This generation must break away from the baggage of the past and look resolutely ahead

Dec 31, 2008 Letters

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Dear Editor,
I see that we in this country are back at what we do best: scapegoating.
This debilitating practice is so deeply embedded in our political psyche that not even the President of the Republic is capable of transcending it.
His handling of the recent flooding in Georgetown also demonstrates that our practice of scapegoating offers shelter to an even greater evil: lack of awareness of the virtue of personal responsibility and accountability in public service.
It is this awareness that spurs managers within the private sector, for example, where there is absolutely no scope for blame, to ensure that the job gets done and that the Who never becomes more important than the What.
It is this awareness that inspires statesmanship and pride in leaders and spurs them to step down for poor performance. It is this awareness that we need to develop and nurture if our politics is to evolve. This awareness would naturally develop either in a highly competitive environment, which is not characteristic of our politics, or in a population keenly in touch with its mores.
While in the private sector, to be unaware of one’s responsibility earns its just rewards; in our politics, it spawns cruel indifference and debases the guardians of public office. This is our political heritage, our investment in the future. As a nation, we can perhaps take some time out from our daily activities to give serious consideration to the virtues that we wish to see embodied in our politics. At present, it is clear that it possesses very little. If this is our political heritage, it is the responsibility of the enlightened of this generation to consciously resolve to break resolutely from the practices of our elders and predecessors for it is virtue that eventually translates into what we perceive to be our rights and eventually our laws.
If there is little virtue in our politics, it follows that there is little in our law and it is no wonder that the law abiding often feel oppressed by it. When we inherited the laws of others, we did not inherit their mores, behaviours, traditions or virtues honed by thousands of battles that became enshrined into law. Government officials inherited cold machinery to control, dominate and humiliate the honest people of this country.  If we ever took time out from scapegoating and fighting imaginary battles to contemplate why a simple traffic signal in this country feels oppressive to the people of this nation, we might be able to understand that the disrespect for rule of law in this country has little to do with the nature of the people of this country and everything to do with the unimportance and oppressiveness, and often the stupidity of the law imposed upon us.
If citizens’ interests are served by obeying laws, they will uphold them willingly without enforcement. There is force, violence and domination in every aspect of life in Guyanese society. Notwithstanding the politics of this nation, the majority of the citizens of this country are not savages nor are we deceitful. Even as the framework of too easily appropriated and manipulated laws crumbled around us, we, as a people, remained largely aware of our own intrinsic values and principles and very aware of when we infringed them for the sake of survival (is Guyana, is no big ting). We are also keenly sensitive to the ease with which the law itself is used to oppress us and of how little value it is to us.
However, if we are to evolve into a stable fully functioning and just democracy, our virtues and our laws must synchronize. Unless we begin to feel secure that obeying the law will work in our self interest, we cannot evolve. This can only be achieved through conscious thought and by being aware of our virtues, thus empowering the people of this nation instead of the Government.
Another form of scapegoating is also masterfully used by the PNCR in opposition to yield nothing of benefit to the PNCR and much pain to the nation at large: here, problem solving is via instigation of confusion, the creation of a symbol of ‘contentiousness’ and public ridicule yielding a resultant joy and sense of accomplishment in a cyclic release of frustration.  In this form of scapegoating, only an ardent belief is necessary.
There is no need for recourse to overriding universally and internationally recognised principles, no need for evidence, truth, accuracy, intelligent debate or strategic planning as contentiousness is sufficient condemnation and righteous truth.
Those with different perspectives ought to be dispensed with for their own folly. In a dramatic twist, the hapless target this time happens to be none other than the Leader of the PNCR.  Scapegoating sincerely appears to be an unconscious ingrained habit. The real danger of this form of scapegoating becomes apparent: its illusory nature as well as its potential to corrupt the minds of the innocent in this country. This is part of our political heritage, our investment in the future. Often in life, as illustrated many times in history, there comes a time when a generation must break from the habits of its parents and foreparents.
