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Hrs. Andrea Talbutt,
Research Institut for Study of Man, 162, East 78th Street, New York, N.Y. 10021, Ph. Lehigh 5 8448. U.S.A. _I SUNDAY APRIL 18,.1976 PRINTED AND PUBLISHED BY THE TAPIA HOUSE PUBLISHING CO. LTD., 91 TUNAPUNA RD., TUNAPUNA TEL: 2-5 126. .WHY- "T AL C.L.R. JAMES flew out to London early last week Tuesday morning and throughout his one- week stay in Trinidad he turned down repeated requests for interviews. The reason' James wanted to make no waves which would inter- fere with the making of a BBC TV Documentary, based on his cricket book, "Beyond A Boundary ". The film, final sections of which were shot during last week's second Test Match between the West Indies and India, is sche- duled to be run on BBC television on July 8. Personal approval for the project had to come from Prime Minister Dr. Eric Williams, however, before the film could be shot in Trinidad. When BBC Producer/ Director Michael Dibbs came to Trinidad last January to begin pre- liminary work on the film, the BBC got a letter raising objections from James Alva Bain, chairman of the, Gov- ernment-owned media Board. Details of the Bain letter have not yet been disclosed. But as a result of the letter, the BBC turned to diplomatic channels to get the film completed. The British High Com- mission in Port-of-Spain had to be brought into the picture. And it vas only after the High Commission and the BBC provided certain guarantees, also undis- closed, that Dr. Williams gave the project his personal blessing. It would appear from James' silence during his stay here, however, that the "guarantees" included that he should come to Trinidad for the purpose of making the film and nothing else. James, an avowed Marxist, worked, with Dr. Williams when the PNM Government was first launched in 1956. The two broke on around 1961 several issues in- cluding that of the American presence in Chaguaramas. In 1965, when James returned to Trinidad from a long stay abroad, he was placed under "house arrest". In 1966 James con- tested the general elec- tions as a candidate for the Workers & Farmers Party (WFP), which was soundly beaten at the polls. During his stay in Trinidad last week, James was badgered by calls asking him to give inter- views or to talk to various groups of people. He turned down most of these invitations. However, it is under- stood that James may return to Trinidad in another six weeks for what was described as "a proper trip". (RAP) TAPIA meetings con- p.mn tinue to be held in different parts of the 0 country. 23, mal On Thursday 22, hon April in Covigne Road, spe; Diego Martin, there mee will be a public meet- Tun ing, starting at 6.30' con n. )n Friday, April Tapia will be king a return to neground so to ak, when a public eting is held in Lapuna, at the ner of Tunapuna Road and the eastern Main Road, starting 6.30 p.m. Then on Friday, April 30, in the Croisee, San Juan, the Tapia banwagon will stop for a session with the people of San Juan - Barataria. THE HOUR Is IF EVER the hou at hand it is ni Lloyd Best, spE ing toTapia's Foun tion Convention Port-of-Spain on P, Sunday last we urged his listeners see that the elect is upon us. Referring to th who were speculate that no election mi be held, Lloyd B said that in any c it was Tapia's duty be prepared what AT HA r is the outcome. ow. To that there was eak- loud applause which e ida- quickly subsided into i in grave silence when the c aim Tapia Secretary began c *ek, to review the pattern ( to of election day an- b :ion nouncements over the I last decade., ose "It is now or never," t ting intoned Best. "If we I .ght let the old regime sur- t 3est vive we may be forced i case to regret it forever. 'to "It is time for a t ver change a change in t 1966 Dissolution Nomination Election 1971 Dissolution Nomination Election - 25 Aug. - 11 Oct. - 7 Nov. - 22 April - 14 May 24 May 1976 our time!" Best observed that events have been mov- ng to a speedy con- clusion, which could only mean shortening of that critical interval between Dissolution Day when Parlia- ment is dissolved on the advice of the Prime Minister and Election Day, D-Day itself. "There is not time to tarry," Best cau- :ioned." We have come a long way. We are on the last leg, the most difficult of all, out of the desert. We have come a long way to- gether, brothers and Sist(cs. "Hand in hand, in hope and in faith and n trust, let us find the strength and the courage to go for- ward to the end and win I our way to freedom." Vol. 6 No. 16 JIMON$& 3U Cents ii'iU r~I~~ -- a ti d ti cl 9t si ll ir ti ti w w fl SUNDAY APRIL 18, 1976 'LET THE NATION CHOOSE A PARTY- IT'S THE ONLY WAY' 'THERE IS one and only one way out of our present slough of des- pond, the Nation must put its trust once more in a single viable opposi- tion force". This was how Tapia Chairman Denis Sjolomon put the stark reality of the political situation to his audience as he delivered the opening at last Sunday's Founda- tion Assembly. In an address which -took his listeners from the political situation in Trinidad and Tobago to. the writings of the Bha- gavad Gita, Solomon sought to explain the philosophy of political education and action which underlay the Tapia Movement . Reminding the audience of the promise of politi- cal education which the PNM made in 1956, the Tapia Chairman insisted that its failure was due to the fact that the PNM had a concept of political education which left no room for politics. EDUCATION The life of a nation, he said, was always a life of action, a life of doing and making., Supporting his state- ment, he reminded his listeners of the words of the Bhagavad Gita: "Illu- mination resides not in the renunciation"- of action but in the purity of action." In. contrast to the PNM, Tapia's brand of political education has been indistinguishable from political involve- ment. From the bus strike in 1969, to the February Revolution of 1970, to the participation in the Senate in 1975, Tapia's has been an involvement which has endeavoured at every phase to throw light on the politics of the moment and to clarify for people their condition and its causes. SITUATION Turning to the present political situation, the , Tapia chairman insisted that nothing so illumin- ated the nature of Tapia's brand of political educa- tion by involvement as its participation in the search for opposition unity. Tapia, he reminded the gathering, had be- come involved in several attempts at opposition unity but that on every occasion our position had been the same. Tapia had insisted in calling not for "Unity" but for "Joint Action" on such eminently realis- tic goals as Radio and Television Time for Opposition :Parties. In so doing, Solomon stressed that Tapia had succeeded in making each successive attempt at unity serve the additional function of bringing greater clarity to the country on where each party stood, if it stood anywhere at all, and on the viability of each type of option. CLARITY Only greater through political political through this clarity, only this process of education through invOi,'- .lv im J could the people get the insight and the informa- tion which they needed to escape the the des- pondency which came from the present opposi- tion fragmentation. A two-party system, he explained to his listeners, is not really a two-party system. It is a' system 'in which two parties