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Well here we are, twenty-five later as a Borough and supposedly as Masters of our own destiny. Ready to celebrate with pomp and pageantry, boasting to all who are willing to listen “what a great festival Borough week is” and brainwashing ourselves into believing that we have come a long way and that good days are here again. There are those amongst us who no doubt will disagree with such a cynical opening and would say that Borough week is really “we carnival” and that people like yours truly should not take life so serious and that we should just enjoy de ting and free up.
Hollow Accolade. I am all for freeing up and liming like some do under furniture shops and groceries on a week-end but any cursory glance at the society around us quickly brings us back to the sobering reality that it is not enough to be know as the cultural capital of T&T. What a hollow accolade if our community is gripped with the same frustration and social decay that prevails our country. Need we be reminded… In such times of gaiety and nostalgic reflections; catching up on old friends; having a boat ride from our Clifton “Rocks” beach to Port of Spain and party party party; how can one expect any meaningful reflection of where we are today as a people and a community? Need we be reminded … Ø Of the thousands of our youth who in 2005 will “waltz” through our school system unsure of what they can do and what they will be? Ø That despite the politicking of the issue, criminal behaviour still stalks our land as a wicked stepmother casting her ugly spell upon our young people? Ø Of an impotent West Indies cricket team under the guidance of a foreign coach - from a nation that we whipped twenty five years ago - struggling to score mediocre totals and causing emotional pain to die-hard fans who keep watching? Ø That a nation that produced a World Cup bound football team as early as 1973 is today – again under a foreign coach – struggling to make qualifiers and depending on “guilt” to get people to fill the stadium?
Ethos It is in such an ethos of failure and insecurity that we find ourselves celebrating twenty-five years of Borough day. Confidence exemplified. Twenty-five years ago the youth of Point Fortin witnessed the “Father of the nation” bestow upon us the designation of Borough, not because he felt generous but rather (I am sure) in response to the promptings of men who dared to dream that this community of past achievement; could achieve even more on the national landscape of a developing nation. Indeed there is no doubt that back in those days the average Point Youth walked with an air of confidence. Confident that they could achieve whatever they set their minds to. This was based on the achievements of the era and the (then) mood of the country. What era you ask? Ø It was an era of sporting success when the feats of the great De Leon, Cave, Archibald, et al; still echoed in our consciousness as their achievements were told with pride by the older ones in our community. Ø It was an era when we had only recently achieved world championship status in Netball with “the Charleau girl” numbered amongst the team members. Ø It was a time when the Civic Center team could challenge the national basketball team to a game at Mahaica and beat them with “Voot” playing for the national team. Ø It was time when “Sugars” was faster than Boldon and he had mastered his craft in the oval and not in California. Ø It was an era where - under Tony Peters - every athlete in “Jets” was confident that the club could beat any club in the country and were champions even in Village Olympics. Compare if you will, the teenage in those times with a teen today and the environmental differences are startling. Add to the previous era an all conquering West Indies team - who were traveling the world playing with a style and bravado all their own - and you begin to understand the bankruptcy of today’s social climate in which our young people are developing. In fact there can (and should) also be a discussion about Oil companies (Trintoc and Trintopec) of that time that were completely run by nationals and performed to world standards while preparing for growth and development on lands now used by a certain LNG tenant. Mirrored Confidence If any community mirrored confidence and hope at any time in our nation’s history; it was Point Fortin in those early days. Agenda Yet there is a real reluctance to put this issue of a societal “crisis of confidence” on our national agenda, we rather play soca all day; all night and think that is not good marketing to talk about our present circumstance since it might offend our “tenants” who in turn might not give out the perfunctory hand-out from time to time. One of the enduring memories of the golden era of West Indies cricket is seeing Sir Vivian fielding at 1st or 2nd slip with his red gold and green wrist band (in support of Africa and the ANC in particular) and chewing his gum as if to say “I am doing things