Education in the panyard
Education has been happening in the panyards of this country since the creation of the first panyard, but recently, Pan Trinbago, probably following Lloyd Best's idea that the panyard should be made into a centre of education and enterprise, has been holding panel discussions on constitutional reform and the place of NGOs like Pan Trinbago in it. Two discussions have been held so far, one at the Neal and Massy All Stars panyard, and the other at the Redemption Pansetters panyard. At both, panelists as well as speakers from the floor placed strident emphasis on the need for politics and government to be dictated more from below than from on top. But the key question at the end was, How do communities organize themselves to accomplish this?
Most of the speakers realized that sociopolitical change moves at a wearisomely slow pace and that changing political philosophy and practice in a non-violent way is an exceedingly difficult task. They would prefer government and the political parties to listen to their (not their own!) voices and act in such a way as to give the people in their various communities sustained power over their political leaders and their representatives in government. They would prefer political parties, politicians, and ministers of government to be honest, credible, and exemplary in their public conduct. They would prefer to be the bosses of politicians rather than the lackeys and servants. But, apart from stipulating these sentiments and recognising the need for a structured dedicated community political lobby, they didn't quite know how to bring about the state of affairs they craved.
So there was a tangible exasperation in the tone of most of the submissions, and a few speakers felt that matters had reached such a stage that we should not rule out a priori the option of violence. Why couldn't Manning and Panday not see the glorious opportunity offered by the 18-18 impasse for bottom-up government? Why couldn't they shed the constipated thinking of ethnic (dis)advantage and executive dictatorship and move to mobilise the entire population community by community for consultation on the constitutional shape of the future? Why couldn't they see that Tobago was not an appendage to, or a zone of, Trinidad, but rather a fully-fledged West Indian island with its own right to policymaking for self-management and -governance? And why this pathetically hopeful wait for Manning and Panday to act? Why can't the necessary actions for a change of the heavily discredited (Westminster) political model spring from elsewhere, that is to say, from the communities themselves that legitimise it in routinely unrevised support through the vote? How do we end our tiredness with the stupidness?
The questions and the sentiments were coming neither from shallow, unreflective thinking nor from our social reflex to wantonly and badmindedly criticise those in authority. The speakers had thought long and hard about the issues. They had examined the history of our politics from various angles and seen the need for accelerated radical change. They had looked at their lived experiences and found the political offering wanting. They had enlightened themselves about the change that was necessary for better standards of living in economic, emotional, and spiritual terms. A new, no-nonsense consciousness was evident. It would be exceedingly hard therefore to budge them back to the old unavailing acquiescent ways.
But how to pass on that kind of consciousness to the vast majority of the citizenry who were divided into predominantly ethnic subservient parties, on the one hand, and spiritual ministries, on the other, that, whether through chronic frustration with the political process or a replacive religious faith, had disconnected themselves from the political governance of this earthly life?
According to the panels, part of the answer lay in a widespread community consultation on constitutional reform and in a plan of action for dedicated development of community leadership. Nowhere did I hear that a part lay in the urgent holding of fresh general elections!
Another disconnection between politician and community?
Archives / Winford James Homepage / Previous Page
^^ Back to top
