Fireworks laws on our radar

In a newspaper article published on November 12, Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar is quoted as saying: “Before the end of this year, we will pass the fireworks legislation in Parliament.”

In another (November 15), she is quoted on noise pollution: “We are keeping our promise to restore the constitutional right of every citizen to enjoy their property and their peace. Our full legislative agenda will be presented soon.”

We are now in December (traditionally the noisiest through prolonged periods of firework use). We look forward to hearing the Government’s announcement on the noise-pollution agenda re fireworks.

Any call for a complete ban on those “festive” explosive devices now goes beyond the time-worn rationale of: “They cause trauma and potential death for animals and various people.”

Who can fathom that the sale or detonation of fireworks would be permitted at a time like this, when geopolitical tensions in the region, rumours of war and related sound effects, conversations and reports are stirring anxiety and confusion among many citizens? As I stated in my column of October 26 (We want peace now), in reference to fireworks: “High-pitched screeches and random explosions are the last thing we need in our national airspace.”

One of the television shows we watched quite often in childhood was Fantasy Island, featuring Hervé Villechaize as Tattoo, the diminutive assistant of Mr Roarke, played by Ricardo Montalban.

Tattoo’s signature cry of, “Da plane! Da plane!” is the first thing most people think about if asked about that programme. Recently, citizens of Tobago echoed this cry as “da plane” became a major topic of public conversations and media reporting.

As someone who generally goes to bed around 7 pm and is up and about by 3 am, I was among those who heard an aircraft of never-before-heard proportions roaring like a beast at the ANR Robinson International Airport and launching into the pre-dawn darkness, thundering into the distance.

In Tobago, at that hour, the most one hears is roosters, sometimes barking dogs and the odd siren. As we all know by now, “da plane, da plane” – which some residents said woke them from sleep or allegedly shook their homes – was the heavy-lift US Air Force C-17A Globemaster III.

Since then, on one or two mornings, in pre-dawn darkness, I heard the distant drone of planes moving too swiftly to be regular aircraft (in my correct-or-not opinion).

A Tobago-based friend WhatsApped me very early a few mornings ago, having experienced the same: “I heard the planes. Eerie and scary, but we are not to be fazed by them.”

She followed up by asserting that we must focus on the beauty and peace around us as our life source…that “that other world will not invade,” and that we “do not know that kind of living where weapons of mass destruction surround the landscape.”

Early on the morning after news broke of “the-radar-secretly-installed-in-Tobago-without-even-Chief-Sec-knowing,” I went to a small shop. It was not yet 9 am; a significant-sized group of men, and some women, were liming outside, drinking, smoking and having an animated discussion.

Initially, I thought they were celebrating Christmas early.

However, on emerging from my vehicle and hearing a snippet of their apparent debate topic – “the radar” – I supposed their gathering was a stress-reliever of sorts. With various citizens confused about the radar’s purpose, coupled with some sources saying if tensions escalate, it could be a target, anxiety among some of the populace is understandable.

Recently a friend wrote on Facebook that she dreamt about hundreds of warplanes and helicopters over her neighbourhood in Trinidad, lamenting that even in sleep her subconscious was “playing out the craziness that we are a part of now.”

Coincidentally, that morning, I too woke from a dream in which I was making elaborate plans (not fearfully, but practically) to move my pets far away from the radar lest it be targeted. The radar talk had clearly invaded my subconscious.

Life goes on and we must always strive to make the best of each day – even if the general uncertainty of now casts a light blanket of unease over the landscape.

We do not want or need anything additional to disturb or threaten our collective sense of peace, safety and mental health.

Therefore, concerning fireworks, an immediate ban on their importation, sale and use is the only legislation that makes sense.