Tag Archives: State of Emergency

The Endangered List

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I’ve been trying to put my finger on a particular feeling that has been gnawing at me for quite some time…since the SoE actually. And it hit me this morning. I feel endangered. Not oppressed or marginalised, but endangered.
You see, prior to the SoE I thought Kamla’s Small Goal Side was merely inept at governance and  similar to the average MTV Real World Media Whores. Happy to be in front of a camera even if they had nothing of value to say.
But as the months have passed I have begun to feel more and more that this government isnt simply inept, it is insidious and evil.
The first thing that bothered me about the SoE was its ad hoc implementation and punitive tenor. To date we dont know why it was called. Numerous reasons given and almost 8000 people detained, mostly Afrotrinbagonian. 9% of the black male population tossed in cells with no evidence or reason for their arrest. This SoE showed me that this govt was very comfortable relying on stereotypes to run the country. It also showed me that a significant portion of the population: members of the middle and upper classes, many of Indo or Euro origin were quite happy to believe that the crime problem was caused strictly by young, single-parent men who resemble John Sandy, and that crime and criminal behaviour had nothing to do with them.
As the months have passed since that SoE there have been numerous other onslaughts that have ethnic undertones. The firings in the public sector that have nothing to do with getting rid of redundant workers and everything to do with rewarding friends and family: none of them ever seem to resemble Sandy.
Within months of this govt getting into power we heard Nizam Mohammed call for ethnic parity in the police force. Not promotion on merit….but ethnic parity. As early as 2005, Kamla Persad-Bissessar had called for more Indians on the CCJ. A regional court in a Caribbean that is demographically 80% afro-descended, and her concern wasnt the calibre of judges, but their ethnicity. Clannish much?
It seems that this is a government interested only in the promotion of Indians, because make no mistake, whenever the comments about ethnic parity are raised it is only in relation to an imbalance or under representation of Indians. You nevet hear talk about not enough Chinese, Europeans, or Arab Trinbagonians: groups that are truly under-represented in the public sphere.
In the 2yrs and 2months that Kamla’s Small Goal Side have been in power they have shown us thst there is no equal place for every creed and race….just the one in power.
I had hoped that tribal politics and ethnic marginalisation wouldnt be a feature under this regime…unfortunately it’ s their only governance strategy. It’s reflected in the composition of state boards and the appointments to all the most influencial positions in the land.
When you speak out about this the stock response is, “Well it happen under the PNM…” Two wrongs make it right..the politics of retribution.
Now we have our country’s history being rewritten before our eyes. Eric Williams, whether you like him or not, was the architect of our Independ3nce, yet on our 50th Anniversary his contribution is being ignored….George Chambers, ANR Robinson’s, Basdeo Panday’s and Patrick Manning’s too. This govt is trying hard to promote itself as the genesis of Trinidad and Tobago. Nothing came before Kamla. Tassa is more indigenous than pan; Chutney more appropriate for celebrating our 50 years in song than the locally created calypso. They want to privatise The Mas without so much as a feasibility study or consensus gathering. Nothing indigenously created by the Creoles here sacred enough to survive.
And that is why i fraid for myself. I was created here. I dont identify as East Indian or Hindu or African or European. There is no Kamlaesque ethnic parity in me. I am a sum of all of the things that influence this space: indigenous and endangered.

De Vice Cyah Done!

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Clusterf@$ked! State Sponsored Racism People’s Partnership Style!

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The most honourable sew.....ooops, Surujrattan Rambachan himself. Photo courtesy Newsday's website.

During the campaign season of May 2010, fmr PM Patrick Manning on a stage in the Hi Lo carpark of St. Augustine, before a crowd of diehards, sipped from a bottle of Blue Waters and assured the crowd that only water was flowing on his platform, but he was sure something stronger was flowing on the other platform.

As I stood on the sidewalk observing the meeting I said to my friends, “That’s why I can’t vote for the PNM. Any party that promoting that kind of subtle stereotyping and racism, on shit.” What Manning was easily doing on his platform that night was giving credence to an age old stereotype that Indians are alcoholics.

