Victory as illusion

DR ERROL NARINE BENJAMIN

IT SEEMS as if the Prime Minister’s wishes, as reported in the media, to have the incumbent Opposition Leader succeed in the recent UNC internal elections have come true.

It is not unreasonable to assume that there are many UNC supporters patting themselves on the back for having even the PM supporting their leader, missing completely the sarcasm that with her as leader his victory in the oncoming general election is assured.

Much like the guy from my youthful days who, when making the rounds to the houses of friends at Christmas time, would gleefully comment on leaving how his friend’s father singled him out for special treatment by giving him the remaining popcorn from the table, not knowing that he had ravenously tried to beat all the other boys in the group at having the first bite at the goodies being offered.

VS Naipaul would have made mincemeat of such an episode in Suffrage of Elvira.

Simple-mindedness as limited cognitive capacity is a decided advantage for one so afflicted, for it makes you unaware of how derided you might be by the observer, full in your ignorance that all is in your favour. It is truly a maxim that, “Where ignorance is bliss, ’tis folly to be wise.”

So our simple-minded UNC supporters are likely still revelling in the illusion that their side won in these elections, little aware that such victory is indeed Pyrrhic for them (a victory that comes at great cost in the way Pyrrhus, king of Epirus, defeated the Romans in 279 BC, but lost many of his troops) with the “victory" being indeed for a select few to keep their “wuk,” but with absolutely no political power to have them keep theirs wherever they may be located.

Whether in CEPEP for a ten-days or a box drain, toiling in the fields, trying to get an HDC house and the like, for the simple reason that being perennially in opposition, their marauding counterparts in government will see that their leaders are denied the power to grant their wishes, with them forever doomed to be cap in hand as second class citizens. It is the ultimate irony!

But my object is not to deride the simple-minded but well intentioned UNC supporters. I won’t give them a critical insight into the manoeuvrings of those who lead them, which they do not possess. Driven into their unquestioning loyalty for their leaders, just as the other side, by our tribal politics, they cannot help themselves and their leaders exploit this to the fullest.

As, for example, explaining away the loss of the forever UNC seat at Lengua on Eid-ul-Adha et al, when it may have well been the disenchantment of voters who would have voted for them all their lives and are now looking for change. Not to mention, of course, their “galavanting” on CNC3 on how well they have done and will do so when they get into government which, sadly, is an indisputable truth for their simple-minded supporters, but to the politically perceptive, all illusion.

But not all UNC supporters are simple-minded sycophants. From the recent internal elections, the latter amounted to a mere 17,000 all told, according to reports, but there are 100,000 other UNC voters who never showed up to vote, the report goes, which to demystify would take more than this small space available. But to put it euphemistically, they simply refused to be part of that charade.

Among the latter are brilliant men and women, competent and professional, with a true sense of wanting to serve, but full in the understanding that they will be regarded as persona non grata in a scenario where to question and to want change for the good of the party and the country are as taboo as it can get, and prefer to suffer in silence. Look at the possible fate for Rushton Paray, Anita Haynes Alleyne, Dinesh Rambally and Rai Ragbir!

Which is why I looked at the dissidents with interest, not that they may have possessed any tangible asset over the status quo in the party, but simply because they refused to be reduced to mere vassals and waive their democratic right to ask questions and to look for change in a party that seems to need change.

There is nothing personal against where the chips may fall, just a deep sense of wonder how the thirst for power can cause those so afflicted to dispense with the dignity and self-respect that give us character and make us human.