Filed under: Uncategorized
“We still have 26 seats, maybe 27..” – words of Prime Minister Kamla Persad Bissessar moments after Khadijah Ameen conceded the Chaguanas West seat.
Those words symbolise that she recognises that there is a very real problem.
Ameen’s defeat did not come as a surprise, especially as her selection was perhaps acknowledgement that Jack was too strong a foe to sacrifice a bigger name, but the massive defeat surely stings even more than the 12-0 thumping.
Not only was this a concession of a previously untouchable UNC seat, it was a crushingly comprehensive defeat. One which suggests that the momentum is truly in Jack’s favour at a national level.
But while many now throw their eyes on Jack’s ILP, the eyes should remain firmly on the party which was previously the viable new option in local politics: The Congress of the People.
During C’s panel discussion, Martin George said the COP never recognised what they had.
They still haven’t, but they need to, right now.
Many believe the COP is dead. They aren’t, but they are on life support, but if they’re smart, they can revive their badly damaged image.
The COP currently holds 6 seats in parliament, with defections from the partnership to the ILP expected, the COP may be the only thing that stands between a general election in the next 12 months or this administration lasting five years.
It is expected that many COP members will also leave for the greener pastures, but the core of the COP has and continues to be anti- Jack Warner, so a full defection is not expected.
However, the COP has to figure out where it stands, very quickly.
If they are smart they will finally stand up to their very vulnerable senior partner and try to do massive damage control.
If they pull it off, they could probably regain some of their membership in time fore the next election.
If not, they will cede the very intriguing position they currently hold and fade into nothingness.
Something tells me they are closer to the latter.
Filed under: Everyday Commentary | Tags: Joint Trade Union Movement, People's Partnership, PNM, Trinidad and Tobago Politics, Trinidad Guardian
The past few weeks have left me somewhat bewildered.
And curious, as to if as a nation, we understand what it means to take a stand.
I have toyed with the idea that for Trinidadians to stage a significant protest, it would have to be marketed as a premium drinks inclusive breakfast party, with a prize for the crew with most placards and or the best articulated social ill.
Yet I have been optimistic, holding out hope that we aren’t so pathetic.
In the last two weeks, we have seen significant displays expressing disapproval about perceived injustices being committed by the powers that be.
Signs of life that perhaps, as a country, we aren’t as spineless and eager to be distracted as many academics, who hide behind internet profiles, like to (ironically) portray us.
Yet as I felt we had gathered momentum, enough to argue in favour of a nation with a stronger voice than we’re given credit for, those very movements are easily distorted by contradictory actions.
I’ll start with the display in which I placed less faith.
July 5 saw the latest March for Justice staged by the Joint Trade Union Movement and the People’s National Movement.
Now I was turned off by this march simply because, it has been done to death recently.
It was only last November that a Section 34 march was held.
One month prior to that demonstration, Fixin’ T&T staged a public march around the Red House “In De-Fence of Democracy”.
Months earlier, Teachers, supported by the Joint Trade Union Movement also marched through Port of Spain.
JTUM also marched through Point Fortin in April 2012, so to put it mildly, a public march has been well covered.
How many of these marches do you remember having any significance on your everyday life, with the possible exception of additional traffic to negotiate?
Yes, some may argue this march, which tallied more than ten thousand people is a reminder to the government that there is a significant number of people displeased with their manner of governance.
But even the most menacing dog loses it’s power to intimidate if it only barks and snarls, yet never delivers a bite.
These marches have hardly snapped at the heels of the Government.
This marched proved no different, in just over a week, it has become just another event that happened. A footnote, that the government can and probably has ignored.
The second display, far more closer to my realm, involves an incident on lower St. Vincent Street.
For the second time in my lifetime, journalists at the Guardian staged a walkout at the newspaper.
However when you compare the statistics and the end results of both events, the damning evidence rears its ugly head.
16 years ago, the Guardian newspaper was virtually crippled when a significant portion of their editorial staff walked out after the Managing Director Aldwin Chow was fired following political pressure.
That editorial team went on to form the Independent newspaper.
Three days ago, when Sheila Rampersad, Anika Gumbs-Sandiford and Denyse Renne staged their walk out, several press statements and tweets suggested history would be repeating itself as the trio citing political interference.
Yet as no one has followed them, once again the follow through isn’t enough.
Letters of solidarity don’t equate to action.
The what next remains an unanswered question.
A question, I expect to be forgotten, as many others would in 9 days.
Especially when a perceived stand is taken against something, for a fleeting moment, then seemingly accepted in the other.
Have we truly forgotten how to take a stand?
How to unify for a common cause?
Why can’t all the people who ranted on Facebook about Rabindra Moonan’s appointment as CEO, physically stand outside the HDC office and demand he is removed?
Place some sustained pressure on it, to make it happen, can you do that?
Too inconvenient?
And that’s a small issue that could be tackled, it really makes you understand why Wayne Kublalsingh’s hunger strike was so phenomenal to us.
We don’t know how to make a stand anymore.
And now I really want to know, are we willing to?
Plain Talk, Good English 