Thereafter I was totally disgusted with all things PNM.

On the night of May 24th, while tears of joy, hugs, congratulations and elation was flowing at the Rienzi Complex, Roodal Moonilal announced to the crowd, in a moment of pure abandon that has been seared indelibly on my mind that,  with the PP’s victory he could now celebrate holidays like Emancipation….it was then and there that any respect I had for the People’s Partnership came to an end.

In the 21 months and 29 days that this government has been in power there have been regular displays of State Sponsored Racism  by them. It is a situation that I have been watching and commenting on, but today the Pantomime going to take these idiots to task!

The average post colonial government is interested in two things: regulating the state (via discipline and control of the population, usually through the police and armed forces) and retaining political power in order to control state resources…keep that very clear….PNM, UNC, COP….all want the same thing.

We have, since May 2010, observed that this government has decided to use the Treasury as its own petty cash till and state vehicles, state housing, state credit cards as their own private property.

Apart from this general abuse of all things belonging to the State and therefore the people of Trinidad and Tobago, the government has also sought to promulgate the good old colonial stand-by practice of divide and rule to ensure that it keeps its party base solidly behind  it and in support of all its policies, good or bad….because at the end of the day everyone knows that the UNC on it’s own doesn’t seem like an inclusive party. The bitter after taste of 1995′s “Is Indian Time Now” got rid of that impression. The general public thinks of it as the Indian party, members of the UNC think of it as the Indian party, scholars who write about race and politics refer to the UNC as the Indian-led party….so the thing that makes the UNC appear to be an all-inclusive party is/was the COP, because it had middle and upper class voters from across the ethnic divide…who all felt they could no longer throw their weight behind an arrogant and indifferent PNM govt that also seemed too tribal for their tastes.

So now we have a government that disguised itself as All-inclusive but at every turn has subtly and overtly been promoting ideas of ethnic superiority.

Let’s take a look:

From the start of their campaign in the early part of 2010, the PP coalition was careful never to mention the words “African” or “race” on its platform…but it took great pains to assure its supporters that Kamla was being attacked, fought and vilified because she was both Indian and Female….supporters of the PNM were therefore considered to be both racist and sexist….and it is a theme that that has persisted in their party rhetoric ever since. Jack Warner himself insisted later in 2010, after they had won the elections, that Kamla was being given a hard time because not only was she a female Prime Minister, she was also an Indian Prime Minister…such comments were made to put the Afro-descended people of Trinidad and Tobago on the back foot. To say anything negative about Kamla meant that you were both racist and sexist…it couldn’t possibly mean that you had a problem with her bad policies and inconsistencies…it meant that you were prejudiced.

In pushing this head, the Government effectively painted the percentage of the population that supported the PNM goverment, or, that looked like what they assumed to be the PNM’s voter base: Afro-Trinbagonians, as racist and even sexist…..Afro-Trinbagonians didn’t have common sense to see the wrongs being perpetrated agains the entire society….Afro-Trinbagonians just prejudiced.

As 2011 wore on it became worse…there were insidious remarks being made online and offline about negative social values that were associated strictly with the Afro-Trinbagonian community.

Let me put it in common language. Black people wotliss, only like to drink, fete, party, buy clothes and shoes, have no business head and NO FAMILY LIFE! Any part of that list make you think of the PM on Machel Monday night? Answer me straight?

The mantra of BLACK PEOPLE HAVE NO FAMILY LIFE became insistent and persistent. The message that began to subtly emanate from the government….and that was overtly being said online by many pro People’s Partnership supporters was that the black family, or lack thereof was what was wrong with Trinidad and Tobago. By the time of the 107-day SoE the government was subversively attacking “young black males from single-parent homes” and “people resembling” John Sandy. So careful was the government about not saying Black People or Africans, that when Minister of National Security John Sandy went onto CNMG on the evening of August the 22nd, accompanied by the AG, to defend the call for the SoE, he was reluctant to express it, but eventually said, “young black men from single parent homes.”  And after he said it, the AG repeated it, several times.
We had not one, but TWO of the most prominent government ministers stating blatantly on national television that the problem with Trinidad and Tobago was young black men from single parent homes….in short…lemme translate it….black men are criminals and the cause of all our problems!

