It tolls for democracy

AS TOLD TO BC PIRES

My name is Candyce Kelshall and I am a child of the military.

I come from Chaguaramas, overlooking down-the-islands, Scotland Bay and Gasparee. Because my father was (in charge of Chag). We’re a small but highly disciplined family. Except for me, when it comes to my weight. The discipline comes from both my parents, Richard and Gail Kelshall. My mother gave up her career as a model – she was hugely influential in the 60s, the whole Carnaby Street vibe, Vidal Sassoon – to come back to Trinidad.

My sister Tricia Lee is also punching above her weight. She is clearly, squarely, defiantly Trinidadian. Seven number ones across the world, been on MTV. You have to question whether Trinidad has embraced her as well.

We also have my brother Jason. I’m an educator and I say he’s a literal bona fide genius. In a military context, he’s planned for presidents, put security in place for national events, worked for the highest military in the Western hemisphere and now works for Europe!

My father was the first admiral in our history, a naval rank signifying you have reached the pinnacle of your profession, saving lives and protecting the country. In every other country in the world, they talk about the military that made that country safe and prosper, the people you build your models on. We kind of focus on what’s happening today.

I was always so-and-so’s daughter or so-and-so’s (sibling). I guess I had to leave Trinidad to discover who I was and put my abilities to good use.

In 1994, I won a Chevening scholarship, given by her majesty’s government. They choose about six people from around the Commonwealth working in foreign affairs. I went away to study to become a diplomat.

There I am, in England, doing my master’s degree and Trinidad headhunts me to represent the government in the UK. For about six years. I was 24 or 25 at the time. At the end of my contract, a challenging period, the UK government put a work permit in front of me. I worked for a private contractor delivering training to militaries. And never came back home.

I was in London for 20-something years. And then I got married and my Sudanese partner wanted to move to Canada. After things became difficult in the UK, post-Brexit. Once the slurs started, we moved. That was not the UK I had worked for.

In Canada, I thought I’d retired. I started planting roses. Then I got the knock on my door. The Canadian government asked me to train intelligence officers, as I have done for the last 30 years.

It’s not bizarre at all, BC Pires, that we should have had Brexit and Trump in the same year. It’s by design. Anything I say is my opinion and it’s not true, but it’s officially documented now that the online camp were significantly impacted by delivered action on the part of Russia.

We have to be really careful about what we believe on the web. If something is making you feel something very strongly when you read it, question it! Because facts and information are not designed to make you feel emotional, they’re designed to give you information to make a decision. So if you’re reading something from someone who’s already made a decision and wants to get you on board, through emotional language, then question that information. If we did that before we pressed “share” or “like,” half our problems would be managed.

If BC Pires asks how I deal with intelligent friends who get pulled into conspiracy theories and cults, I say I actually deliver a disinformation and misinformation package for people who work for Commonwealth nations. Can you imagine if you wrote an entire report based on disinformation and misinformation? Oh, crap! It’s already happened! I won’t name anything but it’s already happened. Question everything. And check the facts.

People who are “in the cult,” as BC Pires puts it, wouldn’t be steered towards independent media – they’re happy to read the fake news. Russia deliberately creates material that looks and reads real and may not necessarily be real. It could be argued that is happening.

Once you’ve accepted one conspiracy theory, you’re much more likely to accept another. And it’s designed that way.

Should we stop using the internet? No. But we should use it with the same caution we use a car. It’s as dangerous, because it weaponises things into our bedrooms and living rooms.

If BC Pires says liberal democracy is under the greatest threat it has ever been in history, I say it’s not under threat: it’s already at war! But people don’t realise it. That threat is populism, a cancer on democracy, which tries to damage the institutions that make democracy safe for minorities. When you take away trust from institutions, all that’s left is you and that voice telling you what to do. And that’s called authoritarianism.

With authoritarianism, we move into the space I work in, “fifth-generation warfare”: one group of people fighting another group of people, and the state doesn’t come into it at all. That takes us back to mediaeval times, gangs fighting gangs, the period in which Rome fell. My identity fights your identity, and the state is powerless. If the government is not protecting the people, the people turn to the strong-arm groups and identify with that culture to feel safe. Western liberalism’s enemies understand that dynamic. When you damage a country from within and create mass identity manipulation, you’re going to have civil war.

Only 30 per cent of the globe is liberal. The rest is authoritarian. We should stop and ask ourselves: do we want our country going in that direction?

Institutions protect minorities from mob rule. The role of democracy is to make sure even the minority has an equal voice. It’s scary times when people allow themselves to be pulled by emotion rather than logic.

Getting people to “feel” rather than “think” about issues takes us right back to George Orwell and 1984!

We predicted Q-Anon would grow. If people are willing to be steered in a direction and not think, we could predict where discord would happen. My model proved that lizard people would become mainstream. Sure as hell, in the next US elections, 60 Q-Anon candidates were elected.

Is it possible that Trump might come back? Yeah!

If you’re not in a democracy, you’re only given the rights the government wants you to have. So we need to protect our right to have rights and hold opinions, because that’s what’s under threat. The issue is rights. It’s not about a particular group of people.

Capitalism has its problems. But at least everybody eats.

Think of the number of children who have seen war and been part of war. They don’t leave that in their childhood. And think about the globe and how much war we will have in the next 20 years. We are in a crisis right now. And information warfare is where the crisis begins. So let us educate our children into being responsible users of the internet.

For me, a Trini is a leader, a shaper. They’re hedonistic and social. And they love deeply. We don’t let things pass by easily: we have to give our view!

Trinidad and Tobago defines me, and the way I see the country is the way I see myself: they are world-class, punch above their weight. And come Dimanche Gras, they always deliver.

Read the full version of this feature on Friday evening at www.BCPires.com