my way and who doh like it – tough”. He made sure that while he played his cricket and worked for living as a professional sportsman, he never forgot who he was. Heroes?? Today in this era of cable and video games, it appears that we think ourselves as an extension of the US and so we take on a mental imperialism on our own without it being imposed on us. So our heroes are “Fifty” and Jay-Z and those in our own society who can cross-over from singing trash to selling trash and become rich. We all want to become rich as quickly as we retrieve money in the ATM when we enter our PIN. We somehow think that there is a magic “PIN” in this life; that if discovered, will make us instantly rich. So our values are rooted in our “bling bling”, “beamers”, our “ragger” styles and bad boy (girl) looks. It’s a Pity. I pity the youth today who never took to time to learn that before he played for the New York Cosmos, “Dilly” lived on the field in Mahaica, training hard to master his craft. I pity the youth who does not know that long before Jordan switched the ball from his right hand to his left in scoring a basket in an NBA game, Larry “Engine” Belfon was doing exactly that during afternoon sweats in Mahaica. Need I go on???? Message. The message is simple; our young people need hope and a healthy belief in themselves and their inherent abilities to succeed. No one has any more right to success than another. The Community owes a debt of gratitude to the many sportsmen, technical craftsmen and professionals of an early Point Fortin. I can confidently say that based on -: Ø their example, Ø the all conquering West Indies team and Ø a politics of possibility and mastery our own destiny that existed then, I developed a sense of self-esteem that has guided me along the way. END...
The Challenge of Holistic Development. There is a biblical instruction found in the book of Proverbs that encourages careful study of the insects known as ants particularly for their industry, teamwork and development of community. Over the years many facts have emerged on the behavior and habits of ants. Some of these facts are very well known but what may not be so well known is the paradoxical nature of these beasts. One such fact is the one that identifies that "the an ant can lift fifty times its own weight, can pull thirty times its own weight but always falls over on its right side when intoxicated." It is useful to remember this paradox as we contemplate the holistic development of Point Fortin as a community and indeed the overall development of the country. The facts are well known; the Point Fortin area developed in the early days primarily as a result of the establishment of the oil industry in the area - particularly the refinery and the land and sea production fields. The community “inherited” from our multinational “guests” such facilities as our sporting fields - Mahacia Oval was once the Junior Staff Club’s ground - our hospital and some utility related items such as electricity, water and even natural gas distribution. Additionally it was no secret that the fortunes and prosperity of the community “rose and fell” in sympathy with the fortunes of the oil industry. On the wider national scene the gospel of direct foreign investment was well practiced and many plants and infrastructure were established as a result of overseas firms establishing their operations in Trinidad. In fact many social and economic thinkers marveled at the abundance of our natural resources and the magnitude of our foreign investment inflows. The inability or ability of our efforts as a nation to fully realize the developmental benefits of these investments is now a matter of history and will not be repeated here. As we contemplate the news of a soon to be completed Train 4 at the Atlantic LNG plant and the proposed smelter for the Cap-de-ville area, we can't escape the feelings of déjà vu. In fact one wonders if like the ant in our opening illustration, we will not fall down by the “intoxication” of our achievements in the energy sector. Today Point Fortin is confronted with issues that are important to our development as a community in the 21st century. While we proceed with the construction of the energy plants, these issues cry out for our attention. Foremost amongst these are the following: · The sustainability of our natural environment, such as the remedial works to the Clifton Hill and Point Ligoure beaches and shorelines, and the purity and functionality of our waterways. · The need to develop sustainable business activity that is independent of the "plant" and enjoys competitive advantage through the knowledge and competence of its human resource. · The need to achieve training and competence in our youths that allows for their full participation in the businesses of the community. This involves the traditional academic training as well as the skill development type training. · The realization of quality infrastructure such as roads, electricity, water distribution and drainage facilities.
