Tobago musician: Public must apply pressure on politicians

Conscious musician/artist Xavier Edwardz believes civil society has a crucial role to play in pushing for an end to the six-six deadlock in the Tobago House of Assembly (THA).

Edwardz was a panellist in a virtual discussion on the THA impasse, hosted by Tobago CivilNET, on Monday night. It was titled One People Together.

He said although civil society has always existed, it often becomes lost in politically-charged environments, as was the case in the January 25 THA election.

Edwardz said, “Civil society is a term that isn’t very much present in the minds of Tobagonians to a major degree because it’s such a political environment that didn’t have an active civil society for a while.”

Edwardz defined civil society as “basically anyone who is just a Tobagonian.”

Referring to the collapse of power-sharing negotiations between the People’s National Movement and the Progressive Democratic Patriots in the THA, Edwardz said: “When they can’t come to an agreement for themselves, it is up to us to make it happen.”

He observed the “dominant ideologies” presented in the mainstream media are “controlled by these two elements fighting against each other.”

Edwardz added: “But there is a third element that exists, and that is civil society – the public.

He noticed during the deadlock, people have been speaking out about how they feel.

“It could be side effect of all the pressure and tension that they are under outside of the political landscape: covid19 to deal with, children at home, violence against women. The pressure is high and the people are speaking out.”

Saying it would be a shame for the politicians to not listen to the voices of the public, Edwardz believes the impasse is damaging the society.

“They may not realise it in the midst of the fight, in the heat of the moment, but they are bleeding slowly and Tobago is bleeding slowly as well.

“So we, all of us, have to apply the pressure to encourage that kind of collaboration for a collective healing in our space whenever an election is called.”

He believes people are already fed up of the impasse.

Other panellists were designer Ternicka Mahabal, veterinarian Dr Kern Johnson, psychiatrist Dr Andel Roberts, independent senator Maria Dillon-Remy and Tobago Youth Council president Janae Campbell.