Dear Editor,
Every person on planet earth has certain inalienable rights including the right to hold to whatever ideas or beliefs they find convincing and to practice and to preach their conviction within the meaning of a constitution and laws. This applies to anyone who genuinely themselves believe in a specific philosophy, ideology or religion or none at all. That’s their right.
Equally, it is the right of any person within a parliamentary democracy to criticize or even reject someone else’s philosophy, ideology or religious beliefs, especially if they consider such beliefs abhorrent to them. However, whatever their criticisms or rejection, it should be evidence-based and framed scientifically.
Insofar as divided views on philosophy and ideology are concerned, two examples would suffice. First, is the fierce ideological contests and debates currently taking place in the courts, congress and senate, the universities, media and public spaces in the United States. Second, is the result of last Sunday’s election in Chile where Jose Antonio Kast, a far-right politician with deep ideological roots in conservative Catholicism and economic neoliberalism, obtained 58 percent of the vote defeating Jeannette Jara, his left-wing opponent.
Call one’s ideology or philosophical beliefs ‘obsolete,’ ‘irrelevant’, ‘a foreign or European phenomenon’ as some are won’t to do, and attach whatever label to anyone who believes in any of them, nevertheless, as one American journalist writing in the New Yorker put it; ‘You can put a philosophy or ideology back into the century of its origin but you can’t keep them there.’
It has been centuries now since the ‘Wretched of the Earth’ have abandoned the believe that ancestry, wealth or religion determine their status in life. Everyone is the same as everyone else. Men and women can see, without illusions, where they stand in their relations with others.
Historically, ideas, have proliferated and continue to exert influence on mankind’s progress and, in some cases, backwardness. More recently, didn’t Uber; Air B&B cryptocurrency and AI all begin with an idea? There have been thousands of cases worldwide, where individuals in pursuit of their beliefs and ideas were criticized, ostracized and marginalized as the price of their beliefs. Experience shows it takes courage to face the consequences to not run with the herd. Thus, the question; what should one do, when his or her beliefs puts a target squarely on their own back and political consequences face them on their own terms?
There are many in the PPP who understand that working-class agitation nowadays does not necessarily mean ownership of the means of production but political inclusion. Generally, when inclusiveness is done or seen to be done unrest subsides.
They know very well the precise demographic profile of Party supporters in particular and of voters in general. They also recognize that free and fair elections is a sine qua non of democracy and good governance. Furthermore, they also recognize the power of other forms of identity such as race, tribalism, religion and nationalism.
I support the view that; ‘Life is about doing, not only about thinking. As for me, I did what I had to do while in opposition politics from 1968 to 1992 and served as a minister of government in three ministries and parliament from 1992-2015. It was all about doing, rightly or wrongly so. My task then, with others, was to help transform our country in order to produce an economic and social environment for the benefit of all Guyanese.
Being a member of the PPP is to be creative and sociable. Remove the sociable dimension that pivoted them in politics for decades and they will no doubt end up being characterized by some as ‘political has beens’; ‘searchers of relevance’ and adherents to an alien and perverse belief; a syndrome that views them as ideological nomads, assigning them to ‘Jurassic Park.’
But all the derision and labeling by self-styled and born-again democrats notwithstanding, the creative side of the member ought to remain intact; they can paint, compose or write profusely and creatively and can articulate their views clearly and precisely.
Some claim that there are politicians in our midst who are ‘square pegs in round holes,’ who are ‘corrupt’ and are ‘arrogant’; but this is clearly a judgmental issue. It is just as if a person is being judged on the basis of their philosophical, ideological or religious beliefs.
Contrast such judgmental disposition with the adage; ‘People in glass houses should not throw stones’ or better yet; ‘Why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother’s eye, but considerest not the beam that is in thine own eye?’ Some people are deemed arrogant because they go about their tasks confidently with positive behaviour. The critics and cynics are unable to recognize the fact that some while being modest, are more optimistic than others.
Our march to national and social liberation was obsessed with class and class struggle principally in colonial times. And though its adherents were fully aware that there was no ‘revolution around the corner’, they remain fully aware that poverty, unemployment and social dislocation as well as the gap between the have and have nots cannot be wished away.
One of the most striking points French economist, Thomas Piketty makes in his book, “Capital in the Twenty-first Century.” (2013) is that, as he puts it, “In all known societies in all times, the least wealthy half of the population has owned virtually nothing,” and the top ten per cent has owned “most of what there is to own.”
It is important that due recognition be given to the fact that there are people in our midst who have been materially damaged by natural disasters, fires, floods, migration or people who are hostile to the status quo for one reason or another.
Furthermore, it is critical that we have a general idea about the basic needs of people who want improvements in their living standards. That people fear losing the little they have and they also want the best for their children. In the circumstances, let’s look to the fulfillment of the 5 Year Agenda in new year with confidence and optimism!