Roget: Party loyalty standing in way of class interest

RACIAL and political party loyalties are major obstacles to the people of this country advancing their own class interest.

President general of the Oilfield Workers Trade Union (OWTU) Ancel Roget, in advancing the narrative at the union’s 80th Annual Conference of Delegates on Friday night, said even though the masses were reeling under pressure, they were choosing to remain silent because “their party is in power.”

He said among one of the most ridiculous, illogical and racist comments people make just to justify their racial support is, “I rather my own flea to bite me than somebody else flea."

He said, “I want to tell you that, for us, in the OWTU a flea is a flea regardless of who owns it. We are not taking bite from any flea whatsoever. In fact, we are prepared to eradicate every single flea from the political landscape of TT.”

Roget warned, “Look out for them. This is silly season you know, we have to be vigilant.”

Addressing delegates at its Paramount Building headquarters, Roget said, “The State as it exists is really an instrument of class oppression and domination and, as such, it possesses a definite class nature and is designed to serve a particular class interest that is not in the interest of the masses.

“The mistake we make is that we somehow believe that these traditional politicians represent our class interest. We mistakenly place our trust in them thinking that they have our interest at heart, when there can be nothing further from the truth.”

Roget continued, “We are in a system of governance that was designed not to protect the poor, the oppressed and the ordinary man and woman in the street. In other words, it was not designed to protect the working class. In fact, from the very beginning, this system was designed to protect the elite class in our society and today that system remains fully intact.”

In an address themed, “State Power, Political Party Loyalty and advancing our Class Interest,” Roget noted that every five years politicians came to the masses seeking their votes in exchange for an improvement to their lives.

“But having received your vote and attained office, they are mere puppets and not in control. We must be brutally honest and admit, that today it is only the poor and ordinary working people who are suffering deeply in this country. We allow the elites to keep us divided along racial, religious and geographic lines.

“This is a very tragic situation because the only power you have is this right to vote, and this is given to the politicians for the benefit of the elites. It is as though we are giving these elites permission to take the whip and beat us into submission, just to ensure that their profit margins and their position in society remain guarded and protected.

“While some of us make the cardinal mistake of believing that they are in government because their race is in power, the truth is that it is the elites who are really in control of government and who influence state power against the rest of all of us.”

“It matters not, whether it is PNM or UNC, these politicians who are agents of the elites and their financiers, for them elections is just a call to race. And even though they cannot justify their abysmal performance in office, the only reason they tell you to vote for them is because you are the same race and look like them.”