A PPP affiliated commentator, Hydar Ally, penned in a Guyana newspaper that a “Political/Ideological Dialectic is playing out” in the Americas – making reference to US power in the region. On Guyana or on relations with any other nation, US has pursued policies to promote its self-interests.
Hydar used several terms that need clarification — political left, right wing conspiracy, pink tide, backyard politics, electoral transparency, will of the electorate. Those of us who studied political science understand their meanings and implication but maybe not the nation at large that has been pawn (or victims) in this left-right divide. Hydar studied behind the iron curtain (I mean in a free, communist, democracy of East Germany where rights were not limited and the people of the East could just walk across to the West and spread democracy). I studied in New York City, home of the Guyanese diaspora, and which Hydar and his left colleagues had described as the heart of imperialist America. Naturally, since we studied in different societies, we will have differences in the meaning of the above political concepts and their implications for Guyana; they need amplification. America has been kind to me and other Guyanese. I cannot be a neemakharam. America pursues self-interests and Guyanese are supportive of America’s interests.
The political left, those sympathetic with Marxism/Leninism/socialism, is virtually dead especially in the West, and just as in the 1950s and ‘60s US will not be allow it to have its way especially that Guyana will be transitioned into an oil economy. The right wing, those supportive of capitalism and US type bourgeois politics, will not allow the left to spread its tentacles in its backyard. The US considers the West (particularly the Americas and the Caribbean) as its backward and will not allow any Eastern power or alien political ideology to gain ascendancy (traction) over a sustained period in the region to become institutionalized. Pink tide, referring to a middle ground between left and right wing politics and ideology, and women empowerment, is viewed in Washington and bourgeois powers as left and anathema to the agenda of the right, and as such, will not be allowed to sustain itself over a long period in order to become institutionalized. That is why left wing and pink regimes have been removed from office (funded by US resources) via ballots or street violence or the military after a short experimentation. A classic case is Hydar’s party was engineered out of office in 2015 via ballots by a liberal Obama Administration. And if that ouster had failed, then the other options were available to achieve desired results. A similar coup was carried out in Honduras against the left regime in 2012 again under Obama. The pink or leftist Dilma Rousseff was also toppled during the Obama Presidency and socialist Lula prevented from running from re-election. And now the socialist Evo Morales has been removed from office by the military – instructed to leave or face the consequences. The leftwing Maduro has been strangled over the last five years. How long can he hold out?
With regards to the concept of will of the electorate ((right to vote) and electoral transparency (free and fair elections, they only exist when the results are approved by Washington. If not, a regime will not survive – Evo Morales is a classic example. More victims are in the pipeline. Free will and transparency were allowed in 1992 because the PPP was not a threat and because of the deal worked out between Bush Sr. and Gorbachev to allow Guyana and Nicaragua to become democracies.
What has been playing out in US backyard over the last decade is not much different from say what took place during the decades of the 1950s thru 1980s – instead of direct coups, there are now indirect coups. The Anglo-American axis toppled the PPP in 1953 and again in 1964. Democracy has been allowed to flourish in the West only if it does not threaten the interests of the major power (meaning USA). That is the realpolitik (Hans Morgenthau) of the region. If you don’t toe the line you will be removed from office and a nemesis will fill in. That happened in Guyana (1953-57, 1964-92, and 2015-now). History repeats itself because the PPP and other left wing parties in the region made incorrect assumptions and repeated the same errors. The PPP did not learn any lessons (in 1953 and 1964) and was toppled by Obama in 2015. Only fools do the same things and expect different results. As a scientist of the natural sciences (Bio-Chemist) and social scientist, I can assure Hydar and his colleagues they will never get different results using the same formula. The US will not allow left wing regimes to become institutionalized to threaten business and financial interests and the welfare of the Western regimes. It should be noted that Basil Williams was quoted in the right wing Washington Times as reminding USA that the PPP is a left wing party with all the implications of that statement as noted above. Hydar would know that the supporters of the PPP are bourgeois oriented and are pro-America – hundreds of thousands are settled in this ‘imperialist’ country; they embrace ‘imperialism’. They want to make money and aspire to settle in the imperialist countries. Only some one percent of the PPP is left. In a survey I conducted a few years ago, over ninety percent of PPP supporters want Guyana to have closer relations with America. A majority even supported Guyana to become a territory of USA. Hydar should make a distinction between the one percent in the party and the other 99% who should not suffer from the sins of the 1%. It is akin to the 1% that controls the economy leaving crumbs for the other 99%. It is not too late for Hydar’s party to save the 99% including me by pursing neutral or pro-America policies. America’ interests are paramount and it will not have allow any term tolerance of the left.
