Deconstructing words: The lesser of two evils

Nov 24, 2019 Features / Columnists, Freddie Kissoon

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The term, the lesser of two evils has existed since time immemorial, and has been used in virtually every sphere of existence. The term applies to situation where one does not have a choice; they will accept a bad person over a terrible one.
Even in politics, you can speak of one political party being the lesser of the two evils. I grew up hearing that the Labour Party in the UK is the lesser of the two evils, meaning not as bad as the Conservatives. In my university student days, I was told by my left-wing friends that the PNP is the lesser of the two evils, meaning it is better than its rival, JLP.
Recently, two African Guyanese known for their adumbration of African culture and the need for a strong African presence in Guyana’s economy wrote that they support the present government over the PPP in the forthcoming election because it is the lesser of two evils. They are Dr. Kean Gibson and Dr. David Hinds.
In a racially bifurcated country which since 1957 has alternated its government between the Indian dominated PPP and African dominated PNC, the theory of the lesser of two evils in politics does not apply. The paradigm also runs into trouble when you apply the epistemological methodology of deconstruction.
The term evil loses its banal meaning in the study of governance in Guyana, and arriving at a neat definition of evil in the use of power by the PPP in the recent past and the present PNC dominated regime, is a formidable task that may border on impossibility.
First, let’s juxtapose Anil Nandlall’s statement with that of Gibson and Hinds. Nandlall wrote that “Whenever the PPP is in Government, there is economic progress and freedom in this country; and whenever the PNC is in Government there is economic decline and authoritarianism” ( see Kaieteur News, Monday (December 19, 2016 “PPP Government in the 50s and after 1992 developed Guyana” and my reply of Friday, December 23, 2016, “Anil Nandlall sent Kaieteur News a coin with one of its two faces rubbed off.”)
Do Gibson and Hinds agree? Does Nandlall agree with Gibson and Hinds? The problem is obvious here. Nandlall is Indian. He bats for the Indian PPP. Likewise, Gibson and Hinds are Africans in praise of a regime seen as ethnically biased towards Afro-Guyanese. Ethnic Relations Commissioner, Barrington Braithwaite says accusations against the PNC of rigging national elections are “stock propaganda”. Do Indians think it is such? In such a situation, the application of the lesser of two evils falls down badly.
Substantial numbers in this country think that both PPP and PNC are two sides of the same coin, will not bring about racial harmony, will rule exclusively in the interest of their own constituencies, will not be sentimental about criticism of bad governance; therefore, they both need to be denied a majority in elections so that power can be reshaped for the better.
What about fact-checking the actual production of evil under the PPP’s hegemony and the current governance style of the PNC? Gibson referred to race discrimination under the PPP. Is that evil? When you deconstruct the definition of evil, it may turn out that in Guyana, there is no lesser of two evils, but evil that can easily be compared and discovered to be the same.
Can you describe as evil in the context of our morbid ethnic divide, the retrenchment of 7000 sugar workers without adequate compensation? One has to add to that 7000, their families. Is that a lesser evil compared to the evil practised by the PPP government? What meaning does the analyst put to a government that lost a vote of no-confidence vote (NCV) almost one year ago but still carries on as if there wasn’t an NCV? Is that an evil comparable to the types of evil we saw under Jagdeo and Ramotar?
It is my interpretation that President Granger acted dangerously when he addressed the country’s foreign diplomats on the CCJ’s ruling on the unconstitutional appointment by Granger of the GECOM head, Justice Patterson.
The CCJ’s President advised the Opposition Leader and President to settle the GECOM imbroglio through discussion and compromise; in other words, a little give and take. The president told his diplomatic guests that such words meant that he as president could submit a list of six names for the GECOM chair to himself and choose one from his own list. This was equivalent of saying that the chairman of the CCJ in fact changed the constitution of Guyana.
When you deconstruct the word, “evil” I am afraid you will not get the lesser of two evils between the PPP and PNC.

(The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of this newspaper.)

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