Patriot of the Week: FAZEER ROJAN

...One Love.

One man’s anti-racism campaign.
By Sandhya Santoo | Trinidad Express Newspapers | Sep 16, 2015, 10:31 am AST

Radio talk show host Fazeer Rojan has started a campaign against racism on social media.

The 103 fm presenter began a “Selfie stand against racism” campaign by visiting different places in Trinidad spreading the message of love and unity.

Rojan said that he became inspired for this campaign after reading the negative comments following the September 7 general election.

According to Rojan: “We cannot let a minority get the better of us." Raymond Ramnarine uttered these words to me upon his return to the country yesterday when he called to lend support to the ‘Selfie Stand Against Racism’. I too would like to think that it’s a minority. I have no stats to offer to support this hope but that’s what it is; hope!"

"Sometimes the world needs an idealist or two. Lord knows we have an over abundance in some other ‘not as awesome’ categories. I did what I did for reasons personal to me. I spoke on my own behalf and I’d like it to be noted that I represent no one and no group, political, religious, social or otherwise. I am citizen of Trinidad and Tobago! No other credentials are important”.

He said that the reason for the selfie was because it was a common denominator in social media.

Rojan said: “Most of the hatred I have seen is being expressed on social media by a combination of people who knew what they were saying, those who were baited and merely expressed what already existed but remained hidden for all these years, those with fake profiles who lack the testicular fortitude to make their comments bravely, those who created mimic profiles and attempted to join the conversation under false pretences, some with axes to grind; others riddled with fear because of their political conditioning and the list goes on. It made sense then to seek to counter this hate on the platform where it was most expressed. The key would be to find the common denominator though."

‘Selfies’ came to mind. They’re an online sensation. Why not use this platform to spread the positivity? Simple. Thus was born the "Selfie Stand Against Racism”.

Wearing a sign with the slogan of the campaign, Rojan is meeting people and encouraging them the take a stand against discrimination in the country.

Many have posted “selfie” photographs of themselves with the slogan signalling their stance against racism and joining in Rojan’s cause to end it.

In one of his post dated September 11, Rojan said, “It has gone from distasteful to frightful. How could a country change so much almost overnight? Or is it that social media has given everyone an opportunity to remove masks and reveal what always existed? It hurts to see it unfold and I wish it would STOP NOW! However, instead of waiting on them, I am reminded to take action ....”Be The Change That You Wish To See In The World”.

Rojan did exactly this and took matters into his own hands creating the campaign.

Rojan said that he has been faced with negative feedback from what he is doing from both sides of the political arena.

He said, “People will see what they are searching for, like those who accused me of ‘being PNM’ because my jersey is red but failed to see that I was wearing red, white and black. Others who questioned my timing and implied that I’m a ‘UNC’ man because I didn’t do this five years ago. Well, I have accepted that not everyone will agree with my stand and others may have opinions on why it should have been done differently. I will leave it as follows: Some people will see my good intentions in undertaking this. Others will question it and find ways to perpetuate the hate. The bottom line is that love and hatred, much like beauty, are in the eyes or mind of the beholder. Just think about that for a while”.

Rojan thanked his supporters and even had a message for the critics.

He said, “To the critics, someday we’ll reach you and when we do, we’re gonna love you too!” SOURCE

..............................................................................................................................

A Note From The Gull

Thank you, Fazeer Rohan for following your good heart and for going above and beyond to lift up our homeland. Thanks also to the Express for covering this inspiring story and reminding some of us who have forgotten that the good outweighs the bad.

"Patria est communis omnium parens" - Our native land is the common parent of us all. Keep it beautiful, make it even more so.

Blessed is all of creation
Blessed be my beautiful people
Blessed be the day of our awakening
Blessed is my country
Blessed are her patient hills.

Mweh ka allay!
Guanaguanare

Wheel and Come Again, T&T !!

...Love on a Grand Scale.
 
 Freetown Collective Published on Nov 30, 2012
Uploaded by Miquel Galofré

Here is where we are expecting the rubber to begin meeting the road, where just action should trump oratorical flights and give pause to our cynics howling in the wilderness. Time will tell and time alone knows that the twine of a leader's legacy, whether good or bad, is much, much longer than you or I will ever comprehend.

"....In Trinidad and Tobago, we have been accused of being good talkers but poor listeners and the crisis in governance, in our nation, continues to be the result of not listening but shouting from the fences. For many years, there has been a bedevilling sense of disconnect to governance felt by the average citizen of Trinidad and Tobago. Our elected representatives, mindful of their oath to represent all their constituents, would do well to cultivate the art of genuine listening, which always inspires compassion and culminates in a better understanding, even of opposing viewpoints.

".............Until solutions are engendered and nurtured, and as utopic as it may appear, I have great faith in our capacity, as a nation and as individuals, to adopt the moral high ground in governance. I refuse to be a cynic, without firm solutions, howling in the wind, or be a citizen pelting stones from abroad..." SOURCE: Excerpt from Address by His Excellency Anthony Thomas Aquinas Carmona, SC, President of the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago at a Special Sitting of the Tobago House of Assembly on Friday 26th April, 2013 at 10.00 a.m. at the Assembly Legislative Chamber, Jerningham Street, Scarborough, Tobago.

Saying A Prayer For Us All.

..............................................................................................................................  

"Patria est communis omnium parens" - Our native land is the common parent of us all. Keep it beautiful, make it even more so.

Blessed is all of creation
Blessed be my beautiful people
Blessed be the day of our awakening
Blessed is my country
Blessed are her patient hills.

Mweh ka allay!
Guanaguanare
 

We ALL Have a Nation to Run.

...a profound silence.
As I am seeing Dr. Wayne Kublalsingh everywhere, while watching the birds recently it occurred to me that the Blue Jay would never in its wildest dreams deny itself the bare necessities of eating and drinking and even less, the supreme, triumphant pleasure of hogging what ought to be shared with others. This bird is a startlingly beautiful, burly, noisy, rambunctious creature that will eat and/or carry away every single nut that I put out on mornings. This bird does not share, does not seem to have the slightest awareness of the concept. It demonstrates a selfish, scorched earth approach to the bounty made available to all. 

Am I being unreasonable to expect a creature living in nature to adopt the nobler of our values? And why do we human beings hold ourselves to a higher standard and expect to be different from the creatures in the wild? Is it thanks only to nurture that we have been socialized to be saddled with the sometimes hopeless pursuit of a "humanity" that includes selflessness? Is the difference as simple as that? Are we in fact much less than we think we are? Is that why surrender to our baser instincts is often the preferred option?

What, I ask myself, makes Dr. Wayne Kublalsingh unlike you and me and and the rabid Blue Jays of this world? Could it be that contrary to our PM's assessment, this man's family, more than many families in Trinidad and Tobago, actually owned their parental responsibility and took it extremely seriously? Can we consider and admit that what we are seeing in his action is the culmination, not of neglect, but of an extraordinary spiritual nurturing on their part?

