Living in fear

One of the funniest attempts at conning the gullible electorate in years has been the boastful publicity surrounding the latest blow against crime devised by either the Ministry of National Security...or was it the TTPS public relations department? Or could it have been the new security hope – Minister Keith Scotland himself? We know he came to save us from the fear of crime.

There were enough photographers around so we could all witness the new crime-abating programme. It was a joint army and police patrol. I hope you didn’t miss it.

It should convince everyone that something important is being done to curb the extortionists demanding money from small businesspeople in Chaguanas, as the newly appointed minister put in place for that reason went for a walk in Chaguanas to comfort the populace that he was doing something about crime.

The only problem was that, according to mayor of Chaguanas Faaiq Mohammed, there was no extortion taking place along the route Scotland chose for his walk.

Newsday this week reported that two business chamber heads – Kiran Singh from San Fernando and Angie Villy Jairam from Fyzabad – said no notices had come to them of extortion from their members, but there has been unofficial "pumpkin-vine gossip" of cases in Princes Town, Mayaro and Moruga. In Mayaro particularly, cases involving threats against construction companies were reported, although not to the police or the Chambers of Commerce.

Those who have been in the business community for generations will remember the plethora of similar threats prior to 1990 purportedly by members of the Jamaat that flooded the business community in Port of Spain.

Shoppers such as myself recall the presence of elegantly robed tall young men lurking around the entrances of shops. We were told they were providing "security" to the entrants, whether they asked for it or not.

But the store owners had to pay for it. We were told it was extortion, but that was denied by the people who collected the money, as it was not extortion, it was "payment for services being provided."

That all preceded the attempted coup of 1990. There were no demands for such services post-coup, as there were no stores left to protect.

Those were the days when "tong says" you should not trust the police to protect you, as even during that terrible two weeks of lockdown and state of emergency, gunfire scarring the Red House, police were not visible on the streets where people were looting.

This was because they stuck to their shift schedules and the sick leave guaranteed in their employment contracts.

We were all grateful that the army didn’t have shift schedules during a state of emergency. And some downtown merchants were able to save some remnants of their businesses, enabling them to start again.

Today’s extortion is different though, isn’t it? Or is it?

The respect for authority demanded from citizens seems to have been deflected from traditional bodies. We have learned not to trust those in positions of governmentally-appointed authority.

We don’t trust the police when ammunition shells etched with TTPS identification litter the ground where non-judicial murders have taken place.

We question the claims that the permission of the Immigration Authority to enter the country can be bought by foreign exchange or by sexual services.

We need to deny that social-security monthly grants and government housing units are diverted to already employed political supporters, that school lunches are eaten by teachers and hospital meals don’t go to patients, but to staff.

The press keeps us informed of things we have neither the time, access nor the ability to find out for ourselves. Be thankful. We are one of the few countries in the world that actually still has a free press. Populist governments give you only what they want you to hear.

There is a sizeable percentage of our population who don’t read the daily press – some because they are afraid to find out what is happening in the world and live in silent, unconscious fear. They seem to think if they block out knowledge it won’t happen to them.

Fear, history teaches us, is the foundation on which totalitarianism is built, where protection from terrorism of crime and gang control turns people to the "safety" of dictatorship and the political architecture of Trumpism. This is the politics and the populism that first puts and then keeps the powerful in power.

At least Trump gave us notice of what would happen, so there will be no surprises when floods of illegal TT deportees are returned here.

Will they expect a crime-prevention-sensitive government to have prepared accommodation for them and their families until they can find jobs?

Perhaps all the thousands of people being evacuated by HDC for non-payment of rent will peacefully give up their accommodation so that those accused of criminal activity or non-payment of rent in the US will be accommodated?