?Overheard in the Four Roads Hi-Lo supermarket last week: "Boy, yuh make up yuh mind yet? Make sure yuh vote for we or dey go send we back to Africa."
The speaker was an elderly pensioner talking to another.
This election was always about race. Even if scientists say there is no such thing, anecdotes trump research any time. I had intended to repeat the litany of woes about the present Manning administration: lack of governance; the hundreds of millions wasted on grand-charging at summits; empty skyscrapers; kidnappings which the Government thinks is a joke; The failure to stop the 3,000 murders and the unspoken fear that the ruling party was part of it through its dealings with "community leaders;" Cepep; Udecott and the Uff Commission of Enquiry; Calder Hart and his unbelievable closeness to the Prime Minister; perjury allegations that have gone nowhere; Rowley's accusations and flip flop;
Political interference with the appointments of the Commissioner of Police and the Director of Public Prosecution; the illegal coat-of-arms on the PM's car; the condition of President's House; the Integrity Commission debacles; the indecent dependency on foreign consultants and Chinese workers; candalous procurement processes; The hasty attempts to arrest a Chief Justice on a Friday afternoon; discrimination against the Maha Sabha in granting a FM radio broadcasting licence; the emasculation of the EMA; the illegal rally in Woodford Square under police protection whilst a motion against the Government was being debated across the street; the $2 million flag; the abandoned hospitals and health centres; The 30 per cent SEA failures year after year with no one knowing why; the lack of diversification of the economy whilst inviting foreign companies to exploit gas and oil under conditions unknown to most of the population; the squandering of oil and gas money for a second time, $300 billion gone; the deal with Abu Bakr prior to the 2002 election, as outlined by the Privy Council;
The inefficient Licensing Offices, District Revenue Offices, courts, Passport Office and ministries; the traffic; the enormity of corruption within the state-owned special purpose entities; the Tarouba stadium; the scholarship scandal involving the Ministry of Culture; NAPA; the Scarborough Hospital; the state-of-the-art radar that does not work; the three blimps; the fast-speed radar boats and the attack helicopters; the destruction of the Grand Stand and a large part of the Savannah; The crippling of the calypso tents; the ICC Cricket World Cup "brown bag" fiasco; the desalination plants; the wonderful smelters; the berm at Beetham; a Minister of Finance and author of a book on ethics who did not understand the meaning of "fixed deposit;" Clico; The property tax; the "palace;" the bacchanal surrounding the Guanapo church and the threats to reporters investigating it; the blatant attempts to give the Government control over the judiciary as outlined by the present Chief Justice; The constitutional draft, written by unknowns, that would make the PM an "executive president" with control over everything, a la Burnham; the incom- prehensible security details and blaring sirens that we have had to tolerate in an island the size of a large American city; the surprise visit to the radio station; the insulting entrance into Mr Villafana's property; the prophetess and the intrusion of religion into what is supposed to be a secular state.
Above all, the "gimme gimme dependency syndrome" the PNM has encouraged amongst its supporters and the pandering to the lowest common denominator, ie, race.�Race equals group prejudice equals group politics in T&T.
This sense of group functions along two important levels. One level involves the obvious dimension of domination, of hierarchical ordering and positioning as typified by the political cry: "Trinidad is PNM country." A second critical level, however, involves a dimension of exclusion and inclusion, of socio-emotional embrace and rejection. "We culture." This exclusion and inclusion dimension, again, invokes an emotional basis to the sense of group. Listen to the radio talk shows and hear the various tribes talk about "those people!" Race prejudice is a protective device. It functions, however shortsightedly, to preserve the integrity and the position of the dominant group, even if there is corruption, incompetence and lack of integrity.
It is race that is behind the commess that is going on in T&T, the tacit understanding that it is all gobar but that it is our gobar so it is all right. The righteous concerns within the PNM apparently have given in. That must change. Politics in T&T is a politics waiting to be broken. Until we recognise this, until we move away from race as the defining feature of our politics, we will struggle. The island is too small. From my reading of the issues, it is the present PNM party, molded in the image of one man, that is holding most to race. They have failed us. It is the coalition of parties that offers the best hope of escape from the politics of race. They may fail again but there is no alternative. I will support the People's Partnership coalition next Monday.