The days flash by for me as I anxiously follow the news from home. I imagine that the hours pass more slowly for Dr. Kublalsingh, surrounded by many yet deeply alone in so many ways and especially in the inner struggle between nature and nurture. I still urge him to guard his health and life but I want to assure him that even if he were to walk away today, those of us who are still teachable have already learnt valuable lessons.

Today I want to speak from my heart to thank teacher Wayne Kublalsingh for the things he has been showing me. For the past week and more as I have sat unwillingly and often distressed to tears before the chalkboard of his increasingly emaciated chest, I have been forced to trace and retrace with growing dismay the things which I already knew but which have been manifested in his flesh.

I was among those who, valuing Dr. Kublalsingh's life more than this country, more than this cause, more than we Pawi, more than my beautiful and sometimes ugly countrymen, more than this government, urged him to let this cup pass from him. But perhaps being more optimistic, more hopeful and more generous than even those who love him and certainly more than those who continue to deride and dismiss him, he put our concerns aside and persevered patiently with his lesson.

He has reminded me that although this is what we have come to accept as normal, it is unnatural, if not calamitous for any man to believe that he has an existence separate from his country, from just causes, from the fate of the Pawi, from his countrymen and from his government. In this "eat ah food" world, he has done the unthinkable and little wonder then that the shock of it all has thrown many into disarray and has caused some of us in high and low places to retreat to the usual refuges of cynicism, disrespect, vitriole, puerile humour and callousness.

In turning his back on the opiate of the ubiquitous pot of pelau, he has threatened to drag us also from the warm comfort of that prison of belly full and asked us to reflect upon other forms of nourishment of which we have been starved. Another human child of God comes to mind and it was He who reminded us that "Man cannot live by bread alone."

Thank you, Dr. Kublalsingh for allowing the nation once again to witness that the truth means NOTHING to many. Not only will they avoid it to save their skins and that of their cohorts but they will avoid it even when a fellow citizen's life is on the line. They will avoid it in the quiet of their own consciences and they will ineluctably avoid it even when the whole interested world's gaze is upon them.

Dr. Kublalsingh, you have become for me the soul of a Trinidad and Tobago that has been struggling to ascend - not any furtive or touted ascendancy being arranged for a particular race, class or creed, but a lifting for ALL - for this country, for all just causes, for the Pawi, for all countrymen and for a leadership yet to blossom that will be a reflection of the best in us.

Despite the efforts of the revisionists, history cannot be repealed and regardless of whether or not the distorted written or remembered record of this matter is amended, the history of this struggle has already been written in the psyche. I will not qualify psyche with 'national' or 'individual' because if I had learnt nothing else from Patriot Wayne Kublalsingh's struggle, this is the one lesson that will lie glowing in the ruins of his camp/health/life:

Everything and everyone is connected and if you can destroy one man, you can destroy a nation.

People, we ALL have a government to run.

..............................................................................................................................
"Patria est communis omnium parens" - Our native land is the common parent of us all. Keep it beautiful, make it even more so.

Blessed is all of creation
Blessed be my beautiful people
Blessed be the day of our awakening
Blessed is my country
Blessed are her patient hills.

Mweh ka allay!
Guanaguanare
 

A Country To Die For?

...Falling Back and Supporting From Behind.

The reason for my long silences? - The sound of my mother's voice in my head pleading, "If you have nothing nice to say, say nothing."  Reading our news online I often find myself dismayed and to be very honest it is with some reluctance that I now make my daily pilgrimage to T&T's newspapers. This dread, by the way, does not apply to anything written by Sunity Maharaj and Raffique Shah.

Recently I read something that brought mixed feelings of agreement and sadness. The words of Dr. Wayne Kublalsingh:

"The leader of the group said he will not be as vocal about the Point Fortin Highway issue in the future and encouraged the members to be persistent. He said:

"It is up to you to put pressure on the Prime Minister and if she refuses take up your bed and revolt. They (citizens) cannot be looking at Kublalsingh and a minority of people to do their work for them."

The strength residents used to build the 13 communities in the Debe to Mon Desir area should be the same strength they should use to preserve them, Kublalsingh said."

What is there to add? I do not believe in top down revolutions. Yes, a revolution can be inspired by the example of a leader but a revolution that is masterminded and executed mainly by those above often will have to continuously enforced thereafter because it did not spring spontaneously from the grassroots.

I once referred to Dr. Wayne Kublalsingh as a patriot and reading his words I mused that there are times when Patriotism involves falling back and supporting from behind. Even the migratory birds understand that the individual flying point in the V formation cannot fly there forever. That lead bird will eventually tire and must fall back to allow another to lead. Tire...not die. Although I admire Dr. Wayne Kublalsingh's passion and I am particularly moved by his father's comments about his son, I do not want Dr. Wayne Kublalsingh to leave us now, and certainly not for citizens who are not sufficiently compelled to take care of their own business and judging by the online comments, many others who intend not to remember his ultimate sacrifice past this Christmas season. I want Dr. Kublalsingh to continue to live and fight for his country. This world is overrun by the ignorant, the crass and the ignoble and I seriously doubt that his death will have any impact on the jaded and spiritually dead. I am ashamed to have concluded that in this valley of death where life is cheap another person's demise will not provide the much needed tipping point.

Dr. Kublalsingh, I dedicate the song below to you. Life is the battle and you can only see it to its natural end by continuing to LIVE.


Uploaded by Adamfulgence ..............................................................................................................................
"Patria est communis omnium parens" - Our native land is the common parent of us all. Keep it beautiful, make it even more so.

Blessed is all of creation
Blessed be my beautiful people
Blessed be the day of our awakening
Blessed is my country
Blessed are her patient hills.

Mweh ka allay!
Guanaguanare
 

Nah Ease Up [Song]

...vigilant.

Uploaded by TheSocaMann
NAH EASE UP
By Black Stalin

Them power seekers in high places sitting
Yes, they vex like hell 'bout the song we singing
Yes, they warn Watchman, Aloes and Chalkie
You see they warn Cro Cro, yes, they even warn me
But you tell dem for me, I am not afraid, to give up, I must be crack
I'm the people's watchdog, elected for life so I dey always on yuh back.

Any time you mess with the people's business, the black man jamming
Stop seeking the voters' interest, the black man jamming
And if you take away ten percent from the worker, the black man jamming
And if you have no intention of giving back the COLA, the black man jamming.

I telling you, nah ease up, nah ease up, nah ease up, nah ease up
Nah ease up, nah ease up, nah ease up, nah ease up, nah ease up.

Me ent put no cocoa in the sun to dry
So brother, rain could fall, there's no need to cry
I ent get no play from no big pappy
So when I say mih ting, I got to say I'm sorry
I could say how I feel, when I feel, and doh care who make a fuss
Because Black Stalin know that he ent got no dirty linen to wash.

Any time you start giving kisses for favour, the black man jamming
And if you start to forget who put you in power, the black man jamming
Any time you start talking race in the country, the black man jamming
And between the masses spreading disharmony, the black man jamming.

