Authentic ‘third force’ would unapologetically advocate for the poor and marginalized sectors of our society
Dear Editor, Over the years, and especially in the lead up to the 2020 general elections, political commentators have talked about the need for a “third party” or “third force” in Guyanese politics. However, what they fail to understand is that forming a political party to compete for votes with the PPP and APNU+AFC is a complete waste of time if that “third party” simply mimics the existing two parties, promoting neo-liberal economics and managing the captured state for external players. This highlights the illusion of socalled liberal democracy. Whether we have two parties or one hundred parties makes little difference, if all they are doing is competing to see who can best manage the existing dysfunctional neocolonial arrangement that imprisons us. In such a “multi-party” scenario, when we go to the polls we are not able to vote for a different system – we are not able to vote for an end to neo-colonialism and the neoliberal agenda that is strangling us. No, we are simply voting for a different manager of the same old tired system which is why, no matter who is elected, we see little or no change.
An authentic “Third Force” on Guyana’s political landscape would mean a political formation that rejects the materialist and anti-spiritual ideologies of neoliberal capitalism and Marxism. The establishment of a ‘Third Force’ requires a formation with the political courage to advocate a different ideological position than the one that exists and dominates the political landscape currently. Any party advocating the same ideology as the existing political parties cannot be described as a “third force”. An authentic “third force” would unapologetically advocate for the poor and marginalized sectors of our society, rather than being an instrument of big business and imperial interests. That is why Organization for the Victory of the People (OVP) can be said to be a genuine third force. Our ideology is different from all other existing political formations. We are a revolutionary democratic formation, born out of the fight for the rights of African people, and evolved into a force that advocates and fights for the human rights and dignity of all of Guyana’s oppressed and exploited masses, irrespective of their race.
The PNCR, historically, has always