This bell has rung out

I WAS probably too young to fully appreciate all the drudgery and nuances of the 1992 general elections. However, I can vividly recall the campaign slogan of the Working People’s Alliance (WPA), in a way I cannot recall any other. The slogan included and was prefaced by the loud tolling of a bell accompanied by the words “Ring out the old and ring in the new.”
The loud hailers announcing public meetings of the WPA carried with them a large bell that rung with loud clanging ear piercing reverberating ding-dongs. One couldn’t help but take note. Following the 1992 general elections WPA hosted a weekly TV talk-show where the intermittent ringing of a bell punctuated each episode of the programme. In the subsequent history of the WPA; the bell has tolled to a complete silence, precipitated by WPA’s inability to make an impression at the ballot box.
Decades later, another politician showed up with the identical programme format, ringing a bell. Except this latest attempt is an insipid table comedy. A table comedy is much like standup comedy, except the comedian sits at a table. The WPA was on TV because that was the prevailing medium available to them. These days, there are a preponderance of personal social media channels. The technology allows us to know, in real time, the level of viewership along with instant viewers’ reaction. We have a modern political bell ringer in Sherod Duncan.
Sherod fell victim to the political boogeyman residing in the real time metrics of the social media platforms. The bogeyman is faceless until an attempt to collect and count ballots from a real election. Many modern political activists conflate social media viewership and other forms of popularity with political support.
Sherod is one such politician who was bamboozled by the relatively ‘good’ viewership (when compared to other similar programmes on social media). So, Sherod attempted to transpose his bell tolling popularity into the election for AFC leader. At those elections, his bell boinged into political silence, while he had a lot of social media metrics at his disposal, he remained politically clueless. He probably isn’t even aware of WPA’s pioneering bell ringing activities, if he is, it shows a lack of imagination and creativity on his part. Mark Benschop was registering similar social media numbers many years before him and yet failed to impact the ballot boxes in two elections. CN Sharma was immensely popular through his “Justice For All” programme with a similar outcome. In real politics Sherod had everything, every parallel lesson, working against him. Like Benschop and Sharma before him, he was decimated at elections when he attempted to try his hand at real balloting. Inside the AFC, Sherod’s bell followed the path of the WPA’s; it rung out.
It is easy to surmise that social media popularity does not translate to real returns at the ballot box. A social media following includes segmented viewership, a large number of whom tune in just for its entertainment value, others for another perspective on a story, some just want to hear what their political rivals have to say. Then there are those living overseas who want to catchup with the sights and sounds of home and a whole host of reasons that have no bearing on their voting decisions.
Further, in the Guyanese voting culture, we do not vote for unitary personalities no matter how large they may seem and no matter their personal accomplishments. People gravitate to well organised political formations with multiple personalities. If we go back through the election results of every election ever held in Guyana, properly organised parties not based on the popularity of a single personality have always garnered notable returns at the ballot box.
The United Force and Alliance for Change for example were well organised. They held congresses, elected leaders and office bearers and all the basic attributes of any of the two bigger parties. Every party that has done so over the years made their mark on the electoral tally. It is not by accident that AFC was as successful as it was in the past. Political efforts that seem to have a one-man flavor will fail miserably. Even if a group of otherwise popular individuals come together to contest an election, those efforts will fail if it is not formed around a national network of organised party groups.
Personal popularity works only within a system, within a full-fledged organised political system. Sole popularity, celebrity status, entrepreneurship, personal philanthropy and personal social media influence are not sufficiently convertible currency for ballots. Guyanese voters are savage to those who fail to learn this lesson.
Let me end this piece with a bit of gossip. It is being rumored in the press, that Glen Lall a popular news mogul, is taking steps to form a political party to contest the 2025 elections. The way of the bell beckons.
DISCLAIMER: The views and opinions expressed in this column are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the Guyana National Newspapers Limited.