· The achievement of quality of life in the community, through cultural activities, sporting excellence and family recreation activities. This vision of simultaneous development is not beyond our grasp. We must believe that this vision is attainable and from that belief must spring the conviction to "make it happen". There are signs today that encourage us along the way. The success of our cultural efforts in music is heartening in as much the same way as the former successes of our sportsmen and women of yesteryear. All of the preceding discussion really extols the virtue of holistic development and begs the question of leadership and the exercising of leadership in the community (and the nation) in relation to these issues. We must acknowledge however, that there are many arguments that seek to present a position at odds with our proposed view of holistic development. Therefore before proceeding with a discussion of these arguments, it may be useful to define our understanding of the term. Holistic community (and/or national) development, it is the multi-faceted growth and development of the community or the country that focuses on the traditional vehicles of economic growth such as the monetization of natural resources, while at the same time pursuing - and achieving - growth in "quality of life" parameters such as education, health care, environmental protection and cultural identity. Some of the opponents to this approach suggest that no one entity can be all things to all men. They further contend and that business must see about profit realization, local government must see about infrastructure and government must ensure human resource and economic development. This approach is no different to the cacophony of noise one may experience if all members of a steelband side were to play the sounds they think they play best rather that that commanded by the musical conductor/director. Today's leadership of our community requires the complete vision and skill of the band conductor, or the steelband captain. We are in need of mechanisms and more importantly some person or organization that will take on the mantle of leadership. There is need for someone to ensure that whilst the construction activity proceeds; - the roads are repaired, - the homes served with natural gas increases not decreases, - our business chamber expands and includes more Point Fortin members, - our youth are not only employed but employable - our beaches are there for our and our children's enjoyment. We can no longer afford to fall on our sides apparently intoxicated by our big achievement when the fundamentals of community and nation - building are left to decay. The challenge therefore is not just for example our roads but also our systems and our approaches. The time has come to grow forests rather than plant trees, to build communities rather than build houses, to experience true quality of life. The time has come to measure our progress as a community not in terms of balance of payments and other monetary indicators but rather in terms of quality of life parameters, for example literacy. Let the mighty achievements in the energy projects galvanize us into dreaming and working to make all things work together for good
Fatal Shooting.The recent fatal shooting of a young man, allegedly by a police officer during a period of revelry and debauchery, left the reflective members of the community and the country with a deep sense of despair and indeed hopelessness. This feeling is not new and if we are honest, we will admit that we have felt this way on numerous occasions as we encounter the horror and crime stories, masochistic editors keep pushing in our faces every day in our newspapers and in our TV screens. How we feel. We feel it as well when we consider that simple common sense approaches to developing and managing our community are ignored and we instead witness a kind of impotence that passes for leadership. How else can we explain functions that talk about the setting up of art and culture centers – clearly focused on perpetuating this wine, jam and singing trash culture – rather presenting plans for community development that recognizes the reality of the existence of four LNG trains with more to come, pending smelters and inadequate infrastructure. How farcical to be arguing over catering contracts for functions when our community languishes for direction and our large natural gas tenants continue to window wash their tenure with “a little cricket here and a little pool there”. But I digress. The focus is on this sense of defeat and despondency we experience whenever we contemplate our future. It is easy to let this morbid sense of defeat overwhelm us to the point where we look forward to the limes, the drinks, the fetes and the foreign travel, that will for brief moments in time help us forget our despair and provide the ephemeral high that additive drugs give. The time has come … The time has come – if we hear the sense of urgency in Mervyn Caton Snr’s cries and pleas – to recognize that only when we confront our issues head on, will we develop as a community and as a nation. You may ask how we do that. The answer lies in the fundamentals - the fundamentals of society, our lives and our spirit. Illustration To illustrate this concept of fundamentals, consider an experience in the life of Jesus Christ, recorded in the biblical gospels that tell of Jesus ascending to a mountain top with three of his twelve disciples while the other nine remain at the foot of the mountain surrounded by a curious crowd of on-lookers that steadily increases. The account details that while on the mountain top Jesus is visited by God’s presence and Enoch and Moses. Interestingly as this transfiguration is occurring on the mountain top, the crowd at the bottom of the mountain is joined by a man with a demon possessed son, who desires that his son be healed. Knowing the connection of the nine disciples to the master (Jesus) the man quite naturally asks the men (at the bottom of the mountain) to remove this evil from the life of his son and his family. The disciples apparently wave their hands and say the words but the boy is still possessed and soon the crowd jeers at the disciples and ridicules them. Totally dejected these disciples are relived to see Jesus and the other three descend from the mountain (top) and in one prayer Jesus heals the boys and silences the crowd - who quickly disperses – the drama being over. Alone again with Jesus, the disciples ask the real question of their hearts, “Why could we not cast him out?” meaning the demon. Jesus’ answers by suggesting that the power to drive away present evil and restore peace to persons is acquired when the disciples spend more time in prayer and fasting. A rather simplistic answer you may think, but interestingly Jesus was saying “go back to the fundamentals of spiritual power if you are to exercise spiritual power”. Fundamentals. Herein is a basis for hope in our current situation. By applying the meaning of this story to our current situation we can conclude that to really excel as a community and a country we need to refocus on the fundamental building blocks of our society. These can be summarized in another biblical quote, when in describing the growth of a young Jesus the book of Luke records that he increased in “wisdom, stature and in favor of both God and man.” In other words there is a need for the society to re-focus on Ø education and mental health, Ø physical development through sports and hard work, Ø helping people Ø and acquiring and living a spiritual lifestyle complete with its set of values.
