Episode in Massachusetts has significance for Guyanese East Indians

Jan 24, 2010 Features / Columnists, Freddie Kissoon

Two years ago, Ravi Dev wrote in a polemical exchange with me that at the 2006 elections, Indians voted for the PPP because at the back of their mind was this question – suppose we voted for another party and the Africans stayed with the PNC then the PNC will win the elections. As soon as Dev wrote that questionable assessment, I fired back. My contestation was that at the 2006 poll, African-Guyanese were prepared to vote out the PNC. The AFC got six seats of which the majority of their votes came from African-Guyanese.
In a follow-up letter, I asked Dev to explain what was going through the mind of the African Guyanese when so many of them put their X onto the ballot paper with the AFC’s name. Three times over a two-year period, I have requested that Dev answer that inquiry. He cannot. There is no alternative explanation. Nothing was going through the mind of the African Guyanese when he/she voted for the AFC. That African voter simply wanted another party other than the PNC and PPP to rule Guyana. On the other hand, the East Indians simply stuck with the PPP.
Will the Indians continue the trend? My deeply held belief is that not since 1957 are Indians more inclined to vote against the PPP than in the forthcoming general battle. If the election is held in August 2011, the Indians would have had nineteen years in which to assess the PPP. In a hard fought war, a new, credible opposition can beat the PPP. It can be done but it takes one, only one equation. Not a number of equations; just one. There has to be a united opposition that even if it does not include the PNC’s top names must have names that people trust, admire and accept can do better than the PPP. If there are defections from the PNC like Winston Murray and Aubrey Armstrong and others of their ilk, the possibility becomes even greater.
I will now admit to a personal feeling that I have never admitted to anyone not even my family. I have never even hinted at this secret in writing or talking to anyone. Here it is. But first, the explanation leading up to it.
My entire life, I have been a human rights crusader. I have never been attracted to political parties and electoral candidacy. Three reasons explain this. First, I am not an organizational person in the philosophical sense, meaning that it is not in my character to subscribe to the values and tenets of an organization. I believe it stifles individual eccentricities. Secondly, I know I have some philosophical anarchism in me; I do not think I can be part of a big machine that wields power and the government is indeed a huge receptacle of power. I think power in many ways militates against my ingrained idealism. Finally, being part of a successful electoral party may not gel with my human rights mentality.
Here now is my secret. If for the forthcoming election, I am asked to serve in a broad-based coalition to participate in the election to defeat the PPP, I will walk away from this column and join the election battle. I believe in my heart that the present Government is the worst administration the CARICOM family has produced. I believe the CARICOM family has never seen racism, corruption, lawlessness and morbid perversities on a scale than what we have seen since 2003 in the land of Guyana. I will join the election bandwagon if there is a united effort because in my heart I believe we face evil and will face more evil if the government doesn’t change in 2011.
An incident in Massachusetts should be brought to the attention of all East Indian voters. In the presidential election, Massachusetts voted for Barack Obama. Last week in the Senate race to fill the seat of the late Edward Kennedy, they voted against President Obama by choosing a Republican. The last time a Republican Senator won in Massachusetts was 38 years ago. Two reasons explain this. One is that maybe they are telling Mr. Obama to stay on the things he promised and secondly, to let him know that he will be removed if he does not perform. This is the psychic leap Indians have to make. They have to tell the PPP, that they chose them for four consecutive elections and they didn’t perform, didn’t keep their promises, didn’t do anything for their country. Indians have to tell the PPP in 2011, NO MORE POWER.

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Episode in Massachusetts has significance for Guyanese East Indians

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