Doubling Down.... (Where Right Becomes Wrong)

Double standards are not good for the society as a whole as they usually only end up hurting everyone in the long run. An example of this was the recently held Wild Ones fete held in the environmentally sensitive nature preserve at the Chaguaramas Arboretum, which boasted in its advertising 'mind blowing light show and sound.' Questions asked as to how does this, a public fete of this size and nature complete with light and sound, accrue to the benefit of the facility in keeping with its espoused position as a nature park were met with deflection, misdirection and outright slanderous attacks against anyone attempting to have this event exposed, and despite efforts by many to encourage both the promoters and the Chaguaramas Development Authority to have the event relocated, the event went ahead as planned in spite of the real possibility for destruction to the environment and possible precedents being set for the future.

Also at issue here are the apparent benefits accrued by the promoters, one of whom is the daughter of a sitting CDA board member, and questions need to be asked of this whether he was indeed in the loop or not. Similar to the situation with former Planning Minister Mary King, the distance between beneficiary and the state appeared to be shortened through familial relationship, and this matter now needs to be determined by the Integrity Commission or any other authoritative body so as to remove any notion of impropriety if none indeed exists and to guide both public servants and the public in the future where matters such as these are concerned.

In the instance at caption, there was a lot of lead time to relocate the event from the moment the subject broke into the discussion and onto the debate agenda, and the promoters should have been made to relocate to a less environmentally sensitive section of the peninsula if it mattered that much to the board. As the Chairman himself was in the conversation days in advance one could be excused for hoping that something like common sense would prevail, but as nothing of substance was done to curtail the event it seemed to demonstrate quite convincingly that the preservation of the environment as a nature reserve is no longer a priority to the CDA. I hope that this eventually proves to be far from the truth, but if that is indeed this government's position then it needs to be made known to the public, to many of whom the Chaguaramas peninsula is a source of pride and a space of respite from the increasingly rigorous pace of life. Many authorities seriously flubbed their lines here by allowing this event to happen, including but not limited to the Chaguaramas Development Authority and all other organizations involved in the granting of permissions and licenses for this event. In a real country all of the heads of these departments would have serious questions to answer, but then in a real country we may not have arrived here in the first place. I also note with sadness the silence of the media on this issue despite it raging for almost a week, and I hope at some point that someone with the authority to weigh in on this does their job.

American linguist, philosopher, cognitive scientist, historian, and activist Noam Chomsky is noted to have said - “For the powerful, crimes are those that others commit.” We ignore to our eventual peril the almost 'elitist' or 'caste' system circumstances and events such as these create in the minds of the people, where a certain sector of our society is allowed 'privileges' that others less connected simply do not enjoy. We risk much sowing these unavoidable seeds of discord, and the duplicity is not lost on the masses when we call for a 'clamping down' on lawless others while doing as we damned well please. History has taught us at some point we will reap a whirlwind if we continue down this road, and I humbly suggest that we need a maturing at every level if we are ever going to create a space where every creed and race do indeed find an equal place. Something to think about....