NJAC head: Racial tensions politically manufactured

NATIONAL Joint Action Committee servant leader Kwasi Mutema said racial tensions between Indians and Africans are politically manufactured.

"Most of the time it rears its head in an overt way is during national elections."

He predicted if the two peoples are left together on their own there would not be as many problems with race in the society.

He was speaking on a virtual panel Understanding and Reconciling Race Relations in TT organised by the University of the West Indies Faculty of Law and the Catholic Commission for Social Justice.

He said the race relations issue is a legacy of the colonial experience and the national psyche and consciousness is shaped by this experience.

"We cannot speak about building a nation in the absence of national unity."

He said the real problem of racism was the existence of the white power structure which since colonialism perpetuated the age-old policy of divide and rule.

"In order to preserve power any time there is a semblance of Indians and Africans coming together to unite, the response is sheer brutality and the viciousness of the power structure."

Mutema said instances of this phenomenon were seen in the 1884 Hosay Riots where about 20 people were killed and hundreds injured, during the 1930s-1940s with the Tubal Uriah "Buzz" Butler labour demonstrations, and the 1970 Black Power Revolution where in March 12, 1970 there was a march to Caroni for racial unity.

Mutema said race relations must be addressed with truth and honesty and there is still a great lack of honesty when dealing with this issue.

"Unless we are brutally honest with ourselves we will have no change."

Senior independent freelance journalist Dr Sheila Rampersad said there is local belief that people are racist in other societies where white people are oppressive to other groups, but here we are "racial" which simply means referring to race.

"We may see our racism as a milder version than what we see as 'white people racism.'"

She added: "It is friendly, familial version of racism."

She explained Indians and Africans are positioned laterally in society with Indians assumed to have economic privilege and Africans cultural and political privilege. She also said there are things defined as racist which are not, such as people being conscious of ethnic ancestry.

Rampersad said in addressing racism language is an important issue.

Movement for Social Justice political leader David Abdulah said there was a systemic problem with the colonial political system which was being used by parties for their benefits. He stressed if this system is not addressed there will not be any change.

He said the contestation between the PNM and the UNC, which has predominantly African and Indian support respectively, has become far sharper in the last 20 years.

"This has caused ethnic tensions and the language to become more inflamed and stronger."