predominate. He pointed out that in Britain at every election there were usually more than a dozen parties, but only two which were perceived as viable alter- natives' to each other. The Tapia Chairman declared: "It is the hope, indeed the convic- tion, of Tapia that sooner -or later the perceptions' of the country in relation to its condition and its needs and of the capaci- ties of the parties to satisfy them, will make such clearcut demands on the existing opposi- tion parties that they will be forced to con- form to the nation's requirement either by the formation of a mas- sive united striking force fully committed to a clearcut programme of reform, or else by the virtual elimination of all but one of these parties." In either case the Tapia dream will live on. For the Tapia programme was the only one capable of winning the trust of the population once again, he concluded. P RIS CONSTRUCTION 26a Rarninar St. Morvant tIOR BUILDINGS OF ALL TYRES From Foundation to Fixtures C.iCl .2o-44(W' .SA "OR AR MR. IARRiS Our coverage of THE REGION is unsurpassed anywhere for focus and point. Keep abreast of the real currents in the Caribbean Sea. OWING to the recent increase in the postal rates, the Tapia House Publishing Co., Ltd., has found it necessary to increase the subscription rates for TAPIA. The new rates are as follows: Trinidad & Tobago Caricom countries Other Caribbean U.S./Canada E.E.C. (incl. U.K.) U.S. U.S. Stg. $18.00 per year 30.00 $25.00 $30.00 L714.00 Surface rates and rates for other countries on request. The new rates are effective February 1, 1976. Tapia, 82,- St. Vincent St. Tunapuna, Trinidad & Tobago, W.I. Telephone 662-5126. & 62-25241. W. H. PAUL For Tailoring 6A Boissere LaneBelmont OPENED SINCE 1901 PIONEER PHARMACY SERVING WITH DISTINCTION W.M. COCKBURN. PROPRIETOR EASTERN MAIN ROAD, S/GRANDE Tel: 668-2523 i -. L ._ : .. . PAG 2TAPIA SUNDAY APRIL 18, 1976 THIS IS the first in a series of articles by MICHAEL HARRIS which will focus on issues in the international world. In this article Harris looks at the threat to world place posed by the enduing Middle East problem which he sees as having started with '-the imperialist implantation of a Jewish state in the heart of Arab country. Next week: "LEBANON CLOSING THE BACKDOOR." (Michael Harris, is Shadow Minister for External Affairs). .TO REMIND ourselves of the Balfour Declara- tion of 1917 is to remind ourselves as well of the fact that the 'Middle East" question has been on the forefront of the international political stage for more than half a century now and that all the manifold issues which are facets of the question are no nearer to a solution than they ever were. Nahum Goldmann, President of the World Jewish Congress since -1951 and widely ack- nowledged as one of the Fathers of the State of Israel, writing in the October 1975 issue of Foreign Affairs stated that "the situation in the Middle East remains ex- plosive and may lead to a crisis in the near future, which would not only be a disaster for the peoples of the area but might result in a world con- flagration." From which ever pers- pective you choose to look at the Middle East, and there are many, that gloomy forecast seems to be confirmed. From Cairo to Tel Aviv, from Amman to Damascus, from Tripoli to Beirut, there are manifest signs of turmoil and tension, frustration and fear, and anyone of dozens of issues might provide the spark that once more ignited- the Middle East. ANTAGONISM The core of the Middle Eastern question is of course the antagonism which exists between the State of Israel and the Arab countries which surround it. The original cornerstone of this anta- gonism was the Balfour Declaration q u o ted above. Goldmann has des- cribed the Zionist idea of the creation of a Jewish State as "one of the most revolutionary ideas of modern history". It is a strange claim to make particularly when he goes on to admit that "from a general point of view, the Zionist demand for a Jewish state was in ffull contradiction with- all principles of modern occupied territories. But by the same token the military success of the Israelis must have filled the Arabs with so much bitterness that their opposition to Israel took on the added dimen- sion of being necessary simply to assuage aq injured pride. In addition to these factors which relate directly to relations be- tween Israel and the Arab states are those factors which spring from the internal conditions with- in each of the states involved. All of the countries Fla.shpoint, to disaster *~~~~~ B^ BS^ SSIL t H- Her Majesty's Government view with favour the establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people, and will use their best endeavours to facilitate the achievement of this. object, it being clearly understood 'that nothing shall be 'done which may prejudice the civil and religious rights of other non-Jewish communities in Palestine, or the rights and political status enjoyed by Jews in any other country. From the Balfour Declaration of 1917 history and international law" But this fact was not lost on the Arabs. It was obvious that the dream of Jewish state could only be achieved at the expense of the Palestinian Arabs. As early, as 1921 Winston Churchill is reported to have stated in the House of Com- mons that, "the cause of unrest in Palestine, and the only cause, arises from the Zionist move- ment and our pledges and promises to it". DEVELOPMENTS So that to this day the heart of the Middle -East question remains the act of establishing, within the Arab world, not only a non-Arab state but an exclusively Jewish state, and the consequent dis- placement of hundreds of thousands of Palestinian Arabs from their home- land. But the intervening years' since the Balfour Declaration and more particularly since the UN partition of Palestine in 1947 have witnessed numerous developments which have to be added to any realistic appraisal of the situation in the Middle East today and without which one could never appreciate the intractability of the problem. For example, one must pose the question of to what extent the second World War and the Holocaust have intro- duced into the Jewish psyche what Goldmann calls a "persecution mania" anfd a consequent unwillingness to trust in any settlement that does not afford thlemnabsolute security? , But beyond that even is the fact that the inter- vening years have witnes- sed four Arab-Israeli wars all of which have served to change the nature of the situation and to drive the participants into more strident and uncom- promising positions. SUCCESS Israeli military success in 1956 and 1967, for example, not only brought- vast territorial gains hut must have engendered visions of total military domination of Palestine for all time to come Indeed only this could explain the Israeli policy of "fait accompli" li. the establishment of populated setllemen f iH are faced with internal social, economic and political conditions which not only affect their capacity to deal and their attitude in dealing with matters of foreign policy but at times dictate their .foreign policy. Sadat, for example, is on record as saying that Egypt went to war in 1973 because of its desperate economic con- ditions. His whole foreign policy approach since then has also been dictated by Egypt's internal economic pro- blems which it is re- ported have deteriorated further since 1973. TENSIONS But