Drums of War... (Love in the Time of Labor Part 2)

If one were to try and remember the last time Trinidad could be described as peaceful one would have to think as far back as one could. The country seems embroiled in some new fiasco every day and violence and murder is becoming more gruesome with each story.

If that were not enough, there is growing disenchantment in almost every sector of society and it is starting to sound more like 'when' as opposed to 'if' the Government is going to clash with the trade and labour unions sometime in the very near future. Should this occur, the ensuing battle threatens to upset the very stability of the country and its people in a way we have not had to deal with for a long time and many of the people seem to be in denial of this very real coming storm.

Make no mistake, this is going to affect everyone regardless of station and I think it is time someone advised members of the public to start stocking up on basic needs and medications, necessities like food and water as well as candles, torchlights and other battery operated devices. 

At the heart of the impending conflagration is a united labor unrest, and it has been said that the demands that some of these unions are making flies in the face of the global economic reality at present and that the government could not cave to the pressure even if it wanted to. If this is indeed so then there may be little room left to turn around once this struggle really gets underway and things could get messy fast.

To many people there is no 'unseeing' the Opposition's hand in all of this just as there is no 'unknowing' that everything in this country from food prices to wages have been made political footballs to be used as needed. The PNM seems to be openly using and encouraging this labor unrest for what could only be seen as their own selfish reasons, hoping to open the way for them back to power by forcing a government collapse. That they are responsible in no small part for much of the outstanding is common knowledge, and were it not for the political brinksmanship and grandstanding under Manning we wouldn't be in this mess in the first place.

Would the PNM (if they were still in Office) had been able to negotiate beyond the five percent cap?

Would they have had to?

There are many questions to be asked here, and if some of these unions are in fact PNM Party groups in disguise as some are saying, what does that say for their relevance to the national agenda?

To me if any of this is true then it is safe to say that the PNM is playing a dirty and dangerous game here and it ought to be resisted by ALL the people of this country. Destabilizing the country for selfish gain can and should only be seen as an attack on our very democracy and that should not be allowed to prosper.

Personally I am never an advocate for confrontation of any kind,  but I have looked at this from up and down and the truth of the matter to me is that while in most instances confrontation could never be a good thing, this one can. Some fires cleanse and encourages rebirth where stagnation once was the order of the day, and as neither of these two political Parties have the moral authority to govern us anymore it would be a blessed day for Trinidad & Tobago if they could somehow destroy each other along the way.

Trinidadians need to see all of this as growing pains and accept whatever temporary discomfort and annoyance that comes with it in that light. We really do need to outgrow what passes for politics at present if we are ever going to survive and thrive as a nation, and if this is the medicine that we have to take for that to happen then so be it. Where we need to be strong is in what we do from here, how we go forward after the dust settles. We need to ensure that we learn from these mistakes so as to never make them again, and we need to be aware of all available options so as to be guided to a better place for all our people in the future.