Silhouettes of sempiternal dreams in a crowded room

Mar 05, 2015 Features / Columnists, Freddie Kissoon

I attended the launching of the election campaign of the APNU-AFC at the Pegasus yesterday. There wasn’t parking in the Pegasus compound. There was of course silly parking. Some drivers were blocked by unconscionable drivers, meaning you were boxed in when it was time to leave. There was no parking outside the Pegasus, too.
Inside there was no standing room.
AFC official, Clayton Hall, kept imploring to those standing not to block the door but his plea fell on deaf ears. I spent the entire occasion fastened next to a sitting Bert Wilkinson. I began to feel cramps coming on so I went outside. I asked for snack and a glass of juice but the attendants said only when the speeches were over.
As I was walking back in, I saw my old UG friend, Dr. Mark Kirton, walking towards the washroom. He told me that he was at the Pegasus to collect his UWI colleagues who were in Guyana to do a survey on international security and wanted to know what was going on.
I ushered him in but it was pointless. He just couldn’t find space even to stand. I managed to wriggle in again but it was uncomfortable standing again.
You had to be there to feel the emotions permeating the crowded room when Moses Nagamootoo and David Granger spoke. I saw tears in the eyes of some people. Nagamootoo offered the theory of “the split”. He said that the civilization of Guyana was badly damaged in 1955 with the Burnham-Jagan split and it has not recovered since.
He then said that the APNU-AFC coalition is the beginning of the end of the split. There were loud cheers when that tone was made. No one should envy Elizabeth Harper when the Prime Ministerial debate begins if there is one. I am afraid Ms. Harper’s inexperience will allow Nagamootoo to overshadow her. Moses Nagamootoo, after fifty years in politics, has become a phenomenal orator.
It is doubtful that there were people in that packed room who witnessed the birth of the Jagan-Burnham unity party, the PPP in the early fifties. But somehow you felt you were there as Nagamootoo and Granger serenaded you. There was this tantalizing illusion that what was taking place in that room was the final coming together of the PNC and PPP.
The ambience, environment, aura, excitement made you feel that Guyana had now reached the pinnacle of that sempiternal dream of racial unity between the PPP and the PNC.
In fact that was no illusion. It was true, except that you had to take the PPP out of the equation and put in the AFC. After the event, I was talking to Tacuma Ogunseye on my feeling inside that room. I told him I felt it was like if African-Indian Guyanese had now decided there would be no longer the “coolie/blaakmaan thing”.
Words are hard to come by to describe one’s psychological shape as Nagamootoo and Granger waxed lyrical on racial unity. You had to be in that crowded room to see that silhouetted against the sprawling drapes was the sempiternal dreams of Guyana that was born over sixty years ago when the legendary Burnham and Jagan ganged up against colonial rule.
Can those dreams light up the midnight sky of May 12 when we should know the election results? It depends on each individual’s viewpoint. All, without exception that I have spoken to, said that there will be an opposition victory. Most of the opinion-makers believe that it is not a done deal; that the opposition has to work hard.
As Khemraj Ramjattan was leaving with his wife, I told him I believe the coalition will win though I think some Indians who voted against the PPP in 2011 may return to the PPP. He said in unambiguous terms that Berbice wants a change. The difference in the AFC’s showing this time around is that I believe the AFC will lose a small amount of votes from Indians who are over fifty-five years but that will be made up by a big swing of young Indian voters to the AFC.
Most people I have spoken with think that there will be a fantastic upsurge in Region Four voting that will favour the PNC in the coalition. If you look at the last election, over 100, 000 electors did not turn up for the big day. APNU personnel opine that people will come to the polling station this time because they sense victory. We have about two more months before we will see if the Jagan/Burnham brotherhood will be reincarnated.

Latest News

Silhouettes of sempiternal dreams in a crowded room

Related

Similar Articles

The Glenn Lall Show|| March, 31st, 2025

Follow on Tik Tok @Glennlall

THE BLUNT OF THE DAY

Sports

Berbice Cricket Board U19 Inter club competition begins today with...

Windball Cricket Reg. 4 EBD Jagans Memorial...

Supenaam All Stars successfully defend title in...

ExxonMobil Guyana, Linden Inter Schools Football...

All-round Demerara keep win-streak alive with...

Rietema retains Title against stacked field

Features/Columnists

Freedom of Information is a myth

The U.S. “Joining” the Commonwealth: an unreasonable expectation

Trust- who, Jagdeo? Why trust any of them?

Publisher’s Note

Weekend Cartoon

Bridge Watch

Demerara Harbour Bridge

> Berbice Bridge […]

Silhouettes of sempiternal dreams in a crowded room

Share this:

Related

Similar Articles

The Glenn Lall Show|| March, 31st, 2025

Follow on Tik Tok @Glennlall

THE BLUNT OF THE DAY

Sports

Features/Columnists

Publisher’s Note

Weekend Cartoon

Bridge Watch

Demerara Harbour Bridge

> Berbice Bridge […]