Will another six years of misery reign?
By David Nakhid
http://www.trinidadexpress.com/commentaries/Will_another_six_years_of_misery_reign_-128447953.htmlStory Created: Aug 26, 2011 at 1:44 AM ECT
Story Updated: Aug 26, 2011 at 1:44 AM ECT
In case you missed Clarence Rambharat's excellent article, or if as all traits uniquely Trinbagonian, you agreed with and quickly went on your way lamenting how the curfew was eating into your social life or disrupting your late-night sweat, I am here again, inspired by Rambharat's piece to continue on the thread I started almost six years ago, concerning the root cause of the horrific crime situation that has gripped and will continue to plague our twin islands.
I have seen references aligned to my initial opinions—some vague, others more explicit (Tewarie, Shah, Fazeer and now Rambharat), which makes me confident that the awareness is there and being circulated among the populace. So, how come the dis-connect? Why would the politicians and the law authorities purposely ignore what most people on the street from Behind the Bridge to Beirut already know?
As someone in the midst of the so-called Arab Spring, one thing became patently obvious—these corrupt politicians and lawless law authorities are not going to just acquiesce to your demands, much less the mutterings and writings of a few enlightened and un-afraid Trinbagonians. There needs to be concerted action and yes, at the risk of once again being called a troublemaker, that concerted action cannot always be non-violent. Impossible! Who within the present establishment (social and political) is going to challenge our upper-class, drug-peddling mobsters?
The People's National Movement did not do it from its inception, the two corrupt entities so intrinsically linked, the death of one (yes we can!) surely meaning the downfall of the other. The United National Congress? It invariably tried to match and, in some cases, outdo the PNM for corruption, extravagance and nepotism! The present People's Partnership? To borrow a mobster's phrase, "Forget about it.'' Its only agendas, certainly not attuned to the demands of the people, are about retention of political power, the political stench so stagnant now that the will for any action can only be targeted at the underclass. Hence... tah dah... the curfew in "hot spot areas''.
Well, if you know, as most right-minded Trinbagonians know, that the crime situation is a direct result of the booming drug trade that is financed and proliferated by these upper-class mobsters, then the curfew hot spots should be Westmoorings, not Laventille; Fairways, not Trincity; the Marina in West Trinidad where a shipload of cocaine was tracked by UK law officers, not the Dial in Arima. But that ain't happening! Not by Kamla Persad-Bissessar or Dr Keith Rowley or Patrick Manning or Jack Warner! All seemingly impotent when it comes to even touching on this issue in the right and honest way.
The Trinidad and Tobago Football Federation (TTFF) called me a racist six years ago when I singled out members of a community behind the drug trade, as if I cared one iota about their ethnicity! If I had mentioned that mostly Afro-Trinbagonians were involved in the actual killings taking place, would Jack Warner and the TTFF have made those statements about me?
Nice to know that the TTFF then collected some cool millions in sponsorship from businesses owned by some members of this same community. But this has become much more than Jack and his TTFF cohorts selling their souls at the expense of Trinbagonians. This is wake up time, Trinbagonians! Unless we as a people are willing to place our politicians and law-makers under all necessary pressures to move on this insidious and deadly drug trade, they will continue to do exactly what they are doing... nothing!
As our upper-class drug mobsters continue to evolve, branching out into fields of higher education, bestowing honours and titles, while surrounded by our salivating politicians and hands out businessmen.
The noxious political climate serves as fertile breeding ground for them to flourish, and flourish they will, unless we decide as a people to do whatever is necessary to bring them down... like asking the hard questions. Where is Cadiz, Daaga, Kambon, Sat? Busy tripping over each other in trying to show who is more African or Indian or whatever, oblivious to the reality of our shared destiny as Trinbagonians.
I could give a rat's behind about any Arrival Day for any community when it seems that every moment requires survival day for all Trinbagonians. Where are the good, civic-minded people of this same community, who called me six years ago to express their helplessness at being associated with these mobsters because of a shared ethnicity? The time is now, Trinbagonians, or will another six years of misery reign? Let's all take the actions and sacrifices we know are necessary to bring down these upper class mobsters along with their political allies!