April 4 2010
There seems to be no expression of concern from anyone in government, or indeed the Office of Disaster Preparedness and Management over the fires currently scorching the land.
Our land is burning worse than ever in living memory. All across Central, the road verges, the scrubland and even the few stands of trees have been burnt black and all life has disappeared. Throughout the Southland, between Fyzabad and Point Fortin, the forests have been burned, the ground as black as the seeping oil — which itself had burned away in billows of dark black smoke. The hills and valleys of the Northern Range, much of it our precious Forest Reserves, are now filled with smoke and crackling flames. As the fires continue to climb the mountains to their summits, what is becoming of the wildlife which lives — or lived — there?
Full Article : newsday.co.tt
I hope Trinis are also paying attention to the floods in Brazil. This is what happens when humans abuse and show no respect for the gift of real property left in their charge. Humans are not the owners or the landlords! If you destroy the landlords property you will be evicted through every means available to the landlord. I wonder what the Santa Cruz hills looks like now, haven’t been home in a decade and back then its destruction was in full effect. After the fire burns away the vegetation, which holds the soil together, flooding and mudslides/landslides soon follow. My advise to anyone living in a poorly constructed settlement in the foothills MOVE! before the rains. Remember Venezuela ’99.
http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2010/04/07/2865740.htm
How about another suggestion ,our concerned cousin karibkween? It is called long overdue land reform, and would be nice if our present government can make it a priority. A commitment to push such a pro people policy by any pretenders to power, might not be too bad an idea, would it? It is an issue that frustrated voters can bite into more readily than most of the distractive foolishness that are being branded about by so called agents of change , along with selectively placed talking heads ,agreed?
Two very interesting examples Brazil and Venezuela, that is. The former idly boast of it’s industrial; strength and interracial/ ethnic tolerance. Yes you might be fine if you are one of the 300 different shades of Mullato that desperately call themselves white.The country would soon stage an Olympics yet still treats most of it’s indigenous people like garbage , black African by products as fourth class citizens , the poor – primarily children living in overcrowded post slavery Favelas as inconsequential , unnecessary irritants, as the world smile and led by the likes of opportunist environmental gurus such as Al Gore ,dribble relentlessly about the Amazon rain forest.
As for the latter Venezuela, what a tragedy to be subjected to this Castro wannabe Chavez , who will continue to squander resources over some stupid ill conceived indirect war with the USA , until someone in the Pentagon decides that it is time for him to finally go- just like the once powerful Panamanian , drug dealing ,School of the Americas , CIA manipulated moron , Noreaga- that got too big for his Panama canal breeches.
Fortunately for Venezuelans our coast guards are not as savage as their river border oil/ gas police. We in contrast daily provide ‘rapido’ partway to citizenship , in keeping with our kind nature ,as soon as the monthly 800 or more land on our shores to escape the bombastic , ego inflated military nut.
However I digress, folks should move either to Federation Park, Westmoorings, Langepark , Valsayne , pristine Maraval, or any unused former sugancane/ rice paddies lands in parts of Central, according to karibkween.
Stay of the excessive Caribs beers my friend. You have been living a pipe dream over the past decade you claimed to be away- in prison, was it?
Love country.
You might say I’ve been imprisoned; forced to live in the U.S. because my government sees nothing wrong with assigning squatters rights to non-citizens who live freely on land they have no title to while the landowner pays the taxes. Where are you from Neal; Trini by Birth or Boat? Or are you descended from the indentured class? I’m a Trini by birth the granddaughter of a Venezuelan (Native-American+Iberian) cocoa farmer and a Barbadian (Miscegenated-African) school teacher. Cocoa-Pagniol to the bone. Just in case you are unaware of the island’s history; it was once politically and geologically part of Ibero-America. In fact the organization still boasts an office in Puerto-Espana. Lets hope the reformation you so dearly desire works in your favor.
Hurray for karibkween , the proud great grand daughter of a conquistadorian rapist, and some inconsequential local indigenous Indian, mixed with some KINKY HEAD , BIG BUTT Mandingo that she wish to ignore. Tiger Woods have nothing on you, eh. With naives like these , no wonder V.S Naipaul denounced Trinidad his country of birth ,and claimed to be from India , Bristol , or any place on earth outside of the Caribbean – especially Trinidad.
Here we are trying to uplift the discourse as to the real sociological ills of our country , and this confused misguided is fixated on the percentage of her blood that was tainted by the likes of savage Europeans. Cocoa – pagniol indeed , I knew I was on to something when I claimed that you either was in prison for too long or consume too many beers before writing.
I beseech you , to please put down the crack pipe . If the government do not rectify the inequitable land situation ,so as to deal with the disparities in land that was given to folk at the expense of others during the colonial periods, who do you want to tackle the matter?
Do you favor the route followed by ID Dada Amin , or the Generals in Fiji ,who felt that their people were treated as 2nd class citizens at the hands of foreign transplants?
Do you wish to see another young military 1970 Rex Lassalle , and Raffick Shah, or even 1990 pseudo Islamist , and two bit thug Abu Bakr ,rise up and try to make the wrongs right as they deem fit?
What the hell did you learn from all the years you allegedly lived in the USA ? Was it to ignore oppressed people long enough, until in frustration ,they start burning down buildings , plunder and destroy businesses , via violent riots, whenever they get over excited at an issue ,and cannot take it any more?
OK I change my mind karibkweens. You are free to smoke all the crack , and drink all the stale tasteless beers you so desire, but for heavens sale ‘leave grown folks business alone.’
