Quotes: Eric E. Williams.

• "Finally, the entire West Indian tradition is anti-intellectual. People's lives are bounded by the narrow materialistic considerations of the price of produce or the cost of living or the laziness of workers or the growth of crime and delinquency or gambling or chasing after women (or men as the case may be) or just plain gluttony and imbibing. Add to that the movies and the radio and in more modern days the equally pernicious television, and fit in somewhere in the schedule sleeping and working or making pretence of working, and the normal individual's day is complete. Cricket and football, a sports meeting, the races – and the normal year is complete. A Head of Government cannot be limited to such narrow and materialistic considerations. So I read deliberately, in silent protest against the bastardisation of so-called West Indian intellectualism."
  

-Eric E. Williams, December 3, 1965 (wrote in column)

 

• "Our independence was part of the world movement against colonialism – the colonial peoples disinclined to tolerate it any longer, the imperialists unable to carry on."
  

-Eric E. Williams, Inward Hunger

 

• "I summarize some of the particular aspects of the economy bequeathed to our independent nation by the antecedent colonialism. Our economy was essentially in foreign hands, the capital coming from outside, the profits being repatriated outside. This was essentially true of the oil and sugar industries and the banks. The normal steps taken to encourage industrial development and attract foreign capital for investment, in the interests of import substitution, tended to strengthen foreign control of the economy; whilst the incentives offered to those industries, especially income tax remission and duty-free imports of machinery and raw materials, tended to reduce the government's share.
  

    The economy was essentially undiversified, with oil dominating the exports and government revenues, and export agriculture, principally sugar, dominating the agricultural scene. We remained traditionally dependent upon imports, particularly food. Here we have on the one hand the traditional aversion to agriculture because of its association in the minds of the citizens with the forced labour of slavery and indenture; and on the other hand the large expenditures which are necessarily associated with any properly conceived programme of land reform – access roads, housing, the utilities, credit.

    We inherited also inadequate social services in the form of poor housing and of a deficient education system – this is another result of centuries of slavery and indenture."

-Eric E Williams

 

• "Our independent society inherited the sectionalism and individualism bred by colonialism. The essence of the colonial system was internal disunity – evidenced by the attempts to segregate African tribes, the separation of African freedmen from Indian immigrants, the contrast between countryside and town, the confusion of racial origins among the laboring section of the population, the deliberate imposition of colour distinctions and gradations, the conflict metropolitan flags in the area, the emphasis on the differences between island and island."
  

  -Eric E. Williams
  

  
   

• "The first and most important issue is the foreign control of the economy. There are the precedents before us of the developments or anticipated developments in Canada, Mexico, Chile and Zambia. Our banks, insurance companies, hire purchase arrangements, advertising, external telecommunications and mass media are all in foreign hands, together with a large portion of our lands, especially the lands devoted to sugar cultivation. We have to think in terms of some form of control of this arrangement, by restricting the sale of lands to foreigners, by opposing exclusive beach rights (and casinos) in tourist development, by control of work permits to expatriates, by the requirement that foreign companies must re-invest a portion of their profits in local enterprise, by establishing a commercial bank of our own and a National Petroleum Company, by assuming some control over radio and television, by encouraging private companies to go public and issue shares to the Trinidad and Tobago community, and by government partnership in industry and tourism where the national community is not yet prepared or ready to participate."
  

  Eric E. Williams
  

 

 

 

Some of the biggest men in the United States, in the field of commerce and manufacture, are afraid of something. They know that there is a power somewhere so organized, so subtle, so watchful, so interlocked, so complete, so pervasive, that they had better not speak above their breath when they speak in condemnation of it.---- Woodrow Wilson

"They who can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety."

Government in Economy. What is its role?

The inconsistency with respect to the economic policies of the present government coupled with the unexpected announcement of a State of Emergency has resulted in an atmosphere of 'uneasiness' throughout the general public but mainly within the business community of Trinidad and Tobago. One year into the administration of the Peoples Partnership, the nation finds itself in a 'State of Emergency' and on the brink of industrial unrest. However, one of the most important concerns that many Trinbagonians have failed to give due attention to is the issue of State participation within the nation's economy and its overall impact on the economic and social condition of its citizens.

    Numerous influential individuals and organizations have publicly begun to question the government's competence with regards to the formation of economic policy. Labour Unions have clearly shown their frustration and disgust toward the government's propositions through protest action; furthermore, others have claimed that the negotiation process within private enterprises and the overall climate itself is much more conducive to cordial relations between employer and employee and on this basis in addition to others, the government should systematically reduce its participation within the economy.

    In an attempt to express her sentiments concerning the role of the State in the nation's economy and its present condition, the Prime Minister is quoted as stating that (Express Business issue 15^th June 2011) "The Government has been competing with the private sector in every regard and it has not worked…in housing, in looking for employment, for jobs." In agreement with the Prime Minister's stance the Chamber of Commerce also stated that they therefore expect that the "Government will immediately conduct a scrupulous review of its entire asset base with a view of applying criteria driven by this philosophy of the Prime Minister, the objective being divestment, mergers, acquisitions and where no feasible alternative is workable, closure so long as this is in the interest of the country."