Egypt is not alone. Israel, too, is faced with mounting political and economic tensions at home. The heavy burden of maintaining a constant state of military prepared- ness, the reported sense of discrimination felt by by the Oriental Jews, the reported alienation of many of her young people and the decline in the numbers, of new immigrants are all pro- blems which seriously undermine her strength. Paradoxically, though not surprisingly, the res- ponse on the part of Government and estab- lishment has been'to resort to even more intense whipping of the threat to the security of the nation and. to a plethora of statements about the dire conse- quences to "a nation divided against itself'. Finally, we cannot ignore in the situation the effect of the super- power roles and their interests particularly after the OPEC Oil breakthrough of 1973. San Fernando Bar B Que Lion's Civic Centre Circular Road on SUNDAY MAY 2nd. Special Bonus ALL FOURS COMPETITION 3 PRIZES: $50 $25 $20 Get your tickets at: Pyramid Drugs, 2C Mucurapo St., San Fernando 662-2093 San Fernando Centre 8 Mon Chagrin San Fernando P.O.S. Centre, 22 Cipriani Blvd. 62-25241. Adults: $6 BAR & MUSIC Children $3 IN AID OF THE TAPIA HOUSE MOVEMENT TAPIA PG A F= 01 0 F-.. 7m -FiVA VA a a --i m N JL- 16- J- SUNDAY APRIL 18, 1976 Superior to sing on new Republic THE EIGHT calypson- ians who will appear on the programme of the first ever National Calypso Theatre. which opens at the Legion Hall, Port-of- S4ain this weekend will each be singing at least one fresh song composed since the end of the 1976 Carnival season. This is the aim of the management of the Theatre who are deter- mined to feature "timely timeless" songs during the first six-month run of their all-yeqr calypso show. Revealing this last week the Lord Superior, founder, producer and director of the Theatre, announced that "vulgar- ity" will certainly not be encouraged for it's "not necessary". Superior himself will - be singing a "renovated" calypso on Trinidad & Tobago going Republic. Also to be excluded from the programme are calypsoes dealing specific- ally with Carnival. EXPOSURE -Superior promised that the Theatre will be operated in part as a "training ground" for up-and-coming calypson- ians. These will be en- couraged and coached to give of their best in a situation where the management will be watching and carefully guaging impact and per- formance with a viewto "phasing in and phasing out" a large number of singers. "My thing is wanting to see as many calypson- ians as possible em- ployed," said Superior. Apart from giving exposure to young calypsonians, the Theatre will feature established "stars" whenever possible, and preferably at month ends. Superior and National Calypso Theatre Public Relations man William Doyle-Marshall t o 1 d TAPIA last week that their programme will include a "Nostalgia Spot" for-the presenta- tion of old calypsonians. The Theatre managers, however, emphasise the opportunities provided First ever all -gear kaiso opens ot for calypsonians who are still on the make. As each singer will be expected to perform at least two songs, he (or she) will be expected to be able to develop skills in holding the interest of an audience for a longer period onstage than they * would be allowed during the Carnival-Calypso season. The Theatre is there- fore providing a challenge to young singers to "bring 2ood songs", Superior said. "They must either please the audience or please me. They must please somebody." VARIETY But calypso is not all that patrons of the Theatre will be ,treated to. It is planned to put on comedy in the form of dramatic skits, folk singing- and dance and pan,. This weekend's show, for example, will feature apart from eight calypsonians the Fric- tions singing group, the Carlton Francis Dance Company and-famed pan- man Bertie Marshall as a soloist on his Bertfone pan. The Theatre manage- Tnent will be on the lookout for a variety of compatible entertain- ment to book for appear- ances at the Legion Hall whenever such items become available. MusIc will be provided by largely the same group employed at the Regal Tent (which Superior will continue to co-manage with Calypso King Chalkdust during the Christmas- Carnival season) and will be co-ordinated by guitar- ist Boyie Mitchell. A special feature of the orchestra will be the use of a steelband instru- ment to take the place of keyboard instruments. There will be no brass; the group will comprise three saxes, guitar, bass and percussion. The Frictions will do back-up singing. Asked about the res- ponse of calvnsonians to the year-round tent idea, Superior said that most had expressed themselves as "very hapoy that someone is brave enough to take that chance."' The National calypso Theatre which will, be opened this weekend by the Nigerian High Com- mission His Excellency Emmanuel Kolade will be the third venture in which Superior has sought to employ his talents as a performer and entre- preneur who is committed to development of the national culture, and to' the provision of a better deal for the people involved in it. His pioneering creole restaurant and nightclub ran for nearly two years in La Puerta, Diego Martin, before he was forced to close down under "pressure from police and thief"'. Since 1972 he has been involved in the running of the Regal Tent which he founded together with Chalkdust and the Mighty Duke. For the year-round Calypso Theatre -starting this weekend, Superior (also called Andrew Marcano) has installed his own sound system and "professional thea- trical lighting." Working on the idea of getting trade unions involved in the support of the Theatre, Superior and Doyle-Marshall wrote six unions and the Labour Congress urging that the existence of the Theatre be brought to' the attention of union members. A small group repre- senting the OWTU, TIWU and the National Union of Domestic Employees (NUDE) got together at the Holiday Inn last week and worked out details about discounts in the ticket prices, to be made available to bona fide union members. For the moment the National Calypso Theatre and many well-wishers look forward to a packed Legion Hall over Easter Saturday, Sunday and Monday, where there is accommodation -for just under 400. The Theatre this week- end features calypson- ians Relator, Poser, Explainer, Diamond, Pretender, Organiser, Power and Superior. (L.G.) MAX SENHOUSE 110 Eastern Main Road 662-4087 Knows The Way to The lMagic Kingdom of Furniture At Family Prices Ruby 3 PC Living Room Set CASH OR TERAIMS PRICE $825 DOWN $250 MTH. $ 45 _ LI__ PAGE 4TAI SUNDAY APRIL 18, 1976 Part of crowd at Founding Assembly The following is an abridged version of a statement given by Lloyd Taylor at last Sunday's Assembly TODAY IS Foundation Day for Tapia. Yet it may not be widely understood that founding the political party will make no qualitative change to our movement. We need however to mark the occasion as one that is special ff -s all. Every milestone like this one -st be celebrated as an important ingredient in the psychology of mobilising large numbers. Tapia's path has been unique. Build- ing as we have done from the inside we were interested in constructing a move- ment for change that is an advance on the old politics of a few leaders manipu- lating the many party supporters and on the old politics of agitation. Instead we have been wanting to practise people