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Besides the American strategist Dick Morris, the Alliance for Change has deployed yet another of it’s most formidable long range missiles capable of hitting Guyana’s mainland last weekend in the Bronx.
It was a successful test mission that validated all planned parameters. And those who were itching for war were quite comfortable with the results: the threat to the PPP Civic and the PNC/R is most imminent. This missile is called “politics through arts and entertainment.”
It’s an irresistible compulsion: pump up the volume, bring in the dancers, loose the comedians, and throw in a few singing acts, fix the drinks, spice up the dinner and … hallelujah!
People were showing up with wads of cash flaunting jingoism by the dollars. It’s the kind of patriot game, this ritual self interrogation that tuned out the discouraging news about gas prices and Middle East politics and bad weekend weather.
What in Heaven would that be? Here’s a hint. Take international dancer Dheeraj and his troupe, for example. His piece was small; yet no way inferior in a setting that was gorgeous and was best appreciated seen up close. Against the infectious sound style of Anand Yankaran, Dheeraj presented a wide-ranging piece with imagination and intricate construction.
So was Jumping Jack who was a delightful scene in which he invented himself as something between Johnny Walker and John Travolta. His Bollywood act was an unusually lavish piece bringing vibrancy in his comedic art form.
Trevolta Karran hit gold poking fun at corny old creole telephone talk. His act was a cheery, self-mocking inventiveness that was consistently fresh, tuneful and organic to the plot of a Guyanese nephew panhandling his U.S. uncle on the phone. He even threw in a few improvisional punch lines in a sort of ostentatious crudeness, reinvigorating the AFC apart from “dat KFC fowl business.”
Now, what does this has to do with politics? If you’re a PPP dialectician, and you haven’t picked up on that as yet, tell yourself you’re stupid. This is what you call a new act of revolutionary creativity, and PPP’s reprobate politician Khemraj Ramjattan – a one time disillusioned young Central Executive Committee member of the PPP, whose loud mouth openness about his party’s dirtiness that has provoked some of the most dramatic showdowns in the press - is at it again.
The dinner and dance in the Bronx was something very new. And it is not just a long way from the ideals of stomping for support. It is the very antithesis. It represents a romantic break-away from the usual “begging bowl” approach, an escape from the act of belittling oneself and the freedom of reaching into one’s check book and happily fill out the Payee’s line.
It is the power of the gospel according to the AFC’s approach to fundraising. Nothing too strange here, but under examination, you can find certain parallels with the Baptist church’s method of evangelism.
It is here where the AFC has cleverly tapped into: the reservoir of common people searching for a break from the everyday drudgery of mediocre politics; where music, dance and food and wine act as an ice breaker to forge newer friendships while strengthening existing ones.
Think about it. Nothing new. Really. But the AFC has played this hand marvelously last weekend, bringing a sizeable audience into a “concert” setting and appealing to their better sensibilities. And it worked. The meeting represented the fury of many Guyanese people desperate to escape the marginality imposed on them by the twisted politics of Democratic Centralism and the wretched tactics of armed resistance.
No one could have said it better. Ramjattan spoke with conviction inciting interest in Guyana’s deteriorating politics and the hypocrisy inherent in the two monoliths. In fact, he submitted that the tribal politics of both the PPP and the PNC/R is spiraling Guyana into a lower part of hell. The atmosphere he presided felt distinctly different, the concept of racial war more ominous.
The solution he proposed was the risky business of departing from the Coolieman/Blackman syndrome in which both races distrust each other under the leadership of their respective racial leaders. It was a powerfully simple speech, and many people thought that his words stand as an example of substance and music of politics in its grandest form and highest purpose – to heal, to educate, to lead.
He challenged his supporters to demonstrate Guyana’s healing by being a living example of neighborliness and friendship. In other words, compassion, love and generosity that would jump mathematics and race.
Pure Gospel. In the age of the politics of the damned where the nasty new turn of events has characterized Guyana as a place where mafia politics and gangsta violence are the feed of endless bad news. You just can’t make this stuff up.
Now that sounded like this man is the brother of Billy Graham. He was predictable and most influential. But he was also firing away at what he called the curse of the “visa” mentality. Ramjattan knocked a lot of sense into his audience, explaining that a sense of malaise has become so pervasive that the Guyanese fighting spirit is fading away and that everyone is hoping someday for a visa to leave the country.
Then add the pathetic “send some money” pitch that has underscored the laziness that is rampant in some areas in the country. Well, Ramjattan taught some serious fiscal responsibilities to the overseas diaspora: the power of No.
And he connected that to the problem of a shameless dependency among Guyanese at home, and its place as a part of a national problem. He pointed out the little kitchen garden in the countryside is fast becoming a relic of the past. People are so demoralized and despondent that they are losing a sense of history.
That kind of talk provided Khemraj Ramjattan a political windfall. And by continuing to bash the PPP civic on the issue of crime and corruption, one got a glimpse of a man who is hell bent on dissing his former colleagues.
Far fetched? Not really, when you consider the kind of financial commitment people are willing to make in seeking an alternative to the PPP/Civic and the PNC/R. And it is here where the AFC has developed a sleek marketing strategy in mobilizing Guyanese for a genuine change.
From Charity to Lethem to Crabwood Creek to Linden, the theme is for change. Ramjattan pointed out that the ultimate goal is to dismantle the monopoly that the PPP and the PNC/R have on their respective race.
And he was selling dreams: that Guyanese can remain optimistic; that it is possible the country has not receded entirely into the mists of history. That all Guyanese – East Indians and blacks – together can find common ground in a common struggle for a common future.
Now that’s marksmanship. People actually believed in it. Cha-Jing! The money poured in; folks were registering to be new recruits in this new pursuit. And so the movement of the AFC has proven that it has a few smart bombs in its arsenal of political weaponry.
So while the PPP and the PNC/R continue to wrestle with the messy business of the voters’ lists, the AFC has been tactfully insinuating its presence in their strongholds, quietly tearing away at their support and building up mass power for what can be a season of change.
Say what you will about the outcomes, but the enthusiasm at the meeting was quite glorious: defiant, courageous, romantic against all that is fixed and immovable and oppressive in Guyana.
That makes perfect sense. With a faltering economy fueling social and political turmoil; and with the PPP and the PNC/R putting their own political survival ahead of the country’s economic survival, and – with no sign that the trend is moderating - the AFC is playing a powerful hand in the game.
But history will have the bottom line. Either the AFC’s program is one crazy idea or the greatest idea we’ve have heard in recent times.
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