I telling you, I nah ease up, we nah ease up, we nah ease up, we nah ease up
Chalkdust tell me, nah ease up, nah ease up, nah ease up, nah ease up, nah ease up.

I ent got no groove, I ent got no party
Every constituency is my constituency
Anywey poor people getting pressure
It is my duty to tell Mr. Divider
'Cause I could tell him how how I want, when I want, and really doh care a thing
'Cause nobody cyah talk up to me about party discipline.

Any time you stop consulting with the voter, the black man jamming
And you moving 'bout like a one man crusader, the black man jamming
I say you signing today, then telling we tomorrow, the black man jamming
And you only spreading ---- heartbreak and sorrow, the black man jamming.

I telling you, nah ease up, nah ease up, nah ease up, nah ease up
Bally tell me, nah ease up, nah ease up, nah ease up, nah ease up, nah ease up.

They want me sit down and see wrong things happening
And sing 'bout smut and not 'bout the wrong thing
If I sing how they good, yes, they happy as ever
And if I sing how they bad, yes, they talking 'bout censor
But you tell them for me when I say mih thing, I doh care who happy or sad
For any time it come to the people business, I bad, bad, bad.

Anytime you making IMF the father, the black man jamming
And if you putting we in debt and saying we doing better, the black man jamming
And if you forgetting to do something for culture, the black man jamming
And if you try to be another messiah, the black man jamming.

I telling you, nah ease up, nah ease up, nah ease up, nah ease up
Chalkdust tell me, nah ease up, nah ease up, nah ease up, nah ease up, nah ease up.
Cro Cro tell me nah ease up, nah ease up, nah ease up, nah ease up
Cro Cro tell me, nah ease up, nah ease up, nah ease up, nah ease up, nah ease up.
Watchman tell me nah ease up, nah ease up, nah ease up, nah ease up
Nah ease up, nah ease up, nah ease up, nah ease up, nah ease up.
Aloes tell me nah ease up, nah ease up...

Source: The lyrics posted on this blog are often transcribed directly from performances. Although it is my intention to faithfully transcribe I do not get all the words and I have a knack for hearing the wrong thing. Please feel free to correct me or to fill in the words that I miss by dropping me a message via e-mail. I'd be forever grateful. Thanks in advance!

..............................................................................................................................


A Note From The Gull

Thank you, Black Stalin!

"Patria est communis omnium parens" - Our native land is the common parent of us all. Keep it beautiful, make it even more so.

Blessed is all of creation
Blessed be my beautiful people
Blessed be the day of our awakening
Blessed is my country
Blessed are her patient hills.

Mweh ka allay!
Guanaguanare

Dignity

...Sometimes Unapologetically Indignant.

I am pleased to announce that Maximilian Forte on his blog "Zero Anthropology" has been producing a series of blog posts on the topic of Dignity . They include:

1. Keep Your Money: A Series on Dignity.

With a conclusion featuring Singing Sandra's "Die With My Dignity" this post begins the exploration of the concept of dignity. It notes the absence of the idea as a concept in the works of most anthropologists, which is unfortunate because the writer believes that "the absence or the silencing of the idea has serious import for how we think others think about the world, and for how we ought to think about the world, while using the idea/concept as a way of questioning the preferred constructs of the institutionalized, liberal elite..." The writer goes on to explore two problems encountered when trying to explore the concept of dignity - the problem of Eurocentrism and his view that there is "no sharp dividing line between “Europe” or the “West” and the nations that either will merely be mentioned in the series, or from which examples and insights are drawn: Jamaica, Trinidad and Tobago, Libya, South Africa, and Zimbabwe."

2. A Tear for Africa: Humanitarian Abduction and Reduction.

"Helpless, pleading, wanting, needing, small, weak, staring at you, black–this is the anti-bogeyman invented by Western humanitarianism, what passes as morality in the ideology of empire (yet again). Past the time of a London Missionary Society, we now have the Responsibility to Protect (R2P), the moral dogma of a white, western elite that projects its abusive notion of “protection” everywhere it is not wanted." In this post the writer examines this imperialist impulse to bring dignity to the undignified by his exploration of issues like international adoption [with the focus on black children] as abduction, African poverty pornography, anthropology's continuing fixation with those who need fixing and foreign aid as local degradation.

3. Zimbabwe: “Keep your money, keep your power, and keep away from us.”

Here the writer uses the example of Zimbabwe's defiance to illustrate the exercise of dignity - national dignity. A strong leader with a clear vision for his country and one that does not necessarily involve following a script handed to him by outside forces, is determined to see his country attain de facto independence with dignity. It is no surprise that he must continue to run the gauntlet of neocolonialism's grim claw, economic sanctions, negative press - especially by US mainstream media, and internal treason.

The writer concludes, "One expects one’s Prime Minister to fight for one’s country, in other words, one expects dignity." In President Mugabe's own words, “...the legacy I want to leave behind is Zimbabwe without outside interference.”

4. Still Standing: Zimbabwe.

The focus on Zimbabwe continues and in this post we are taken beyond the hypocritical and often self-serving international outcry most often associated with this country's efforts to pull itself up and offered insights into a few issues including Zimbabwe’s successful agrarian reform program which was launched to ensure that the dignity of black Zimbabweans was asserted. In a country where agriculture employed 70% of the population. the 2007 Indigenisation and Economic Empowerment Act supports the logic of the conviction that "democracy and political stability can therefore not be sustained in a situation where resources remain concentrated in the hands of a few non-indigenous people”. Nor can dignity be sustained where foreign settlers are presumed to be inherently or legally entitled to more than their fair share."

..............................................................................................................................


A Note From The Gull

Thank you, Maximilian Forte, for these informative and thought provoking posts. I am thinking that these should be essential reading for my fellow Trinbagonians as we approach the date of our 50th Anniversary of Independence. National dignity is not something that we talk a lot about in Trinidad and Tobago. We tend to limit our appreciation of dignity to the individual human being but I think that patriots are the ones who see it most clearly at the level of the nation, not only in how we present ourselves or are perceived on the international stage but more importantly in my estimation, in how our country stands up for us locally. Some time ago, activist Ishmael Samad made a very interesting statement in the court where he was eventually to be found guilty and punished for unlawfully and maliciously damaging the gate to John Calder Hart’s home on April 14, 2010.

By way of explanation for his actions on that day, Ishmael Samad said that, “He [John Calder Hart] committed the most heinous, brazen and disgraceful crime of the century..." And while he said he [Ishmael Samad] would never perpetrate such a crime again, Samad said the act would leave a reminder of one man who stood for a cause. “At least the last thing Calder Hart would remember is someone breaking down his gate to arrest him before he fled the country,” Samad said. “I broke the law, but all I was trying to do was save the dignity and respect of the country.”

Ishmael Samad: "I broke the law,
but all I was trying to do was
save the dignity and respect of the country."

