Robert Corbin, victim of the ghastly zeitgeist

Jan 19, 2011 Features / Columnists, Freddie Kissoon

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There can be no argument about it – under Mr. Corbin’s leadership, the PNC lost six seats at the last election. The PPP has demolished the PNC’s influence in the Guyana Labour Union (GLU). This is a particular condemnation of Mr. Corbin that is almost impossible for his political intimates to defend because of who engineered the coup – Mr. Carvil Duncan.
Without any personal feeling intended, it is my opinion that Mr. Duncan is not gifted with political finesse and can hardly be described as possessing leadership qualities.
Mr. Duncan comes across as someone who does not seem steeped in strategic thinking. How he pulled off that blitzkrieg against the PNC leadership is bewildering. With a general election around the corner and immense sociological mistakes being made by the PPP regime (look at the fascist treatment of over three hundred vendors at the Stabroek Market Square), if Mr. Corbin is to reclaim his credibility, he should reclaim the GLU membership
These losses are gigantic devastations that in a European setting would have seen a change in the party’s top layer. There are untold numbers who believe that this weakening of the PNC could have been stopped if Mr. Corbin had taken the PNC constituencies in a more energized direction.
It is a sermon you hear from many astute political observers.
This is one area of anti-Corbin chastisement that needs more elegant shape. I agree that if Team Alexander had dethroned Corbin, with the kind of powerhouses the PNC had then, the PPP Government would have been more restrained in their fascist direction, but the optimism of the new PNC leadership would have been short-lived.
Mr. Corbin, the PNC and Guyanese dreamers of a democratic country (including this commentator) are victims of the pessimistic zeitgeist that we are part of in today’s world. To blame Mr. Corbin alone is to be extremely short-sighted or even dishonest. There is a psychology of resignation and hopelessness in both Guyana and the Diaspora.
To say that Mr. Corbin could have broken that mental encrustation is to assign to him superhuman powers. From the time the 1999 Public Service Union strike ended ignominiously, Guyanese in and out of the territory lost hope and faith in a Velvet Revolution to remove the increasingly fascist regime under the PPP.
Whatever galvanized the feelings people had was made dormant by the frightening alliance between drug barons and ruling politicians. This was a new dimension of politics in the Caribbean and the opposition and civil society were terrified. Then came the assassination of Ronald Waddell and that was the end of hope.
It was the great 20th Century anti-fascist Italian thinker, Antonio Gramsci who wrote that; “The optimism of the will must override the pessimism of the intellect.” After Waddell’s death, the pessimism of the intellect triumphed in Guyana. Against this backdrop, it was asking too much of Mr. Corbin to initiate the Velvet Revolution.
If any society could be described as politically dead, it is Guyana. In frightening dictatorships like Iran and Tunisia, citizens demonstrate with passion and purpose. Gone from Guyana and the Guyana Diaspora is any political passion. If you want to see how dead this population is – in and out of the country- read a column in the Stabroek News titled, “In the Diaspora.”
You would think the fear among Guyanese who live abroad is less pronounced. You would think that foreign-based Guyanese would be more courageous. The foreign-based Guyanese who contribute to “In the Diaspora” avoid political criticism of the Jagdeo regime as if they are liable to be put in jail. There aren’t words to describe the cemetery the University of Guyana is.
Long ago, Guyanese students would have picketed the campus shouting angry remarks at David Dabydeen in London or Randy Persaud in Washington, D.C. A picket against Mr. Jagdeo in New York attracted a handful.
Years ago, there would have been boisterous numbers. Back home only Lincoln Lewis and Mark Benschop take to the streets. It is stretching it far to say that the Alliance For Change has been a credible opposition party.  The Guyana Human Rights Association may have become moribund.
The business community stays silent and watches the government assault the Stabroek News and the Kaieteur News. No one gets angry at the most barefaced violations of the Guyana Police Force. Where is the culture of protest in Guyana?
A creeping fascism has crept up on Guyana and we accept it, but we want Robert Corbin and the PNC to stop it. It is time the Guyanese people stop giving Robert Corbin a basket to fetch water.

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