The force of not voting in 2020 in Guyana, love and chowrai bhaaji..

"I do regret meeting you.."
A man I love reached out for us to meet.  Most of the the time we have known each other in tension and disagreement. and a lot of pain. There were many moments of joy and connection.
The meeting started well and then went badly. 

He sent a message after an exchange of bitter emails "I do regret meeting you".   I felt badly - he had taken a risk. I also regretted the meeting because I did not work on  opportunity for making some peace.

In the quarreling, we forgot the things we had in common. As far as I know , both of us will not vote in 2020. We have different reasons though, but will not be voting. And we both have an interest in good governance.



Non-voters as the third force from now to 2020
The elections period creates ugly divisions in Guyana. The latent racism comes up. The Government is blaming PPP supporters for not implementing the Government's agenda.  They say nothing  of their own supporters who "shaming Granger" . Bharat Jagdeo used to do the same, blame people 'who were not working'. The PNC and the PPP have made sure is no accountability and they do the blaming and so

David Hinds notes that 'Blacks rebuked the PNC, and Indians dissed the AFC" for local government elections in which it seems about 30% of the eligible persons voted. The fact that  that most black people and coolie people and dougla peole and other people dissed the PNC AND the PPP and the AFC and the whole voting process is probably not important.

The Constitution will not be transformed and the PNC and the PPP and the bitterness and division will be the nature of the democratic process. . Oil will make the stakes higher.


Some non-voters probably don't give a damn .

We can dream and wish still, just as many voters did. Silly things like  the kind of madness which I wrote into the All Fools Manifesto in 2015 including equality and justice.
Other things like wishing  President Granger is comfortable as he and his family deal with the cancer, and praying  that the oncology department at GPHC could be upgraded with the staff and other resources so that President Granger , and all other persons dealing with cancer could get their treatment and care in Guyana.

I have been having cancer conversations and the problems of cancer are made worse  by trying to understand where care is available, medications and protocols. 

The PNC supporters say ow man.. de coalition aint do nutting good? Just like the PPP supporters said.. without understanding that the PNC and the PPP are supposed to be doing GOOD and the price the citizens pay for this good is often high.

Elections times have made me want to Leave Guyana. Leaving is not an option.

When you can't leave..
The man is in distress, moaning about how his life has come to this. I am hovering over him, reassuring him as I clean  his buttocks and anus and testicles after he has used the bedpan. I am reassuring the man,  who had threatened to kill me more than once, and who said he never did, that it is a good thing that he is not constipated and that he can fill the pee bottle. There is no love in the sense that I am interested in whether or not he dies soon, but rather that as he lives, his suffering is minimal.
 I am thankful that I am free from any desire for revenge or apology. or anything. While I might not be able to listen to the man's distress, I try to facilitate others who can do so.
 I had wanted to be as far away from this man. Just like how the people who have been voted into power and the voters have made me want to leave Guyana.. But Leaving was not an option.

So wiping Guyana's ass, or rather the ass of the political system which has not done much for us , even though I am not voting, is part of what I will have to do if I stay.  I pay taxes, but I know that even with voting, there is no real control over how the money is spent.

I can cuss up as much as I want, and hope for change in others. 


Chow rai bhaaji and connection and trust
The woman is sitting in the hot sun in Bourda Market with  her bag. She has the bundles of bhaji. She laughs at me when I ask. This looked different from the other chow -rai I had bought and mixed with eddoe leaf. I feel a novice. She thought I was a foreigner. When I asked.. "so dis nah grow near latrine.. " and she laughs... "no it grow between lettuce"
The encounter with strangers. I trust her, buy the bhaaji , and set out to try something new. I will eat something from this stranger's hand.

It is this risk, this connection that is sustaining. I refuse a plastic bag from another vendor and she and her colleague start a conversation about plastic bags and the sea. Her colleague tells her "You aint see the story how the plastic bag killing out the fish?" . There is no connection between individual action and the whole action. As I leave and walk away, they are still talking about the plastic bag.. one woman insisting that it is okay if people just dont throw the bags in the waterways. Random strangers opening up random conversations.

"Let`s meet when you can.."
At some point in the exchange of bitter emails, the man I love and I started to listen to each other.


It not easy though.  The man wrote, said sorry for some of the things.

I have no idea why, but I wrote to the man I love "We keep hoping in Guyana for people. politicians to make peace with each other and work together." I realised I had to deal with some of the pain and so and that I might not get all the answers I was looking for and acknowledge the problems the man had with me even if I intended them or not, just as he had done.

I  did not expect a response.

The man wrote back "Let's meet when you can.. " . 

It had been a painful time to get to this stage.  I did not understand the work which had to be done.   

We might not meet or be able to deal with all differences. But at least the connection is there, and not broken as I had thought it would be. There is no desire for power over the other, and who is right and who is wrong, but I believe a desire that we can both be well , and that the wellness of one does not mean the destruction of the other.
 
There is a picture of a PNC man and a PPP man hugging up in Stabroek News . I don't know if the men know each other and might have other things in common.  The PPP and PNC have a lot in common though.

The President and Leader of the Opposition have to meet to discuss Chancellor and Chief Justice. The GECOM chairperson  was not chosen by consensus. There is no desire to involve any third party to mediate this process. Except to vote to switch the parties and then have the same madness all over again.

The third force of non-voters?
So can non-voters be a third force? I have vested interests in ensuring safety and security and that there is running water and toilet paper and so. The CCJ ruling on the cross-dressing laws addresses Difference. It is probably the first time a court has acknowledged difference in Guyana.

Difference is as natural as breathing. Infinite varieties exist of everything under the sun. Civilised society has a duty to accommodate suitably differences among human beings. Only in this manner can we give due respect to everyone’s humanity. No one should have his or her dignity trampled upon, or human rights denied, merely on account of a difference, especially one that poses no threat to public safety or public order. "It is these simple verities on which this case is premised.."

So as I deal with the humanity of the man who wanted to kill me but whose shit I try to celebrate with him, I also know that I have to deal with the humanity of the Blacks who rebuked and did not rebuke the PNC, and the Indians who dissed and did not diss the AFC and all of the others who believe the PPP is the lesser of the two evils.

Can non-voters be a third force, to burn the constitution and rewrite a new one? To hold alternative elections which are not about the PNC or the PPP or the least of all evils, but about choosing a different kind of system in which people who choose or have to stay in Guyana don't have to feel that they are constantly dealing with a mess.?  Can non-voters keep teaching about accountability by practicing accountability? Can non-voters teach about unity, or fractured unity, by practicing unity? Can we talk about trusting the other when mistrusting the other will be  the elections campaign tool?  






It will probably be painful, difficult. But will it be any more painful and difficult than witnessing the madness which comes up at elections time?