Is Ishmael's anger the sort to which Maximilian refers when he says, "...anger is also indignation, and it is an expression rooted in dignity." ?

"Dignity has become complex now for having crossed the lines between the personal, the national, and the geopolitical, where we begin to mix individuals with collectivities, and where one speaks for the other. Dignity also crosses the lines of exchange value and emotional self-affirmation. U.S. national security strategy documents seem to essentially equate dignity with having modern conveniences and cash–in other words, an instumentalist or transactionalist view of dignity that sits well with capitalist values, and makes for easy policy options. In addition to instrumentalizing dignity, U.S. policy documents Westernize it, by reducing dignity to the property of the individual. However, ideas such as national dignity, and black dignity, speak of dignity as the possession of large collectivities–nor are they reducible to pragmatic calculations and seeking monetary gain. “Keep your money”–the lead idea in two of the previous essays, expressly rebels against pragmatism, cash reductions of dignity, and counters dignity as manipulated by men exploiting women, adults shopping for children, or superpowers trying to intimidate barely post-colonial nations. If U.S. policy documents speak of dignity, it is out of recognition that this concept matters to many, hence best for the U.S. to try to produce the representations that it hopes will stick and to define the field for everyone else. One reason why dignity matters so much, as a concept, is that it goes beyond freedom and rights and thus there is a risk for the West that some of the cherished concepts in its intellectual armory, used to wage international propaganda, could evaporate back into the thin air from which they came.

Rights–or more accurately, human rights–tend to privilege the individual, which is one of the reasons for long-standing and widespread criticisms of the idea as a Eurocentric and capitalist one. Freedom, especially in the pronouncements of U.S. political leaders, clearly means free markets, free trade, free flows of capital, and it implies an equivalent system of government where influence, access, and votes are bought and sold, and marshaled by competing groups of entrepreneurs organized in self-serving entities we know as political parties.

Dignity, however, does not imply that any one system of political organization is better or more needed than another. Dignity can exist and thrive in a multi-party state, in a one-party state, in a no-party state, and in a non-state society. No ruler, or form of rule, can take away someone’s dignity–dignity can be denied, suppressed, or ignored, but not taken away, and that makes it quite distinct from either rights or freedom. Moreover, the roots of dignity are fundamentally local, and given the very diverse ways in which it can be perceived and valued, it cannot easily be codified in legal instruments at the international level. In other words, don’t expect a United Nations Charter on the Dignity of Peoples anytime soon. Dignity has no universally agreed upon list of traits–so the concept defies measurement, and it escapes positivism, capitalism, and Western humanitarianism.

Imperialist logics are also defied by dignity, a term that often comes out in the open as a rallying cry in resistance and rebellion. When dignity means a man defending his land, with a pistol in his hand, then dignity can pose an obstacle to imperialist denials of self-determination (another concept which has been very problematic for the United Nations which has tried to co-opt it on the one hand, while denying it on the other).

Finally here, it is also interesting to note that dignity is often symbolized in English with a certain body language: getting up, standing up, staying up, keeping one’s head high, standing straight, lifting up, being uplifted, arising, etc. Certain mental states are also associated in some cases with dignity: consciousness, realization, recognition, and awakening." SOURCE: Still standing: Zimbabwe - By Maximilian Forte

"Patria est communis omnium parens" - Our native land is the common parent of us all. Keep it beautiful, make it even more so.

Blessed is all of creation
Blessed be my beautiful people
Blessed be the day of our awakening
Blessed is my country
Blessed are her patient hills.

Mweh ka allay!
Guanaguanare

Uncertainty

...building Confidence.

In a recent article written by Sunity Maharaj, "Noise as strategy, outrage as defence." I seized upon the line quoted below because it describes the situation that has been causing me some distress,

"But we deny ourselves the chance to learn when we allow opportunity to be drowned out by the noise of manipulation and the sound of panicked outrage born out of valid fear but of dubious fact."

The author could also have written, "born not out of valid fear but of dubious fact," or "born out of valid fear of dubious fact." They all would have worked for me. Many of us cannot ascertain whether our fears are justified because the "facts" available to us are dubious and many of us are validly afraid because we know that the facts are "dubious." Consider the quality of the responses from the managers of this country on the most recent assault on a journalist, a media house AND press freedom.

Some time ago in reply to a reader's comment, I said:

"To be completely honest with you, I often find myself silenced by a lack of information. And this is precisely the commodity that will be made most scarce in situations where uncertainty is the preferred climate."

Why would anyone prefer a climate of uncertainty? Well, the saving grace and the danger of uncertainty is that it can stall our ability to judge situations. The problem is that it is not only the innocent who can benefit from the pause, the guilty can also use it to escape swift assessment, conviction and punishment.

I don't know how you feel but I am especially susceptible to a deficit of information. I am like a fish out of water without the facts. I am rendered halting and at the mercy of my very paranoid gut and this paranoid gut has been clenching.

I choose to accentuate the positive not because I am blind to certain aspects of reality but because I see the good so clearly and I really do believe that things can fall into place with time and a genuine determination to improve. But in my worst moments, alone as I am, and without the opiates of hot rotis and beastly cold Apple J's, I sometimes find myself imagining that a web is being woven that appears in the early stages to be silken, innocent, bumbling child's play, but which, when the time is right, will glisten and whine and slice like razor wire when pulled tightly around the hapless guppies. This is the nightmarish space into which many citizens can be pushed and unfortunately this state invites manipulation by forces which may not have this country's best interests at heart.

But this is what happens when people are disrespected, excluded and are left to fill in the blanks. If a government is considerate and honest, or at the very least cunning, it does everything in its power to credibly close those information gaps, to minimise uncertainty, to build confidence and trust.

I see uncertainty as just one of the many tools of repression. The repression to which I refer is that which routs and enervates the spirit, that stifles honest questions and the analysis that should follow honest answers, that reduces questioning minds to grunting, sweaty bodies allowed no other outlet than to stay in their corners and wine down low - a hellish spectacle brilliantly employed by 3CANAL in their song "Salt."

No matter how I have turned this around in my head, I cannot accept our state of uncertainty. I cannot accept managers who conveniently do not know what is going on or who remain silent about how they are taking care of the country's business. Minister Fuad Khan did give me hope recently with the manner in which he first responded to the ambulance fiasco and then went on to get to the bottom of what had occurred while reporting back to the public. Am I just easily impressed or is it because these displays of servant-leadership and honesty are all too rare? I cannot at this point provide a catalog of all the many instances since May 2010, where we have been left in shocked disbelief to conjugate our perennial state of ignorance:

I don't know,
you don't know,
he/she/it doesn't know,
we don't know,
they don't know.

With religion we are taught that we should not question God's plan. God's ways, after all, are not our ways. I had never expected after reaching adulthood, that the same surrender would be due to any man. What happens in the mind of the adult Trinbagonian who is denied this right? And is it even a right in our country? Are we that kind of democracy yet?

