Rad­hi­ca Sookraj

Po­lit­i­cal an­a­lyst Michael Har­ris says he has not vot­ed in a gen­er­al elec­tion since 1986, but with the new po­lit­i­cal de­vel­op­ments of 2010, he is now ready to cast his bal­lot. Har­ris was speak­ing at a joint trade union Coss­abo, ti­tled To­wards a Work­er's Agen­da, at OW­TU's Para­mount Head­quar­ters in San Fer­nan­do yes­ter­day. De­liv­er­ing an overview of the cur­rent po­lit­i­cal sit­u­a­tion, Har­ris said the labour move­ment need­ed to in­ter­vene in the pol­i­tics of T&T, be­cause of ram­pant cor­rup­tion, nepo­tism and racial di­vides, based on a two-par­ty sys­tem. Har­ris told labour lead­ers that they need­ed to work out a na­tion­al agen­da which would in­flu­ence the pol­i­tics of T&T.

More than a dozen trade unions, in­clud­ing the Pub­lic Ser­vice As­so­ci­a­tion, T&T Uni­fied Teach­ers As­so­ci­a­tion, Com­mu­ni­ca­tion Work­ers Trade Union and All-Trinidad Sug­ar and Gen­er­al Work­ers Trade Union, at­tend­ed the meet­ing. Har­ris told the lead­ers that they need­ed to un­der­stand the un­equal dis­tri­b­u­tion of pow­er, as well as the pow­er of a two-par­ty sys­tem that was built on race. "We need to look at the un­equal dis­tri­b­u­tion of pow­er be­tween the ex­ec­u­tive and the peo­ple. We need to take back that pow­er and de­stroy that par­ty sys­tem once and for all. "The ur­gent need in this coun­try is the craft­ing and form­ing of a tru­ly na­tion­al par­ty, whether there is elec­tions or not."

He said two in­sti­tu­tions, the ju­di­cia­ry and the trade union move­ment, had a role to play in the re­moval of a cor­rupt sys­tem. "When we look at this coun­try, we see noth­ing else but that which is cor­rupt, bought out, or made de­pen­dent on a po­lit­i­cal par­ty. "This is why we need a na­tion­al agen­da. Be care­ful, be­cause there are ob­sta­cles and moun­tains to climb." He al­so ques­tioned: "Why do you think that this par­ty sys­tem has last­ed so long? We are a di­vid­ed so­ci­ety. It is easy to play up­on the racial fears of our peo­ple.

"We are not se­cure in our na­tive land. We fear that there will be no recog­ni­tion by oth­er races. Peo­ple don't fol­low the UNC and the PNM, you know. "They do it be­cause in the cur­rent con­text they feel they have no choice but to set­tle for eth­nic al­le­giance." He said that the labour lead­ers were re­spon­si­ble for bring­ing down the PNM by rais­ing is­sues, and that be­cause of the cor­rup­tion, he had not vot­ed since 1986. How­ev­er, with the labour in­ter­ven­tion he had de­cid­ed to vote in 2010.