The new political situation in Trinidad and Tobago

David Abdulah

06/06/2010

Opinión

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We wish to express our sincerest gratitude for the very many expressions of interest, solidarity and congratulations from our colleagues, friends and comrades in the Caribbean region and further afield, who have taken a keen interest in the recent political developments in Trinidad and Tobago. We must appreciate that the emergence of the People’s Partnership coalition government, is not merely a positive shift in the political landscape of our country, Trinidad and Tobago, but that this political dynamic bears great significance for the entire Caribbean region and western hemisphere. The following offers some insight into the process, the politics and the prospects of the people’s victory.

In the Parliamentary Elections in Trinidad and Tobago on May 24^th 2010, of the forty-one (41) constituencies, the incumbent government, the People’s National Party (PNM), which held twenty-six seats going in to the elections, was only able to win 12 seats while The People’s Partnership (TPP), a coalition of opposition forces which includes the labour-led Movement for Social Justice (MSJ), won an overwhelming majority of 29 seats. Some 69% or 722,322 of the registered electorate of 1,040,127, voted in the elections. Of those who voted the People’s Partnership obtained 432,026 votes or 60% of those who cast their votes. The People’s Partnership therefore won both a clear majority of votes cast as well as seats won. Four other “traditional PNM” seats were close fought, with the Partnership getting to within a range of 300-900 votes of winning these seats.

For the first time in the history of Trinidad and Tobago, a female, in the person of Mrs. Kamla Persad-Bissessar has become the Prime Minister. Mrs. Persad-Bissessar only in January won the leadership of her party, the United National Congress, in an internal, one-member, one vote election. She defeated that party’s founder and leader, Mr. Basdeo Panday by a huge 10-1 margin. By leading the People’s Partnership into government she also resoundingly defeated the other long standing political figure in the country – Mr. Patrick Manning, leader of the PNM. Both Panday and Manning were symbolic of the old politics of maximum leaders and dividing the people along ethnic lines in order to win elections.

Moreover, this resounding victory marks a significant and dramatic turning point in the political direction of the twin island Caribbean state. It is an unmistakable statement from the people that they were fed up of: corruption; the waste and mis-management of the nation’s patrimony; the culture of maximum leader, arrogance of office holders and the centralization of power; and a paradigm of development that put mega-projects and international summits before the basic needs of citizens. The People’s Partnership responded to these concerns with our Manifesto which is really a major policy document pointing to a new way forward. The election results therefore give rise to the hope of an era of greater people’s participation and empowerment. We are acutely conscious that in a coalition of five parties, political, social and economic re-structuring will take time. We remain confident however, of the critical role that the progressive labour movement and its political party, the Movement for Social Justice will continue to play in helping shape the policies of the government; foster good governance and bring about social justice for all.

It is also necessary to recognize – and this cannot be understated – that the role of the progressive labour movement was equally as important in contributing to the collapse of the corrupt and dictatorial regime of the PNM as it was in building and coalescing the new People’s Partnership.

Progressive labour is ever mindful that in order to effectively defend the interests of workers we are required to defend all of the society. As such, being the vanguard of the mass movement, the Federation of Independent Trade Unions and NGOs (FITUN) and in particular the Oilfields Workers’ Trade Union (OWTU), have always led the national charge against government corruption and mismanagement, the abuse of power, the lack of transparency and accountability and the scourge of social ills like crime, violence, poor healthcare, and environmental injustice.

Over the last five to six years, at every turn we challenged the anti-worker, anti-people policies of the PNM government and initiated sustained campaigns on major issues. The Manning PNM government saw us as a threat. Friends and colleagues from the hemisphere will recall FITUN’s role in hosting the IV Peoples’ Summit of the Americas in April 2009. Against all odds and open attacks by the government by way of: refusing permission to march; forcing the change in venue at the last minute; arresting and deporting one delegate; and harassing a number of our international friends when they arrived in the country, we were able to host a successful Summit. In great defiance, we held a picket in the capital city, just a stone’s throw from the V Summit of the America, to condemn the government’s criminalization of social movements and to promote our peaceful event.

And in December 2009, following months of solidarity pickets, we led a peaceful and lawful picket against the government’s proposed draconian Property Tax Bill. Reflective of the government’s desire to stifle our right to freedom of expression and to prevent in opposition to its agenda, the state police forces responded with the most horrific show of brutality. While batons and blows were unleashed upon several picketers, President of FITUN, David Abdulah was arrested for “obstructing the highway”. After every attempt by the State prosecution to frustrate the process and deceive the court, on May 20^th2010 the Magistrate dismissed the case stating that it was an “abuse of process” and “an affront to the public conscience”.