Your focus on this board should be relegated to enquiries as to when dope dealing Buju Banton , or one of these other stupid Yardee, as well as Yankee misogynistic , simi literate artist ,would be coming again to our neck of the woods to fleece clownish Trinis of their hard earned dollars, then laugh at our government’s stupidity in saving their airline ,when ours is failing to the same extent? No representation , no taxation , I say. Put differently, no land ownership , then no taxation.
Just like I thought the indentured class!
“We, here on our island, handling books printed in this world, and using its goods, had been abandoned and forgotten. We pretended to be real, to be learning, to be preparing ourselves for life, we mimic men of the New World, one unknown corner of it, with all the reminders of the corruption that came so quickly to the new.”
V.S Naipaul
The mimic men.
Hello karibbkween enough with the stupid 19th century neo Marxist defeatist mantra. Instead give that grey matter between your ears some work.Too much is at stake for you to try and impress fellow bloggers , as to the merits of being just another ‘cultural and or intellectual degenerate.’ No one is impressed, I can assure you.
I wish you well , as you try to grapple with your obvious unresolved ,inner demons.
“Cocoa-Pagniol to the bone,” indeed. Yeah right! Can anyone give some logical explanation as to where these clowns , that purport to be intelligent , educated , sophisticated nationals came from?
That’s it , from today henceforth, I about to denounce my citizenship ,as I no longer wish to be affiliated with any people whose heads are so far up their collective rectums , that many cannot decipher which way is up anymore.Last time I checked countries such as Grenada, Antigua , Botswana, St Lucia , and Costa Rica were looking for a few good men. Count me in guys.
I get your point Nobel Prize, globally recognized Trini ingrate ,V.S Naipaul – “mimic men,” did you say?
Two statements revealed your identity; your insult of my ancestors and you idol worship of V.S. Naipaul. You know a Trinidadian of Indian descent only becomes a Trini the first time some Caucasian savage calls him a ‘Paki’ or a ‘Desert nigger’ I noticed in your list of countries India isn’t mentioned; why not relocate to India? Afraid you might be mistaken for a Dalit and relegated to the untouchable class? I understand; who in their right mind would choose the life of a Dalit over the life of a Brahmin or a Caucasian/Anglo-Indian?
Here’s a little of my history; I was living in Trinidad when squatters held the government ransom for public lands they had no title to and knew very well was slated for public roadways. Where was your conscience then; in my youthful anger I felt the government had it coming as my grandmother was, for years, paying taxes for her family’s property; pristine farmland that had once produced the best cocoa on the planet; but which had been taken over by squatters, and turned into a shanty town by mostly Trinidadians by boat. The government granted these illegal aliens squatters’ rights merely to rig the electorate and make no mistake these were willing pawns. Or maybe you never had your neighborhood go from a peaceful, quiet and safe community into a crime and drug riddled slum because your government decided to construct scheme houses on every available empty lot in order to… you guessed it, rig the electorate. Over here it’s referred to as Jerrymandering.
Why the hate for the Venezuelans? Afraid they might prevent another Panday from ascending to the throne; another Indian might not get a shot at doing the same thing the neo-colonial Afro-Trinidadians have for decades been guilty of; Emptying the nation’s coffers? My recommendation to move is sound advice; because the worst sin is willful ignorance and in the end we all get the government we deserve. Even if the laws on the books were changed so that my mother were to be granted the right to bulldoze the shacks off her property I wont be returning to claim my share any time soon, my green thumb has long abandoned me. I do often in my mind revisit those halcyon days of my youth, when the only scary thing was checking under the bed at night for snakes, they do love those cocoa trees.
Trinidad is a mere 18oo sq miles; its already over populated and over developed, what would this new land reform produce; more unecessary housing developments? Trinidadians need to start planting so they can feed themselves instead of using that oil money on processed imports. But what do I know, I no longer live there; I do know however that a donkey or a coolie can only carry so much load before he back break. Safe travels, Mr. Neal and count your blessings.
Let me quote the late Michael J. Jackson, I imagine many more Trini’s have heard of him than they’ve heard of your Mr. Naipaul:
“Every breath you take, is someone’s death in another place,
every healthy smile means hunger and strife to another child, Can you feel it?”
In the spirit of peace , reconciliation, profound respect for the other, and progressive leaning behavior, I am prepared to do a reassessment of my approach ,and beg your forgiveness karibkween, for my early hash responses towards you. Too much is at stake my dear friend , and I sense your passion about the underachieving , subpar performance of our country , while sharing your not so subtle conclusions as to it’s causes.
Rest assured that we are on the same page, and a quick peak back on to some of commentaries via this blog along with the message board would prove that. I too did not have to travel outside my country for two decades , to know what blatant discrimination and neglect of a people was , I have seen it’s manifestations from 1962 to 90/91 up close and personal, where a tiny oligarchy , along with the usual respective tribal neo – colonial , petty bourgeois , power elites, pro cronyism/ nepotistic suspects , were allowed to plunder, and run roughshod over our resources , and people’s love and loyalty- while returning crumbs .
Let us therefore pool our respective energies to fight the enemies of our country, that we obviously still adore, while reaching out in a prudent fashion to others of diverse socio- economic com political persuasions, whose hearts can still be nudged in the right direction. As Mighty Trini said in song :-
“Ah sailing with the boat , sink or float ,ah sailing with the boat. That should be the war cry of all true patriots.
If Trinidad ,is a boat , ah go sail with it , sink or float. ”
The challenge now is to find a means to re- educate those locked in the throws of despair, and desperation so that they too would rise up and regain what is rightfully theirs – including their self respect and dignity. Remember , one cannot depend on the complicit agents of the traditional corporate 4th Estate, many of whom are more fixated on the acquisition of a monthly pay check , as they make political titillations and social distractions, into a Trini art form.
As Bro Stokley said – ‘get ready for the revolution.’
I wish you well.