By Raffique Shah
June 18, 2026

Funny how life makes meandering turns for people—today you are Right Wing, tomorrow you are Left Wing, and by next week when the water boils over, you’ll tell everyone you are Centre, even though your rhetoric will always be Right, right?

I have long ceased describing myself as anything so vague as Left or Right. True, I have stayed left of the compass all my life, so far. I have fought for workers’ rights, equality, higher wages (less profits for the right-wing capitalists), and all the accoutrements associated with trade unionism.

You see, you’ll have to forgive me for my beliefs that everyone deserves a decent living, all of Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs being fulfilled albeit on a smaller scale for the less fortunate. What got me into thinking about the distribution of wealth and all the other things that divide us politically and economically?

Well, let me explain: Minister of Foreign and Caricom Affairs Sean Sobers has gone off on another one of those clandestine ministerial meetings in Washington, DC, which the media will hardly be allowed to cover in their totality. Gone are the days when those who attend such meeting are open in their media communications with the public about what they hope to gain from the meeting and why they were attending in the first place.

Now, camouflaged hands will reach out with invitations for specific governments to partake of the discussions, which largely remain secretive, and when the invitees return to their homelands, all we get are vague sentences strung together to make it appear as if it was taxpayers’ money well spent.

Let me remind readers that the last similar meeting yielded a slew of slain Venezuelans and one or two Trinis, all of whom were accused of drug trafficking, but with no evidence to back the claim. So now I’m shaking in my boots, wondering if they are going to come for old Leftists like me, and my comrades, who to date are still fighting the good fight out there. Remember, the Court of Appeal last week released the Hadeeds and placed them on house arrest, but before the couple could breathe a collective sigh of relief, lawyers for the State submitted an appeal to the High Court for a stay, which was granted.

This Government is so paranoid that they will not allow even house arrest with monitoring, preferring instead to infringe upon the person’s right to freedom. I should add here, based on my personal experience some 50-odd years ago, the said Privy Council ordered my release and the release of my fellow soldiers after we had won our appeal in the mutiny case.

Let us take a walk through time, back to the major threats our country faced by way of uprisings and coup attempts. In 1970, sections of the army led by your humble scribe, by Lt Rex Lasalle, and others, mutinied against the high command. Back then Prime Minister Dr Eric Williams and his government ran and took cover anywhere they found that seemed secure, and this is understandable because ours was a real and present threat to the government. Because in our possession we had hand grenades, automatic rifles, anti-tank missiles and a host of other very deadly and destructive weapons at our fingertips. We posed a threat that was open and obvious for all to see.

In 1990, there was a bloody and violent coup attempt led by the late Imam Yasin Abu Bakr and his Jamaat. Several lives were lost, and many more people were injured. This was one of the greatest threats this country ever faced. And, definitely one of the most dangerous situations the government was ever placed in.

Our prime minister at the time, ANR Robinson, was shot as he sought to defend himself against men who looked and acted menacingly to all present at the Red House on that faithful Friday. It was prayer before bullets that day.

In an earlier incarnation, the colonial government faced Uriah Butler who brought them to their knees, causing the deaths of several persons including Cpl Charles King, who was burnt to death by the rioters. Riots persisted for days on end. A state of emergency was declared and quite a few people were arrested and detained.

If we set these events side by side, and more so because the state of emergency gives any government enhanced powers, people must wonder why there is such insistence by the Government concerning the Hadeeds, who pale in comparison with events of our colourful and somewhat violent history.

I am all for defending the Prime Minister and her Government, as I should be, but let us not blur the line of defence offered to the people through their constitutional rights and associated laws.

Let the law take its course.