..............................................................................................................................

"Patria est communis omnium parens" - Our native land is the common parent of us all. Keep it beautiful, make it even more so.

Blessed is all of creation
Blessed be my beautiful people
Blessed be the day of our awakening
Blessed is my country
Blessed are her patient hills.

Mweh ka allay!
Guanaguanare

Respect

...respecting your countrymen and country.

Some words have been coming to mind with increasing frequency recently and "respect" is one of them. I think that the concept will become more and more important in our country as we begin to awake to the realization that we are ONE. I believe that respect is something you give to whatever you value, whatever you wish to be associated with. Disrespect is what you reserve for the thing from which you are disconnected, the thing which you do not understand or value, the thing which you would prefer to exclude. When we begin to acknowledge and appreciate our interconnectedness, it becomes more difficult to withdraw into the enclaves encouraged by the "we" and "them" attitude.

As a people, we often disrespect ourselves and each other. I will not try here to list the historical facts which entrenched this sort of selfish callousness but that cycle has to be broken before we are completely broken by it.

Because I had observed that manna and the good rain both fall from high places, I used to make the mistake of dreaming that the initiative to cultivate self-respect and respect for each other could come from governments. I no longer believe this. I think that it will have to be demanded and cultivated by the people. Until we understand how disrespecting ourselves has brought us to this point, we should not be surprised when those within and outside of our society continue to disrespect us also.

"...what you do to yourself or to your kind you cannot but invite others to do the same to you, and to your kind." ---Ashis Nandy

Recently Professor Ramesh Deosoran, reporting on the findings of the Police Service Commission, said:

"the status of investigations regarding certain critical matters which affected the public’s interest would have been put to Gibbs at least six or seven times when meetings were held.

He said: “Those responses have been dilatory, obscure and rather than he (Gibbs) answering he kept asking us questions as to why we want it. “And we found that sort of disrespectful. That tendency seems to be growing on the part of the commissioner and from other information I have gathered from other authorities that tendency of disrespect seems to be increasing and it is something we, as a commission, I think, have to tame that somewhat in the very near future.” SOURCE

It bears repeating:

"...what you do to yourself or to your kind you cannot but invite others to do the same to you, and to your kind." ---Ashis Nandy

If the Commissioner is in fact as disrespectful as Professor Deosaran has alleged, then I would say that he has taken his cue from his own observations of what is allowed in our society.

Whether you choose to view it like this or not, I believe that the Leader of the Opposition is demanding respect. Which other voice in this country has asked of the government more probing questions about how it conducts OUR business? Whether these questions are viewed as pertinent or impertinent depends obviously on the ear of the listener, but questions, even irritating ones, need to be answered. It is disrespectful to attempt to muzzle. I want to imagine that this disrespect is what the Leader of the Opposition, Keith Rowley was referring to when he said in his announcement about the filing of the motion of no-confidence: "We've just had enough."

Disrespect is a gateway injustice. If we do not discourage it but instead continue to invite and cultivate it, it will continue to keep the tracks clear for countless opportunistic and even more intractable evils.

..............................................................................................................................
"Patria est communis omnium parens" - Our native land is the common parent of us all. Keep it beautiful, make it even more so.

Blessed is all of creation
Blessed be my beautiful people
Blessed be the day of our awakening
Blessed is my country
Blessed are her patient hills.

Mweh ka allay!
Guanaguanare

Bring Down The Power [Song]

...Wanting The Best For EVERYONE.

Uploaded by IsDePanInMe

BRING DOWN THE POWER

By Ella Andall

Bring down the power of love I say. Bring down the power!
The power of love, I say, is the greatest power!
Stop hell and damnation. Bring down the power!
Love to heal a nation is the greatest power!

A wind of destruction is blowing over this land [Over this land]
And now the earth is a-trembling with man's oppression of man. [Bring down the power!]
Now the time come to sit down and rediscover what's life. [What is life]
Show the world the true meaning of real love power, not strife. [Bring down the power!]

Bring down the power of love I say [Bring down the power!]
The power of love, I say, is the greatest power.
Stop hell and damnation [Bring down the power!]
Love to heal a nation. [Is the greatest power!]

Put a hand, fan the fire and cleanse the wicked right now. [Right now]
All of them who does worship greed and vanity, must bow. [Bring down the power!]
Unity is the banner, so come together, I say, [I say]
And this love is for freedom, it growing stronger each day. [Bring down the power!]

Bring down the power of love, I say, [Bring down the power!]
The power of love, I say, is the greatest power.
Stop hell and damnation, [Bring down the power!]
Love to heal a nation. [Is the greatest power!]

So rejoice in a rhythm of celebration, come on [Come on!]
Lift your voice with a feeling of satisfaction as one [Bring down the power!]
And let we move with a purpose, all freedom-lovers hold tight [Hold tight!]
Stepping out of the darkness with one direction in sight [Bring down the power!]

Bring down the power of love, I say [Bring down the power!]
The power of love, I say, is the greatest power
Stop hell and damnation [Bring down the power!]
Love to heal a nation [Is the greatest power]
[Bring down the power!]
Bring down the power of love, I say [Bring down the power!]
The power of love I say [Bring down the power!]
Stop hell and damnation. [Bring down the power!]

Source: The lyrics posted on this blog are often transcribed directly from performances. Although it is my intention to faithfully transcribe I do not get all the words and I have a knack for hearing the wrong thing. Please feel free to correct me or to fill in the words that I miss by dropping me a message via e-mail. I'd be forever grateful. Thanks in advance! ..............................................................................................................................




A Note From The Gull

Thank you, Ella Andall. Every time I hear this song I am struck by its power and beauty and generousity.

"Patria est communis omnium parens" - Our native land is the common parent of us all. Keep it beautiful, make it even more so.

Blessed is all of creation
Blessed be my beautiful people
Blessed be the day of our awakening
Blessed is my country
Blessed are her patient hills.

Mweh ka allay!
Guanaguanare

Changing The World One Child At A Time.

....Strengthening The Nation's Roots.

Partnering with Parlatuvier…Teacher of the year engages the village to raise school children.
By Michelle Loubon
Trinidad and Tobago Guardian | Sun, 2011-02-13 19:13

The small fishing village of Parlatuvier, Tobago, was well represented by Parlatuvier Anglican Primary teacher, Isabel Burris-Paul at Cascadia Hotel, St Ann’s, last Saturday. The gala event which celebrated the teacher of the year was hosted by the Trinidad and Tobago Unified Teachers’ Association (TTUTA).

TTUTA’s president Roustan Job, scores of dignitaries and teachers attended the event. Burris-Paul, 34, graciously accepted the award for her contribution to the Parlatuvier community and its children.She said: “I was a little overwhelmed. But I was also humbled by the experience. I guess if it had to deal with anything, it had to be my track record. I am initiating new things. I try to do things differently. I am active in the school and community.”

