NLCB must divide the pie evenly

THE EDITOR: I am sick and tired of people who are not satisfied with my ethnic concerns telling me to go back to India or referring to me as a coolie. In multi ethnic societies governments allow their people to promote whatever culture they so wish and financially support these groups overwhelmingly. Caribana is one such case in point in Toronto, Canada, ditto for the Irish, Sikhs, Chinese, etc. I want Mr Milton Wire Austin, the PRO of Pan Trinbago to tell me what is the culture of Grenada, St Vincent, Barbados, or for that matter the Mighty USA? In the USA we have Pop, Jazz, Country and Western, R&B, Ballet, Philharmonics to mention a few, and they are all supported evenly by the different levels of government in that country. Mr Austin check your history, Indian chutney music was played in Trinidad long before calypso and pan, and if you want to talk foreign, these two cultures were brought to Trinidad by the Grenadians and advanced in Laventille where small islanders settled. The reason why Pan was never registered as our own intellectual property was because it was never ours to claim. Many Grenadians say openly that pan and calypso were their invention and creation and brought to Trinidad. (Check the nationalities of the first steelpan makers and calypsonians). Indians have been passive for too long, being looked down upon as second-class citizens in our own country by people who pass themselves off as public relations officers. We have to thank people like Sat Maharaj for standing up to people with the likes of the NLCB for our fair share of this country. We pay taxes and support this country as everyone else including the Johnny come lately.

The NLCB, as an arm of the government of all the people has an obligation to divide the pie evenly. We hope the government will see fit to have a more balanced board to do the sharing. We talk about revenue creation; check the airline schedules and you would see there are as many extra plane loads of people arriving at Christmas time to this country. If Carnival was such a big money earner why the bandleaders are always crying they buss? Like you said, Mr Austin, we have Indian steelbands and Indian calypsonians, just as we have African chutney singers, dancers, and musicians. Not too long in the past we also had many Africans who spoke Hindi. People are free to choose whichever culture they wish a la USA, and we the people are going to stand up for our rights and stop bigots from trying to shove pan and racist calypsos down our throats. Just remember we will chose whichever of the art forms we wish as part of our culture. Who don’t like it, they can always reclaim back their pan and calypso and go back to the small foreign island they originated from. All we want is to live in equal peace and harmony.

NIZAM  MOHAMMED
San Juan