–to attain political power, Dr Jagdeo says
THE People’s National Congress-Reform (PNC-R)’s/A Partnership for National Unity (APNU)’s constant efforts to hoodwink Afro-Guyanese are being exposed and countered by the People’s Progressive Party (PPP), Party General Secretary, Dr Bharrat Jagdeo has said.
During his weekly press conference at the party’s headquarters, Dr Jagdeo highlighted the APNU’s history of using race as a tool to gather support and cultivate fear in the minds of Guyanese to deter them from supporting the PPP/C.
“Many people know we accuse APNU of racism and they managed in the past to do the converse, to accuse the PPP of racism and when Cheddi Jagan tried to broaden the membership of this party even after all the trouble in the 60s, people stayed away from us because their [APNU] campaign of racism and fear resonated with people in their communities, fear of the other, fear of the PPP, fear that we will discriminate against Afro-Guyanese. So it kept a large number of people away from us because of these fears,” he said.
Dr Jagdeo said, however, that the potency of this tool has weakened and the fear is being eroded as the PPP is fighting to debunk the accusations levelled against them by PPP critics.
While highlighting the other races which have been placed on the backburners, the PPP General Secretary told Afro-Guyanese that not because others are being sidelined by APNU means the party has their best interests at heart.
“…People may be tempted to say if I’m Afro-Guyanese then this is my party because it caters for my interests… but that’s false too,” Dr Jagdeo said.
He added: “They’re not really in favour of Afro-Guyanese… so APNU wants to create a victim mentality among Afro-Guyanese…They don’t want people to grow. They don’t want Afro-Guyanese to get wealthier so [they] keep them not owning anything…”
Dr Jagdeo went on to say: “I think they believe if Afro-Guyanese are not dependent on them, then they will so called “stray from them” ethnically and that is precisely why they don’t want people to own things, to get a good job, to keep them in this victim’s mentality.”
This sort of rhetoric is not new to the APNU, Dr Jagdeo said, noting that this has been one of their elements even from the earlier days.
As the PPP continues to fight to break the barriers of disunity, the PPP General Secretary turned his attention to those critics who have been hounding those Guyanese-owned businesses in New York that embraced President, Dr Irfaan Ali, during his visit.
Dr Jagdeo boldly stated that President Ali’s visit “shattered the myth” that the diaspora in Brooklyn do not want to meet with him.
Mark Benschop, and Rickford Burke’s organisation, Caribbean Guyana Institute for Democracy (CGID), had called for the boycott of Guyanese-owned businesses in the diaspora that embraced the President. This sort of action has led to many persons and organisations grilling them.
Dr Jagdeo further stated: “They vilify, they shame people and now they boycott… these are the tools they use all the time….They [APNU] have a fear of people growing out of victimhood because then they can’t use racism, which is their primary tool of mobilising and that is their mortal fear.”
He added: “They really want to use Afro-Guyanese for political power and look when they had political power how they used it,” while pointing to the APNU’s track record in office which yielded little benefits for Guyanese.
