The 1986 Panday, Robinson , and Karl political NAR alliance was the best opportunity we had to make a difference , but we won’t bore readers at this juncture as to why they fail. Can we say selfishness, limited respect for the other , and blatant distrust by the power brokers who due to political immaturity ,wanted to perform magic of ‘having their cakes and eat it’ at the same time.
Panday ,Ramdath , and Sudama destroyed Robbie ,and in the process indirectly elevated an ex horse cop footballer Imam Baker , and empowered Lord Manning and his wife Lady Hazel . Robbie as President, got his sweetest revenge agains his alleged traitor Panday in 2000/2001 post elections. Karl went on to become a leading Caribbean high powered legal luminary , and then an ICC Judge , as he said to hell with dem crazy Trinis politics, while the much despised Ken Gordon continues to take care of his media fiefdom.
It is true that the much touted daily bogus cries of governmental directed racial discrimination, interethnic genocidal labels won’t stick, when examined in more informed ,respectable global circles . Now if you and I recognized that , so does the political divisive agents that perpetuate them – so the fundamental question is – why do they persist in such foolhardy adventures? It’s call desperation , that results in pandering to a mainly illiterate base.
Very perceptive of you to observe my deliberate UNC “as presently constituted” remark. If they choose , the UNC can definitely beat the PNM , but can never win again with Mr. Panday and his minions at the helm. The masses though considerably dumb in the views of more competent local experts, can decipher when their collective interest are threatened and will rally behind what they believe are progressive leaders. We should not hold our breaths, but hopefully for the good of the country , both leaders would soon prudently choose successors and leave them to do their jobs.
You asked, “Do you like Ramesh or has Kamla caught your eye?” I know nothing of Kamla , and generally do not care much for the breed of female politicians that have emerged in most of the Third world including Trinidad and Tobago. Many we have seen – even within our own country -with few exceptions, are snobbish elitist ,that are very terrible , and extremely insensitive to needs of suffering , as such, even within their loud rhetorics they clamor only for cosmetic changes ,in similar fashion to the males male counterparts. As for Ramesh Lawrence Maraj the fromer T&T AG , UNC Chief Whip, and astute pro Privy council , and one time anti death penalty Human Rights legal activist? I prefer to sleep on a bed of Tabaquite flower garden scorpions , alongside a venomous African Black Mamba snake, between 100 (Indian )Naja Panchami festival Cobras ,or on top of a dangerous Brazilian Anaconda , than to trust myself to be within 5 feet of this lawyer and close confidant of both Mr. Panday and Abu Baker.
Jokes aside,on a final note ,any coalition or alliance that emerge in our country ,whose sole purpose is to defeat and or eliminate the PNM ,would eventually fail, for this is not the way in which nation building , and sustainable development will take place .
Let’s keep them honest , do our part regardless of how small , and make efforts to reach out to progressives where they exist as we strive to elevate this Rainbow Twin Republic gem. Who knows, Sweet T&T can eventually evolve in a baby Norway ,Denmark, Iceland, Sweden or Finland,which obviously would put a smile on your face , yes?
Regards.

First you say that you do not support any political party but then, when you speak of UNC, you somehow managed to include,”as presently constituted.” Unless my Queen’s English is abysmally bad, I would say that you have let slip some bias. Perhaps you are aware that their internal elections are coming. Do you like Ramesh or has Kamla caught your eye?

So we are in agreement when it comes to politics(more or less) but you suggested that I have suddenly awakened and nothing could be further from the truth. Pressure has been building since I was educated enough to understand but I fear that when breaking point is reached, it will amount to nothing. It seems that you are more knowledgeable about local history so I expect that you would understand what I mean when I say that in the last few years it has gotten much worse. In older times there were still cover-ups and diversions that fooled people into a false sense of security(more or less). The average idiot could settle down and focus on racial discrimination but just look at the topics on this very blog and see how very serious things have become.

The time for government to sit back and enjoy the spoils of our black gold has ended. People are looking to them for everything that they should provide but they don’t know how to do it as neither citizens nor politicians have seen a real government before. The people have been beaten down too many times and have no viable alternatives. They no longer wish to discuss politics because they see no way to break free from this vicious cycle of lies and betrayal. Even if a new hope were to surface, the distrust would destroy it before it leaves the ground.

Lately, they have broken the local political protocol and are just doing what they want. Bear with me on this – I am aware that they have always done what they wanted but it was in a more sanitized manner and there was, at least, a false sense of them respecting us.

I really have nothing against you, Neal(don’t call this defensiveness), unless your last name is Parsanlal.