‘Nelsongate’ is not the first scandal to rock T&T. Throughout the ages this society strives on a culture of lawlessness and exploitation. It was always a culture of pillage, loot, and rape. Common decency that is supposed to be the bedrock of all civilized societies has been dumped in exchange for a parasitic lifestyle.
When a Spanish Governor felt that the encomienda was inhumane and attempted to outlaw it, protest came from Africans who were owners of encomienda. The Governor abandoned his noble plan because he feared that the Africans might withdrew their military support when the island was under attack by invading forces.
The exploitation of the Amerindians later switched to the African slaves and finally to the Indians. When the church started its evangelizing mission among the Indians, those early converts alienated themselves from the community and began knocking on the doors of Creole Society. They began identifying with Carnival, Christmas and Santa Claus rather than Phagwa, Diwali and Mother Lakshmi. It was now left to those cultivating the fields to diversify not only the economy and professions but also the culture. Dressed in a long-sleeved white shirt, tie and black pants clutching a Bible under the arm on a Sunday morning was the fad. Thankfully, for the Hindus such aping was horrendous and they opted for business and the professions and self-employment rather that a culture of State dependency.
Imagine the silence of the Law Association amidst this legal fiasco! This is a natural outcome when one enters the Creole World where training as a lawyer or doctor was not about justice or caring for the sick but escaping the rigors of field labor. Kamla Persad-Bissesar pointed out that ‘In the face of Nelsongate, the same Law Association, which in the past has criticized all Attorneys General for overstepping their bounds, remains until today as silent lambs.”
The nation has witnessed the rapid-fire response of the Law Association when members of the UNC are under scrutiny stemming from false charges. It appears that in the psyche of the office bearers of the Law Association the PNM is above public scrutiny and that breaches of the law are confined to a UNC government.
An unwritten culture in this society is that Hindus must bat in their creases. In fact, over the years the Maha Sabha and the DLP/UNC have always been identified as the misnomer in the society. While the Hindus have fought for democracy and equal opportunity over the years, the Islamic and Christian elites have joined forces with Creole Society for an image of civility and progress, much to the detriment of the masses.
Most interestingly is the increasing trend of a section of anti- Maha Sabha Hindus to join hands with the Creole Society with the false notion that they can get justice from within the PNM. The case of Kamal Mohammad and his mistreatment by the PNM has not penetrated their thick skulls. The PNM has not named a single public institution after him. To add insult to injury, the government offered to name the round about at Diwali Nagar after him and the family finally found some courage to refuse.
Let’s be realistic! The PNM has identified the enemies- the Ramlogans, the Ramdeens, the Singhs, the Maharajs; not the Mohammeds or the Alis. When the Patrick Manning administration attempted to pervert justice their targets were the Occah Seepauls, the Sat Sharmas and Vijay Narinesinghs.
Unfortunately, a few aspiring Hindu leaders prefer to hand out sandwiches and hampers to flood victims than appeal to the government to take corrective measures to stop the floods. Even the lack of funding for culture from the State is of no concern to them since they access funding through the back door in the Ministry of Culture.
Despite this blatant discrimination, the common refrain in social circles is to question the competence of Kamal Persad -Bissessar. This fear of speaking out for justice is witnessing our society sliding into a rapidly Creolizing Society which can be translated to State dependency. Thus explains the silence of the Law Association and other professional bodies. They understand that the surest way to qualify for benefits from the largess of the State is to go to Church and play mas and not to comment on the wrongs of the PNM.
The solution to this fiasco is a strong privatization drive to move the people away from dependency. Even the tourism sector is compromised when the budget reading pledges a distribution of grants to hoteliers in Tobago. Whether it is Douglas or Patterson or any other lawyer, getting briefs from the State is the only sure way to own money to purchase a condo in Miami.
