"They almost killed me, now I am with them.."
Guyana's politics has been divisive and this coming election is going to be characterised by A Partnership for National Unity (APNU - not apnooo). This week, there was a group of non-APNU people who met a team from APNU to have a conversation about APNU. APNU did well to be a part of this conversation, and have committed to others.
Everybody admitted that APNU is not generating too much excitement, for various reasons. APNU has less advertising budget than say Jamzone and that the partnership between Mavado and Kartel / Gully and Gaza was of much more national interest a few weeks ago.
So.. why did I bother? Unity terrifies me because I feel that once people are united and unified, then somebody gun tek ovah and it will mean the end of dissension and the space for skepticism. Partnerships on the other hand are intriguing.
Forgiveness and Reconciliation but not as yet
Those of us who old enough to remember the WPA would know that it was a party which opposed the PNC (before Hoyte) and would have heard the stories of the beating up, jailing of the WPA members and the people who attended their meetings. So.. I was curious to know how come the WPA and PNC tight now.
The WPA representative at the conversation said.. "they almost killed me, but now I am with them because I have seen the changes' .
I asked another WPA member on the side.. about this 'forgiveness' and he said no, that the PNC is not the only one that has to apologise (to the WPA and the nation), because Truth and Reconciliation has to be a national process. The WPA man was fired in the PNC years, lost his family as a result, and then in the PPP years was harassed continually. His memories and experience of the PPP are not good either.
So any excitement that I had about forgiveness and apologies dimmed, because the thing is, somebody has to start this process. And it should not wait on elections, nor should it be dependent on any one else doing the same. But the WPA and PNC in creating APNU, seem to have decided to postpone the Truth and Reconciliation Commission to after they win the elections. Perhaps those of us who are interested in Truth and Reconciliation should set up the process to do it, rather than wait on any Government or political parties to do so.
PNC in the partnership
Me and plenty other people, some who like/love the PPP and others who do not, we have to figure out what we want the PNC to do before it comes back into Government. Can I vote for PNC - No. Because in the 19 years in opposition, it has not dealt with the issue of acknowledging its own past. I have no interest in hearing how wonderful Burnham was, he was not. I accept that Hoyte brought many changes. If asked, though, I would say .. like what the Australia Government has done in the case of the Aborigines ; and what the British High Commissioner said about accepting responsibility for the homophobic legislation in the Guyan and the Commonwealth, and the steps it is making to correct that history.
Then maybe I might believe that the PNC is changing..
Young people
It has been great to see on my facebook, a lot of excitement from AFC and APNU young supporters who seem to be interested in something.. but they spend a lot of time cussing up the PPP and not much talking about what they are visioning for the country. I remember all the hype around Mr Granger's election as leader of the PNC, and how I myself nearly went to vote for Mr Granger.
This picture (from Guyana Times in March 2011) stands out in my mind.. Mr Granger and a lot of young happy excited people reflecting our diverse nation and not posing for any campaign poster. The people here are wearing tee-shirts, not suits - and I hope the APNU leaders do not ever wear suits anywhere. Suits are a turn off, they remind me of what is bad about Guyana - the colonial history, the idea that the superficial is important, that dress codes are more important that the people wearing the clothes. In fact, Mr Ramotar should burn his suits too, wear the red shirt.. though on some posters that might give him a santa claus look, but still..
So.. where are they now? I got an email from one youth (not in the picture above) asking for donations of paper so they can print hand bills.
In fact, at the conversation, the WPA representative was the only one to me who could fire the imagination about this partnership, national unity, sharing resources, liberating people to do their own development.. things which the PNC and the PPP never set out to do. Are the young people able to own this message? What does it mean for them.. and is it still about voting for Granger or for APNU?
Communicating the APNU message
The APNU website took awhile to load, and I cannot find the Unity Charter and their press releases online. APNU has to make full use of the technology which is available and use it effectively. The access to radio and television has been curtailed. The available space has to be used to communicate what this partnership is about, or as another woman said, what the partnership means for all people in actual dollars.
I asked about police reform, and was told in a way which reminded me of Burnham's arrogance.. that the police reform was in the document. I searched the document, and tried again to ask. the man said, yes it is in there, I should go look for it. I have no more interest in looking for it. I thought I could download the document and do a search.. APNU people should be showing me and telling me where the answers could be found.
A woman pointed out that she does not want to hear APNU rebutting the PPP/President Jagdeo because a lot us tune out when people are busin' out and cussin' out. APNU would do well then to use the available time, space and resources to urgently state their policies, to show their development plan and not to expect that people will vote for them because of a recital of the litany of the woes of life for some under the PPP government.
Beating children, rights for gay, lesbian, trans citizens, hanging people
At the conversation, it seemed that a lot will be issued by the policy committees. I asked a question about the Universal Periodic Review report - about how will APNU deal with the beating of children in schools; about the discrimination on the grounds of sexual orientation and gender identity (or discrimination against people who do not identify as heterosexual); about the human rights abuses of the Police; and the police reform.. but there were no clear answers (I had left and heard that the answers nearly created a riot because it was something about ''what people think and so on"). Another woman said she would love to hear how APNU plans to reduce alcohol consumption. We agreed, not only the waffle about macro things and constitutional reform and so on.. but some clear statements and values on what these issues mean to those in the partnership.
So.. yep, APNU. Good for those who want to try something different. However, it will not be easy - last elections we had Third Force and all those hopes for change. Another woman said that a lot of us have not been able to change anything on our own. This idea, as the WPA representative said, that people should take charge and be active in their own development, that idea is foreign, alien and stranger than Mavado and Kartel and Shilpa Shetty. And as a result, APNU might have to wait another five years before we are convinced of this idea.
