Enjoying fruits of industrial development

I am from Cap-de-Ville and I went to the recent march and there were so many people from outside the area. Imagine a well-known councillor left Mayaro and came to Chatham to protest against pollution.

He passed all the polluted beaches and oil spills in his own backyard to come and tell us to stop industrial development.

People came from Port-of-Spain to protest against damaging the environment. They passed by a natural mangrove swamp that has been destroyed to make way for MovieTowne, Pricesmart and the Marriott Hotel.

They travelled all the way to Cedros and Chatham to show how much they love the environment. I want to tell all of them that when they stop the pollution and damage in their own backyards then they could come down South and talk to us.

A lot of us are not into agriculture and we want well paid jobs just like the rest of Trinidad. We want to drive BMWs and live in air-conditioned comfort.

A website protesting the smelter states, “At Chatham Junction we meet up with the demonstrators.

They have come from all corners of the country to voice their outrage and to show solidarity with the people of the peninsula.

The march begins just after ten o’clock. We talk as we walk, introduce ourselves, answer the same question a few dozen times: Where allyuh come from? Quite Port-of-Spain? The mood is upbeat and positive. We will stop Alcoa. They cannot come here.’’

In their own words these protesters are admitting that they came from all corners of the country to “voice their outrage.” But they don’t have to come down South to voice outrage against pollution and environmental damage. They could voice it from their mansions that are destroying the hillsides of Maraval and Diego Martin. They could voice it while visiting MovietTowne or Pricesmart. And they could voice it from their luxury cars while travelling to work at Point Lisas. If they are so concerned about pollution and the environment, let them take out their money from any bank that is supporting the same industrial developments. Let them refuse to accept contracts, donations and jobs from companies that pollute the environment.

They will never do that because they are too busy enjoying the fruits of industrial development.

We, in deep South want the same thing.