in the ways of community For if we think the building and participa- past eight years were tion. We therefore pro- difficult ones the future ceeded with an inter- is not going to be a bed mediate po 1 itica 1 of roses. Actually taking organisation having one power and orchestrating foot in politics and a programme of radical another in community change for the little activity, people will probably Much more important make us greyer in one for us than merely cele- year than the past eight rating is the need. to years have made us. focus on the future. Then Today we are merely we shall be having many readying ourselves to take more acts that will bring a plunge from 1 which into bolder relief the there is going to be no political machine that we return for Tapia as a are building. collection of kindred souls. From now on we will be labouring under in- creasingly- difficult cir- cumstances because the old regime and its power elites would make sure we have "a fight to the finish." To my mind the condi- tions and the difficulties under which we have to labour in the past years all spring from one com- mon root. Which- is the existence of a set of constitutional and admin- istrative arrangements THE BEST PLACE TO BUY BOOKS ANY KIND OF PORT OF SPAIN SAN FERNANDO that make difficult the exercise of the individual's right to total political participation. Examples of these difficulties are legion.. One is the so-called political apathy, despite the enjoyment of the right to vote, the right to join political parties and the right to partici- pate in 1p political assemblies. VIBRANT There is, too, the lack of a vibrant.public opin- ion, a braindrain or a shortage of talent in the politics of the country affecting both opposing and governing political parties. Then there exist large numbers of people declaring themselves to be opposed to the govern- ment but still saying that Williams will win. In addition, the new movement for change remains fragmented with no apparent common aim but the desire to take power from Williams. The most damaging political consequence flowing from that crisis is that the emergence of the political alternative for people to see and identify as such is being held up. And that is the real political strategy of' the old regime. in that context wAat is the right to vote if all we are able to see is a wilder- ness of no choice? It is in that sense that the Con- stitution, as described by C.L.R. James since 1962, is an "embattled fortress for government against the people." And that is just what we are up against when we kindred souls meet in our separate ways to create a political alterna- tive. PARTICIPATION The Republican Con- stitution and the com- ments on it .coming from all quarters save Tapia, remain completely silent on the question of politi- cal participation for the many. That question shifts our focus above and beyond the rights we have to join political parties and to vote. An organisation such as ours suffered no small way. from the, tight and unqualified restriction placed on political parti- cipation of public servants and teachers. Not satisfied with Cont'd on Pg. 8 '~rc -i~---rs~pa~arra TAPIA PG 'i t),N A PAGE 6 TAPIA FOLLOWING THE ARTICLE IN TO BE POSSIBLE IN THE CARIB- LAST WEEK'STAPIA HEADLINED BEAN AND OFFERS A DESCRIP- "CHANGE IN OUR TIME" WRIT- TION OF THE KIND OF MOVE- TEN B Y LENNOX GRANT WHOSE MENT WHICH COULD BRING THE "BYLINE" WAS INADVERTENTLY CHANGES INTO BEING. THE OMITTED, THIS ARTICLE BY AUTHOR LIVES AND WORKS.IN KEITH HENRY EXPLORES THE TORONTO, CANADA. KIND OF CHANGE THAT SEEMS FOR A number of ethical and pragmatic reasons, the case is over- whelmingly for reform. The proposition is simply put of course and some amplification is in order. First of all, the remarks in this article apply to the Commonwealth Caribbean. They may be relevant or irrelevant to other places but determining this is not at all a preoccu- pation here. Clearly, to begin with, the choice of reform or revolution could in practice be unavailable. Where a regime leaves no channels open for dissent to be aired, or for its own displacement by dissent- ing elements commanding greater public confidence than itself, then the choice is otherwise, of submission or resistance. Since violence is such an evil, the onus is on dissenting elements to establish this. The argument above, however, is incomplete without further elaborations which are important but of doubtful application, we think, to the Commonwealth Caribbean situation. We may note firstly that, even of Guyana, it may be supposed that regional politi- cal realities and censure, local political configurations and advancing social forces can increasingly be counted on to defeat a will for majority oppression on ethnic grounds. Such oppression naturally negates the otherwise ethically superior claims of representative majority government. The second and very important assumption here, and throughout this piece, is that the West Indian populations are, and have been for some time, relatively sophisticated ones. (This is a large topic which cannot bear elaboration here. Fortunately, the necessity for this is much reduced by the universal assertion of this conviction by: political forces in the Caribbean. The conviction concerning the maturity of the Trinidad and Tobago populace, in particular, is of course frequently expressed today in the slogan "the 28% Government", implying a popular distinction as between legality and legitimacy. Incidentally, this is a perilously narrow and even. unstable basis for supposing maturity. Whether the assumption of popular- political maturity is actually implied in the programmes or style of political groups asserting it is subject to further debate). The West Indian populations,, however, are sophisticated enough, it is supposed here, to resist, particularly, transparently fraudulent demagoguery, the other peril to the ethical claims of majority gov- ernment. The only other live consideration in the Caribbean emerges from the exacting character of economic development where, it might be argued, the extended period of sacrifice might induce a faltering of public support before crucial structural transformations are achieved. Actually, such faltering is highly unlikely in the Carib- bean unless the reformers themselves surprisingly exhibit great in- competence in which case the possibility arises for the public that the sacrifices are in vain. Fatal loss of support is unlikely for quite a large number of reasons. One of them is the thoroughly disappointing performance of most of the current Commonwealth Caribbean regimes, the main beneficial result of which must eventually be the popular conviction that there is no alternative to the painful changes of refonn only the painful retention of the present. Another basis for optimism is the nature of Caribbean geo- graphy and social history. The small size of the territories, resources of local speech, significant social classlessness (by many indices), inter alia, allow the leaders and articulators of reform intensive physical and psychological access to the populace. In fact, colonial and post- colonial history has been such that the mere novelty of a leadership willing to endure material sacrifice rather than merely preach it will probably go a very long way in persuading the under-privileged, who are the great majorities, to long-term conversions