No coalition a start if it holds

Nov 03, 2019 Editorial

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No joining! No coalition! There it is: ringing, unequivocal, powerful. It would be a positive start if it could hold up to the forces waiting to overwhelm, both from the environment, and from inside the breast, too. Because many are the resolutions uttered of the steeliest and the unalterable, only for the other to creep forward. That would be the usual.
The usual has meant compromising and crumbling in the face of circumstances, before the suppleness of the delicateness of domestic political overtures. Heavyweight shadows that can block out the sun, even limit breathing. This has been the story of those who made bold promises before. For there is the inexplicable irony of a society that stands against cooperating and the consensuses required, yet vacillates and hedges in everything else.
For stronger men, perhaps nobler persons, did step up and swore: no coalition. Historically, some have blasphemed and betrayed their oaths of intentions and contributions in different ways: as groups, as individuals, and as agencies, which for all purposes and by any calculations, ended up being de facto coalitions…subsumed and consumed.
For the doubting, reference to December 21st last is urged. Sometimes, the deed is done early, on other occasions a little later. Today, the calendar is some ways from March, the clock is young. We shall see.
Whether coalition or not, does this society desires to see, hear, and experience more of the same? Like before? Like always? Some have turned and swung so much in political Guyana that they are more like pendulums than persons: back and forth, then across and around again. They do not have to be of party alone, or new. It is simply the syrupy nature of domestic political presences and fickle loyalties, fickler character, the feeblest of personal ideals. In sum, the worn and tattered tapestry of what goes into political ingredients in this land.
It has been either that positioning (willingly), or partnering (selfishly), or reaching (calculatingly) that leads to societal hopes dashed, and the same sordid wheeling and dealing that leaves a lost populace even more stranded and useless to itself. Dreams fade, people retreat, and the bigger people rejoice. Business goes on, through life as usual. Even as there is rearranging, there is no changing. For the better. For the future.
So, which one will stand by that stirring oath of: No coalition? Who will stand up to the tests of the rough tides (sure to come) and that of times that can wear down, through the inevitability of it all? What looks foregone? Who will have the spine and honor to hold to their promise, their commitment?
It is sure to be a demanding road ahead. But it doesn’t have to be for the enthusiastic newly christened. If they can stand firm, come what may, in whatever form, then a start has been made. It must be enduring, unflinching, unswerving. There is a better way to make voice and vote (in and out of parliament) register. A heavy presence must be felt and the longest of shadows cast. Why not? Why go the other way, the regular way, the expected way, the failed way?
No coalition means readiness, over the long haul, to be spoiler and troublemaker. Progress does not come from the polite and the pure. Cultivate the (perhaps) nobler spirits from within the ranks of those who have politicized and professionalized dividing. Dividing peoples. Dividing society. Dividing local reality into sleaze and hate and ugliness.
The new people should not be above doing some cajoling and dividing themselves. Turn the tables on those bent on thwarting, on maintaining what has harmed irreparably. Work at it. Be aggressive about. Make the hunter the hunted. Pick spots. Reconfigure the stream. There must be a few-a few only-who may be moved to breakaway. Heresies have littered the life and times of men. This must be taken as far as it can, and for as long as it takes.
Whatever it is, there can be no combining of any kind, let public word resonate uninterruptedly. There cannot be anymore of the unpalatable, the unfathomable, and the unsaleable. There can be no justification, given the history, given the betrayals, given the fears.
No coalition translates to no maneuvering, no merging, no buying, no selling to any extent, or of any degree. To, with, or before anyone. Only those are unimpeachable. Wavering can be fatal, for with that comes succumbing.
It might appear to be a sprint to March 2, but thereafter it is the longest and most grueling of marathons. The relentless torque of encroachment will come to change. That is the finish line aimed for by the powers. For the newly arrived, there is no prize which makes surrendering acceptable. None!
No coalition must be absolute. It does not have to mean political death. Instead, real political emergence could come, and belated political recognition trickle down. The point in all of this, and the call from here, too is simple. Do on own terms. Deliver in one’s own time. By one’s own standards. No coalition may lead somewhere, even with the band of brothers that now advance on electoral Guyana. Two to three seats could be the wedge that makes a difference, many direly needed differences. Think of that now…. All of them.

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