SHIVONNE DU BARRY Sunday, October 28 2007

Together we aspire, together we achieve But together they conspire, together they deceive And everything they say – the people will believe Still at the end of the day, none of them are really ‘free’

— Anti Everything



The excerpt above comes from a new song called “Trinidad and Tobago Sucks” by local punk rock band Anti Everything.

The sentiment expressed is a mix of angst and apathy towards the circus-like atmosphere that prevails right now, carefully cultivated by the leaders of the country.

For those who may feel that such a creation should be loathed for its anti-patriotism, perhaps a change of perspective is needed.

Think about how youth in this country, many of them entitled to vote for the first time, must feel about the freak show that is playing out before their eyes.

Imagine how the words and actions of those who are vying for power must conflict with young, untested ideals.

Some young people are proving, by their refusal to accept the mediocrity and bacchanal, that they are in fact more patriotic than their die-hard parents.

The song continues:

You take a few racist pigs; and you put them in a race

While the cost of living rises everyday They couldn’t balance a budget on their heads! All the citizens of the country suffer…



The band is made up of twenty-something year olds who probably won’t be attending the massive youth entertainment events that form the main part of the strategy of the major political parties to reach out to young people.

They will find it hard to be convinced by popular artistes who have been paid generously for their efforts, to give their votes to these same parties.

They represent a certain segment of the under-thirty population who have educated themselves on the issues and find the local brand of politics, which refuses to deal with those issues, more than distasteful.

Last week’s youth forum organised by NGOs for the Advancement of Women, for example, presented an opportunity for all parties to listen to the concerns of young people and receive a youth manifesto.

Neither the UNCA nor the PNM sent a representative. Only the COP was present, in the form of their political leader Winston Dookeran to boot.

Perhaps the other parties were too busy organising their respective youth fetes. And why wouldn’t they after all? Is partying not the most important thing to young people? Well, the survey that led to the drafting of the aforementioned youth manifesto identified the top ten issues of concern to youth as crime, employment, health, education, abuse, housing, family life, equal opportunity, corruption and abuse of power. Still, such concerns may not translate into action, be it advocacy, community work or voting.

And there are several reasons for this that I have examined before. More than half of 18 to 35 year olds did not vote in the last elections. Any party that manages to get them to actually come out on election day, therefore, stands to gain considerably.

The methods of choice currently being employed to do so, however, reflect the assumptions made by politicians in general: that people are oblivious when it comes to real issues and can be easily manipulated by irrelevant obfuscations, appeals to prejudices (whether based on ethnicity, religion, gender or sexual orientation), empty promises and free entertainment.

I would like to think that these assumptions don’t hold true for youths, that they are bright and question their elders instead of blindly accepting everything that they are told.

I hear young people talking about voting with a certain understandable naivety, many echoing the parochial attitudes of their parents.

Some seem to be genuinely struggling because of a realisation of the importance of the decision about whether they should vote and for whom. More and more, however, I am seeing evidence that the members of Anti Everything and others who see through the poli-tricks, are in the minority. Decisions are probably going to be made based on who had the better line-up at their youth rally, Sizzla versus Richie Spice.

Frighteningly, I am hearing many young people continuing the “gimme gimme” tradition that characterises our political process. What can I get for free? Which party will ensure that I have to work as little as possible?

Young people are perpetuating the entitlement plague that has done us in as a country. Who can blame them? It is what they have been taught after all. Neither can one blame them for their failure to question and demand change.

They have been moulded by parents, school and society to be conformists with little ability to think critically, who don’t see standing up to unjust authority as a virtue. Future (insert political party here) “til ah dead” soldiers. I guess it’s going to be this way ‘til we all dead yes.