Think about it

I am a firm believer in my rights as a citizen of Trinidad and Tobago. I believe that it is my right to work, to live in adequate housing, to access proper medical care, to send my children to school, to walk the streets freely and without hindrance and to drive my car, if I own one, on any public road or street in Trinidad and Tobago.

All these rights mentioned above and which I claim for myself are also the rights of every citizen of this country and even extend to visitors. But — and this is a big BUT — there is no right on the face of the earth that is unfettered. Any right that I enjoy must take into account the rights of others. For example, I have the right to drive my car on the road. I do not have the right to drive my car in such a way that it knocks down or kills someone. A man may be so annoyed or frustrated at the way the government is treating him, he has every right to protest and march but he does not have the right to burn down a building or to block the road with burning tyres, logs, trees, fridges, furniture which prevent me from using that road.

In recent years we have lost sight of that fact in this country and the word “rights” has become a buzzword for those who believe they can do anything they like to make a point about some grievance. I wonder how many people in this country watched the anti-Iraq war protests in London? If they did they would have seen hundreds of thousands of people marching very silently, very peacefully in a powerful show of people power against an illegal, unjustified war. If the police had told them not to go beyond a certain place, for example too close to Buckingham Palace, they would have obeyed the order instantly because — and I say this with sadness — they are First World people. We on the other hand believe we “badder” than the police so our way is to disobey, to confront to defy the police. The police on the other hand, are just as Third World and respond to the disorder created by marchers with their own brand of ignorance.

I believe that those who were arrested on Monday deserved it for they were marching against the law which required they obtain permission and which permission they did not have. If as adults we break the rules what do we expect our children to do? How dare anyone tell me not to open my shop for business and when I do open, get a crowd to surround my shop and intimidate my workers? Where are my rights? Also a man who is an elected member of parliament should know that there are laws about banking hours. When extraordinary measures require banks to close outside the usual times they have to publish notices letting the public know. It’s my money the bank holds and they can’t shut their doors — and my access to my own money — without notifying me.

We have to learn in this country that we cannot do as we please or how we please. If we have something to protest about by all means protest but do it according to the law. We have every justification for protesting the crime rate. It terrifies us and we must demand that our Government stop fooling around with their silly notions and deal firmly with it. It is scandalous. But we do not do it by committing crime ourselves. And we are just as bad as the criminals when we behave like them. The Leader of the Opposition Mr Panday knows well the law. He has travelled that road before and he would do well to remember that it was his government in 1998 that set new laws in place with respect to demonstrations and marching. The UNC law, if memory serves me right, lengthened the time in which one could apply to march and march we must to insist on our rights, but we cannot deprive the majority of their rights. We have to do things properly, not in the now for now, get up one morning and decide to defy the law. The only thing that will get us is jail and we should remember that Nelson Mandela had to spend 28 years in jail to become a world hero.
jstarr@newsday.co.tt