to reform agendas. Perhaps it is sufficient to enumerate just two more factors. In some other societies, one may well doubt the public's will or capacity for sacrifice. In some places, material existence is already below meaningful survival measures and further sacrifice is not con- sciously entertainable at levels of personal decision. In more develop- ed countries, the public is probably fully attuned to the notion that serious sacrifice is vain since it may soon be stultified-by technological breakthroughs. (For example, this is essentially still the popular approach to the fuel crisis, justifiedly or not). These reactions, or the sort of weariness that incapacitates societies assailed by too frequent crises, do not typify the Caribbean. (The Irench people's ;pp roach to the signs of the Second World War after the human devastation of the First, and after prolonged economic stasis, is an example of the weariness one means.)The psychology in the Caribbean, for a number of reasons, is of possibilities to be explored, of youth. Recent nation- hood and the visual impact (except in periods of high emigration-) of what is really a negative in the society, that is, the early death of older people and -a consequent youthful aspect to the population, have been obvious factors. The last consideration we may choose to mention, that earlier made local popular sacrifices difficult to sustain, was the frequent large opportunities to migrate to Latin America, North America and the United Kingdom. The pointhere is that the people do not have to be dragooned into making sacrifices by a Kemalist or left-wing dictatorship. They can be persuaded to. A belated word on what the terms "reform and "revolu- tion" imply in this piece. Actually, the ultimate social objectives of a revolution and reform movement may be quite similar. And a revolu- tion may even manage to avoid violence. (Naturally, a movement where violence is regarded as of intrinsic value, of existentially purgative or creative value, or as anything but a reluctant and des- perate last recourse is very distant from what is termed reform in this article). I f one asks the difference between a reform movement and a revolutionary one which appear to share similar social goals, the clue must lie in the latter's willingness to suspend representative institutions, at some stages at least, to artificially foreclose the options of reversal of its legislation beyond any requirements of the legisla- tion's effectiveness. Such steps may perhaps be necessary in other populations but not, it appears, in the Commonwealth- Caribbean. To declare the political maturity of the common man in these islands but yet artifically foreclose his otpions would be self-con- tradiction. Where conditions allow, as they certainly appear to in the Commonwealth Caribbean, representative institutions and all they imply must be preserved and nurtured. Popularly endorsed curtail- ment of various traditional rights may even legitimately occur under such conditions wartime conditions are a safe analogy but obviously they must represent popular sentiment, be minimal and highly reversible. The reform agenda in Caribbean conditions must naturally imply drastic change. Its-moral inspiration must be egalitarianism the fundamental equality of human beings, the recognition that there is no moral basis for excessively large rewards for gifts even of intellect or personality. These and all other attributes are accidents of birth, parentage, peers and chance. They are gifts they are not earned their fortunate recipients do not deserve further gifts i.e. Change Caribbe and ho\ can be large incomes for being gifted. Differentials will almost certainly have to exist but they will have to be far more modest, and will need other justifications e.g. the practical one of discouraging loafing, or to reward working at certain uncongenial occupations e.g. dangerous, foul or stressful ones. The very probable alternative to some signifi- cant reform of this nature will not be the fortunate continuing to enjoy their good fortune, but instead a society of growing fear and tension, culminating in a revolution, compromised perhaps bly an acquired taste for violence or for unnecessary regimentation or coercion. As for the specific transformational tasks in these territories. it is not at all clear wherein lie the intrinsic advantages of violent ls~l~ Il i C L~~ r I, It ; 9 r TAPIA PAGE 7 1 ___________~1 1 Ic- ~IC~~-~'C revolution. The effective remedies for local problems available to revolutionaries are no more nor less available to reform regimes. And, as we shall see, the possible, probable and certain costs that would accompany revolutionary triumph are much longer. Let us specify three major issues. The tourist industry, on which much passion is spent, may be quickly disposed of. This appears absurdly easy to reform and control without benefit of violence or threat of it. (This has been discussed elsewhere). The notion that the tourist industry is unavoidably psychologically destructive is hard to entertain. Both Cuba and China welcome tourists without any social perilrthat one hears of. Yet Havana and Shanghai were the two cities in which, pre-eminently, foreign tourists and transients were formerly associated with the degradations of pornography and prostitution. As for habits of servility, Cuba was also once a slave society and coastal China semi-colonized. The second issue is land reform with limited, selective, or no compensation. Actually, land redistribution is a measure whose ethics and necessity are acknowledged even by reactionary regimes in underdeveloped, countries. Naturally, they rarely attempt it because of their limited commitment and precarious political-base. It is the sort of reform that a reactionary regime is unlikely to meet, certainly in the CommonwealthWest -Indies, significant resis- tance. For in these territories, the owners of large tracts of land have -already been ideologically dispossessed. The private use of large tracts, unless assigned -for national purposes by a modern reform regime, is no longer regarded as morally legitimate. (The case is highly analogous to another of the last century. Large tracts of land in exclusive possession amidst a land-hungry population will be no more mourned by their owners at their loss than -slaves at the Brazilian Abolition. The owners pretend moral outrage before the eve... in the hope of compensation, but have secretly been more- than half-converted to its illegitimacy. The abolitionists. overestimated the slave-owners' outrage just as both revolutionaries and reformers probably do the landowners' today). In the Caribbean, much land is owned by British absentees. They are thoroughly familiar with limitations on land ownership at home. As persons from a community which has been abundantly en- riched in the pastby their long career of land ownership in the Carib- bean, and ones who must have great difficulty in supposing that they have "earned" these acreages or "deserve" further wvealth,-it is extremely difficult to see how they will manage to summon up genuine moral indignation or adduce arguments convincing even to themselves. A safe conclusion is that thepenetration of Liberal ideas, in the an: How v much had even occasionally Radical ones, is sufficiently large today in the intellectual world of most Northern chancelleries to make