Thursday, June 1, 2006

NEW YORK, USA: The Caribbean Guyana Institute for Democracy (CGID) has taken Trinidad and Tobago's opposition leader, Kamla Persad-Bissessar, to task over what the Institute says are apparently unfounded, racist comments designed to incite racial hostilities and insecurities for self aggrandizement and political expediency.

According to press reports, Persaud-Bissessar, while delivering an Indian Arrival Day speech at the Parvati Girls' High School in Penal on May 30, 2006, claimed "Indians in today's Trinidad and Tobago must be prepared to face new challenges with the same determined resolve as their ancestors."

The Opposition Leader then reportedly stated that, while government tactics of suppression against East Indians have been subtle and appear politically correct, they have still resulted in many East Indians being fired from State enterprises.

Bissessar also said "Indians in the State employ are being fired or displaced by Government merely because they are Indians. The Indo-Trinidadian community is witnessing a 'shock and awe' programme with a State-sanctioned policy that significantly discriminates against Indo-Trinis."

In a letter to the opposition leader, CGID said, "Your comments, apparently made without providing the necessary empirical evidence to demonstrate an established government policy or pattern of racial discrimination against Indo Trinidadians and Tobagoians, were irresponsible and tinged with an element of racial insularity that is a dangerous tactic on your part. Obviously you intended to incite racial fears among Indians, for self aggrandizement and narrow-minded political expediency, in an environment of heightened speculation of an impending general election."

"The allegations you have made constitute very serious charges against the government. If they are true, you should present the evidence to an independent constitutional body for investigation. However, if your charges are unfounded and cannot be substantiated by credible evidence, they should be withdrawn forthwith and not left to ferment racial and political tensions and divide the society," CGID contended.

The letter to Persaud-Bissessar said, "CGID believes in the inherent democratic right of free speech. However, there is an intrinsic obligation of personal responsibility that is concomitant with the exercise of this right. Consequently, it would be reckless for a political leader of your stature to make such outlandish, yet serious, charges that threaten the fabric of society without proffering conclusive, corroborative evidence."

The Institute observed that "The practice of inciting racial fears among "Indo-Caribbeans" as an element of electioneering is neither new nor peculiar to Trinidad and Tobago. It exists elsewhere in the Caribbean region. It is a divisive and repugnant strategy that is rooted in a congenital, xenophobic disposition, and must therefore be harshly condemned. Anyone who believes in and wishes to promote racial harmony should eschew the use of bigotry and race as wedge issues to galvanize ethnic political support."

CGID is a New York based Caribbean-American think-tank that promotes the educational, cultural and economic development of the Diaspora; human rights and good governance in the Caribbean region; the advancement of the humanities and social and human development; a more favorable US foreign Policy towards the Caribbean Region; the objectives of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) and Caribbean integration, and the interest and empowerment of Caribbean nationals and the Caribbean Diaspora in the United States and elsewhere.

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