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Yes to civility in politics

Aug 11, 2009 Letters

Dear Editor,
I write to commend Kaieteur News (KN) for its thoughtful Editorial ‘Civility and the Polity (August 9). The editorial demonstrates that responsible journalism is still very much possible in Guyana, and that the press can indeed play an important role in shaping public discourse.
The KN editorial calls for greater civility in politics. Three facets of civility are underlined, namely, “civility as respect for others, civility as public behaviour, and civility as self-regulation”. The last of these – self-regulation – is of vital importance to political and economic progress in Guyana. Let us take a closer look at the concept of self-regulation as outlined in the editorial.
The fulcrum of self-regulation is restraint, where restraint implies putting the general interest of society before the narrower political interest of the agent in question. The editorial goes on to “commend this “self-regulative” aspect of civility to our politicians in this climate of recriminations and accusations that is being created.” It continues – “We cannot on one hand talk about building peace and trust and then turn around and engage in activities that create just the opposite”. Most importantly, “[s]tridency and exaggerations must especially be abjured in the immediate future”.
I would like to add one key element to the three described above. This concerns the politics of personal attacks. Guyana is a small country where people regularly meet or run into each other. Based on this proximity, we are a face-to-face culture, that is, one that is based on relations of intimacy. In large industrial societies, the exact opposite is true. Outside of work and family, relations of anonymity dominate. We all know this in the complaints of not knowing your next door neighbour. Why is this relevant?
In intimacy-based societies words really count. What you say and do say define you. Your word, so to speak, is your bond. More importantly, people do not forget easily. In oral cultures such as ours, the ‘word’ lives on through a vast infrastructure of story telling, gossip, humour etc.
I recall a trip to Runaway Bay on the North coast of Jamaica back in the early 1990’s. I met some men playing dominoes on the beach and after a chat they told me about where Columbus had landed as if it had happened only months before. In oral culture, the word lives on.
Politicians must, therefore, be especially careful about what they say. You cannot use the language of peace one day, and then the next day, you are standing on a platform making threats. It does not work well if the strategy is to engage in a politics of personal attacks.
Many will no doubt recall the Clinton attacks against candidate Obama during the last Democratic primary in the United States. They were vicious and personal. Then – what happened? Mr. Obama won the nomination, and within days Hillary Clinton was at his side ‘pretending’ as if they were pals all along. You see, in societies based on relations of anonymity, people put words behind them quickly. Not here in Guyana.
The KN editorial is on target by calling for a politics of civility, of moderation. I join Kaieteur News in calling on those who want to “educate” the Guyanese population to do so responsibly. Remember – in Guyana, people do not forget easily.
Dr. Randy Persaud

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