If we accept this framework then the community’s leadership, parents, institutions and exemplars need to ensure that: Education. The physical infrastructure of our schools is in first class shape. The offices of some construction contractors are in some instances more comfortable than our schools. Our schools need to have the right physical plant to facilitate good learning and an environment of excellence. More importantly parents in our community need to elevate education to a level that is admired by our youth and recognize that with hard work, most of our children will succeed even if they are not what we consider “bright”. The fact of the matter is that learning via reading is lifelong process and together with things like a study timetable at home, a curfew on TV and Games and a ban on “party” and gangster lyrics music can produce good citizens for our society. Citizens who will be inclined to contribute back to the community as they get older. Fitzgerald Jeffery has on a recent forum floated the idea of today’s student spending more time in school. Given where we are right now that is a suggestion worth considering. Personal Physical Development. There is no gainsaying that there are numerous self-esteem benefits to be had by being fit and excelling in some sporting area. It is not enough for our young people to sit and “play” with the latest game boy or X-Box, but rather they need coaching in some junior program by dedicated people like “Villa” and “Isa”, to develop their physical capabilities and in extension their mental and people skills. This suggests that there is a real need to institutionalise coaching programs, sports clubs, and sporting competitions. It goes without saying that the provision of facilities for sports is a key part of our efforts to re-gain our society. Our youth need to channel their energies and emotions into wholesome sporting pursuits which provide an outlet for them as well as spurn their development and character building. Non Governmental Organisations. Who toady are running the Civic Centers, or clubs like Dynamos and Starland, when last have you seen a Jaycees or Kiwanis club, how many youths are really in the youth groups of the various churches in our communities? It is a hollow expectation to think that Government initiated social programs alone will help our “bad boy” youths, our drug addicted citizens or our battered wives and mothers. The values of programs like those cited before are priceless. Our society needs a good dose of unselfishness. There is therapeutic value to the individual when we devote more of our energies on helping others rather than just trying to help ourselves. Where is the compassion in the society that keeps quiet when a “ghetto” youth is shot, but marches when the elite of our society are violated? These are times when the wisdom of Martin Luther Link of the sixties echoes with real meaning when he said, “If I have eaten and my brother is hungry then I am also hungry.” This focus on others rather than ourselves is a must if we are to win back our society. We must be convinced that I’m not OK if you are not OK. Let us then seek to reinvigorate our village councils, our youth and sports clubs, our ladies clubs, our adult literacy classes and … the list goes on and on. Get off the fence and get involved, beyond just the next fete but in the lives of someone less fortunate as ourselves. Spiritual Finally the soul of the community the nation can only be found in the souls of the people who comprise the society. We trivialise religion and think is a nice “thing” only for our children but at an adult stage well … “we run things”. However there must be a real recognition that this is a key fundamental building block to taking back and the rebuilding of our society. Our community and our nation are both filled with churches, second only to rum shops as institutions go, but are we really optimising the potential for the churches to change ourselves and our society. Too often we wear our religion as we would a bracelet or a watch, that is, to either show it off or check it every now and again to say we in bad times. Such an approach is akin to “bottom of the mountain thinking” when what we really need is “mountain top living”. We can no more build our community without a spiritual “fundamental” than we can build a concrete house without mixing the cement and the stone with water. Possibilities Think about the possibilities for our community and our nation if our churches were open every day, feeding, teaching and clothing. Think of what will happen if these bands of aimless youths were imbued with a sense that they are controlled not by wizards and goblins like in a Harry Porter movie, but by a loving powerful God who is willing to guide them. Just imaging them raising “dey haaaannnnddd in the air” for God rather that for … and think about the difference it can make. In summary then, when confronted with the question of whether we can regain our society and “cast the evil” of social decay away, the answer should be YES WE CAN. A total focus on the fundamentals of education, sports, people and spiritual things will win it back for us. What have we got to lose??
