WHAT'S WRONG WITH THIS PICTURE?

On the face of it , nothing! But Look at this picture again that is on the front page of today's Guardian. It shows Prime Minister Keith Rowley with Minister of National Security Edmund Dillon, and Minister of Rural Development Kazim Hosein being berated (according to the caption underneath the picture) yesterday (Sunday) by a resident of Mayaro.

But if you look at the picture again and read the caption again you will see some things that aren't being highlighted. First of all, the Rowley visit took place yesterday ... some five days or so after the flooding had started. Why? Why did it take so long for the Prime Minister to go 'on the ground' to see for himself exactly what had happened to thousands of people.

Next, where are the Members of Parliament for the areas in question? News reports say that the Prime Minister had deliberately not invited them! Why? His Minister of National Security said that politics should not come into dealing with this disaster ... a most admirable statement. So why didn't the Prime Minister invite the respective MPs for the areas? Instead he goes with the defeated candidate for Mayaro who is now his Minister of Agriculture. Ugly and unnecessary suspicions arise that the Prime Minister was indeed playing politics with this disaster for it is difficult to think of any reason why the MPs weren't invited along other than they come from the opposition UNC. Of course, there may be another good reason why they weren't invited, but, if so, what is it?

Thirdly, I heard with my own ears the Deputy Head of the ODPM say that this flooding was a 'small thing'. Really? I saw him in what looked like a three piece blue suit, nice and dry in his office saying that this flooding wasn't a big thing! And the Prime Minister doesn't fire him at once for his incompetence and insensitivity?

Fourthly, look at the face of the Prime Minister. Does he look sympathetic to the lady's problems? Or does he look as if he is just taking the criticism because it is politic to do so, but that he really doesn't care? I will readily admit that a snapshot is just that ... a snapshot ... and that the picture can be misleading. But is it? Is it really? Have the actions and words of the Prime Minister both during and after the flooding indicated that he really gets it? If you think that the answer is 'yes' then don't bother to argue the point. But know that perception is reality, and the perception of an awful lot of people is that the Prime Minister really doesn't get it and that he really couldn't care less. After all, goes the perception, all the flooding took place in opposition held constituencies so there is no real need to do anything for these people ... who, by the way, are mostly Indian. And yes, I am saying that the perception is that race has most unfortunately played a part in both the ODPM's and the Government's poor response.

Would that somebody would prove this perception wrong. Why aren't we moving in a direction where such perceptions can be easily debunked? They are divisive and do nothing to take us forward as a nation. So why do I highlight them? Because pretending that they are not there and sweeping them under the proverbial carpet simply hasn't worked. No. Its time that we faced our demons head on and by opposing end them (with apologies to William Shakespeare).

THE CONTINUING PROBLEM OF VENEZUELA

The President of Venezuela, Nicholas Maduro, and the men around him are crooks. Oh! They are running a dictatorship as well, but they are nasty, thieving crooks. Apart from holding very fraudulent elections last week (which in itself ought to be a crime) which were intended to consolidate Maduro's hold on power, the Cartel de los Soles (Cartel of the Suns) now runs one of the world's largest and most profitable drug cartels. In addition the trade in human flesh ... prostitution ... is booming as thousands of poor Venezuelan women are being forced into this terrible trade either by the very dire economic circumstances that they find themselves in or by outright kidnapping.


The  Cartel de los Soles is exporting arms and drugs through Honduras, Surinam, the Dominican Republic and ... wait for it ... you guessed it ... Trinidad and Tobago!! And people wonder why our crime rate is rising?!?


In the meantime, our government continues to do business with Maburro's government (and yes, the misspelling of his name is intentional ... he is a donkey!) I understand that country's don't have friends, but they have interests. But how can it be in our interests to be friendly with a dictatorial regime that is actively either involved in or turning a blind eye to the active export of arms and drugs to our shores?!? This can't be right!


And for the record, I challenge the Donkey to sue me for defamation in calling him a nasty, thieving crook. Because he will have to come to Trinidad and go into the witness box and face cross-examination from my lawyers. And everybody knows that (1) a perfect defence to defamation is the truth and (2) he is a coward. He ain't gonna come here and sue me! Not in a month of Sundays! Why? Because he knows that what I am saying is true.


And yes, I know that I can't go to Venezuela again. And isn't that something? I can curse the President of the United States  and then hop on a plane to Miami and come home. But I don't dare go to Caracas because they will lock me up and throw away the key. And people continue to pretend that the Donkey and his cohorts are democrats and our government continues to deal with them.


Sad!!

FIRST PEOPLE'S DAY

I read somewhere that this week marks 525 years since Columbus first set foot in the Americas. That this feat undoubtedly changed the course of world history is unquestionable. However, until very recently it was regarded as a great feat and something to be proud of, while completely ignoring the dark side of European conquest: the whole scale obliteration of the indigenous peoples of North, South, and Central America and the Caribbean by the Europeans through genocide, enslavement and disease.


When I was a boy, and throughout the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, Columbus was a hero; the 'discoverer' of the 'New World'. The Spanish conquistadores having destroyed the First Peoples' culture and religion turned the few survivors into servile labourers and obedient Catholics. That is why Pope Francis (the first Latin American Pope) in 2015 asked for their forgiveness for the sins that the Catholic Church had either visited upon them or aided and abetted in inflicting upon them.


But that is also why I believe that kudos should be given to the Government of Trinidad & Tobago for recognizing the First People of our twin island Republic in declaring Friday 13th October, 2017 'First Peoples' Day' and making it a public holiday. Indeed, if I had a criticism of the Government's move in this regard it would be a very minor one: that the holiday should not be a 'one-off' holiday but should be every year. We could easily replace it with almost any one of our many other public holidays (Corpus Christi springs to mind). But the recognition of the contribution of the First People to our history, for me at least, is a big thing. And although I have been harshly critical of some of the things that this present Government has done, I have always believed that when somebody does something that is right, that good deed ought to be acknowledged, and I do so now.


The declaration of a public holiday in honour of the First People is most fitting in remembering our past and honouring their place in it, as well as their place in our present and our future.


P.S. Full disclosure: my great grandmother on my father's side was one half Arawak. It has always been a source of great pride to me that this means that one-sixteenth of the blood running through my veins comes from ancestors who were here from the very beginning.