Category: opinion

Cutting Up Old Khaki Pants To Make New Ones? Again?

November 9, 2009 by Taran Rampersad

I somehow got included on an email (initiated by Kid5Rivers) with a lot of politicians on the list (such interesting email addresses!), and which a few have responded to. I honestly didn't want to read them and after about 10 responses to the email - something about the Silver Fox (Basdeo Panday) - I let them all have a piece of my mind, perhaps to my own future detriment.

Almost everyone I talk to seems to agree that the 'same old khaki pants' is just that - and mixing the parties up doesn't actually do anything because they remain the same people. Do I really need to whip out Ernie and Bert with the cookies again?

I figured I may as well share my response here since I think it needs to be openly discussed:

I have little time for politics as politics has little time for me. My concerns are not serviced by political posturings. I am not alone in this. The people of Trinidad and Tobago have consistently been wronged by the medieval politics that persist. I have been included on this list by someone for a reason. I do not know what their reason is.

That said, and since I must now suffer every person on this list having their say - I will now have mine. First, I must acknowledge that I am happy that this conversation - if indeed it is a conversation instead of competing monologues - is happening. I must also write that I am saddened that this discussion is not happening in a more public forum, but I fear that is simply a sign of the consistent inability of politicians to embrace the democratization possible through technology. Still, we start with a baby step.

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'Dis Is Trinidad'

November 4, 2009 by Taran Rampersad

I've spent the last few days listening to various remixes of 'Dis is Trinidad'. It's ubiquitous for some reason; it's an accepted answer to almost anything.

When discussing a recent family member and his adventures with a government public hospital emergency department and 'casualty' with a doctor who otherwise can be quite the conversationalist, we hit the cul-de-sac of 'Dis is Trinidad'. When dealing with nursing staff in a private hospital who didn't seem to know how to use baby powder when changing diapers, 'Dis is Trinidad' reared its ugly head. When discussing the inconsistencies between newspapers with a friend as Edmund Gall pointed out here, I hear - you guessed it - 'Dis is Trinidad'.

It doesn't end there. Two families fighting over where the boundary is between their respective properties both expressed frustration with the process, separately, using the exact same phrase. Traffic on Mosquito Creek as contractors continue repainting the bridge and resurfacing the pavement reminds everyone that 'Dis is Trinidad'. A new outlet of Republic Bank near Gulf City is so poorly designed that it ties up traffic going in all directions... 'Dis is Trinidad'.

The list goes on. And I could respond to all of it with the same phrase - that's the magic of the phrase. Instead, though, I'll borrow a longer phrase from Noam Chomsky: {Read more}

Is Trinidad and Tobago Beyond Race Based Politics?

October 26, 2009 by Taran Rampersad

Yesterday, Selwyn Ryan wrote, 'The UDeCOTT election: round 1' - and within it he wrote something that should be apparent to anyone who isn't in Parliament:

...Mr Imbert brags that the central issue in the Inquiry will not be UDeCOTT, but the cartelisation of the local construction industry, the nature of the Opposition, and much else. He boasted that "the election will be about who is fit to run the country, which is the best party to run the country, who has the moral authority to run the country, and who is best equipped to serve the people of the country". The problem, however, is that none of the parties, including the PNM, is seen as having any abundance of these qualities...

Exactly. But the next sentence is disturbing:

...Mr Panday is also correct when he notes that corruption, on its own, does not decide elections in Trinidad: Race does...

I don't know that Basdeo Panday actually said that race wins elections, and it's a little disturbing to consider that it could be true... and that it could be considered true enough for a politician to say. Was it true? Of course it was. Lets just say that when it comes to race in politics, Trinidad and Tobago has a colourful past. We all know it. There are people who will talk bad about a political party, but when it comes to election day people are likely to vote with their raw prejudice. {Read more}