A Culture of Learning, Knowledge and Excellence. Cultural Capital?
Worldwide Trends. While we bask in the glow of such fame it is important to take some time to appreciate the developments in the world of which we are a part. On the global level the major economies of the world are galloping in a GDP race that continues despite the wars and battles being fought all over the globe. The industrialised nations are seeing significant growth in their economies, to the extent that; China is now regarded as a superpower more so for her economic might rather than for her military strength; Europe continues to grow and trade between nations of the EU is steadily improving despite their many protestations to the contrary. Even the so-called terrorist nations like Libya and Iran are growing significantly and who can ignore the military and economic might of “non-aligned” nations like India and Pakistan. Regionally we see the expansion of our energy rich neighbour -Venezuela - even when there are questions about their democracy. Locally we are also witnessing an expansion of our gas industry in ways that we never imagined a few years ago. Knowledge Worker. It is against this backdrop that the issue of culture is raised. In fact recent articles in our own newspapers by people like Mary King and Rolf Balgobin of IOB, have reiterated that today’s world requires a knowledge worker who is very acquainted with the technologies of the day and whose educational aspirations are such, that they are able to function in today’s world seamlessly. In accepting such a discussion it is reasonable to conclude that the fate of a nation is directly linked to the knowledge of its citizens. It might even be fair to say that such nations have a “culture of learning excellence and knowledge” that motivates their citizens to acquire knowledge not just to “geh ah wok” but rather to enrich their daily lives. How foolish then, to limit our understanding of culture to just music, soca and the arts. Would it not be more advantageous for our country and our community to develop a culture of learning and excellence in every sphere of knowledge and especially in the technologies around us? What is Culture? There is a definition of culture that refers to it as “the software of the brain or the society”. That is a fantastic definition since it conveys the impression that culture is really a reflection of who we are as a people and what we have “programmed” ourselves to be. Think long and hard about this. What is the “software” of the people of Point Fortin twenty-five years later? What are we programmed to accomplish? The answers to these questions should point to a serious and urgent need to re-focus our young people on learning, education and knowledge. Would it not be more valuable if our arguments “on de block” had less of “hear wah I think or feel” and more of “well, based on my readings” or “from the latest statistics”? We sometimes stand and wring our hands in despair over the fact that our people do not man technical jobs in our community, but do we have knowledge workers? Are we encouraging our young people to do well at the sciences as well as the arts? Clearly there is a need to direct our youths and ourselves to a type of “total” learning that creates a well-rounded individual. For instance if your talent is singing, then with your knowledge of science you can better understand how to cut your next CD and the business side of pushing the music to the market. Pappy ShowToo many of our people think that all we can do in Point is lime and have a good time, let us take back Point Fortin with a culture of learning, excellence and knowledge. Let us celebrate the children who do well in schools and stop the major companies from “pappy showing” them for their own selfish gain. Let us encourage computer use amongst our young people so hooked on cell phones and video games, let us encourage the next welder you meet to study metals and materials and be a metallurgist, let us encourage the next man you meet who can draw, to study architecture or civil engineering, let us … The list goes on and on. Growth ImperativesGiven the growth imperatives of our country no longer can Point Fortin afford to be known as the cultural capital but rather a place that has a culture of learning excellence and knowledge. Our development demands it, our legacy to our children demand it. A More Knowledgeable CommunityA more knowledgeable community will stop the next pillage of our beaches and our labour resources by the next exporters of our natural resources. A knowledge community will develop a long-term plan for our community that understands that there is a need for holistic, vision 2020 development that causes our community to survive. Past ExperienceIf you think this position is far fetched remember what knowledgeable players like De Leon, Cave, Archibald, David and Brewster did for football in this community and in this country. Remember what a knowledgeable coach like Tony Peters did for athletics in this community and in this country. Remember what “Voot” and “Engine” did with their knowledge of the game of basketball to our community and our country. I rest my case! If we wish to see another twenty-five years but with the result that our community is prosperous then; promote and encourage learning, study and discussion in our community that creates a culture of learning, knowledge and excellence. END
The Power of our Ideas and beliefs.
