There are people in Guyana who have ignored its politics and the tragic state of affairs it brings with it. Instead, they find ways and means to eke out their daily existence. They focus their energies on providing the basic needs for their immediate families. You talk to them and they will tell you that it doesn’t matter who is in power, their condition will remain the same – the daily grind to provide the basic needs for their young and vulnerable.
These people are classified as the working class and they are the majority. You cannot place them in any other class to form a majority.
If you break them up into ethnic groups you will arrive at the position that there may be more Indians than Blacks, fewer Amerindians than the two, etc.
After that, you can begin to manipulate to satisfy your partisan political cravings.
This is the stage we are at in Guyana. It is possibly the greatest trick the PNC and the PPP have played since independence on the working-class people.
There is a common thread that holds this majority together. Their poverty. Their socio-economic condition remains constant. But in this condition and as a majority they possess the sacred key to rescue this country from its historical condition. The PNC and the PPP understand this and know they can only remain in existence if the majority can be divided into different blocs.
Disappointingly, the Alliance For Change which stands today as the only political party that can unite the working class as a majority, is becoming embarrassingly inept. The AFC seems more concerned with its conservative image to appease the business class. It detaches itself from the reality of why it is recognised as a viable option to the PNC and PPP. It shies away from identifying in public and street demonstrations as the government gets away with violation after violation.
If Ramjattan and Trotman cannot handle the politics, I suggest that while the party still has relevance and is still perched with the golden opportunity to create history in Guyana like never seen before, they should take a bow. I have stated before that Guyana does not belong to the PPP or the PNC.
I shall state today that the AFC does not belong to Trotman and Ramjattan. There is too much at stake in 2011. If Guyana is to see real change in the near future, a young, vibrant and courageous leader who can capture the imagination of the working class as a majority must emerge at the helm of the AFC.
The working class as a majority by all appearances would wish to see the backs of the PPP, likewise the PNC, but they continue to fight to hold on to power. Elections will come and two weeks before that day the electorate will be made to believe that they have only two options. It is important that the AFC take note: 2011 is a make or break year for Guyana.
Yours faithfully,
Norman Browne
