Orange can replace red and yellow

THE EDITOR: The people will have to accept either the PNM (red) or the UNC (yellow) after the dust settles in the next general election despite all the splinters.

All our hopes and aspirations for a third force to rescue us from tribal politics have to some extent vanished while opportunities existed for a major third political party.

When red and yellow are mixed, the result is orange and this could have been the ideal colour to represent us in our multiracial society, one that has the potential to remove the colour barrier and bring us all together as one people.

But the newcomers today are not interested in new politics, and the old ones prefer to wage war in smearing each other. The name-calling, mud-slinging and a host of malicious attacks continue to persist between the UNC and the PNM at the expense of the people.

The UNC is perceived as an all-Indian party although it has a few Afro-Trinidadians, with the reverse for the PNM.

Evidently, the same exists in Guyana where the country is embroiled in tribal politics – or perhaps a better term is tribal warfare – where the PNC and the PPP are at loggerheads since the recent ruling by the CCJ.

Since there is no orange party forthcoming and no new political third force, we may have to simply accept red or yellow although it is not what we really wanted.

On the other hand, red Republicans and blue Democrats in the US are currently in a political mess where it is said the enemy of the people is the media while the social democrats have gained some traction to introduce new politics, from the platform of Bernie Sanders.

Also, in the recent Canadian general election, Jagmeet Singh, a Sikh, led his NDP party under the colour of orange. And although he didn’t win he was a formidable challenger who has set the stage for a return.

Time to dilute the red and yellow and look for the orange.

JAY RAKHAR

New York