by Randy Gopaul
Bending and stooping and unfounded optimism won’t save us from the PPP government. Deep down, we all know that the PPP leaders are fundamentally a vile lot, and yes, we’re lumping them together because ‘birds of a feather, flock together’. Those who pledge fealty to the unhinged, power-hungry Vice President Jagdeo, are no better than he. Indeed, the entire lot of PPP cabal who remain silent in the face of a string of atrocities lack class, courage, and the fundamentals of humanity.
The PPP cabal also shares a profound lack of care for those who struggle. Just as you wait in vain for a bully to stop tormenting you until you punch him in the nose, there is no hope of extracting from the PPP government any amount of caring, consideration, or policy that will result in the end of suffering for the majority of the Guyanese population. The PPP will only respond to action.
Yet, too many Guyanese have a way of resenting each other’s ambitions until we break through and become powerful. This perceived power leads far too many to become servile, even mendicant, hoping for some crumbs from the master’s table, and this is the approach far too many citizens of all races have adopted with the PPP. Remember my caution, You will bend, stoop, and beg for a lifetime, but you will receive absolutely nothing from the PPP.
And then there are the wealthy PPP business acolytes in Guyana who pretend that they have earned their wealth through hard work – the hard work that the PPP leaders insist all (poor people) Guyanese must demonstrate. The truth is, that the vast majority of Guyana’s wealthy have leveraged their race, privilege, past nefarious dealings, party connections, and the people’s patrimony to attain their wealth. So, spin a wheel, and whether it lands on the wealthy who dominate sugar, rice, shipping, lands, or the new frontier, oil, very few of them are there because of their hard work and intellect. Many have gamed the system, and they will continue to win while the masses stupidly cheer them on while the people lose and lose and will continue to lose. Guyana will have sheiks and oil barons while the mendicant ‘crumb snatchers’ will continue to cheer on their own demise.
Say what you will about Burnham, but he recognized their greed, dominance, and control, and he reclaimed much of the assets they purloined from the people and returned them to the people. The PPP, however, have shamed Dr. Cheddie Jagan with their greed, guile, and disdain for the working class. They have made the transfer of the state’s assets to family and friends an art form, and today their eyes are set on the lands of the African and indigenous communities. No amount of niceties, photo opportunities, patience, pleading, or begging will work with the PPP. The lower you stoop, the better positioned you will be to be kicked in the face, so stop it!
The fact that our leaders cannot see this and do not communicate this to the masses is worrying. The fact that our leaders are not organizing Guyanese workers to strike, boycott, protest, and make the PPP leaders and their cronies, who desperately need to put on a show of a risk-free Guyana for foreign investors, uncomfortable, demonstrates a profound dereliction of duty.
Even the diplomatic community has underestimated the PPP government. A few slick words by this or that ambassador, balanced by a smiling photo with the uncultured PPP leaders, will not work. The PPP does not understand subtlety. They are brutish and vile, and their brutality was demonstrated in their alleged organizing of extrajudicial killings, in the alleged murder of Waddell, in the alleged killing of Crum Ewing, in the imprisonment of Mark Benschop, in the alleged killing of Minister Sawh, in the brutality shown to Black women at Mocha, and so much more. These people are incapable of humanity.
Appeasement will not work with the PPP.
