present change as a vote against racial politics and for an acceptance of the concept of mutual respect, shared vision, and cooperation and consensus in decision-making. Most hailed our accomplishment as being historic in the context of what we went up against.

The AFC’s six seats were not an overnight success, but came from the support of the thousands who have already embraced the message of change, and also was built on the foundation set by those who had toiled many years before to change our political culture and landscape.

They were the ones who dared to be different and whose heroic contributions remain unsung and unrecognized. One such person was David de Caires who passed recently. We owe it to them to continue the struggle for change.

Here in Guyana it was ironic that those who are the most resistant to change were the first to run to endorse, and then to embrace the victory as being historic, and expressing a willingness to work with the Obama administration.

The AFC and Barack Obama are not the discoverers of the word “change” but we do have a shared vision for a better life for our respective peoples.

From time immemorial men and women have been in search of that higher and better life, and when he or she is dissatisfied, they go in search of change.

In Obama’s case, he successfully re-branded the Democratic party into the ‘Change” party, and the people responded to the message.

The task is now ours to complete the work begun three years ago at the Ocean View Convention Centre when the AFC was launched, by bringing real change to Guyana.

We congratulate Barack Obama on his victory, and the people of America for giving him their trust and support. We call on the people of Guyana to wake up, stand up, look up and “Choose Change…it’s time.”