Not one aspect of white collar crime was effectively addressed or dealt with during that SoE.

Then 2 weeks later in Parliament…unsure of how to say it again, Sandy stated that the majority of the criminals in Trinidad and Tobago’s society are “people who look like me.” In case you missed it, Sandy is tall, muscularly built, dark skinned and for all intents and purposes appears to be an Afro-Trinbagonian….but I doubting his ethnicity long time.

The SoE saw over 8000 people be arrested, most of them young black men. For the first 2 weeks of the SoE every night there were images of young black males being arrested and tossed into the back of vehicles…and the government was trumpeting loudly, “THE SoE is a SUCCESS”….months later, of the 8000 plus that were detained, only 13% of that figure was actually charged with something….yet for the national community the mental images of young black men in handcuffs being led away by police remain….and the message sent by the government then was….ONLY BLACK COMMITTING CRIMES….and don’t get me started on the initial hot spot list that targetted black-dominant areas…as if crime in Trinidad and Tobago only limited to “certain” communities.

Throughout that entire SoE the race war raged online and supporters of the PP gleefully endorsed the SoE and trumpeted everywhere that blacks are monkeys (don’t forget the airline pilot with the FB post that said it folks), that blacks don’t have any family life and could only be criminals….in fact one prominent blogger in the past has indicated that if all black people were thrown into the sea Trinidad would be a safer place. PEANUTS anyone?????

Jump forward to the Motion of No Confidence. Roodal Moonilal spent much of the time on his feet responding to Rowley’s list of complaints against the government by labelling Rowley a racist! Yes….you heard me…after Rowley list the issue of Reshmi’s name change and alleged job in the Ministry of Education, the issues with surveillance and defence breaches, the issue of Shoppin Toppin’s credit card fetish, the issue of the stagnant economy….Roodal’s best response to the criticism of the government is that Rowley is racist.

Keep it firmly in mind folks….to criticise any wrong doing of this government makes you racist!

A letter from a suppporter of the PM endorsing Nepotism as Good Cultural Values

Now jump ahead to 2 nights ago….Sewage….sorry, I  had a septic overflow in my apartment this morning….Suruj Rambachan announces on state television, in a post-cabinet meeting that the PMs abuse of state property and state funds is justified because she is merely showing good cultural values…..again the implied message is….Indo-Trinbagonians have culture and traditions….Afro-Trinbagonians don’t. Afro-Trinbagonians don’t know about family life….that is why they don’t understand why the PM’s entire family living off the state…No Sewage…oops…I mean Suruj…that’s not good cultural valus…that’s NEPOTISM, son! And it look like I hadda school yuh!

For those of you interested, his comments can be found at this link: http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=10150613227276433 ( i not on my pc…so embedding is a task)

I aint have time to deal with all the other crap the government doing today….

But my message to my readers today is this….

If the Government doing shit and you speak up about it, you’re not racist, you’re sensible….

If you feel like criticising the PM’s defective policies, you’re being a citizen, not a racist.

To all supporters of the People’s Partnership whose first response to criticism of the govt is to justify lying, stealing, unaccountability etc by saying it’s GOOD CULTURAL VALUES….you’re being prejudiced…..

Don’t fall for the State Sponsored Racism that the People’s Partnership pushing….their MO is divide and rule….and stifle your criticism by making you feel that to speak out against their abuse of the system is racist….

CRITICISING YOUR GOVERNMENT ISN’T RACIST…IT’S YOUR CONSTITUTIONALLY ENSHRINED RIGHT!

The only racists I seeing right now are sitting in Parliament!

DE VICE CYAH DONE!