OPINION: GTU and sanctimonious populism

Last Updated on Sunday, 4 February 2024, 11:37 by Denis Chabrol

By Dr. Randy Persaud, Professor Emeritus

The ill-conceived teachers’ strike called by the GTU has provided the occasion for some who hide behind the label of journalist, or civil society advocate, to ingratiate themselves into what might be best described as the moral economy of the working class. KN columnist GHK Lall’s “Pending Teachers’ Strike” is a case in point. Allow me to explain.

We first need to understand that the looming strike is not an expression of ‘industrial’ grievance per se, but a carefully timed act of political disturbance by the APNU-AFC, who controls the GTU. The pending strike is intended to launch a political spectacle for APNU-AFC. If you want to know how the APNU-AFC and the over-politicized GTU can exploit their “industrial action,” all you need to do is read Lall’s recommendation of how to up the ante. 

Here is the plan. Firstly, make the disturbance appear as if it is in response to a major historical tragedy. Lall himself likens what is to come as perhaps reminiscent of the violent repression of workers in Pennsylvania in the late 19th century, and the Red Scare symbolized in political savagery of McCarthyism. 

Secondly, criminalize the PPP government for declaring that the basis for the strike is not consistent with general collective bargaining practices. The truth is that teachers in this country requested to meet with President Ali, which he did. To label that as extraconstitutional and hostile to labor is just low-level posturing. The GTU knows fully and well that a multiyear deal is not within the cards because the budget is arrived at through parliament on an annual basis. Further, the GTU has completely obfuscated the numerous incentives and benefits offered to teachers recently. Think of the GOAL scholarships. Think of access to young professional homes. Think of the expansion of duty-free vehicles. Think of making all teachers trained teachers, a policy that would raise the pay of teachers even further. 

Thirdly, use the most sensationalist language conceivable to inflame passions, if not worse. Imagine a columnist in a national newspaper can write that “[t]he PPP Government has trampled upon those who say: some more please.” Trampled? Sir, the days of Rabbi Washington are long gone. 

The trample motif is backed up by conjuring up images to make today look like the old PNC days when paramilitary forces and the likes of the Rabbi broke up meetings, kicked down doors, and even displaced teachers far away from their homes if they did not comply with PNC comrades. The columnist under consideration here has the temerity to write that the PPP Government “has the strong arm of the law, and the strongmen within it…” Lall seems to be living in a time-warp. 

Finally, the GTU-APNU-AFC should suck populism for whatever it can deliver. There are two general types of populism in academic literature. I will introduce a third one for GHK Lall. The first kind of populism is economic in nature. Opposition Leader Norton and MP, Hon. Juretha Fernandes are experts on this. Ms. Fernandes intimated that the best policy is to give each family $8,000,000-$9,000,000. Mr. Norton’s economics is based on giving away everything as fast as possible, but also saving everything for a rainy day. Note, MP Sanjeev Datadin, was correct when he pointed to Ms. Fernandes’ extravagant payday masquerade. 

The second type of populism is based on something called Popular Democratic Interpellation, developed by sociologists Ernesto Laclau and Chantal Mouffe in the late 1980s. The idea is incredibly complex but can be understood as bringing about change by going beyond social classes to create a common political frontier. It comes out of the politicization of intersectionality and has genuine democratic potential. 

The third type is something I am introducing here as a theoretical concept, rather than an empirical description. I would like to label it “sanctimonious populism,” meaning a kind of populism articulated and practiced by someone who sees him/herself as morally superior to others, and who imagines himself, as in this case, as a fellow sufferer. GHK Lall practices and advocates this sanctimonious populism. “They make money, I get a penny. It is another fact that I have petitioned, pressed for a little less for Exxon et al, a bit more for Guyanese.” Remember?

The GTU is led by a political operative from the Opposition. This same MP, Coretta McDonald, criticized plans to build more schools. Our columnist can live with that quite comfortably. For this cabal, modernization of the physical infrastructure for students is considered something bad, much like the columnist thinks that lower taxes are also bad because the Opposition has no political benefit to reap.

Dr. Randy Persaud is Adviser, International Affairs, Office of the President.