The recent attacks on African Guyanese by the PPP have to be seen in the context of a deliberate strategy. Sure of the loyalty of the Indian Guyanese community, the PPP has long sought to ‘capture‘ African Guyanese. Towards this end, it embarked on a two-pronged ‘African Strategy.‘ First, it cynically targeted young African Guyanese with an unrelenting diet of mega-concerts replete with Jump and Wave and Jam and Wine. Second, it initiated a programme of bribery that targeted African Guyanese of all classes. When one links the above with the revelations of official marginalization of African Guyanese coming out of the Kissoon libel case, this cannot go unchallenged.
When President Jagdeo stage-managed his visit to Buxton in August 2010, I was very sure of the political intent and said so before and after the visit. Many, including some prominent African Guyanese and independent media houses, took issue with my opposition to the visit. The President accused me of trying to tell him where to visit. That my friend and brother, Mboya Wood, the chief organizer of the visit, is now a declared PPP member-supporter vindicates my warning that the whole thing was a partisan political charade. I was sure that the President’ s monetary gift to rebuild Tipperary Hall was a ‘bribe‘ in exchange for Buxtonions’ defection to the PPP. That is why they went back to Buxton last Thursday with a high-profile rally.
They went to Buxton to reap the returns on the investment-bribe. After the President’s visit last year they went on the offensive; they boasted all over the media how they had captured Buxton with a “dance hall,” and had “left David Hinds and Eusi Kwayana behind.” Here was a party taking the politeness and perhaps naiveté of sections of a village and rubbing it in their faces and framing it as their meek surrender. This did not go unnoticed by most Buxtonions. You do not dishonour a proud people like that. You do not dent their collective pride like that. You do not throw a few million dollars at them as if that’s all they are worth. You do not try to bribe them into surrendering to domination. At some point they will see through your game and fight back.
Whatever happened during slavery African people emerged with their dignity intact. In fact that dignity was central to their eventual emancipation. Since emancipation that dignity has been tested but they have never surrendered it. It was that dignity that greeted the PPP at their rally. These were young people who were asserting their collective dignity by telling the PPP, “You can come to Buxton any time, but do not come on our Ancestral Ground to disrespect and bribe us; we are people too.” That is why they took the PPP’s gifts and burned them. It was an act of self-activity and self-emancipation in the finest tradition of African resistance. To brand it as hooliganism is not only an insult to that tradition but also the epitome of racial rudeness. And I urge African Guyanese to resist racial rudeness.
Those African Guyanese who have recently joined the PPP and have called on us to vote for that party must hang their heads in shame. To remain silent or condone the characterization of Africans as hooligans is to abuse your own people. It’s their right to join or support the party of their choice. But they have no right to try to lure others into following them in exchange for a few pieces of paper. They are complicit in the deliberate bribery of your own people.
As we approach these elections I urge my African Brothers and Sisters to think carefully about the choices. It is no secret that the APNU provides something new and refreshing in Guyanese electoral politics. Vote for the affirmation of your African dignity. Vote against racial domination – African or Indian. Vote against one-party rule because that is one-race rule. Vote for racial solidarity with Indian Guyanese, Amerindians and all the other races — it is the only route to our collective security and freedom. Vote for a Government of National Unity. Vote to restore Guyana’s independence. Vote to restore your villages as centres of learning and culture. Vote against racial bribery.
I want to end this statement with a direct appeal to young African Guyanese. I know some of them may think that what they have seen in the public and political arena is the norm; that that it is the way things ought to be. They may think that all they are worth is to dress up and go to the National Stadium to ‘jump and wine‘ every weekend. They may think that it’s normal for a party to pay you a few thousand dollars to wear its jerseys and go to its rallies. They may think that it is normal for Black people to be under-educated and pauperized. They may think that it is okay not to vote.
But I want to urge them that that is not the norm. Another world is possible. They are the descendants of a people who suffered but overcame suffering; who were offered bribes but were not seduced by them. Their ancestors loved to dance but they danced for freedom and not as a form of surrender. If they must dance, dance to beat of their own drums and music. Dance to retain their dignity; not to surrender it. And most of all, they must start to take charge of their futures. Guyana belongs to them too. The dance-hall will always be there but opportunities for education and general uplift will not always be there. The route out of poverty and want is not through taking bribes but through the creation of opportunities for education and employment.
Let nobody tell you that race does not matter. Race matters because it is a powerful part of our identity. No other race will respect you if you don’t respect and love yourself; Self-Love is the highest form of personal and collective dignity. You are the future, your future and our collective future. If you don’t vote you are surrendering that future for somebody else to define. And he or she who defines you owns you.
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