She never had any aspirations to become teacher of the year. But paid kudos to the Tobago arm of TTUTA for recognising her outstanding contribution. She said: “The quality of your effort should not depend upon whether your effort is being recognised. I love teaching and I love the students. Teaching consumes your entire life.”

Support from parents, residents

Parlatuvier residents were taught they were stakeholders in the children’s education and holistic development. “I emphasised the need for a lot of parental support, support from the staff and community. I was able to get the community and families involved.” Burris-Paul strove diligently to move the school’s position in the Secondary Entrance Assessment from 39. “Our school moved from 39 to ten. We introduced new classroom initiatives such as board games to improve critical thinking.”

Another grand initiative was Helping Our Past Pupils Excel (Hope). “We would monitor SEA students who graduated to high school. We would keep building on the school, family and community partnership. “A lot of them had issues with self-esteem. We had to ensure a greater chance of success,” added Burris-Paul.

Motivational speakers including Cecille Beckles and former independent senator, Dr Eastlyn Mc Kenzie urged the children to work steadfastly towards their goals and contribute to national development. They also learned Parlatuvier had produced illustrious gentlemen including Caricom Secretary General Dr Edwin Carrington, educator Wilfred Carrington and UWI lecturer Mervyn Elder.

About Burris-Paul

Isabel Burris-Paul had the distinction of attending Parlatuvier Anglican Primary School, too. At eight, she went to live with Emelda Stewart, principal at Parlatuvier Anglican EC and attended Les Couteaux (Winston Bailey’s hometown) Anglican School. While she loved her parents Samuel and Theresa Low-Burris, she grew up at Mt Grace with Stewart.

“She was my mother and mentor and she had no children.” Along with her husband Learie Paul, she lives at Spring Garden . Burris-Paul is a member of the Black Rock Heritage Village Council, writes for the TTUTA’s newspaper and the church’s magazine, Outlook. Reflecting on her spiritual side, she said: “God has brought me through some challenges which I would not have been able to handle without His grace.”

She also thanked profoundly the people who had contributed to the development of her personal and professional life. She attended Bishop’s High School. At university Dr Jerome Delisle was rather instrumental in her success. She graduated from the St Augustine campus with First Class Honours) specialising in Social Studies. She intends to read for a Masters in Education soon. Meanwhile, she is looking forward to attending an Effective Schools Conference at Arizona, USA next month.

Advice for teachers

Quizzed on her advice for teachers, she said: “Don’t be afraid to try new things and unconventional methods to get the students to learn. Once there is determination and that fighting spirit, success would come as sure as night follows day.”

Educators comment:

Parlatuvier principal Aaron Reid said: “The school has been elated. It has strengthened our motivation to proceed further toward our goal.” First vice president of TTUTA)/Teacher of the Year 2010 Devanand Sinanan said: “She is a worthy successor. She will carry the flag well. She is a very good candidate for the post of teacher of the year.”

..............................................................................................................................


A Note From The Gull

Thank you, Isabel Burris-Paul. If I had $2 million dollars lying around, I'd think that a Teacher of the Year would be among the most deserving recipients. I am very proud of you. Parlatuvier is a lucky place. Thanks also to all the teachers who also won awards and all the others in T&T who love what they do and never lose sight, through all the hardships, of the children that they teach and their futures.

"Patria est communis omnium parens" - Our native land is the common parent of us all. Keep it beautiful, make it even more so.

Blessed is all of creation
Blessed be my beautiful people
Blessed be the day of our awakening
Blessed is my country
Blessed are her patient hills.

Mweh ka allay!
Guanaguanare

Do Something Good [Song]

Uploaded by ScorpioPetey

...Contagious.
DO SOMETHING GOOD
By Bill Trotman

Sponsor a child, make a sad person smile
Love with no end, save something for a friend.

It feels so good when you doing something good for somebody
It feels so good when you doing something good for somebody.

Play a love song, don't keep a good man down
Do share a care for a baby somewhere.

It feels so good when you doing something good for somebody
It feels so good when you doing something good for somebody.

Give up your seat, make your whole day a treat
Say a kind word, don't ever be absurd.

It feels so good when you doing something good for somebody
It feels so good when you doing something good for somebody.

It feels so good when you doing something good for somebody
It feels so good when you doing something good for somebody.

Be a big brother for children in Africa
Be a true friend, let's save all the children.

It feels so good when you doing something good for somebody
It feels so good when you doing something good for somebody.

Sharing in caring, caring is sharing
Give of your soul, make this a better world.

It feels so good when you doing something good for somebody
It feels so good when you doing something good for somebody.

It feels so good when you doing something good for somebody
It feels so good when you doing something good for somebody.

It feels so good when you doing something good for somebody
It feels so good when you doing something good for somebody.

Source: The lyrics posted on this blog are often transcribed directly from performances. Although it is my intention to faithfully transcribe I do not get all the words and I have a knack for hearing the wrong thing. Please feel free to correct me or to fill in the words that I miss by dropping me a message via e-mail. I'd be forever grateful. Thanks in advance!
..............................................................................................................................
"Patria est communis omnium parens" - Our native land is the common parent of us all. Keep it beautiful, make it even more so.

Blessed is all of creation
Blessed be my beautiful people
Blessed be the day of our awakening
Blessed is my country
Blessed are her patient hills.

Mweh ka allay!
Guanaguanare

No Replacements [Song]

Uploaded by trinidesi

...Acknowledging The Giants Upon Whose Shoulders We Stand.
NO REPLACEMENTS
By Brother Valentino

Dedicated to these faithful departed
And who was here from since the struggle started
May their souls rest in peace and may the struggle never cease
Let us pay our respect and homage to these past icons and pioneers
Who brought calypso to where it is through blood, sweat and tears
There could never be another Kitchener, there could never be another Spoiler
No more will we see the Roaring Lion, he will never roar again in this land.
Men like Pretender, Terror, Cypher and the Lord Cristo
Who could replace them in calypso?
I don't know...

For calypso history month we should recognise
The ones who contributed to this paradise
All who made us dance, who opened our eyes,
Who made us laugh, who made us wise
Although these great calypsonians are now dead and gone
By their works, their names will always live on.
How could we forget the warlord, Blakie, Ras Shorty I and Lord Melody
What about the Iron Man, Zandolie, the Stickman who controlled Sangre Grande
The Mighty Duke, ------------, Mighty Dougla and the Lord Maestro
Sando, who could replace them in calypso?
I don't know...

Conqueror, Brigo, Power and Bomber say we facing a cultural disaster
Explainer, All Rounder asking the same question,
Where have all the calypsonians gone?
Composer tell me not a batch presently could build on the foundation
That was laid down by the icons who sang their lives out for this nation.
Dennis Franklin Williams - the man Merchant, his contribution was so important
------- Prowler, the Mighty Sniper, Invader, Young Tailor, Beginner and Commander
Men like Attila, Executor, Tiger and the Lord Popo
Who could replace them in calypso?
I don't know...

