OPINION: The authoritarians in Guyana never get it right

Last Updated on Wednesday, 14 February 2024, 18:45 by Denis Chabrol

By Dr. Randy Persaud, Professor Emeritus

Let me begin by defining authoritarianism in general, and then its form in Guyana. Authoritarianism normally refers to those social forces and political forces that have a history of anti-democratic conduct, and who practice their politics by cultivating divisiveness. More often than not, authoritarian parties are prepared to break the law, rely on inflammatory rhetoric, and rely heavily on violence. They are also big on twisting history to make themselves appear as victims, and then use the products of victimhood as the basis for political mobilization. They specialize in creating disturbances, albeit under the cover of fighting to save the nation and the poor. Ironically, they specialize in using the police and private goon squads to break up legitimate strikes. Union leaders are routinely imprisoned by authoritarian governments. Their most notable credential is to rig elections.

Now, let us review the situation in Guyana in the context of the above. Which political party do you think comes closer to authoritarianism as defined above. Even those with the most cursory knowledge of our post-independence historical development can pick out the PNC-R and its current APNU set-up as the authoritarians. To begin with, they relied on foreign-sponsored unions to call wild-cat strikes; they refused to recognize the largest sugar union (GAWU); they regularly broke up legitimate strikes with a lot of violence, imprisonment, transfers, demotions, firings of teachers and public service employees. They practiced heavy political intimidation.

That party specialized in using goon squads who were equipped and paid by the state, and who had privileged access to the very top of the Sophia leadership. They have rigged or attempted to rig every election in the country’s history, or cause disturbance when they lost. I must acknowledge that the 2006 election which the PNC lost was different. I have a relevant story on that, never shared before. I attended New Thriving’s anniversary in 2010 and joined Mr. Robert Corbin at his table for a brief chat. I told him that “history will absolve you Sir, because you did the right thing in 2006.” How sad, that the APNU-AFC did not learn anything from 2006 because by 2020, they returned to typical electoral banditry.

Authoritarianism often depends on the suppression of press freedom. But equally, they also usually find favor with some strands in the press. In the old days, there was absolutely no press freedom in Guyana. 28 years to be exact. But newspapers have played significant, if not heroic roles, in advocating for, and defending democracy in Guyana. We need to give Jack his Jacket!

Yet, the mainstream press today is noted for its anti-PPP biases. Much of this is due to the fact that these outlets are primarily urban and upper-middle class in their outlook, with heavy input from foreign intellectuals who have ready access to the letter sections and columns.

The current GTU strike is a case in point to illustrate some of the claims above. KN and SN are carrying wall-to-wall coverage basically in support of the strike. Editorials are pretty much one-sided. To add insult to injury, KN has the temerity to publish a letter by Hamilton Green, a former leading light of the PNC, who cannot be associated with anything democratic. Imagine Green is allowed to imply that the PPP is a bunch of “cultural barbarians…” Imagine he, who presided over the mass exodus of the Guyanese people, is accusing the PPP of pushing Guyanese people out of Guyana.

Kaieteur News’ editorial (2/14/2024) is a typical expression of how a veritable political strike is given credibility. The sad thing is that the editorial is based on a mediocre understanding of the political economy of development. Consider the banality of the following – “Teachers believe that what they are asking and fighting for is more that reasonable, given the massive sums that are spent on infrastructure, but so little being centered on people…” (KN, 2/14/2024). Note that infrastructure spending is on schools, training centers, school facilities such as playgrounds, hospitals, housing, health care, telecommunications, water, electricity, and roads. A simple question for both Kaieteur News and the teachers – who are the beneficiaries of these projects?

We know the answer. It is the people, stupid! Teachers get house lots that cost the state $3,000,000 to develop. All teachers in Guyana will benefit from the hospitals, cheaper electricity, roads etc. Who else is it built for?

One of the typical strategies of the authoritarians is to use every opportunity to cause trouble, to get people stirred up emotionally, to divide up the population into antagonistic camps, and them set them against each other. The claims by senior strike operatives that they are struggling on behalf of Afro-Guyanese teachers is fully consistent with right-wing tactics. This is the victimhood card. This is the twisting of history typical of the right-wing when, in fact, neither history nor contemporary facts on the ground is on their side.

The APNU-AFC authoritarians are delighted with the GTU attempt to provoke nation-wide disruption. If you listen to their leaders, they are encouraging other sectors to come out. That is proof of the deeply political nature of the GTU strike.

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