What a tradegy? An animal with majestic capabilities lived a yard fowl life because she believed she that was all she could do. As we seek to apply this story to our present day experiences we can apply the lessons from this story to our nation our community and to our selves. With respect to our nation, there is a real need to make vision 2020 a reality. This is no longer about political persuation or cynicism in leadership but rather a realization of a belief that we can escape the typical labels of third worldism and achieve developed country status. There are those who display the yard fowl mentality and spend significan time decring the state of our country and our institutions. A lot of these voices are in places that we can no longer trust as being objective and exemplar like our radio staions morning, noon and night, like in some of our newspaper columnist and even in our pulpits and temples. There are millions of voices telling us we cannot and we can only achieve yard fowl status but there’s an eagle voice in me that I listen too that say I believe we can fly. I believe that with our natural resources on our country and that our neighbors provides us with a tremendous opportunity to achieve better infrasture for our citizens, roads, water, electricity, beaches, parks; better health care for our citizens inclkuding world class operations and better education for our young people. At this point allow me to comment on pet peeve I have and that is our belief in our nationhood and our self determination. There is today a very superficial approach to any discussion on our development. We find it easy to hold on to such jokers like 50 cents and commands to wave yuh hand en de air, year after year. But ask for a real discussion about who we are and where we are going and the audience disappears. In the past there was vibrant discussions about national wealth and the role of multinationals in our community, who can forget the the economic words of Arthur Lewis, the vision of Williams, the passion of Ture or the pragmatism of Pantin. Yet today in our information age our youth are bombarded with cable and veido games that numbs any discussion on nation building et al. We know more about Broklyn tthan Mayaro and we can argue and store prices in Flatbush rather than our Caribbean Single market and Economy. There is very little opportunity for debate on the imperatives of the FTAA et al. Again yard fowl thinking in the face of eagle opportunity.