retaliation for seizure of old properties in ex-coloiial territories an expression less of indignation than of concern for national .prestige. Skilful diplomacy could obviate it. This is a convenient place to reflect on the new West Indian "middle class" which will clearly suffer some dispossession. This class has, somewhat unnecessarily it seems, become a primary demon of local revolutionary discourse, undoubtedly partly owing to its place in foreign classical revolutionary treatises. In the Eastern Carib- bean, certainly, the.notion that this class is profoundly opposed to radical egalitarian social change is probably quite ill-founded. That. The West Indian middle-class, especially in the Eastern Caribbean, can have no serious entrepreneurial sense of having "earned" their wealth or any particular sense of deserving it. Everyone knows his high place is nearly totally an accident of decolonization. And nearly every- one has gone to school with persons equally or more talented whom he now sees idle at street-corners because of some mischance in the education lottery And even as beneficiaries of the present system, the new middle class can feel no certainty for the future of their own children. They also have, in their close relatives and friends, strong connections with the underprivileged. The qualities of competence and honesty which were traditionally supposed to attach to government in the region, and which must be doubly attractive to persons of trained intelligence, are scarcely visible in most of the local regimes. it would oppose such change violently part of the inspiration, one supposes, for the taste for compulsion and violence in revolu- tionary rhetoric seems groundless. What we may well already have, however, is the embryo of a self-fulfilling prophecy where the. revolutionary rhetoric of compulsion and violence creates a climate of apprehension and violent resistance where none would otherwise have materialized. W ,hat are some reasons for this view? The West Indian middle- class, especially in the Eastern Caribbean, can have no serious entre- preneurial sense of having "earned" their wealth or any particular sense of deserving it. Everyone knows his high place is nearly totally an accident of decolonization. And nearly everyone has gone to school with persons equally or more talented whom he now sees idle at street-corners because of some mischance in the education lottery. And even as beneficiaries of the present system, the new middle class can feel no certainty for the future of their own child- ren. They also have, in their close relatives and friends, strong con- nections with the underprivileged. The qualities of competence and honesty which were traditionally supposed to attach to government in the region, and which must be doubly attractive to persons of trained intelligence, are scarcely visible in most of the local regimes. The third issue is multinational corporations. It is difficult to see what effective remedies in Caribbean conditions are at the disposal of revolutionaries that are not also available to reformers. The. remedies, for revolutionaries and reformers alike, lie in con- certed action by Third World countries and evolving opinion in the developed. Finally, a word on the particular difficulties of revolution in Commonwealth Caribbean conditions. It would take a highly optim- istic revolutionary to imagine simultaneous revolution in all the Commonwealth Caribbean territories, or even successive ones at quick intervals. For one thing, successful revolution in one or a few would arouse reactionary regimes in others to furious reactive and protective measures (i.e..probably the violence without the revolu- tion). In that case, an early and long-tenn. casualty would be any, serious form of Caribbean union, and, for some time, evendiplomatic or economic co-operation. In the ensuing turmoil, without choosing to elaborate on it, one can write off at least one territory, Belize, as permanently lost to the Afro-Caribbean. It would be confiscated as a threat, if revolutionary, or potential threat, if not, to the peace and order of its nieighbours. Other possibilities are scarcely less evident. Even laymen know of Napoleon and Stalin, that is of what can emerge from the violent revolution gone sour, where violence and suspicion become. endemic as habits with their own momentum and superseding the ideals that originally accompanied them. All these are risks to solve problems which, it appears, reformist regimes in these territories are no more nor less able to confront. The last unpleasant risk is that even Caribbean -- wide violent revolutions, simultaneous and minimally 11awed (an unlikely combination), might merely place these islands in the forefront of Great Power conflicts. A reform regime. even one of very similar aims,.would be far better placed to escape this. It would certainly not inspire the internation al and lonmestic passions that dogmnatic orthodoxies tend to excite. I L 18, 197-6 PAGE 8 TAPIA SUNDAY APRIL 18, 1976 TMi ii those restrictions, the Government has moved further to narrow the constitutional space avail- able for political partici- pation marches, political assemblies and so on. . In that context, too, we. must look at opposi- tion unity. For where people are searching for change and can see no valid political alternative emerging, where they don't understand that the Government intends to deny them that clear vision, opposition unity appears to be the only way out. Our men and women of substance and cha- racter don't have the economic independence or the courage, to risk showing their hands openly in favour of the valid political alternative, thereby giving leadership and moral direction to the little people. One consequence is that full, free and unfet- tered political participa- tion becomes the preserve of the power elite. The other is -that in- superable difficulties are placed to block the emergence of the party of the have-nots, the unorganised, the nomin- ally represented and the under-represented. And that party is none other than the party that we are founding. On the evidence avail- able opposition unity is illusory. We lack political wisdom, experience and humility, but above all, we lack the self-knowledge to know all our short- comings. For opposition unity we need, first of all, to make progress in under- standing, before we can secure progress in agree- ment. Opposition unity, a practical political ques- tion, has to be settled by the practical politics of going for large numbers of supporters. Which in our case means joining the battle for Port-of- Spain. We are therefore most likely to face the elections alone. The period between now and after the elec- tions is going to be a great testing time for us all. Yet despite our diffi- culties. I can see no meaning- ful sense in which we in Tapia can lose or in which the Government can win. Two possibilities exist: either Tapia secures vic- tory at the polls in the coming elections or we force a stalemate. There is no need to dilate upon the first. But the second a situation At that point people would be courageous enough to make a bid for freedom and to trans- gress, where necessary with impunity, the con- stitutional and adminis- trative arrangements keeping us in chains. Then, and only then, there would be no doubt that we constitute the political alternative. The first