East PoS next on destruction agenda

THE EDITOR: Once again, delusion rears its destructive head as plans for the “redevelopment” of east Port of Spain are discussed and the spectre looms once again of meaningless modernist structures that reflect our penchant for pretending that we are North Americans, reinforcing our contempt for what is truly ours.

In 1776, the great benefactor of Trinidad, King Charles III of Spain, formally invited French Creoles to Trinidad for the specific purpose of developing the island. This brought about a huge influx of slaves and free men of colour from the French islands. Their talents and skills gave us Carnival, calypso, patois, pirogues as well as estate, gingerbread and chattel houses which they designed and built.

These defining aspects of our Creole culture, all of which earned international recognition and kick-started our modern economy, are now systematically destroyed so that a select few can derive personal profit – a trend by which culture is substituted with superficial, irrelevant and imported entertainments.

We have already lost Woodbrook, a critical incubator for our Carnival culture, which has been replaced with a flimsy annual entertainment devoid of craft, music, colour and dance. Belmont, another cultural incubator, is now Brooklyn-ised, so nothing Trini can any longer come out of it. And now this destruction is to be extended to east Port of Spain. When will it end?

And so, one administration after another abides in silence while this loss of identity manifests itself in alienated youth who are used as fodder by the cartels. Our built heritage is systematically demolished and new structures are approved and erected with no reference to our Creole culture and architectural heritage as archived by Newel-Lewis, Besson and Stuempfle.

All too often these new structures are a ruse to lure government patronage in the form of rents and thereby steal our patrimony – even as businesses in the area continue their wretched policy of making easy money by appealing to what is base among the poor uninformed residents of east Port of Spain.

It is high time that those in authority act responsibly to end this pathology whereby we are aggressively impelled to adopt fake lifestyles, devoid of principles and culture. They can and should begin by banishing ignorance and teaching the true history and culture of these islands.

STEVE ESCALIER

via e-mail