Like Almanac, Blakie, departed one by one to a higher plane in Kaisodom
So now is the changing of the guards and all I am seeing is them soca bards
Mudada tell me there's a scarcity, Lord Nelson say it's a tragedy
We have a shortage of calypsonians down here in T&T.
They better cherish Baron and Shadow, De Fosto, Gypsy, Luta -------- and Rio
David Rudder, Relator Aloes and Cro Cro, Chalkdust, Superior, Stalin and Sparrow
When you hear them fellahs say, "Goodbye, Au revoir, Adios, Pancho!"
Who could replace them in calypso?

Source: The lyrics posted on this blog are often transcribed directly from performances. Although it is my intention to faithfully transcribe I do not get all the words and I have a knack for hearing the wrong thing. Please feel free to correct me or to fill in the words that I miss by dropping me a message via e-mail. I'd be forever grateful. Thanks in advance!
..............................................................................................................................




A Note From The Gull

Thank you, Brother Valentino! I am bowing low. Who could replace YOU in calypso?

Happy Valentine's Day, T&T!

"Patria est communis omnium parens" - Our native land is the common parent of us all. Keep it beautiful, make it even more so.

Blessed is all of creation
Blessed be my beautiful people
Blessed be the day of our awakening
Blessed is my country
Blessed are her patient hills.

Mweh ka allay!
Guanaguanare

The Multiplier

...Sharing Kindness.

The Multiplier: How long would it take for 1.5 million people to be each touched by kindness? Well if just thirty-six thousand people would do three acts of kindness each day for two weeks, each time choosing a new recipient, each time finding someone outside of their usual circle of associates to touch, it might take at most a period of two weeks. Two weeks is not a long time and it really does make a difference when a person is unexpectedly blessed with another person's kindness. Without even being conscious of it, the recipient is more inclined to pass on the kindness, increasing the ranks of the initial thirty-six thousand multipliers...maybe in the end the nation could be touched in less than two weeks.

People give up the enjoyment of certain things as one way of doing penance. Unless you are allowing someone else to experience the pleasure that you are avoiding, who does this help really? During the multiplier, there is no need to give up anything but a call to give away something - kindness. It will all come back to us.

..............................................................................................................................
"Patria est communis omnium parens" - Our native land is the common parent of us all. Keep it beautiful, make it even more so.

Blessed is all of creation
Blessed be my beautiful people
Blessed be the day of our awakening
Blessed is my country
Blessed are her patient hills.

Mweh ka allay!
Guanaguanare

Trini Shark, Pleased To Make Your Acquaintance.

...Listening To Our People

Today, I discovered an interesting channel on YouTube. It is called ActivismTT. I started viewing some of the videos and I was drawn to the Trini Shark series of commentaries because I took an instant liking to the shark. Well that was the hook that got my attention.

"Trini Shark on Communication" is one of my favourites. Embedding is disabled so I don't have the pleasure of displaying it here but do go to ActivismTT's channel and have a look. I have provided below a transcript of this particular comment by Trini Shark:

Trini Shark: "Hi folks!
Trini Shark wants to know when will the government of Trinidad and Tobago and everybody involved in the leadership realise that communication involves a two-way exchange. We have Kamla, UNC. We have PNM, etc. tweeting, Facebook, all ONE-WAY. No opportunity to dialogue, to discuss. Trini Shark not like that. You talk to me, I listen. And remember, beware, there are lots of sharks out there.
Bye for now."

This is a subject that is close to my heart and I have written about it under Operation Mindstrap. For me, it is not enough to hear promises that the government is going to listen. I want to see steps being taken to operationalise that promise to "listen" and I do not mean interception of citizens' communications.

How is our government listening, and to whom? Is it noting only what is reported and analysed by the media? Is it collecting the comments made by online readers? Is it studying what the MP's hear by chance in their communities? Is it paying attention mainly to its support base? Is it going along with opinions and directives from interfering and not necessarily benign external parties and/or their internal agents?

What mechanisms are in place for soliciting and acting upon feedback [complaints, concerns, ideas] from the population? I always remember that famous conclusion last year gleaned from "cottage meeting" polls à la Tesheira that the property tax was supported by "the majority of the population." For me that was just more evidence of a government that was pretending to be listening. And when Roodal Moonilal said in parliament, after the appointment of the foreign CoP was approved earlier this year:

"the average man in the street did not care whether the person appointed was local or foreign.

“Whether it is a local or foreigner, they do not care if it is Dwayne Gibbs, Lance Gibbs or Andy Gibbs, let us move on to the next challenge..." SOURCE

how exactly had he had come by this information? Granted, the persons taking the time to comment online may not have been comprised only of "average" men in the street but I got the distinct impression from the debates, that those for and against had equal weight.

I understand that it is easier for a government to just make it up as it goes along to convince us that the homework has been done and that the best decisions have been made. But if it could get just this one promise right - the promise to listen and deliberate upon and act upon what is heard, it would be the foundation upon which all other deliverables could be achieved.

The people, our people, live in all the corners of this nation and all across the globe. They know what the problems are and they are the government's best scouts. If they know that it wants to hear, they will talk. If they understand that it is really listening, they will help this government to get it right. Why shouldn't any government want to get it right?

Trini Shark, really pleased to make your acquaintance.
..............................................................................................................................
"Patria est communis omnium parens" - Our native land is the common parent of us all. Keep it beautiful, make it even more so.

Blessed is all of creation
Blessed be my beautiful people
Blessed be the day of our awakening
Blessed is my country
Blessed are her patient hills.

Mweh ka allay!
Guanaguanare

PNM Mule to Cobo PP: "Stop Scapegoating And Start Governing."

...Accepting Useful Messages For The Nation Even When Their Messengers Annoy.

"Though quite prepared to deal with any mischief directed at me, I hope I will no longer be called upon to account for matters that are now properly under the control of this Government. Stop scapegoating and start governing,"

These words, directed at the People's Partnership government and its leader, concluded the Trinidad & Tobago Express' coverage of the press release issued on Wednesday 8 December 2010 by former Prime Minister, Patrick Manning. Though he was focussing specifically on the astounding fancy footwork surrounding the "discovery" of the spying agency and the subsequent fallout, these words sum up what many of us, including some of us who continue to support the new government, have been feeling.

Patrick Manning's words brought Killer's calypso "Mule and Cobo" hurtling back to my mind. It located itself in the current political situation in T&T and presented itself as a metaphor for the relationship between the PP and the PNM. Under the influence of the song's story, I reworded Mister Manning's statement to the PP to read, "Take your head out of my erse and mind your own!"

Big joke you'll hear, just take it cool
This happen with the cobo and a mule
Big joke you'll hear, just take it cool
This happen with the cobo and a mule
The mule feel tired so he lie down
Cobo think he dead, he fly down on the ground
Hungry like fire, fus he want to eat
Chook he head by the tail to test the meat.

