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Examining the phase ‘predatory political culture’

Jul 23, 2010 Letters

Dear Editor,
I refer to Dr. Prem Misir’s letter titled, “Racial incitement is an illicit mechanism in the pursuit of power” (Kaieteur News of July 19th).
Dr. Misir is accusing unnamed persons or institutions of “racial incitement to sustain a predatory political culture”, and further reminds them that such behaviour is against the law.
Let us underline the phrase “predatory political culture”. What is the meaning of this phrase? Is it the political culture of another party or racial group – and not the Indo-ethnic party PPP which employs him?
I must remind readers that Dr. Misir works in the Office of the Presidential Secretariat as advisor to the President. The letters he grinds out daily and publishes in all the newspapers suggest he is the chief propaganda officer of the ruling party and government. He is the party’s equivalent of Goebbels. There is no other way to define the role of Dr. Misir.
Nothing is wrong with the functions he performs. It is legitimate. All governments need people to do propaganda work. However the hypocrisy part of what he writes is difficult to comprehend. How could it elude him?
The predatory political culture is embedded in the body politic of the nation. It is manifest in the existence of ethnic parties – both PPP and PNC have an unwritten rule that their leaders must belong to a particular race. For the last 60-years “every last man in this nation has been voting race”. So Dr. Misir, who are you accusing of manipulating the predatory political culture?
The party and government that employ you cannot be exempted from the political charge you are leveling on others.
Can Dr. Misir deny that practically all the votes that elected his party, PPP (more than 95 percent) come from the Indian group? And, that an African-Guyanese cannot ever be elected leader of his party? Can this happen without PPP manipulating the “predatory political culture”?
Dr. Misir quoted a paragraph from the report written by UN Special Rapporteur Mr. Doudou Diène to make his case. I found the following sentence in his quote: “The story of Guyana is, to a deeply disturbing degree, the story of political exploitation of the race factor by every political leader from every point on the ideological spectrum…”
Every political leader – that means the PPP is guilty of this charge, Dr. Misir.
I have some specific questions for Dr. Misir. Can you tell the readers why Robeson Benn or Sam Hinds cannot become full members of the PPP so that they can enjoy all the rights and privileges of such membership, including eligibility to run for the presidential candidacy of the party? Isn’t it a fact that the concept “PPP/Civic” is a fraud to deny Africans their full rights and to use them as window-dressing? Is it not a fact that by both perception and reality your party is an Indian party?
Is it not time for your party to begin transforming itself into a genuine multi-racial party befitting a multi-racial nation?
Mike Persaud

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