Once in a while fate opens up a tiny shaft of light to illuminate a dark horizon. It corruscates briefly, allowing just enough time for the earthly forces to direct their faces towards its beam before the gloom closes in once more. That shaft of light is opportunity, and the earthly forces in this instance are the PPP/C and the PNC/R. The opportunity came in the aftermath of an event last week which was not, in and of itself, a good event. But history is like that sometimes; even a tragedy, disaster or fiasco can open up possibilities which had not been viable before.
The interesting thing is that the ordinary people of the capital city, at least, are responding to the light. Apparently unnoticed by the parties, following the invasion of the Office of the President last Wednesday there has been a paradigm shift in the mood of the Georgetown citizenry. Appalled by the events of that day, decent people are beginning to articulate their weariness not just with the PNC/R, although for justifiable reasons they are the primary target, but with both sides.
For what happened in the Presidential Secretariat the PNC/R has to take full responsibility; its asseverations to the contrary made at its press conference on Thursday ring hollow. Either it is in denial, as was suggested in Friday's editorial, or it is engaged in the usual dissimulation. Either way, it doesn't really matter. As stated above, it is misjudging the temper of the Georgetown populous; it is even misjudging the temper of the bulk of its own law-abiding supporters in the city.
For some reason the party has allowed the radicals, including those harbouring anarchy in their souls, to dictate its ends and its methods. And last week we finally reached a point where the framework of the state itself was under threat. Against the background of criminals on the rampage who appear to have connections with political radicals, the open revolt of some of the East Coast villages, a weakened state apparatus apparently unable to respond effectively either to the bandits or the protestors, and a government perceived to be supine, the invasion of the Office of the President takes on a sinister aspect.
But following that attack, the tide has now imperceptibly turned, and the criticisms of the party already expressed are about to crescendo into a chorus. Let the PNC/R listen to the Private Sector Commission, which is calling on civil society to speak out; let the PNC/R listen to the Central Islamic Organization of Guyana, the first religious body to publicly express its views; let the PNC/R listen to the Caricom leaders; let the PNC/R listen to its former minister, Mr Kit Nascimento; let the PNC/R listen to Pastor Ivan John, whose letter was published in our edition yesterday; and most of all, let the PNC/R listen to the words of Mr Joseph Hamilton, one of its best-known and most loyal supporters throughout the years. Let the PNC/R listen.
Let the PNC/R also reflect. And having reflected, let it acknowledge to itself that it has reached the end of this particular cul-de-sac of violence, and that the time has come to purge the party of dishonourable elements. After all, it now has a unique opportunity to do so. Let it enforce the party rules; let it spread out among its constituents - particularly on the East Coast - and hammer home the message that violence against Indians will not be tolerated.
The people are tired of hearing about government discrimination, oppression, marginalisation and whatever else. That takes us nowhere. The shortcomings of this administration are well known, but the solutions to our myriad difficulties cannot possibly lie in physical assault, or in looting, or in arson, or in the dissolution of the state. And the solutions to the problems of the PNC/R's constituents are long-term solutions which require the sustained input of the party, not just of the government. As has been said before, the time has come for the country's main opposition party to open its imagination to create constitutional options which would allow for inclusiveness, and to open its heart to accommodate conversations with the PPP/C.
And while the PPP/C holds no responsibility for the events of July 3, it shares responsibility with the PNC/R for the impasse in the country. Some of its supporters too have recognized that the current political arrangements are not working. Whatever its other failings, as far as its constituents are concerned, the Government above all else has failed to provide security for Indians in this country. Is it surprising, therefore, that some of them are coming to the conclusion, in concert with some Africans, that what we need is a political concordat, not more talk of "domestic terrorism" in the seemingly never-ending quest for scoring political points?
It appears that two senior members of the PPP/C indicated on last week's Plain Talk that the party was open to discussion about power sharing. It is difficult to judge whether that indeed represents a genuine change of direction on the part of the party, or simply a willingness to talk in view of the current circumstances. Traditionally, the administration has clung tenaciously to the principle of total control, up until very recently defending the status quo vigorously in our letter columns and elsewhere. If they were not prepared to give way to the combined opposition on the matter of the parliamentary committees, then it is difficult to see them suddenly, without warning, acceding to more radical change.
However, everything is possible; and if the governing party has indeed revolutionised its thinking, then that is an enormous breakthrough. What is needed in that instance is for it to spell out its position at an official level. If it has not reached this point as yet, then it too will have to look reality in the eye and acknowledge to itself that it has reached the end of the cul-de-sac of demographic democracy. It also cannot continue indefinitely using the outright irresponsibility of the PNC/R to deflect criticism of its own performance. It still has some soul-searching to do both in terms of its defective collective leadership system, and in relation to its inadequacies as an administration.
The people are tired. The people are fed-up. The people want the politicians to see what they see. The people want the politicians to stop shouting at each other, and to listen to them. The people want peace. The people want the parties together to chart a workable democratic future.
And for the very first time in many years, what the people want, it may not be possible for the parties altogether to ignore. Tentatively, citizens and organizations are beginning to circumscribe the space in which our blundering politicians can operate. The people have caught sight of the light. For the sake of the nation, will our bickering, infuriating, uninspiring, bloody-minded parties stop wasting time and turn their faces towards that light as well.