session of Tapia Assemblies is always taken up with Registration. Officiating at this desk at the SWWTU last Sunday is Tapiamai Jeremy Mar. (third from left in spectacles). SUNDAY APRIL 18, 1976 OUR BEST CHANCE TO SAYS IT WAS a matter much to be deplored that the press had all but ignored the Minority Report of the Joint Select Parlia- mentary Committee on Constitution Reform, which had been written by Tapiaman Denis Solomon. .Drawing this instance of media misbehaviour to the attention of the -Foundation Assembly Convention last Sunday, DO IT SYL OW!AR Syl Lowhar, member of the National Executive and former Chairman of Tapia, said the Report was the climax of Tapia's agitation on the Constitu- tional issue. This agitation Lowhar said had spanned the years from 1969, through tIbe various phases of \ ,ient unrest and violent suppression that Trinidad and Tobago had endured. Lowhar who had him- Syl Lowhar (seated, third rom right) is introduced last Sunday to the Foundation Convention by Beau Tewarie, Community Relations Secretary. self been detained on Nelson Island in 1970, was last Sunday charged with the responsibility of moving the resolution for the foundation of the Tapia House Movement. His oration to the gathering was a stirring rallying call in which he narked back to the days of T.U.B. Butler with the famous dictum: "I have a sword in my hand!"' After the terror of 1970 and the brutal sup- pression of the Black Power revolt, Tapia had called for a Constituent Assembly of the people, Lowhar recalled. This, as a means of reconstituting the state which had shown such deep-going divisions, seemed the obvious solu- tion. "Tapia's call tfor a Constituent Assembly was commonsense," Lowhar declared. But he. noted ruefully: "Com- monsense is not all that common these days.", Tapia had established EVERYBODY agrees that it's time for a change. Yet everybody says that the Govern- . ment which has been in power for 20 years will win again. Describing this as "a very curious para- dox", 'Tapia Secre- tary Lloyd Best asked the Foundation As- sembly last Sunday to see there is not the remotest .possibility of t h i s Government winning again. "If anyone here will vote for the Govern- ment, stand up now and be counted," Best challenged. ."Only those would vote for them who want a continuation of pres- sure, of punishment a continuation of pain." Then Best refuted the importance of the constitutional issue, but -those who couldn't be persuaded of its funda- mental importance still held to their view of constitution making as a ritualistic exercise. PERCEPTION As they saw it, it involved- debates over fine points and clauses. In fact, so great had the confusion of perception become that now it would not be far from the truth to say-that "nobody knows what the constitution is in fact." So that Williams had been able to introduce the Republican Constitu- tion in "the .most un- Republican of ways." Indeed so marked was Williams' intent to keep the population unaware of the exercise or not under- standing what was taking place, that the Republican Constitution of 1976 could be said to have been brought in "sur- The Govt has less support than 28% the widespread notion of a "28 per cent Government" which he called "a very unfortunate and very misleading calculation, a dangerous over- estimation in fact." He could not see, he said, how any single party could have more than 20% of the elec- torate firmly commit- reptitiously", Lowhar claimed.. As such it validated the question whether it was intended to be a means of preventing elections. As he warmed to his theme of moving the resolution to found the party, Lowhar declared: "Never before in the West Indies has there been an excellent chance like this one to realise the vision of Tapia as it has been outlined by Ivan Laughlin. I invite all to share in the found- ing of the new state." He ended by com- mending to the gathering the members of the National Executive on the platform who had previously been intro- duced by Beau Tewarie, and he referred to the "great honour" conferred on himself through being asked to move the his- toric resolution. The resolution was passed by standing ova- tion. ted to it. "I should not be surprised at all, he added, "if the largest single fragment is aligned to the Tapia House Movement." The fact is, he explained, Tapia's sup- port is not concen- trated among any pressure group, but -spread across the country in an excellent cross-section. So it would be ,'very hard to see and measure because we have never agitated to bring support into the public place; we simply persuade our people that we are worthy of theit vote." If the Government support appears to be bigger, it is only Cont'd on Pg. 11 KIRPALANI "'S IS and BASdC We've got what you ned at minimum OOst. KIRPALANI'S NATIONWIDE -I I---=- -I --p-- _------ b -C. -~ - - -- --. I -I _ TPAPAGE 9) SUNDAY AIilI. 1 7, M 17( Comment by Fillip DEAR FRIENDS This week 1 was racking my brain to- find out what I should say to all of you. The problem was not that there were no developments, on the political scene to write about. Indeed there were quite a few. The problem was simply and honestly that your friend Fillip has never been so confused in all his life. Until the events of the past few weeks I thought, in my usual modest way of course, that I understood something about how the politics of Trinidad operated, about how our people felt and that therefore I could, within modest limits, predict certain develop- ments. Now, sad to relate, I must confess that I don't understand a They cuss and they cuss, that is all damn thing. Nothing in the political situa- tion seems to make any sense. No development seems to follow logic-. ally from any prior one. Nothing in the at- mosphere of the moment would suggest that a long period of - political crisis is about to reach its final climax. What I mean is that something just isn't right. I can feel it in- my bones. For example- the Republican Bill is passed, all that is needed is the formal proclamation. The Representation of the People Act is soon going to be passed. The PNM say that all their nominations are in. Tapia says it is now' a political party. The ULF says it is now a- political party. The United People's Front making way-lay- way-lay all over the place. Now when I put all that together I come up with Elections round the corner. Now I have been all over this country and every- time I open my ears somebody cussing Wil- liams and the PNM bad bad bad. And yet with all the signs, with all the gambage going on, nothing is really hap- pen ing. Nobody look like they, give two hoots about the whole blasted parade. -And Friends that is a sad state of affairs but indeed. For it can mean only one of two things. Either it is the calm before the storm. In which case I don't want to be around when the shit hits the fan. Or it means that we as a people have been beaten. In which case I still don't want to be around. So please under- stand me friends. I am as brave as the next man. love my coun- try as much as the next man. But all the same the earliest opport- unity I get I going and renew my passport. "Just in case, friends, just in case. Yes, we're also into publishing and printing... -- i '' S"? $. 