Guyana Election 1997 - Race in the Political Equation by Rohit Kanhai Caribbean Daylight January 6, 1997 It is 1997, an election year for Guyana. Given the history of rigged elections, the uncertainties and near-chaos of the 1992 elections, and the possibility for free and fair elections under a democratic government for the first time in almost a quarter of a century, there is bound to be heightened interest in the 1997 election. Military maneuvers Ex-President and Leader of the Minority, Desmond Hoyte complaints about US militaty maneuvers scheduled to take place later this year around election time must not be treated lightly. Hoyte knows the implications of military maneuvers, something his fommer boss, the dictator Bumham was adept at, and Hoyte himself continued the same practice under the guise of "security" interests. Now that the guns are pointed in a different direction, they obviously seems ominous from the other end of the butt. Buts or butts, it is pleasing to see how dictators complain bitterly when given a taste of their own medicine. Race and race It is somewhat disappointing that Guyana has reverted to the race politics characteristic of the 1960s when the Blacks and Indians were at each other's throats. Nevertheless, the surrendering of power in 1992 by a Black govemment meant that Blacks were not prepared to lay down their lives for their Black leaders. It is likely that the Black masses felt betrayed by ahe BIack leaders and did not see it fit to struggle on behalf of the leaders. Despite the racial pattem of the votes the surrender of power without violence, despite the threatening situation, indicated that we had leamt from the 60s. While the 60s had an element of innocence and expectation, the quarter of a century under the Bumham and subsequently Hoyte dictatotship had done enough to dash the expectation of the masses that race was enough to protect their interest. It was the end of the innocence. Interestingly enough, other considerations, including class had come to the fore. The masses fully understood that they were on their own. Government was looking after its own interest, not that of the masses. Race for race Interestingly enough, during the anti-colonial struggle, race played an important role The colonizers were seen as a racial grouping chat did not have the intetest nf the masses (who were mostly non-white) at heart. The masses elected leaders by color identification - which was the natural thing to do. Blacks elected Black leaders and Indians elected Indian leaders. It was only after power became an issue, the leaders wanted to argue taht color was not important. Hence Blacks were expected to accept Indian leadership and Indians were expected to accept Black leadership. Having rejected white rule on the basis of color the masses were now expected to become color blind. The struggle between the Jagan-led PPP, an Indian party and and Burnham-led PNC, a Black party characterized the past half century of political struggle in Guyana. Both parties pretended that they had crossed the racial barriers and had multiracial support. The reason for the pretense was simple. The PPP felt with an Indian majority power was inevitable. It just needed Black faces as window-dressing. On the other hand, ahe PNC faced with the reality of an Indian majority, was prepared to seize power. It knew that the population centers were Black, that the state institutions were controlled by Blacks, resulting in strategic control of the power institutions of the society. Coupled with the support it had from the westem powers, partly because of the ideological stance of Dr. Jagan and the PPP, it knew it could seize power amd hold on to it This it did, amd held power from 1964 to 1992, a period of 28 years. The collapse of the Cold War has turned everything right side up. President Jagan is now courting the United States of America with such ardor that ex-president Hoyte could accuse the United States of carrying out military maneuvers to intimidate the opposition. Afler the Cold War the PNC is now left in the cold. Hoyte has attempted over the past four years to portray President Jagan as a communist who cannot change his stripes. President Jagan on the other hand, seems intent to hold on to the stars and stripes, quite a change from the Cold War period. The racial cleavage in Guyana is not the real problem. It is natural for people to elect leaders of their own color. It would be unnatural for them not to do so. The real issoe that confronts Guyana is the lack of willingness on the part of the leaders of the major racial groups to work together. For almost half a century, the rivalry between Jagan and Bumham and their respective parties, the PPP and the PNC, has split the country apart. There has never been a serious attempt to bridge the gap. Until this happens, the country will remain divided. The attempt to bridge the gap was carried out by the Working People's Alliance (WPA) but this was done under adverse conditions. The PPP and PNC had already become institutionalized in the society before the WPA came to the fore. The PPP and PNC both had enormous assets under their belt, as they controlled major trade union structures, state resources, foreign resources, etc. When the WPA made its appearance, it had to confront the PNC under conditions of dictatorship, leading to the killing of some of its leaders, including the most popular leader, Dr Walter Rodney. It also had to contend with the hostility it received from the PPP, which saw it as a threat to the PPP's grasp for power. The WPA had to struggle against both the PPP and the PNC. The WPA attracted the venom of the PNC dictatorship. It was correctly identified by the PNC as prepared to struggle beyond parliamentary forms. Since Parliament was a sham, albeit an effective sham since it kept the PPP at bay, it was important for the PNC to engage the PPP at that level. Afler every election, the PPP would cry out that it was rigged. Yet it could not stop itself from participating in the rigged elections since it argued that if it did not participate, then there would be no need for the PNC to rig the elections. It would win by default The PPP was not prepared to go beyond the parliamentary forms of struggle and did not pose any serious threat to the PNC dictatorship. When it was clear to that dictatorship that the WPA was intent upon removing it by any means necessary, the dictatorship moved brutally against the WPA. Events in Grenada and Surinam also added to the paranoia of the PNC dictatorship and to the concerns of the PPP. Both the PNC and the PPP felt threatened by the WPA. Both parties felt their power base threatened by the WPA. It was clear to them that the racial politics that had given them a racial prison would be destroyed by the WPA. Any racial unity would be a serious threat to both parties, and both parties, for their own survival had a vested interest in destroying the WPA. The WPA, whilst attempting to confront the dictatorship on one hand had to appease the fears of the PPP in order not to be caught between the jaws ol the PPP and PNC. It was a policy fraught with danger. Revelations after the death of the dictator Bumham indicated that Jagan and Burnham held secret meetings. One of the plans developed between the PPP and PNC was to form a coalition government. Given the nature of Burnham, "a demogogue, intent upon personal power," it is very likely that he was playing a game to keep Jagan on a leash something he had done for twenty-five years. Furthermore it revealed the depths to which the PPP had sunk. It was more interested in making secret deals with the PNC than to confront it meaningfully. Dr Jagan was berating the PNC in public for the consumption of his supporters, as he was consorting with it in private. In essence, to both the PPP and the PNC, the WPA was the real enemy. Race will play an important part in the 1997 elections. It is only natural it will. The real question is whether the people of Guyana of all races, having I been in the wilderness for almost a half a century, will realize that they have been misled or worse, abused by their leaders. The 1997 elections will signal how much people have come to the realization and understanding that they have a right to elect people of their own race to represent them. Herein lies the key, to represent them, not to abuse them. People must elect leaders of their own race who will protect them, who will grapple with the diflficulties facing the country and find answers to the problems that confront the people. If the election of 64 showed how divided the country was, that of 92 showed how far it had moved away from the blind faith it had in leaders of their race grouping. The elections of 97 will give us some indication of how close we will be to an understanding that both major race groups have a stake in the country, and unless they work together, they will have a stake but no country.