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September 225, 2002: All hell would break loose if I answer this question in an affirmative. In a country where racial meaning permeates every glance, every whisper, every thought, for an Indian writer to say yes, a racial interpretation would be put on his reason. The PNC is seen as an African party, the PPP an Indian, and the ethnic make-up of an analyst is bound to be the focus when he/she evaluates the political behaviour of these two lost souls. Well, for me, I don't consider myself to be particularly Indian, and I am not African. But perception is a part of human reality something Lincoln Lewis, Nigel Hughes, Clive Thomas and Tacuma Ogunseye and the Stabroek News editor may be wise to come to grips with - and I am sure I am perceived as being an Indian. It is best then I let my research answer the question rather than a direct answer from me.
It would seem that the PNC has been doing some soul-searching (if you accept that the PNC still has a soul, no offence intended Raphael, and Mr. Hoyte) and has decided to confront frontally the issue of physical attacks on Indians. It may be too late but the PNC has summoned the Guyanese 007, Jerome James Bond Khan to deal with this intelligence pursuit. But Congress Place is short of experienced intelligence officers and has sent in the wrong man. Now, I don't know anything about Jerome except he looks like the English 007, Sean Connery, in terms of hirsute appearance, and therefore cannot criticize his ability to assembly and codify intelligence data. But so far, since he was posted to the battlefield he has done well but Jerome is not the officer the PNC needs for this mission.
Jerome in speaking to Yesu Persaud on television was angry that even semi-civilised robbers are using racist anger when they attack people. He referred to the slicing off of Anita Singh's hair after she was robbed. I dealt with this in my weekend Kaieteur article so let's move on. Jerome wants the PNC to discipline Vincent Alexander for anti-Indian statements he made in the print media. Vincent (my childhood friend from Wortmanville but he left the area a long time ago) said in an interview in response to a question about the avalanche of anti-Indian violence that has descended upon Guyana that out of such a bad thing will come a good thing. He went on to say that though these beatings are costly, they will result in a period of happiness after. Jerome James Bond Khan is mad. He pens a letter to the press demanding sanction against Vincent for what he considers the open acceptance of racial violence against Indians. Jerome is certainly on the right track but he is not the PNC guy that Indians want to hear denouncing anti-Indian violence.
The Indian's image of the PNC is in tatters. The, alienation, dislike and hate are almost complete after 2002 when the Indian population felt that the PNC and the PNC alone had unleashed a school of criminals on them. Indian people feel that the PNC was behind the Douglas tape. Despite the charisma and integrity of Raphael Trotman, he is not going to convince Indian people to vote for the PNC in 2006. The sad truth is that the PNC is not going to get that crucial Indian percentage that will be needed to clinch victory. It has now done a strategic retreat and has sent in Jerome. But Jerome is an Indian and there is no psychological comfort when an Indian PNC leader defends Indian people. For it to make sense, it has to come from top African PNC leaders. This is called tactical politics or you can call it strategic politics or better yet, practical politics. Indian people want to hear Desmond Hoyte, Oscar Clark, Robert Corbin and other leading PNC leaders do what Jerome has done. Then and only then it will add to the political capital of the PNC.
It is when you make the comparison between the PNC and the PPP on the question of ethnic capture, then the question, which is the title of this article, stares you in the face. For all its crass, political incompetence, the PPP plays the game of ethnic capture better than the PNC. This may have been responsible for the slight increase in the PPP's African votes at the last election. It doesn't matter whether a party is in or out of power, when a party is perceived by a country as being ethnic, and its numbers validate that perception, then ethnic capture becomes a commonsensical modus operandi. The PNC and PPP are forced by reality to seek ethnic capture. They are compelled by the shape of their evolution to seek converts, sympathizers and supporters from other ethnic communities. The only party in history that doesn't understand this is the PNC. Now like the Greek scientist Archimedes, it has ran out of Congress Place yelling, "EUREKA, EUREKA" but that discovery has come too late. And Jerome is plugging away tirelessly without results.
The PPP, in ways that have made PPP leaders look stupid, have been furiously emulating the policy of ethnic capture practiced the way Forbes Burnham did it. But there isn't a PPP leader who can come near to Burnham in terms of sheer political brightness. Forbes Burnham was a giant when it came to understanding political strategies. It is because the PPP leaders lack his political finesse that they end up being betrayed by those whom they have captured from the other side. When Burnham wooed an Indian, he stayed committed forever. Burnham didn't have to tell him what to do. He acted out of loyalty and respect for Forbes Burnham.
The people that the PPP have solicited from the other side laugh at them. Some PPP leaders told me that Henry Jeffrey was impertinent and shameless to criticize the government in a confidential paper he wrote to the Civics (see my Kaieteur article for August 23) without publicly denouncing the PNC's encouragement of violence against Indians. What they fail to realize so far is that maybe many of the people they have taken from the other community do not respect the PPP and its leadership. I have seen converts to the PPP laugh at them, criticize them and have in fact practiced racism against Indian people in a way that African leaders of the PNC would never do. I see this everyday at the University of Guyana. I have seen the PPP put their African converts at UG who are more racial than African PNC academics and are less competent than PNC academics.
But there is a point missing here, and this is the purpose of this article; even though the game of ethnic capture has turned out to be both a circus and a tragedy for the PPP since 1992, the game has to be played. The PPP is realistic and practical, with large doses of commonsense when they reach out to potential bandwagoners. They know that party politics demand inclusion from other ethnic societies. Only the PNC doesn't know that.
What's your next move Jerome Bond?