Walk Like an Egyptian.....

The long hot summer of discontent that capitulated a small (at first) group of protesters onto the world stage and into the pages of history has sent shockwaves all across the planet, challenged the established order, pulled down long standing despotic regimes and started major if not full blown wars in their wake. The size of the mountain that was scaled by these few disenchanted has set afire the imaginations of those who dream of a better world and, from all the evidence available, may well be far from over. People power protests are erupting in every hemisphere and everywhere there is talk of the marginalized and disenfranchised flipping the script. The 99% that feels left out is the seed that brought the Wall Street protest to America, and the determination that all men must be treated equal and free is wholly responsible for the fresh eruption of bloodshed and conflict  in Syria.

In these times it would be foolish for any government to take the population for granted, and here more than anywhere it would be equally foolish to assume that the people are going to continue to allow themselves to be abused by a system that seems to have no heart. In this last week alone two prominent social commentators in the persons of retired head of the public service Reginald Dumas and social scientist Professor Ramesh Deosaran have both warned of the spectre of social unrest if citizens continue to feel alienated from the governing process. History has proven decisively that might can only trample right for so long, and those in authority would do well to pay attention to what is taking place on the ground.

The cartoon characters that we keep electing  to Office, from Patrick 'Bob the Builder' Manning to Kamla 'Dora the Explorer' Persad Bissessar are only adding fuel to the disillusionment among the masses by lifting the people high on promises only to disappoint them once elected, and the reneging and strong-arming that is starkly contrasting with the squandermaina and outright looting  is contributing in no small way to the rage that is being played out on the nightly news. The people remain stuck for choice and junior parties like the COP, MSJ, MND and the other minor 'alphabits' offer no respite, no escape from the lack of real leadership or people centered policies required to unite the competing interests and take this country forward. With more murders than days for the year so far, the scariest thing of all is the apathy with which the statistics are being viewed. Killing for hire, gang war, human trafficking and rape are all fighting for media space alongside a sharp increase in child and elder abuse and murder, demonstrating quite conclusively that not only is the situation grossly untenable, it is quite possibly unfixable.

The qualities of character that ought to be displayed by those in leadership as examples to the masses are in too short a supply to make any real difference, with the ridiculously greedy and the perverted few making a mockery of what it means to be a citizen of this beautiful country. We the people need to get the message that we are responsible for our own tomorrows and those of our children, and that we need to vote with conscience for country over party if we ever intend for the right people to offer themselves in service.

Fifty years ago we kicked mammy to the curb and told her 'take yuh Union Jack and go.' We insisted then on our right to self govern without realizing that with those rights came responsibilities. So now Peter is paying for Paul and Paul running scared. Elected and appointed officials conspiring to defraud at every turn knowing full well that consequence does not really apply to the rich, famous or well connected and can be 'managed' if the price is right. In some strange twist of logic this bizarre status quo is kept in place because the people have all agreed to disagree and they do so vehemently. That they can't seem to find a way to agree to agree is at the heart of much of the self inflicted destruction and, with racial conflict stewing just under the surface ready to bubble over at a moment's notice, to paraphrase a longtime calypso, fifty years have gone, how you feel?