Attacks on the clergyover refugees wrong

THE EDITOR: At the recently concluded May Day celebrations, elements of the trade union movement chose to attack the Archbishop of Port of Spain regarding his statements about being more compassionate towards Venezuelan refugees.

Within the mainstream organised religious traditions in TT there is an understanding among the differing faiths where all subscribe to the “fatherhood of God and the brotherhood of man.”

It is in this spirit of brotherhood that I as a practising Hindu pundit stand with the Catholic archbishop against the rants of the trade union movement. It is the duty and responsibility of men and women of religion to be the conscience of a nation, to act as role models, a moral compass for the society at large, to give voice to the voiceless and to provide protection and refuge to all who need.

Not subjected to the populist addiction of elections, religious leaders can freely comment on social issues. This freedom allows the archbishop and myself to comment on national issues. The leadership of the trade union movement with the voice of the president of the Banking, Insurance and General Workers Union, Vincent Cabrera, may have only viewed the Venezuelan refugees as economic burdens and competition to the Trinidadian worker. The humanitarian crisis that has befallen the failed socialist experiment that is Venezuela is still being romanticised by comrades in nearly all of the trade unions. The Oilfields Workers’ Trade Union recently expressed solidarity with Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, while officials of the Joint Trade Union Movement and the Movement for Social Justice appealed to Caricom to stand up for the beleaguered nation in light of statements from the US. The romance of the trade union movement with socialism has blinded its officials to the pain and suffering of the people of Venezuela. Yet I have to wonder if Ancel Roget, Cabrera, and David Abdulah go to Caracas or Havana or Miami to spend their holidays.

These trade union leaders’ voices were deftly silent about potential job loss when Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley made a call for nationals of Dominica to live in TT for six months. Rowley, like the trade union leaders, has displayed an insensitive callousness towards the Venezuelan refugees when compared to the Dominican refugees.

Hindus believe in “maatru devo bhava pitru devo bhava/aachaarya devo bhava/ atithi devo bhava …” (Taittiriya Upanishad), which means respect to mother, father, guru and guest. They are all forms of God. With this philosophy the sentiment of the archbishop to exhibit love, compassion and understanding of those fleeing the failed state of Venezuela is compatible with Hindu thought.

It is passing strange that the trade unions and many in our society have been cursing the US as the Great Satan when it turned away Syrian refugees yet we are very comfortable in turning away Venezuelan refugees and accepting Dominican refugees. The hypocrisy is glaring. Right-thinking citizens must reject this backward and retrograde thinking of the trade union movement and some politicians.

PT SATYANAND
MAHARAJ, Spiritual Head, Satya Anand Ashram, Temple of Truth and Bliss