5 The Political Alternative Prospects for Our Nation Whose Republic? Letter to C.L. R. James 1964 Democracy or Oligarchy The P.M. & the Constitution Lloyd Best C.V. Gocking 11 * Grenada Independency Myth or Reality. (International Relations Institute, U.W.I.) * Readings in the Political Economy of the Caribbean (New World). Whyi Did PNM Fail? Another View of Tapia Method The Inside Story of Tapia The Machinery of Government Black Power in Human Song We are in a State A 'Clear Danger MANJAK LIBERATION NEW BEGINNING Augustus Ramrekersingh Lloyd Taylor-. Lennox Grant Denis Solomon Syl Lowhar Ivan Laughlin Michael Hlarris' Social Stratification in Trinidad. (I.S.E.R.) "Revo" -- poems by Malik "Cheers" by Yvonne Jack. The Dynamics of West Indian Economic Integration (ISER). And we can do a job for you too CALL ALLAN HARRIS 662-5126, 82-84 S;. Vincent St, Tunapuna. 62-2524 1, Cipriani Blv'd P..S. PAGE 10 TAPIA TAPIA PAGE 11 IN picture above, Assistant Secretary Ivan Laughlin delivers "Tapia's 25 Year Plan for Trinidad and Tobago" at the Founding Convention last Sunday at the SWWTU Hall in Port-of- Spain. Laughlin's address was that night broadcast for one hour on Radio Trinidad. Laughlin invited his listeners to throw their minds forward to the year 2001. He sketched a picture not only of Trinidad and Tobago at that time under a Tapia Government, but of the world feeling the growing impact of "New World" ideology, with the last ves- tiges of colonialism and imperialism finally elimin- ated and a start towards a more rational and humane division of the world's resources and power. Laughlin's statement will be reported in fuller detail in next and succeeding TAPIA's. At far right is Allan Harris, Tapia's Administra- tive Secretary who delivered a fund-raising appeal at the Convention. At the registration table in picture right are (seated) Paula Williams and Sheilah Solomon. - ~~~"' '~3' ~- 4 Fromr pg. 9 because of what Best called "the facts of power". And he asked: "In practice, was the Government party not destroyed by the 1970 Black Power Revolt?" This Black Power Revolt had swept away the "props" from under the political system, in that it had separated the PNM and the DLP from their racial bases. The result was a sustained .constitutional crisis, upheaval in the agencies of state and confusion in the public mind. CLIMAX So that the constitu- tional crisis is basically a political question. What has happened is that the people are deficiently represented or defectively repre- sented, as a result of the break up of the two-race party system. And since that is what lies at the root of the constitutional crisis, the resolution of the crisis must entail the replacement of a new system of parties. Best described the Government's 1976 Constitution Bill as "the climax, the con- summation" of all the restrictive and repres- sive legislation since the Commission of Enquiry into Subver- sive Activities and -the ISA of the early 1960s. Again he called the Republican Constitu- tion of the PNM "a manifesto for a party of Privilege and power". And both the con- tents of the Bill and the way it was intro- duced bespoke amono- poly of power and a denial of popular participation on the part of the oligarchy whom the government represents. C------- -L--------- ~ ---LIII---Y-L"~"-suU~I~l~~-UI~i +._ --~i~(C- ___1_~_ U Now a deadly game reaches stage of blood TODAY, the moment of truth is with us; the moment of decision. Never have the conse- quences of error been more -fraught with mortal peril. Never has it been a more categorical impera- tive to introduce politics into sport . than today, at this grave moment in' our history, when the deadly game of survival has reached the decisive stage of blood. It is fitting; it is fitting that the Tapia House Movement is assembled here today again, from all corners of Trinidad & Tobago our members, our associates, our 6up- porters and our friends, a throng of Tapia people, come together for the Third Leg of our National *Election Convention, for the christening of our party. I welcome you with all my heart. If I knew you were coming, I'd a baked a cake. And let me con- fess I knew very well that you were coming. Better still, we have duly formed the' party - like we stop coming and come. Let us celebrate with mas because after this is Lent forty days and forty nights we'll be fasting in the wilds, on the hustings, campaigning for general elections. The only thing that remains to be done is the setting of the actual date. Current rumour has it that it will be on Monday the 24th of May, a repeat of 1971. They say the Little King is a Whe-whe Dreamer, that the Magic Number is Six four plus two. Well, I don't know anm' of the Whe-whe marks but I feel that Six is Dead Man. The big slogan in politics these days is "it dosen't matter what party you inm your vote is your own. When the mark buss and you hear the shout somebody's whe-whe dream will end up as a nightmare when he woke up to find that he take a six for a nine. WHY 20 YEARS OF PNM IS ENOUGH 1. THE Government have completely dashed the hopes of the people for dignified nationhood, for social equality and for identity all our own, won by a cultural revival, amoral resurgence and a spiritual regeneration, 2. THEY have proven themselves utterly incapable of taking advantage of the vastly im- proved revenues from two oil booms with which they could have promoted the enduring welfare and upliftment of the people of Trinidad & Tobago. 3. THEY have wilfully substituted crash pro- grammes, half measures and special works for responsible long-term planning and have imposed intolerable hardships and inhuman burdens on the people by an outrageous incompetence in the management of such public utilities and public services as water, transport, health, education, sanitation, telephoneselectricity, drainage. 4. THEY have systematically suppressed econ-, omic enterprise among the people in the fields of' small-scale and kitchen-garden agriculture and of small-scale, backyard and drag-brother industry with the result that our economy has thrown and continues to throw huge numbers of people - especially the youth permanently out of employ- ment and has created and continues to create a widening gap in income 'and wealth between the top 20% of privileged elites and the bottom 70% of disadvantaged little people. 5. THEY have wantonly disregarded the valid hopes of the people on the question of constitu- tion reform and have imposed post-haste on th6e sovereign people a Republic of Cabinet design? 6. THEY have deliberately disgraced and humili- ated distinguished members of the Public Service as part of a policy of intimidating the citizens in the cause of central power. 7. THEY have promoted a breakdown not only of public administration but also of peaceful and harmonious relations at the industrial, social and political levels by muzzling free expression in the. communications media and by restricting funda- mental rights and freedoms. 8. THEY have repeatedly antagonished our Caribbean neighbours to the detriment of the West Indian nation. 9. THEY have rendered us virtually impotent in international affairs especially in regard to the historic developments in the sphere of Southern Africa. 10. THE result of such a gross dereliction of duty at almost every level of governmental responsibility has been to maintain, our people on the brink of revolutionary upheaval for a period of more than seven years? HOW COULD SUCH A GOVERNMENT BE RETURNED TO OFFICE BY THE PEOPLE IN FREE AND FAIR ELECTIONS? |