When we disagree with our parents, or when we supersede them in knowledge and experience, or when they become old-fashioned and appear inept, must we ridicule them? Must we throw them out of their business and usurp their machinery with the goal of modernizing it? No, if we differ, we must build our own house, build our own business and blaze our own trail. As difficult and as uncertain as the future seems, we must have faith in ourselves to walk the untravelled path.
I believe that for Guyana, the time has arrived for this generation to break away from the heritage and baggage of the past and look resolutely ahead.
Our present has been shaped by the hard work of our ancestors and our parents and grandparents. We are grateful for universal adult suffrage and Independence and the formation of the Republic.
We are even grateful for political conflict, for without it we would not have the foundation for consensus, upon which can be founded one of the most stable democracies in South America and the Caribbean. Notwithstanding the apparent haphazardness of the approach, the conscious break from the PNCR by Team Alexander may turn out to be the boldest step forward in contemporary politics of this country. It can represent a turning point in our history. Any such point of departure must necessarily be confusing because it encompasses change. We want to operate within the confines of the unfaithful rules of the past, yet we have changed.
The source of my optimism rests with Mr. Alexander himself: His exploration of our attitudes toward authority and the recognition that politics in this country has never been about the will of the people. [SN: 21st December, 2008]  As long as the spotlight, however dim it presently is, is finally off the individual passions of ideology and ethnicity and directly on the will of the people of this nation, there is no putting the genie back in the bottle.
Democracy in its truest form is here to stay and politicians can finally ask the right question: What do the people of this country want? It is my observation that, from every region and every nook and cranny of this country, Guyanese want to solve the political problem. We can call that the change that we want. There is our elusive cross-cutting majority. Mr. Alexander has also shown awareness of the need to cross ethnic divides. [SN: 21st December, 2008]
It implies willingness. Reaching across existing party lines and thus into villages will become necessary for any practical implementation of unity politics. In regard to the very valid concern about the apparent strength of the PPP/C vs. a crumbling PNCR, here it is that we test the degree to which we are in touch with our own humanity.
Herein lies the opportunity for the greatest point of departure from old politics. My own faith in the innate goodness of humanity compels me to have similar faith in my fellow Guyanese of the PPP/C: Is that party not also comprised of displaced humans and modernizing forces?
And O, let us also not forget those who are dearly departed but still alive in our hearts.  Our frenzy around ethnicity is not unnatural given our history. It is of crucial importance in strengthening our individual identities and in the development of self awareness.
However, its greatest strength is also its greatest weakness in terms of our politics and our future.
It bonds us so strongly with our history and our past that it often obliterates our attempts at seeing the future. We are several generations now from Slavery, Indentureship and Independence. It’s time to relinquish the hysteria, accept ourselves and focus forward. We have the opportunity before us, born of suffering and struggle to understand self and each other, to construct one of the strongest democracies in South America and the Caribbean.
Any new party or coalition of parties attempting to take the centre and marginalise the old parties into the history books must be true to the spirit of this nation: only the sincere and the intelligent need apply. We are honest people and tricksters are transparent through the colour of their skin. The stakes are high and can be measured in tangible human suffering and stunted dreams.
We have the opportunity before us to embrace a new era in our political history: one in which the best of us, instead of the most partisan among us, will be the guardians of our democracy, our justice system and ultimately, the architects of the future we dream of.
We will have our power sharing but we will not have to debase ourselves and beg or fight for it. In 2009, instead of fighting for change, perhaps we can resolve to think for a change.  To borrow a phrase from Amartya Sen’s Identity and Violence, conceptual disarray, more often than blind hatred, is the cause of many political conflicts.
We are not going to be able to resolve our problems without relinquishing the blame game and investing instead in a great deal of intelligent thought and debate.
I take the opportunity to wish Guyanese, at home and those abroad participating keenly behind computer monitors, a blessed, thoughtful and productive 2009.
Sandra Khan

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