Recent newspaper coverage of a Point Fortin symposium facilitated by the National Committee for Self Discovery, is a classic example of misplaced priorities and conjures up images of Emperor Nero of early century Rome, fiddling while his city and country burns. It is more than ironic that the newspapers shows pictures of a smiling President Richards sitting easily and comfortably while apparently being entertained by the “royal wise men” who attempt to convince him of our rich cultural heritage and the merits of a entertainer who invested his earnings in risk-adverse ventures. It is ironic, because while the newspapers carries this nice soft story that some editor sticks in the lifestyle section of the paper, the Business section (of the same newspaper) carries stories of whether the future of the country lies in Cedros and La Brea and a two-page feature on the great Industrialization debate. How much more misguided can we become? While John Cupid and others feel it incumbent to convince all and sundry about the cultural traditions of Point Fortin and the person most responsible for the demise of Civic Center as a sustainable football entity in the 1980’s – Richard Braithwaite - attempts to convince the people of Point Fortin about the importance of sports, the rest of the country is forging ahead on an industrialization juggernaut that will leave the Point Fortin Community in its wake, if we are not prepared to tame and ride the “beast” to safety. It is just a coincidence that both the President and the Mayor are engineers by profession, due to careers they started and developed in the now defunct Point Fortin Refinery? Yet we are pre-occupied with establishing this identity as a “cultural capital” where the use of the culture as an adjective in this context implies music, dance and folklore. It is important to reiterate over and over again that culture is “the software of the brain” and if we program our young people to think that they can only aspire to beat drums and entertain the rest of the country with weak lyrics and strong rhythms then we are poor role models who are committing a greater criminal disaster on a community than any despotic leader could. The very history we espouse will in future judge today’s leaders of the community as being criminally negligent if we persist in this path. Simply put, there are more important issues to be debated and discussed by our leaders. For instance, what are the implications for a community with four LNG trains, petrochemical plants to the north of us, Aluminum smelters to the south of us and all the technical university campuses in central, Wallerfield and St. Augustine? What is the future of our three secondary schools and two tertiary technical training institutes in the context of these developments? How do we facilitate the development of appropriate service industries and how relevant is the development of additional Free Zone areas given the ephemeral nature of tenants like Carlisle who scamper at the first sign of trouble? What are the competencies of our young people? Are they doing well in Math and Science and should the large companies now resident in the community better focus their efforts on science teaching infrastructure in the schools and incentives to teachers in such areas? It no secret that our society - like the rest of the country - is experiencing significant challenges amongst our young people, particularly when it relates to focusing them on sustainability behaviors and creating a “culture” of excellence. There is a real imperative for this community to develop a Master plan for the future. Others have said it before but it needs repeating, since the solution seems to elude us day after day. The history of the old Babylonian empire under Belshazzar its king is a useful illustration of our current situation. The book of Daniel in the Bible tells the story of Belshazzar hosting a party, eating feteing and “putting he haaannnnd in de air” on “his property”. The festivities are happening because the king is secure in the fact that his city is big and walled and therefore he focuses on his “culture” of partying with vessels seized in previous raids. While the party swings, the neighboring enemy nation of the Medes and the Persians, dam the Euphrates River that runs through the city. They then enter the city via the now dried up river bed and soon captures the city and destroys the king and his kingdom. In the end the city was destroyed because of misplaced priorities by the leaders. Sounds familiar? Are we today partying while the rivers of young technical talent are drying up, shooting up one another and dropping out of the system? There is no doubt that we need cultural expressions and sport to enrich our lives but we need to build our cities and preserve them from the threats both without and within. This is not an attempt to present specific development initiatives but a call for all to accept the need for a social re-engineering of our society and a refocus of our people by our leaders, to the imperatives for success. If we fail to address these issues we are more than likely to emerge as a pawn community pushed around by the developments to the north and to the south and to be more than likely destroyed like Belshazzar. As we approach the Yuletide season and the end of another year, my little Christmas wish is for visionary leadership that will not settle for the scrums off the table of national development by will demand a place in this space called Trinidad. That we will not sit at the fireplace waiting for some Santa to bestow his trinkets upon us but that we will through planning and deliberate efforts, secure a destiny for our community that will make a life worth staying and enjoying for the next generation who follows after us. Fitzroy Harewood. Fitzroy.harewood@yahoo.com
Citizens Engagement. Tell a friend about this article.
