From Ethnic Cleansing to Ethnic Stocking

In this country yuh does always know in advance when cyanaval start.

Since the People’s Partnership came into government on May 24th 2010, it has been accused of discrimination of all kinds. Are these claims of discrimination with merit? Or are they simply effects of good old politics? And then there is always the issue of corruption en mass, but that’s a whole other issue.

The Jamaica Observer in a recent Editorial claims that the present government is indeed practicing discrimination, it states;

“the current Government of Trinidad and Tobago has systematically practised ethnic stocking; rewarding individuals with positions even though they not qualified, either by professional training or by pertinent transferable work experience.”

I think the paper needs to give the source of inspiration for such an editorial, it would be interesting to find out what informed such remarks. I mean, even if one were to attempt to make up this he could not, so there must be someone providing info, who is this person? In the same way when some years ago we heard about Indian women being raped by African men [which as we understand it, turned out to be Indian men wearing wigs] and Indians were running away from T&T, in the same way we got to the truth back then, we must also demand details on this story. Because as with everything, there must be some context, the Editor would not simply wake up one morning and decide to do such a commentary on a country he does not live in. I can safely put my life on the line in saying that this has everything to do with politics and nothing more.

Oh, BTW, is this an Editorial or a news report? It does not read like an Editorial to me. Anyways.

But Dr. Winford James seems to think differently and I must say he presents a good argument here.

Now, assuming the editorial writer lives outside of Trinidad and Tobago, probably in Jamaica, we can agree quite easily that we, living here in this blighted country know far more about the matter than he or she. We know that in the vast majority of cases the appointees to the headships and memberships of state boards and committees are Indos, with a smattering of Afros and others as mostly convenient tokens of ethnic diversity. It's in our faces every living day! The question is, How can we change to a situation of appointment by merit and ethnic evenhandedness? Ethnic stocking has never done us any good as different peoples seeking to build one society out of our diversity. It did us no good under the PNM, and it isn't doing us any good under this UNC Government masquerading as a People's Partnership.

He goes on to conclude “Ethnic stocking has never done us any good as different peoples seeking to build one society out of our diversity. It did us no good under the PNM, and it isn't doing us any good under this UNC Government masquerading as a People's Partnership.”

In response to the Observer’s Editorial, Minister Warner asked where they were when the PNM practiced ethnic stocking and asked for the author to be revealed. I agree with Warner on that because someone should not be allowed to make such claims and not expect to be challenged. But when Warner starts going on about not one Hindu has been appointed by the PNM, then we have serious issues, Warner continues;

“For more than 30 years, not a Hindu was appointed or elected as a member of government by the PNM, and yet the Observer dare speak about ethnic stocking? The old adage that cockroach should not meddle in fowl business is relevant to the Observer in this context," stated Warner.”

Make no mistake, this type of rhetoric based purely on appealing to the emotions of blind party loyalists. The fact is that East Indians have always held positions in government, it’s possible that it’s not based on inclusion but rather on support of the then government [PNM], that has nothing to do with inclusiveness really.

Trinidad & Tobago’s High Commissioner to Jamaica, Rev Dr Iva Gloudon, also issued a statement to the newspaper on Wednesday expressing disappointment and regret over the editorial:

"As the High Commissioner for Trinidad and Tobago to Jamaica, let me first respectfully say that in my experience, there are times when shouting across the Caribbean Sea does not help a cause. I must, therefore, use this opportunity to say, softly, that it is with regret and disappointment that I read the Jamaica Observer's editorial of Tuesday 11, November, 2012 "The Abuse of Substance. My main concern is that so much of what was said lacked, among other things, respect and an overall understanding of the complexity of Governance in the Caribbean. When logic and empirical evidence are not presented one often resorts to generalisations which can become inflammatory."

The Chairman of the youth arm of the United National Congress, Nicholas Morris has also demanded an apology, stating that the government is about equality, inclusion, transparency and all the rest.

The youth arm claims the statements in the editorial are not true, as over the past two years the People’s Partnership Government, led by Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar, has operated not only on the pillars of transparency and morality but also on one of equality and inclusion.

“The People’s Partnership Government has implemented polices that has not only sought to develop and better the standard of living of each and every citizen of Trinidad and Tobago but also to be representative of all the different races, religions and cultural backgrounds.
“Evidence of the Government’s practice of equality and inclusion is seen from the very top, where the Cabinet of T&T comprises a diverse group of individuals, all coming from different ethnic groups, religions and cultural backgrounds."

The Jamaica Observer has responded to Minister Warner’s and the UNC’s Youth Arm: “In an emailed response to Newsday, Jamaica Observer’s Executive Editor (Operations) Desmond Allen said: “The Jamaica Observer has the fullest respect and admiration for the people of Trinidad and Tobago and their leaders. Any offence taken from our editorial was absolutely unintended.”

Something has always troubled me with this talk about Indians getting all the wuk. First off, it is a fact that when governments change, boards are changed, so that's out of the way. Now, for the PP to stock up boards etc. with Indians, it means that they have to replace someone right? So who were those someones? Were they Africans? If they were, because the claim is that Africans are being replaced by Indians, then what was it back then? Could that also be ethnic stocking?

A response to the above would be "hey, the PNM was about equality", well lets say they were, there were Indians and Africans on boards etc. Are we saying that the PP is removing all the Africans and leaving the Indians? I doubt that very much, therefore it is more likely that they would remove everyone appointed by the PNM and replace them with PP supporters. So how is that ethnic stocking exactly?

I have always had issues with this talk about racism, it just makes no sense. But of course there are racist persons who live and practice racism in this country, we not going to deny this. I think it is so easy to get into this race talk because of the make-up of the base support of both major parties, it allows politicians to make the remarks effectively appealing to tribal instincts. And the politicians take advantage of this; they keep the two major groups going at each other, fighting for the scraps as they loot the treasury.

We really need to move past this nonsense and begin to really look at the serious issues like accountability, equality, transparency, people empowerment. For decades we have been doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results. That’s ludicrous at best.