Everybody admitted that APNU is not generating too much excitement, for various reasons. APNU has less advertising budget than say Jamzone and that the partnership between Mavado and Kartel / Gully and Gaza was of much more national interest a few weeks ago.
So.. why did I bother? Unity terrifies me because I feel that once people are united and unified, then somebody gun tek ovah and it will mean the end of dissension and the space for skepticism. Partnerships on the other hand are intriguing.
Forgiveness and Reconciliation but not as yet
Those of us who old enough to remember the WPA would know that it was a party which opposed the PNC (before Hoyte) and would have heard the stories of the beating up, jailing of the WPA members and the people who attended their meetings. So.. I was curious to know how come the WPA and PNC tight now.
The WPA representative at the conversation said.. "they almost killed me, but now I am with them because I have seen the changes' .
I asked another WPA member on the side.. about this 'forgiveness' and he said no, that the PNC is not the only one that has to apologise (to the WPA and the nation), because Truth and Reconciliation has to be a national process. The WPA man was fired in the PNC years, lost his family as a result, and then in the PPP years was harassed continually. His memories and experience of the PPP are not good either.
So any excitement that I had about forgiveness and apologies dimmed, because the thing is, somebody has to start this process. And it should not wait on elections, nor should it be dependent on any one else doing the same. But the WPA and PNC in creating APNU, seem to have decided to postpone the Truth and Reconciliation Commission to after they win the elections. Perhaps those of us who are interested in Truth and Reconciliation should set up the process to do it, rather than wait on any Government or political parties to do so.
PNC in the partnership
Me and plenty other people, some who like/love the PPP and others who do not, we have to figure out what we want the PNC to do before it comes back into Government. Can I vote for PNC - No. Because in the 19 years in opposition, it has not dealt with the issue of acknowledging its own past. I have no interest in hearing how wonderful Burnham was, he was not. I accept that Hoyte brought many changes. If asked, though, I would say .. like what the Australia Government has done in the case of the Aborigines ; and what the British High Commissioner said about accepting responsibility for the homophobic legislation in the Guyan and the Commonwealth, and the steps it is making to correct that history.
Then maybe I might believe that the PNC is changing..
Young people
It has been great to see on my facebook, a lot of excitement from AFC and APNU young supporters who seem to be interested in something.. but they spend a lot of time cussing up the PPP and not much talking about what they are visioning for the country. I remember all the hype around Mr Granger's election as leader of the PNC, and how I myself nearly went to vote for Mr Granger.
This picture (from Guyana Times in March 2011) stands out in my mind.. Mr Granger and a lot of young happy excited people reflecting our diverse nation and not posing for any campaign poster. The people here are wearing tee-shirts, not suits - and I hope the APNU leaders do not ever wear suits anywhere. Suits are a turn off, they remind me of what is bad about Guyana - the colonial history, the idea that the superficial is important, that dress codes are more important that the people wearing the clothes. In fact, Mr Ramotar should burn his suits too, wear the red shirt.. though on some posters that might give him a santa claus look, but still..
So.. where are they now? I got an email from one youth (not in the picture above) asking for donations of paper so they can print hand bills.
In fact, at the conversation, the WPA representative was the only one to me who could fire the imagination about this partnership, national unity, sharing resources, liberating people to do their own development.. things which the PNC and the PPP never set out to do. Are the young people able to own this message? What does it mean for them.. and is it still about voting for Granger or for APNU?
Communicating the APNU message
The APNU website took awhile to load, and I cannot find the Unity Charter and their press releases online. APNU has to make full use of the technology which is available and use it effectively. The access to radio and television has been curtailed. The available space has to be used to communicate what this partnership is about, or as another woman said, what the partnership means for all people in actual dollars.
I asked about police reform, and was told in a way which reminded me of Burnham's arrogance.. that the police reform was in the document. I searched the document, and tried again to ask. the man said, yes it is in there, I should go look for it. I have no more interest in looking for it. I thought I could download the document and do a search.. APNU people should be showing me and telling me where the answers could be found.
A woman pointed out that she does not want to hear APNU rebutting the PPP/President Jagdeo because a lot us tune out when people are busin' out and cussin' out. APNU would do well then to use the available time, space and resources to urgently state their policies, to show their development plan and not to expect that people will vote for them because of a recital of the litany of the woes of life for some under the PPP government.
Beating children, rights for gay, lesbian, trans citizens, hanging people
At the conversation, it seemed that a lot will be issued by the policy committees. I asked a question about the Universal Periodic Review report - about how will APNU deal with the beating of children in schools; about the discrimination on the grounds of sexual orientation and gender identity (or discrimination against people who do not identify as heterosexual); about the human rights abuses of the Police; and the police reform.. but there were no clear answers (I had left and heard that the answers nearly created a riot because it was something about ''what people think and so on"). Another woman said she would love to hear how APNU plans to reduce alcohol consumption. We agreed, not only the waffle about macro things and constitutional reform and so on.. but some clear statements and values on what these issues mean to those in the partnership.
So.. yep, APNU. Good for those who want to try something different. However, it will not be easy - last elections we had Third Force and all those hopes for change. Another woman said that a lot of us have not been able to change anything on our own. This idea, as the WPA representative said, that people should take charge and be active in their own development, that idea is foreign, alien and stranger than Mavado and Kartel and Shilpa Shetty. And as a result, APNU might have to wait another five years before we are convinced of this idea.
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