Dear Editor:
This commentary is about the politics of national identity and the UNC, PP and PNM governments in Trinidad and Tobago. It focuses on East Indian (Indo-Trinidadian) culture in the Caribbean Festival of Arts (CARIFESTA).
Under the Basdeo Panday’s UNC (1995-2001) and Kamla Persad-Bissessar’s PP (2010-2015) governments, Indian culture suffered the same fate as it is being afflicted under the present Dr Keith Rowley’s PNM.
In the history of governmental politics in T&T, there has never been an Indo-Trinidadian Minister or Junior Minister, or even Minister in the Ministry of Culture/Multiculturalism.
Panday appointed Dr. Daphne Phillips as the Minister of Culture and Gender Affairs.
Persad-Bissessar appointed Winston “Gypsy” Peters as Minister of Arts & Culture (2010-2012) and later Dr. Lincoln Douglas as Minister of Arts & Multiculturalism (2012-2015).
Rowley selected Dr. Nyan Elizabeth Gadsby Dolly as the Minister of Community Development, Culture & Arts.
To add insult to injury, there has never been an Indo-Trinidadian Advisor to the Minister of Culture. Under Persad-Bissessar’s PP, Dennis “Sprangalang” Hall was appointed Special Advisor to “Gypsy” Peters. The PP Government turned a blind eye to the institutional bias in the ministries that dealt with culture.
The one constant factor in all of these changes in the Ministry (Division) of Culture is Mrs. Ingrid Ryan-Ruben. She has been the Director of Culture over all these years. Whether she is the master mind behind the marginalisation of Indian culture in that Ministry is a topic to be investigated. When another party – not the UNC, PP or PNM - comes to power, senior officials in that Ministry would have to be investigated and possibly charged for misbehaviour in public office.
CARIFESTA is a regional multicultural show organised on a periodic basis by Caribbean governments. This mega show was conceptualised by dictator President Forbes Burnham of Guyana (1980-1985). The 10-day concert and display include singers, musicians, actors, authors, artists, etc. whose international airfare, hotel accommodation and honorium are paid by their respective governments.
When Panday was in power, CARIFESTA was held in St Kitts & Nevis in 2000. When Persad-Bissesser was Prime Minister, it was held in Suriname in 2013 and Haiti in 2015. The status of Indian culture in these multicultural festivals was maintained as a token aspect of Trinbago culture under these two Indian Prime Ministers.
CARIFESTA XIII was held in Barbados on August 17 to 27, 2017. It was premiered at NAPA in Port of Spain on August 9, 2017. In keeping with tradition, about 90% of the audience at NAPA consisted of non-Indians.
The concert included eleven (11) items with only three (27%) of the performances being on Indian culture. There were two (2) Indian dances by Janelle Pundit and the Vijay Seeramlal’s performance, and a song by Neval Chatelal. In total, there were only 4 (7%) Indian performers in a cast of 60. Therefore, of the 60-member delegation selected to go to Barbados, 93% were Afro-Trinidadians. Indians were grossly underrepresented because they comprise the largest ethnic group in T&T (35% of the population). They also comprised almost the same number as Afro-Trinidadians (34%) in the population.
The large cast of North West Laventille Cultural Movement performed twice just as the National Theatre Arts Company of T&T and Newtown Playboys Steel Ensemble. Other performances featured Tobago Dancers and Spoken Word (Derron Sandy). There were more Tobago dancers as well as Limbo dancers than Indian dancers.
Afro-Trinbagoian performances included the salaka drum dance and an Ibo religious feast portrayal with Yoruba songs and Congo drumming. There were also stick plays and black minstrel dances. Some of these acts included as many as 10 members.
The Craft Exhibition in the foyer at NAPA included miniature Carnival and African dolls; tie-dye fabric; glass bead necklaces, earrings and bracelets; hand bags; ceramics jars and tea cups; calabash pots; toy tops; cutting boards; shak-shak; etc. It is in this creative space that discrimination against Indian culture becomes obscene.
There were no displays of local Indian art and craft items such as mehindi, rangoli, crepe paper cutting, clay deya and pots, cokeyeh brooms, chulha [fire side], mortars and pestles, mowree [bride’s headpieces], phooknee [blowpipes], daal ghotni [swizzle sticks] dabla [wooden ladle], peerhaa [small low benches], sil and lorha [grinding stones], dhantal [metallic percussion instruments], tassa and dholak [drums], miniature windmills, etc.
The CARIFESTA XIII Trinbagoian delegation in Barbados did not include any biraha [extempo], pichakree [like calypso], chutney, tassa or Ramleela performers.
Ramleela in T&T has received global attention. It is unique to this country and no longer performed in Suriname and Guyana. Ramleela has also been proclaimed by UNESCO as a Masterpiece of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity in 2005.
Samaroo Avatar, El Dorado, Trinidad |
Dear Editor:
I would like to add my voice to those of many others, including Christopher Ram, Dr Troy Thomas of the Transparency Institute, the Extractive Industry Transparency Initiative (EITI), and editors and columnists of our various media, calling for the immediate release of the oil and gas contract. We have a right to know what our politicians are guarding from our knowledge without any convincing explanation as to why they are doing so. Guyana has taken a beating economically since we got independence over 50 years ago, and after all this time, this small, resource rich nation of less than ¾ of a million people is still struggling to provide a decent lifestyle for the people.
The gold industry pioneered by the private sector is now the biggest national revenue earner, but because of poor management and regulations along with the big stick attitude of governments that benefited a chosen few, none of the enormous profits of this major industry have been enjoyed across the board by the people of Guyana, who own this precious resource. Oil can go this same route if we are again complacent and allow ourselves to be kept out of the picture.
Many see the discovery of oil as a bright star at the end of the tunnel, but this star could quickly fade if we do not make very strong demands and let it be known that we are not going to sit by while a few enjoy what is rightly ours.
Our politicians are at present behaving as though they, and only they, know what is good for us. If we do not demand and continue to demand that we be privy to this important contract then we can never complain should we be the losers yet again.
Does the APNU+AFC coalition know something that will shatter any dream of progress we the people have of benefiting from oil and gas, or are they holding out to make a grand disclosure at the appropriate time, which they are hoping can force a change of minds in reconsidering them for re-election? We must not allow this contract to be used as political football or an enticement to re-elect a government which has shown little imagination and creativity in dealing with this economy at its current level.
Make no mistake the oil is ours and not that of a few politicians or any political party, and certainly not that of ExxonMobil.
They should show us the contract now!
Bernard Ramsay via email |