Election fever and cure worse than the disease

Paolo Kernahan

A GENERAL election is a lot like Carnival; the atmosphere is electric, a small group of people make a tonne of money, people expose their ugly bits to support their cherished tribe, and after your allegiance to your chosen mas camp is consummated, you end up catching something you’re ashamed of. Still, like Carnival, a huge chunk of the population will sit this one out, failing to see the point in all this noise.

I’ve never quite understood why this is called the silly season when it seems so much worse and farcical than that. Once the election gong is struck, politicians are free to make the most outrageous claims, promises and accusations. This particular election stands out in that regard; with stakes so high, it almost doesn’t feel right to go sniffing out filaments of humour in this procedural of the profane. Almost.

Of course, race is a major player in this cycle. Stuart Young got caught up in the ethnic frenzy, suggesting the UNC was using black people to spread a message of division and hate. Oh the implications of that casually incendiary remark! It’s almost as if to say if any party gets to "use" black people, it’s the PNM. Additionally, cloaked in Young’s quip is the inference that Afro-Trinis aren’t sophisticated enough to spot when they’re being used.

There’s something else Young’s speech writers missed – if you are going to speak about and on behalf of the Afro-Trini population, you’d better be sure you are yourself black. But then, with Young claiming roots in Penal, he may yet present a document from Ancestry.com to cover that.

Race is an inescapable feature of politics, having been a central part of the route our colonial insemination took to coalescing as a fitfully harmonious cultural and ethnic Caribbean pot-au-feu. Another is money. Between the two major parties the general election has always involved an orgy of spending.

The pageantry! The spectacle! The throngs of clueless supporters drafted into this political pantomime! There is an inverse relationship between the outsized theatrics and the quality of the messaging; the louder the speakers (sound system), the weaker and less inspiring the speakers. That’s OK, though. The festive atmosphere seems enough to get citizens inured to constant bloodshed and rising costs of living to wine their chassis right down to the potholed streets.

After all, what is nomination day if it isn’t a political J’Ouvert? I caught a short video online of Brian Manning wearing a dark suit chipping behind a music truck surrounded by a quarter-portion of supporters. Manning’s lead-foot chip gave off a vibe that he’d rather be at Licensing transferring a vehicle than caught up in this ridiculous performance.

But politics, like any form of entertainment, requires that you suspend any fears of making a fool of yourself. That’s the only explanation for Terrence Deyalsingh, when introduced at Woodford Square, doing the first ever recorded fully upright limbo dance.

Politics is the art of the possible, and in some ways the impossible. Countless elements must align perfectly for normally rational people to fall at the feet of these parties; to swallow every fiction and manipulation curated to confirm our biases or bend us to their will.

It was interesting to hear Kamla Persad-Bissessar boldly declare that she "finally purged the UNC of the politics of caste, class, nepotism, family connections, and dynasty." That’s a huge undertaking, and it certainly explains why the opposition was largely absent from defending the people’s interests over a near decade of steady decline and fall. Anyway, they're ready now, right? At least former PNM attorney general John Jeremie seems to think so.

Many folks were intrigued by the apparition of the exhumed Jeremie on a UNC platform; I am not convinced his pedigree carries the weight others think it does. Honestly, the UNC would have gotten a bigger boost if Ron Jeremie appeared at a meeting. And why not…politics being the art of the possible and all. Politics can make Stuart Young appear like a newcomer and a man of the people, and make Keith Rowley’s entire legacy of lethargy and failure vanish.

Politics can make ordinary people think that the sole act of dipping their finger in that ink is people power, when it symbolises the power of the system over the people. Voting is more than a choice between two-ply and one-ply. What works well for political parties is that few voters get that.