Poor PNM Mule, exhausted after a sound thrashing, decides post May 24, 2010 to take a little rest to catch its breath. Next thing, the Cobo PP is making some bold assumptions and taking live body to make carcass. It decides to swoop down across the aisle to "test the meat." Well, as is the habit of vultures, the Cobo PP must choose a weak spot to begin its feast, and the Good Lord knows PNM Mule is more weak spot than mule. Cobo PP decides to zone in on the anal orifice. Who send it!

PNM Mule: WTA!! Well ask a question nah?

Cobo PP learns immediately that the PNM Mule is very much alive and kicking as it scrambles to its feet and takes off pelting down the street, "Brigadip brigadip, the mule running..."

[Brigadip brigadip, the mule running]
As if he flying with the cobo lock behind
[Brigadip brigadip, the mule running]
As if he flying with the cobo lock behind.

Well both of them now in lacouray. PNM Mule is bolting down the road with Cobo PP's head trapped in a hot, steamy sphincter clench.

According to this song the PNM Mule is defeated but no mention is made of the fate of the unfortunate Cobo PP. All indications are that the Cobo PP will go the way of the PNM Mule, the two having locked themselves irreversibly in mortal combat.

Some of us may already be concluding that it might not be a bad thing if they do put each other out of their miseries. Maybe with the two zombie light blockers removed, something new and improved will finally have a chance to reach for the sky.

If it eventually breaks free from this tailspin, the Cobo PP would have learned one lesson: Never assume that anything is dead until you can actually see grass growing through its rib cage. Don't make any arrogant assumptions about the PNM Mule and its hidden reserves of strength. True, it looks like death warmed over, but you ever hear 'bout playing dead to catch cobo alive?

The more you spend time attacking the PNM Mule and the past, the more it appears that you cannot envision or realise a better future.

Patrick Manning asks an important question, "Is this incompetence, carelessness, indifference or worse?"

All I know without a doubt is that after all that we have endured, the citizens of this country should not be asked to choose from that list which extends the miserable choices being considered here - incompetence or corruption.

PP and PNM, we are watching you both. You can take each other down but we are NOT going down with you. Whenever you try to slip us mediocrity or worse, you will be told in no uncertain terms to scrap it and take it, and yourselves, back to the drawing board. We understand that evolution is iterative and we will be patient and help you if we feel that you are worthy of TRUST. If you haven't realised it by now, TRUST is the crucial element that is missing.

Just have some respect for the people who voted for you. Have some respect for yourselves and the legacy that you will leave behind. Have some respect for our nation.

Cobo PP, do try to extricate your head from the PNM Mule's erse and let us move forward. While it is clearly too late for you to amaze us with an ability to hit the ground running AND sounding like political thoroughbreds, I want to believe with every feather on my body that it is NOT TOO LATE for you to wheel and come again.

Well, I couldn't believe what I seeing
Behind the mule tail the cobo was flying
Friends, look I laugh, I nearly dead
Seeing the cobo and I cannot see the head.

[Brigadip brigadip, the mule running]
As if he flying with the cobo lock behind.
[Brigadip brigadip, the mule running]
As if he flying with the cobo lock behind."

Listen to Leon Roach's rendition of Killer's "Mule And Cobo" courtesy we7.
[Link will open in new window.]

Manning: Incompetence or carelessness?
SIA confusion
By Ria Taitt Political Editor
Trinidad & Tobago Express | Dec 9, 2010

Confusion reigns supreme at the highest levels of the Government which is creating "despair and uncertainty" at home and "growing derision" abroad, former prime minister Patrick Manning has stated.

In a press release issued yesterday, Manning spoke of the "dangerous spectacle" of the Commissioner of Police having to contradict the Prime Minister on the matter of accounting responsibilities of the SIA, with the Prime Minister eventually having to admit she was wrong.

"And all done through blaring headlines in the newspapers," Manning said in a press release issued yesterday.

"What in the world is going on here? Is this how you manage the critical matter of our national security, by generating unnecessary and dangerous tensions between the political directorate and the leadership of this critical arm of the law?" Manning asked.

Manning said it was inconceivable that the Prime Minister, as Chairman of the National Security Council, should not have immediately known who has responsibility for the SIA.

"Is this incompetence, carelessness, indifference or worse? It is disconcerting for the country that the Prime Minister has again had to correct an error. This regular need for our nation's leader to backtrack and apologise cannot generate confidence in the leadership of Trinidad and Tobago. Instead, it is creating despair and uncertainty at home and growing derision abroad," he said.

The former prime minister said the growing tensions between the Prime Minister and the Commissioner of Police arising from the matter of the files as well as from the problem of mounting criminal activity, were alarming. "First, there was the very public upbraiding of Mr Gibbs and the leadership of the Police Service in a much publicised visit to Police Headquarters as part of a carefully orchestrated piece of political theatre. After all, the show of governing must go on," he said.

Manning said Justice Minister Herbert Volney has attempted, "in his wild way", to solve the growing mystery of the missing SIA files by claiming knowledge of their destruction by "two shady Israeli individuals". Manning said Volney also suggested that he (Manning) as former prime minister, knew what happened to the documents.

"Mr Volney will have to eventually clarify his own mystery of Middle-Eastern intervention in matters of national security. However, I wish to make it absolutely clear that I have no such information with which I am credited by the Minister. I have been out of the Office of the Prime Minister for going on seven months, I know nothing of where these files are," he said.

Manning said no one is able to reveal the whereabouts of these files.

"But Mr Ashworth Jack says he saw them and so has a leading journalist. However, the Prime Minister claims categorically that she has never had these files, nor has she ever set eyes on them. Yet she comes to the Parliament revealing information supposedly contained in these files, and holding documents aloft, waving them theatrically to support her claims," he said.

"What is the truth Prime Minister? Did you or did you not ever have these files in your possession? Have you ever seen them? Did you ever read any of them, certainly, for example, the ones that would have contained the names of those individuals whose names you so carelessly called in Parliament? If not, it was scandalously irresponsible of you not to verify the source of the information that you gave to the nation with such fanfare and indignant self-righteousness. Speak the truth to us, Prime Minister. That's only fair," Manning stated.

Manning suggested that CoP Dwayne Gibbs be called upon to shed much needed light on these matters, at least to reassure citizens that the files are secure, safe from mischievous intent on the part of unscrupulous individuals.

"We look forward to hearing from the Commissioner of Police, who, so far, has been speaking clearly and plainly to us, unlike the Prime Minister and many in her Cabinet. The nation should be spared any further shocks on this matter as well as the entertaining allegations of Mr Volney," Manning said.

"Though quite prepared to deal with any mischief directed at me, I hope I will no longer be called upon to account for matters that are now properly under the control of this Government. Stop scapegoating and start governing," he said.

..............................................................................................................................
"Patria est communis omnium parens" - Our native land is the common parent of us all. Keep it beautiful, make it even more so.

Blessed is all of creation
Blessed be my beautiful people
Blessed be the day of our awakening
Blessed is my country
Blessed are her patient hills.

Mweh ka allay!
Guanaguanare