THE REFUGEE CRISIS

 It is difficult, if not impossible, to understand exactly how the Rowley regime's handling of the refugee problem can be justified. It is true that we are a small country. And it is true that we simply cannot afford to be effectively overrun by refugees fleeing from a murderously criminal regime in Venezuela. It is also true that we are signatories to several international treaties that dictate how we should treat with refugees. And finally, it is also true that the sanctions that the United States has placed on Maburro's regime is causing serious hardship in Venezuela. 

Now, the argument that is being promulgated by supporters of Maburro, Rowley & Co. is that it is these sanctions by the United States that are the real cause of the hardships of the Venezuelan people and that their removal would help to right things in that unfortunate country. 

Unfortunately, this is only a half-truth, and, as everybody knows, a half truth is more dangerous than an outright lie. Yes, the sanctions are hurting the ordinary people, but guess what? The ordinary people were hurting BEFORE the sanctions were imposed. Yes, the sanctions do not seem to have worked in that the regime is still in place. But the Cubans have installed a security apparatus that has given Maburro & Co. complete control over the military ... and 'power comes out of the mouth of a gun' (as Chairman Mao used to say). And the fact is that there really is nothing more than can be done now to remove the jackdonkey  from power. If anybody can think of a solution please put it forward. 

And so, donkeys that we are, we collectively curse the ugly Americans and after drawing up to our full three inch height look into the eyes of the eight foot giant and say 'you are wrong and the fault is yours that we have so many refugees coming over here.' But we don't say diddley-squat to either Maburro or the Cubans. We say nothing when Maburro cooks the election results and installs himself for another (illegitimate) term in office. We don't say anything to Maburro when his people run over here to escape from a crushing economic situation or from serious injustices which could cost them their lives.

Have you ever thought how desperate a person must be to pick themselves up and with very few belongings and almost no money make a dangerous journey by boat to another country that doesn't want them and which speaks a completely different language? 

And then we have a Prime Minister who appears on the face of it to be very friendly with Maburro and makes comments that are really criticisms of the United States. But wait a minute! It is a well recognized principle in international relations that countries don't have friends ... they have interests. Now where do you think our best interests lie when Venezuela and the United States are so obviously at loggerheads? With Venenezuela or with the United States? And please don't forget that the United States is not only our biggest trading partner, but also is capable of crushing us with one stroke of it's pen not to mention it's military. This ought to be a no-brainer.

So? Was it really in our best interests to turn those children away and have the whole world criticize us? Was that a humane action and should we be oblivious to the inhumanity of the Maburro regime? In other words, did we do right to treat those children the way we did?

I'm sorry, but I don't think so. And for the record, I know that the man's name is Maduro but he's such a donkey that I prefer to call him by a name that is more descriptive.

AMAZINGLY IRRESPONSIBLE

 'Amazingly irresponsible' are the word that the Mayor of New York, Bill de Blasio, used to comment on an Hasidic wedding in the city in which apparently thousands attended and were each fined US$15,000.

I couldn't help but compare that to our own recent Valsayn wedding and Zesser party. I am not going to get into the argument that the police could or could not have done anything about the wedding except to say that (using Mr. de Blasio's words) it was amazingly irresponsible for those wedding guests to attend. And if the reports are true that Government Ministers attended they should be named and shamed. Frankly, they should be fired. And it is not good enough for Mr. Deyalsingh to say that he doesn't about that. He should find out, damnit!

There is a report in today's papers that Mr. Terrance Deyalsingh, T&T's erstwhile Minister of Health, is reported as saying (inter alia) that he knew about the Valsayn wedding in advance and that he knows of another wedding coming up on or about 12th December in which there will be some 300 guests. But he says that this time the public health authorities will act. Really? So, why didn't they act last time?

Let's call a spade a spade: the very strong impression being given here is that the Zessers can be arrested and fined for breaching the health regulations because they are poor and possibly have criminal or underworld connections. Oh! And don't forget their ethnicity! But the Valsayn wedding guests can be given a free pass because they are, amongst other things, protected by Government contacts. Wouldn't it be nice if it could be shown that this impression is totally and completely misplaced? But how do you square this action of shutting down the Zesser party but allowing the big and expensive wedding in Valsayn to take place? Since when does the Corona virus discriminate between the poor and indigent and the rich and powerful and well connected?

We are being fed a big bunch of B.S. (which my history teacher once told me stands for "Baloney for Sure"). And Mr. Deyalsingh (who has developed quite a reputation for uttering a lot of B.S.) should stop taking us all for fools.

