Politics is about power and if you don’t have it, you are always going to be at the receiving end. The law of the jungle was supposed to be something of the past and rule of the people, by the people and for the people was supposed to be the norm. The reality is that we have been stuck with the Leviathan or strong woman. We want to sit at home and hope that our security would be taken care of by the government. Well, you are now getting the results and you should be man enough to accept it!
This brings me to the electoral politics and political parties. We live in a democracy, and we have institutions to ensure the selection of a government through the ballot. It means therefore that without a political party one cannot form government and shape policies to run the country as we desire. So, when we choose to abandon or resign ourselves to small talks, we are unconsciously revealing our class identity.
Imagine that those who find Kamla Persad-Bissessar unfit to lead the UNC cannot defeat her in an internal election. Most of these complainants are not even registered members of the UNC, more so to cast a vote for a candidate opposed to Kamla.
The truth is most of us feel privileged with the few dollars in our pockets, a regular job and steady flow of income that afford us shopping in a mall where there is safe parking. Our current material comforts appear to be a huge achievement that eclipsed concerns about the lack of medication in the hospitals or large areas of the country under flood water after the slightest drizzle.
It is the grassroots that can be mobilized to vote in a UNC internal government. The individuals whose stomachs are full are inaccessible. Like Kumkaran, they eat lavishly and wake up only after it is too late. Apart from cussing Kamla, these ‘mouth millionaires’ and ‘scholars’ cannot be spoken to as they celebrate their elevation from the rice and cane fields to the air-conditioned offices.
In the mandirs, our youths are absent. They are too big to participate in activities for personal development. Most of them are not engaged in any constructive social group-literary, hiking, weightlifting or cricket club etc. These people don’t even like themselves! Is the LGBQ community our biggest demand for human rights and social justice? Not even our farmers and our unemployed young graduates are sounding their grievances. As for the business community and victims of crimes, they seem to be afraid to speak out for fear of offending the powers that be.
Have we been living in desperation for so long that we are unaware of the safety and freedoms were enjoys? We are still living in a democracy with freedom of expression, the right to criticize a government and the right to form political parties and contest elections.
It is becoming clearer to me that most of us have defined our rights very simply: the right to curry a duck; the right to drink a bottle of rum and the right to cut a cake and celebrate our birthdays. And not forgetting the right to gamble, to assemble by the Play Whe machine to pursue our dreams.
Society is made up of individuals and if a society must be strong, then it is the responsibility of the individuals to be strong. It is easy to blame leaders and elders for our social conditions, but we must accept that we have the final say in whatever we do or don’t.
Complaining about a government day in day out and not taking any organized step to influence the changes you so desire is desperation and frustration. It is only those with a calm head that would think through a plan of action and execute it for the desired result.
So, if your goal is self-importance then you should pursue it… drive your SUVs with the air condition on and glass up, heavily tinted and feeling like a Maharaja…you can even swear a deed pole and become a Maharaja overnight…you don’t need to have subjects, just one maid who you can exploit to the max and remind her that you are the raja.