Can Vishnu Bisram please point out where I ‘implored politicians not to appeal on an ideology of race

Feb 26, 2024 Letters

Dear Editor,

Kaieteur News – ‘Dr. Henry Jeffrey (KN Feb 19) implored politicians not to appeal on an ideology of race for political support to win government and that they should seek ‘to democratize’ the electorate away from race’ (Vishnu Bisram ‘Will voters move away from ethnic voting? KN: 23/02/2024)

I wrote the following: “in his quarrel with Mr. Clement Rohee, Dr. Vishnu Bisram pointed out that Indians ‘did not vote to build communism … The(ir) choice was an African PNC or an Indian PPP. It was inevitable people would line up behind the party of their race!’ I have no problem with Bisram’s position of the right of people to vote for their ethnic group. But the history of Guyana and elsewhere has taught that once the contesting groups are sufficiently large the usual democratic manner of doing business – free elections together with even-handed governance – tends to be deficient. In a competitive democratic state, it would be amoral and impractical to try and prevent politicians of a given ethnicity from attempting to protect the interest of that group. But what Clement sought to avoid, and Dr. Bisram needs to consider, is how are we to liberal democratically organise the racialised masses that have resulted from our history.

‘Guyanese Society must go beyond the polarised exclusionary politics by which we operate presently’ (‘GPSU says budget will not address poverty, cost of living unless priorities reconsidered.’ SN: 15/02/2024). Broadly, this is the sensible answer to Clement and Dr. Bisram. But it requires the removal of the winner-takes-all political system by using the whole range of consociational measures: vetoes, supermajority, etc., to where necessary, restrict the range of governmental powers and protect and enhance the interest of all Guyanese” (Henry Jeffrey, ‘Avoid polarized exclusionary politics.’ KN:19/02/2024).

Can Vishnu Bisram please point out where I ‘implored politicians not to appeal on an ideology of race for political support to win government and that they should seek ‘to democratize’ the electorate away from race’? Since I doubt that his response would be sufficiently substantial to warrant an intervention, can he also proffer an opinion to my more deserving suggestion. ‘But what…Dr. Bisram needs to consider, is how we are to liberal democratically organize the racialized masses that have resulted from our history.’

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Can Vishnu Bisram please point out where I ‘implored politicians not to appeal on an ideology of race

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