P.S. For the record, I think that the organizers of both the wedding and the Zesser party were wrong as hell. But two or even three wrongs do not make a right. And this %^&*()*# virus doesn't care!

THE CONTINUING UNWILLINGNESS TO FIX THE EDUCATION SYSTEM

 

It isn't always easy to avoid criticizing the Rowley regime, but sometimes it becomes absolutely necessary when it becomes apparent that rather than dealing with what is or ought to be important for the well being of the society, that the Government is operating more like a business rather than a government. Put another way, I have often said that you cannot run a country the way you run a business. Running a business entails not only balancing the books but making a profit. Running a country means that decisions have to be taken which are not only in the best short term interests of the society, but also in the best long term interests as well.

What has aroused my concerns is the announcement at the end of last week by the erstwhile Minister of Education in which massive cuts were declared in the GATE program ... the program which provides subsidized tertiary education for a wide swath of students. That the cuts are going to hurt many students is a given. What is also a given is that there will be a sizable number of very poor students who will be unable to access tertiary education. 

So? Let them eat cake? The problem here is that of all the programs or facilities for people that ought to be cut, I would argue that education is just about the last one that ought to be tampered with. No country can lift itself out of poverty without a good, viable and efficient education system. That the PNM and Dr. Eric Williams did just that in the period 1956 to about 1970 is true and we owe a tremendous amount to Dr. Williams for this is true.

But here we are many, many years later and education seems to have taken a back seat in the Rowley regime's push to modernize the country. There are some people even who detect a certain racism in the regime's effective downgrading and cancelling many of the GATE programs. These people argue that they think this because they see East Indians as being the major beneficiaries of GATE and that this is a way of slowing down the rise of the East Indians against the Africans in the society. I don't know if that perception can be backed up with facts, but the mere fact that the perception exists is as unfortunate as it is disturbing and means that the regime is seen by many to be racist. Beauty, after all, is in the eye of the beholder and not the beholden.  

Look, in my opinion it is better to stay away from thoughts like this. It is my respectful view that regardless of whatever is motivating the regime to slash spending on education it needs to do a complete 180 degree turn and pour ALL the resources into the system that we have at our disposal ... even if this means that badly needed projects elsewhere (e.g., Dr. Rowley's plans for East Port of Spain) have to be put on hold or cancelled. There is NOTHING more important than education. I would even argue that our health care system (which is most important) comes in a close second behind education.

We don't, for example, pay our teachers enough. The starting salary for a teacher is around TT$6,000 per month. That is ridiculous! It should be three times that amount! And it should go up by at least three times for every level after that. If you pay peanuts, do you expect to get world class scholars? 

This country will never fix itself until we start at the beginning. It will take about twenty years to fix the problem. But most governments think only in terms of five year cycles. Time for a new Constitution? But that is another argument again!

But since then our national attention turned elsewhere and we did not pay the kind of attention to the education system that we ought to have paid. For example, in my opinion the salaries that we pay teachers is nothing short of a scandal and a complete disgrace. I understand that the starting salary for a brand new teacher is somewhere in the vicinity of $5,000 per month. This is awful. It should be AT LEAST three times that amount. Then again, it is not 

SHUBH DIVALI

 This weekend (Saturday to be exact) one of the world's oldest and greatest religions will celebrate one of it's most important and symbolic events: the festival of Divali which is supposed to be held on 'the darkest day of the year' and celebrates the triumph of light over darkness. 

One of the nice things about growing up in Trinidad is that one is exposed at a very early age to three of the world's great religions ... Islam, Hinduism and Christianity.  We have large segments of our population who follow one or the other of these three religions with varying degrees of enthusiasm. We also tend to join in the celebrations of the particular religion when it has a feast day and, indeed, recognize these feast days with public holidays.

That this is right and proper is unquestionable. Most religious scholars will readily and happily posit that there are many ways up the mountain, but that there is only one mountain top! Indeed, in conversations over the years most priests, imams and pundits have all agreed that the real differences between the world's religions are more of form than of substance, and that they all, in their own way, preach fundamentally the same core values of love, family, honour and truth. That they approach these core values from very different angles is a given. But ultimately, when all the dogmas are stripped away they all fundamentally say the same thing: there is only one Supreme Being (called by many different names) who sits on only one mountaintop. You might choose to go up the South Eastern slope while I trudge up the North Western side, but we are both going in the same direction. Up!

And so, despite the fact that there are so many worries, conflicts and troubles in the world, the Hindu festival of Divali comes at a most appropriate and welcome time to remind us that no matter where you are or who you are, light will always triumph over darkness. And so to all who might read this may I wish you Shubh Divali.