The PPP talking to the PNC: Understanding realpolitik

Jul 15, 2021 Features / Columnists, Freddie Kissoon

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Kaieteur News – There is so much information on the internet that a columnist does not need to elaborate on the meaning of concepts and terms. Briefly, realpolitik is the attitude and implementation of that attitude by a government, political organisation or strategically placed leader in which the motive is essentially shaped by what the implementer think is in his/her best interests and not broader determinants of open mindedness or conscience or ethical reasoning.
One of the most common examples of realpolitik is the idea that I should court the enemy of my enemy for I can strengthen myself against my enemy. Realpolitik is common in Guyanese history with many examples being sordid.
Take the WPA. It hated the PPP for shutting it out of power after 1992 so it arranged a covenant with David Granger and Joe Harmon even though those men were powerfully placed in the army at the time Walter Rodney was killed. The enemy of the PPP was the PNC so the WPA played games with the PNC to oust the PPP.
Take the AFC. Moses Nagamootoo and Khemraj Ramjattan hated the PPP more than the PNC. The former was literally chased away from the PPP leadership, the latter was expelled. So they teamed up with the enemy of the PPP to remove the PPP.
When in power with the PNC, the AFC continued to play realpolitik. Though it knew the PNC was distorting governance and was destabilising social progress with serious consequences, the AFC played along because its deep desire was to see the destruction of the PPP.
We come now to 2021. There have been a crescendo of opinions that seek to put pressure on the PPP to initiate dialogue with the PNC. The background portrait does not auger well for the future of such talks. The PNC won the 2015 poll by less than 5,000 votes and secured victory in the regional election of Region Eight by one ballot.
After acquiring power, the APNU+AFC regime arrested opposition leaders and put several of them in front of the courts with evidence that had more holes than a discarded basket found on the beach. The APNU+AFC regime closed sugar estates without consultations with the workers putting 5,000 estate employees out of employment. When one took into consideration their families, totally affected numbers ran into 28,000.
The APNU+AFC autocrats extirpated the Carter/Price formula and unilaterally appointed their own GECOM chairman. The APNU+AFC monarchs refused to hold election with the constitutionally stipulated time after losing a parliamentary vote of no-confidence. The APNU+AFC dictators attempted to rig the March 2020 election and prolonged the fraud for five consecutive months.
The two autocrats of the APNU+AFC – David Granger and Joe Harmon – went up to Region Five and twisted a drug related murder case into a political conspiracy by the PPP with inflammatory demagoguery that resulted in marauding violence committed on PPP supporters.
How does realpolitik enter into the picture here? The advocacy of PPP opening up talks with the PNC is simply misguided sentiments. Some of these advocates are in fact dishonest. It is in the interest of the PPP not to formulate a dialogue with the PNC because the consequences will benefit the PNC more than the PPP. That is not realpolitik but stupidity.
First, the PNC’s physiology is characterised by disturbing schisms that threaten the very life of the PNC. A covenant between PPP and PNC at this time would allow tempestuous quarrels between factions in the PNC to subside. Why would the PPP want to help the PNC to heal? That is not realpolitik but stupidity.
Secondly, dialogue with the PNC will ensure a place at the table for the AFC. The PNC, playing realpolitik on its own, will argue that the APNU+AFC is the opposition and demand a seat for the AFC. That is smart realpolitik by the PNC. But it should be matched by the PPP’s refusal to accept the AFC’s presence. Politically, sociologically and scientifically, the AFC is dead. Only the PPP’s post-mortem can keep it alive. Why should the PPP keep the AFC alive? That isn’t realpolitik but stupidity.
Thirdly, the PNC has indoctrinated African Guyanese with the sermon that the PPP rigged its way into power. Amanza Walton-Desir keeps telling African Guyanese that the election was rigged by the PPP. For the PPP to start a rendezvous with the PNC, it can only drive Walton-Desir’s fiction further into the soul of African Guyanese. That is not realpolitik but stupidity.
Fourthly, PPP supporters have been tormented by violence in Region Five last year. Do they want a PPP-PNC dialogue? Finally, the PPP’s strategy should be seen in the incessant courting of PNC constituencies. That is realpolitik.
(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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