-urges PPP/C supporters to use social media to protect party’s record, fight ‘naysayers’

GENERAL Secretary of the People’s Progressive Party Civic (PPP/C), Dr. Bharrat Jagdeo, has called on supporters to position themselves on social media platforms to defeat the “rapidly dying” People’s National Congress Reform (PNC/R) in both the local and the general and regional elections.

For the PPP/C, the Vice-President said that now is a crucial time to implement this strategy as they prepare for Local Government Elections slated for June and the General and Regional Elections in 2025.

He was met with thunderous cheers on Sunday from thousands of persons who flocked Babu John, Port Mourant, Berbice, to remember the party’s late founder and leader, Dr. Cheddi Jagan.

Dr. Jagdeo, while delivering his address, said that somehow in the past the party had let “the narrative” from the “other side” overpower the party, which led to its loss in 2015 after 23 years in power.

However, the party went back into government in a landslide victory in 2020 amidst an attempt from the PNC-led APNU+AFC to steal the elections.

“Somehow in the past, we let the narrative from the other side overpower us and it led to our demise in 2015. In 2015, they were controlling the narrative. They used social media to distort everything that this party stood for. They even denigrated and changed our track record of progress. They spoke about corruption as a massive campaign tool. We did not do enough in 2015 to fight back against that narrative and it led to our demise.

“So today, when we fight the naysayers, many people think we’re intolerant of criticism. We’re not intolerant of criticism…We are just fighting to defend our records…We will fight tooth and nail every single day to speak about the record and the achievements of this party and if we don’t do it, if all of you who are here don’t set up a Facebook page or an Instagram page or something else and join that fight, they will succeed again…because they have some in the media who support this narrative,” he added.

Dr. Jagdeo said that this approach will give supporters a stronger voice and a louder presence in the political sphere.

By using social media, the party hopes to connect with a diverse range of audiences and engage them in meaningful conversations about their policies, values, and vision for the country.

The PPP/C’s strategic use of social media is a promising move to engage with voters and counter opposition views. It remains to be seen how effective this approach will be, but it is clear that the PPP/C is taking proactive measures to stay ahead of the competition.

The General Secretary said PPP/C is the only “multi-racial” party, compared to the Opposition which is currently in shambles over the recent racial comments. He accused the party of consistently using the “race card” to mislead its supporters.

It is against this backdrop that Jagdeo said that the PPP/C has historically failed to attract large numbers of Afro-Guyanese due to the falsehoods peddled by the PNC.

“They say the PPP/C is a racist party, but our history, our practices or policies, or philosophy all speak differently. And today, we’re fighting this in every single community.

“It resonates now because when they tried to distort the message in the Afro-Guyanese villages and other communities across the country, they were confronted with a narrative that is very different on the ground because they don’t know that many people in these villages almost every one of these villages, we now have a party group,” Jagdeo added.

He said that by looking at the large multi-ethnic crowd before him, one can see for themselves the party’s diversity today.

Jagdeo said that Aubrey Norton has been the Leader of the Opposition for over one year and the party has already changed two Indo-Guyanese general secretaries and a treasurer.

The VP also mentioned Working People Alliance (WPA)’s Executive member David Hinds’ alleged attempt to disparage a number of PNC/R Indo-Guyanese members for speaking out against racist and incendiary remarks made by WPA.

Hinds had said that the PNC/R Indo-Guyanese members were only there to attract Indo-Guyanese voters.

“That’s their only purpose in the party. Not to promote a multi-ethnic and to respect people of every race and every faith as this party does. They (PNC/R) saw them as outsiders. That philosophy, the racism of the PNC will lead to their demise, and now they are rapidly dying as an organisation. At the next elections, not just the local government one. We will prove that definitively in the one in 2025,” Jagdeo said.