It can be argued that the dictatorial PNM administration cracked under the weight of its many failures and corrupt dealings but that it was the progressive labour movement’s many and bold public statements, mass protests and pickets, policy proposals, strategic alliances and consciousness building efforts which ensured that it crumbled. Confirmation of the decisive role of progressive labour in bringing the Manning Government to collapse in office, just two and a half years into its five year term, came from non other than Mrs. Hazel Manning, who was Minister of Local Government and is the wife of the former Prime Minister. She declared on the PNM’s first political platform in the election campaign on Monday April 12^th, that

“while some people were doubtful, confused and questioned the decision to call a general election, the PNM was going for another mandate to take the country to a higher level”. (Stressing that the country was at a critical cross-roads, she said) “the PNM’s detractors were ruthlessly monopolizing the public information space to put us in this country on a journey of spite and hate. No government and I mean no government can operate in an environment of anger, discomfort. Mistrust…all manifesting themselves in legal summons, in industrial disputes, in false accusations and in blatant disrespect for office. That is the climate that the detractors have created and they can be found everywhere – the many Opposition elements and they keep multiplying day by day, a few trade union leaders, some of the media and other coalitions and associations. Are they leading the country down a path of civil unrest and war?”

It was in this climate that Prime Minister Patrick Manning made the call for early General Elections and, given these circumstances the MSJ was left with no other choice but to directly enter the electoral fray. Our direct intervention into the political arena received the support of some 600 Shop Stewards and Local Branch Officers from more than thirteen Trade Unions together with other representatives of civil society in the country, who met on April 18^th. Our intervention was also endorsed by the General Council of the Oilfields Workers’ Trade Union. This was possible partly because the Manning PNM government was the most anti-worker, anti-labour government in the last 25 years.

That the MSJ was able to contest the elections, even though recently formed, was because of the establishment, on April 21^st 2010, following a few weeks of intense discussion and agreement, of a coalition arrangement amongst five opposition parties, known as the Peoples’ Partnership. The five parties in the Peoples’ Partnership are:

1. The United National Congress, which held fifteen of the forty-one seats in the outgoing Parliament, and was the official opposition.

2. The Congress of the People which won more than twenty per cent of the popular vote in the 2007 general election, but did not win a seat.

3. The Tobago Organization of the People which has five of the twelve seats in Tobago’s representative body – the Tobago House of Assembly.

4. The National Joint Action Committee which has been involved for many years raising issues around cultural identities.

5. The Movement for Social Justice is the result of several years of preparation, discourse, and analysis by a conscious collective of political and social activists, many of whom are progressive trade unionists, who committed themselves to creating fundamental change in Trinidad and Tobago.

Each party with the Partnership has maintained their identity. The coalition is a cohesive unit with a designated leader in the person of Mrs. Persad-Bissessar, operated a common platform, campaign and had an agreed policy agenda. The People’s partnership manifesto (which includes the agreement to establish it together with declaration of principles and values) can be viewed at www.unitednationalcongress.org and www.coptnt.com. These policies include reform to the existing labour legislation and other benefits for working people. The policies represent a significant shift away from neo-liberalism and a return to social democracy. The input of the MSJ was not inconsiderable in the development of these policies.

Additionally, within this coalition arrangement each party was allocated a number of seats to contest in the elections, with the MSJ being allocated two seats (out of a total of forty-one seats). Brother Errol K. McLeod contested and resoundingly won the Pointe-a-Pierre seat, in which constituency is located the country’s refinery and a number of other industries (cement and petro-chemicals, where the OWTU represents workers). The other MSJ seat was contested by Ernesto Kesar, the president of the OWTU’s Trinmar branch – one the union’s largest and militant branches. Ernesto, while not winning closed the gap in votes by more than 2,500 thus making what was previously a “safe” PNM seat into a “marginal” one. The partnership agreed that given the newness of our symbol, the MSJ candidates would be utilizing the UNC’s symbol in the May 24 election.

Progressive labour and the Movement for Social Justice committed to play a key role in the new government of Trinidad and Tobago. In this light the Chairman of the Movement for Social Justice, Brother McLeod, who was the President General of the Oilfields Workers’ Trade Union from 1987 to his retirement in 2008, and who served for some 15 years on the Executive Committee of the International Federation of Chemical Energy Mine and General Workers’ Unions (ICEM), is now the Minister of Labour, Small and Micro Enterprise Development. Additionally, President of FITUN and General Secretary of the OWTU, David Abdulah is to be appointed a Senator and is slated to be the People’s Partnership government candidate for the Vice President of the Senate.

We now enter a new phase of the politics of Trinidad and Tobago as our people progress along the journey “out of slavery, through indenture and up to freedom”. We continue to look forward to your advice and solidarity in the coming months as we address the challenges ahead.

In solidarity,

David Abdulah

President, Federation of Independent Trade Unions and NGOs (FITUN)

General Secretary, Oilfields Workers’ Trade Union

2010 June 4.

https://www.alainet.org/es/node/142008