Stay home and relax

One of his other outstanding pieces is “Proclamation”. Though written more than 20 years ago its meaning resonates today. Hear Malik:

“Is it too late

Too late

Can we disperse the gathering

Halt the oncoming

Cancel chaos

Undo ourselves

Is it too late

Too late

Can we transcend our times

Quiet our worst fears

Cease to be

Our own worst enemies

Is it too late

Too late

Can we recycle our dreams

Can we recast the mold

Can we transform

Our oncoming day

Is it too late

Too late

Can we redeem ourselves

Rend our own horizons

Root the common sea

Fashion our own freedom

Sense the common day

Become the oncoming

Is it too late

Too late

Can we discard our doubts

Can we recover our faith

Delve deeper

Forge the common will

Delve deeper

Dispel the common gloom

Delve deeper

Attain the answers

Delve deeper

Deliver final judgment

Delve deeper

Emancipate a nation

Is it too late

Too late

Can we discover

Honour

In ourselves

Can we become

That day oncoming”

Is it indeed, too late? I think not but I do believe that we are running out of time. This country is descending into barbarism at a rapid rate. And while Rome burns, the Emperor is fiddling. So this coming week we will parade all the heads of government for the world to see. As if the expensive shows of the Summit of the Americas and CHOGM can make a nation. Salvation will certainly not come from Mr Manning and his OJT Ministers. Indeed, they are an integral part of our problem.

The poet points us in the right direction. “Delve deeper” he repeatedly tells us. We need to “discard our doubts” (and he asks “can we quiet our worst fears”); “recover our faith” and “forge the common will”. To do so we must “cease to be our own worst enemies”. Essential to this is to “discover honour in ourselves”. But can we do all of this?

The People’s Democracy says that we can and indeed are working towards “forging the common will”. With more than 40 civil society organisations we are actively engaged in this process, discussing issues, debating ideas, sharing experiences and arriving at consensus on the way forward. By organising the Five days of action we are saying to the citizens of TT – let us collectively “quiet our worst fears”; “discard our doubts” and “recover our faith”. Only then will we be able to “emancipate this nation” from the deep seated crisis that we face and “transform our coming day”.

So rally with us, citizens of Trinidad and Tobago. Join us at Woodford Square this afternoon at 1.30 and then Stay at Home tomorrow and Tuesday and reflect on the state of the nation. To do this will be to discover the honour in ourselves.

In organising these actions we know that we are like those, whom the Guyanese poet Martin Carter described as “riskers”. Carter said “It is precisely in times of crisis that we must re-examine our lives and bring to that re-examination contempt for the trivial and respect of the riskers – those who take the risk of going forward boldly to participate in the building of a free community of valid persons”. And in doing so we appreciate the words of the Cuban patriot Jose Marti who said “When there are many men without honor, there are always others who bear in themselves the honor of many men”.