Only the superficial and fanatic loyalists amongst us would casually dismiss the wave of sporadic community protests that now seem regular in Trinidad and Tobago including the one recently witnessed in the Guapo area. Such actions must not be trivialized and dismissed as the work of a recalcitrant few, while “the silent majority” looks on with disdain. World Trend In some ways the actions of the communities and villagers are but a microscopic reflection of a global trend that seems to be reverting to “people” leaders who understand their role and commitment to their society and its members. We are very much experiencing a new world order that values leaders like Chavez of Venezuela, Morales of Bolivia, Fernando of Brazil, Sonia Gandhi of India and Hamas of Palestine. This phenomenon now threatens Vicente Fox of Mexico and other world leaders who have become callous with their leadership positions and who have are effectively leading a disengaged electorate. In the context of the issues of the world - other than terrorism - leaders of countries are now more than ever recognizing the need to engage their citizens in “mental marketing” to win acceptance for their political and economic agenda. Engagement. In this context then it is worthwhile to explore the concept of engagement and see if there is any application to communities such as ours in Point Fortin. There are many published papers on this question of engagement but the following excerpt from the website of the Institute of Employment Studies is particularly enlightening. It states, inter alia, “What is engagement?The first step in our research was to investigate what HR professionals understood or meant when they used the term ‘engagement’. A clear view of the behaviors demonstrated by the engaged employee emerged: · belief in the organisation · desire to work to make things better · understanding of business context and the ‘bigger picture’ · respectful of, and helpful to, colleagues · willingness to ‘go the extra mile’ · keeping up to date with developments in the field. Engagement has clear overlaps with the more exhaustively researched concepts of commitment and organisational citizenship behavior, but there are also differences. In particular, engagement is two-way: organizations must work to engage the employee, who in turn has a choice about the level of engagement to offer the employer.”
The Drivers of Employee Engagement, Robinson D, Perryman S, Hayday S, IES Report 408 http://www.employment-studies.co.uk/summary/summary.php?id=408
Application to Communities. While this quote speaks primarily to the employee/employer relationship, it should be fairly obvious that there is real applicability to the citizens of a country and communities. Essentially we can conclude that if leaders of our communities, cities and country work to engage the citizens, then the citizens are less likely to exhibit protest actions and show greater alignment for development initiatives. Engaged Leaders For citizens to be engaged, leaders must of necessity make the time to consult them on their own development. As an illustration, if a young lady is engaged to a man who thinks that he alone knows what’s best for her and he “bosses” her around by telling her where to live, how to dress, when to bathe, when to go out etc. then soon enough the young lady will either leave such a man or “horn” such a man. The writing is on the wall, if as a leader's) you reject the views and opinions of your citizenry, then you do so at your own long-term peril. The days of a “few” deciding on the long-term betterment of the “many” are over. Hence the reason that people are unmoved, cynical and skeptical by the site preparations at Union Estate, or the signing of smelter agreements. They were not consulted and so what initial engagement previously existed is now wearing off and eventually the protests begin. The Farmer and the Obeah man. This reluctance by leaders and multinational corporate communication leaders to engage the citizenry is reminiscent of a story told years ago. It’s the story of a farmer who owned a huge estate, but after some years he found that his business of farming was not performing and his crops were not producing as well as he expected. In order to solve his problem he went to a village “Obeah” man for advice. The Obeah man told him to take four candles and - starting from one corner of his property - walk slowly along the perimeter of the property. At each corner he was required to place one of the candles until he had placed all four. The farmer was so desperate that he followed the advice the very next day and as he proceeded from one corner to the next he noticed that there were some holes in his fence that allowed pests and other animals to enter the farm and destroy his crops. By the time he had completed the entire perimeter, he had witnessed a series of problems with his farm. He realized immediately that if he fixed these problems, his farm would do better. As the year passed the farm did much better, not because of the candles on the corner, but because the farmer walked the field more regularly and listened to people who worked for him. This story illustrates that there is a lot to be gained when leaders deliberately seek to engage their citizens. There is an inescapable need to walk the perimeters of our communities and recognize that the issues faced by the populace are real to each of us and therefore we demand engagement of the issues.
Insulting In the world of relationships, engagement leads to marriage - an even closer union. How different the population of Point Fortin would have been if we were engaged on the destruction of our beach at Clifton Hill, on the construction of world scale plants and smelters, on the building of long term tertiary education institutes and the development of our roads and access networks. How insulting to wake up one morning and read in the newspaper that some have decided we are a cultural capital when all around us are heavy petrochemical industries. As citizens, we long for leaders who; · are committed to courtship and engagement and who will talk to us with tears and not teargas, · whose only rubber are their shoes and not their bullets and · will talk to us before signing MOU’s and not talk to us about signed MOU’s. · loves us enough to be engaged to us.
Fitzroy Harewood.
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