    The statement of the Prime Minister makes clear that a shift is taking place with regard to the fundamental economic policy that has been consistent within Trinidad and Tobago regardless of political party. Eric E. Williams considered as the Father of our nation espoused his economic philosophy in the following statement, "The PNM perspectives reject both liberal capitalism (with its concomitant of penetration and take-over of the economy by multi-national corporations) and the communist organization of the economy and society. Instead, we follow the pattern that is being increasingly developed in developing countries, of State participation in the economy, to the extent of up to 51 percent in particular enterprises, to ensure that decision making remains in local hands."

    State participation within the economy is a critical aspect in ensuring that the government fulfills its most important mandate of serving the collective interest of the people. The Prime Minister in her assessment however has failed to acknowledge the many Trinbagonians (who in most cases occupy the lower echelons of society) who have benefitted from numerous government programs in diverse fields. With respect to employment, the M.U.S.T, O.J.T, C.E.P.E.P, and Y.T.E.P.P. programs have been critical in ensuring that many citizens are employed and educated. The Housing Development Corporation has also allowed for affordable housing to reach those who would otherwise be left-out.

Throughout the history of Trinidad and Tobago the State has maintained a presence within the economy for the purpose of contributing to the improvement of citizens and to also provide an alternative to the services provided by private enterprises. This must be continued. The government should not attempt to escape their responsibility to the citizens of this country but should work side-by-side with private enterprises to ensure that the highest quality of service is afforded to the public in all areas.

     Within a democratic nation the role of the State is sometimes negatively construed by those who support the prominence of private enterprise within the economy. However, State presence within the economy and various fields such as housing and education is simply the manifestation of a government's commitment to its people; the expression of its desire to contribute to the development of the 'small-man' within the society. Elected officials must be made to ensure that the wealth of the Nation is directed towards the people of the nation, and social programs are essential in guaranteeing this. It must be ensured that private enterprises are not allowed to control and dictate the economy of a nation to the extent that their influence creates an ever-growing gap between the rich and poor.

 

                                        Mikhail E.D. Byng

State of Emergency in T&T

It is worrying and mystifying to witness how willingly Trinbagonian people have relinquished their rights as citizens. A State of Emergency has been called on what basis? Only two times before has a State of Emergency been called in Trinidad and Tobago (since independence) and such was under extreme circumstances consisting of armed conflict. The Constitution states that "A Proclamation made by the President under subsection (1) shall not be effective unless it contains a declaration that the President is satisfied -… c. that action has been taken, or is immediately threatened, by any person, of such a nature and on so extensive a scale, as to be likely to endanger the public safety or to deprive the community or any substantial portion of the community of supplies or services essential to life." The Constitution entrusts the President in consultation with the Prime Minister to discern whether a situation merits the call for a State of Emergency. It was surely not intended that the powers to restrict the 'sacred' Constitutional rights of citizens would be used recklessly.

    There has been no acceptable justification for the calling of a State of Emergency. A State of Emergency would do very little to handle criminal activity in the long term; the calling of a State of Emergency was originally intended to be used under the condition of an immediate threat. The Prime Minister was recently quoted boasting that "crime is down to zero." However, she would soon find out that a State of Emergency cannot last forever. Any government could ensure a reduction in crime by restricting the freedoms of individuals (the Soviet Union showed us for eighty years) but the dilemma that all governments must face and that this government would be forced to face is how to maintain law and order in a society of free-men. A State of Emergency cannot solve the problem that exists in Trinidad and Tobago, for it started a long time ago, when leaders and the mass of Trinbagonians themselves began condoning, in the words of Ramesh Deosaran, 'illegal activity for legitimate reasons.'

    The present State of Emergency would undoubtedly lower the crime rate which would serve the immediate political interest of those in power, but would do little to solve the social problems that exist within our society of which crime is only a symptom.

True respect for laws and moral values in Trinidad and Tobago must be regained and this could only be done when the numerous hypocritical leaders who occupy the seats of power begin to reform firstly themselves; when the many delinquent parents accept responsibility for raising a generation plagued with criminals that they themselves hypocritically rebuke, and when the numerous media houses take at-least partial responsibility for engineering a society of young adults who are more knowledgeable of foreign culture than their own, then and only then would this great nation of ours begin to come to terms with itself.

Mikhail E.D. Byng     

Quotes concerning the World’s last Super-power

George Washington (1732-1799) "It is impossible to govern the world without God and the Bible."

 
 

Jedidiah Morse (1761-1826) "Whenever the pillars of Christianity shall be overthrown, our (U.S)
present form of government, and all blessings that flow from them, must fall with them."

Forced Sterilization in America and Population Control

 During 1977 Dr. R.T. Ravenholt, director of the United States Agency for International Development (office for population control), said that the United States hoped to sterilize 25 per cent of the world's roughly 570 million fertile women. Ravenholt linked such control measures to the "...normal operation of U.S. commercial interests around the world." These statements were published in a news story in the St. Louis Dispatch.