Needed: White Paper on TT diversity

THE EDITOR: Multiculturalism must be examined as critically as possible as one of many means of promoting harmony, the inclusion agenda, equality and peaceful cultural co-existence since nationalism has bi-polarised us. It must be determined whether an official policy of multiculturalism can effectively harness, mobilise and transform the multi-talented human resource endowment of our diversity into incremental levels of prosperity that can redound to the creation of a just, cohesive, modern and integrated 21st Century TT.

As recently as Indian Arrival Day PM Manning (Newsday May 31, p4) held TT as “a multi-cultural and multi-ethnic society.” Prior to this he revealed his deep commitment to multiracialism (Newsday May 23, p3). HE the Indian HC Sri Virendra Gupta while addressing the recent UWI Diaspora Conference said: “In multicultural pluralistic societies there must be space for people to express their own traditional  distinctive cultural identity...their traditions, customs, rituals and value system.” Several NGO’s have recently supported the adoption of a policy of multiculturalism. These include the National Council of Indian Culture (NCIC), the Sanatan Dharma Maha Sabha (SDMS), SWAHA and The Mayor of Chaguanas Dr Surujrattan Rambachan (Newsday May 27, p6) Independent Senator Parvatee Anmolsingh-Mabahir voiced her support in the Senate for multiculturalism.

Newspaper columnists such as Sat Maharaj, Devant Maharaj (Newsday April 13, p10) Ms Leela Ramdeen, Michael Kallon, Attorney Anand Ramlogan and former MP Trevor Sudama (Newsday June 13, p16) have all written forcefully in support of the issue. So have Pundits Deokinanan Sharma and Prakash Persad. I have also written at length on the experiences in UK and Canada with a policy of multiculturalism. What more must be done to get Government to respond?

Should not Government now consider it of utmost importance to issue White Paper on Managing Our Diversity to provide the framework for promoting consultations and national dialogue on, inter alia, potential legislative/ institutional approaches to harnessing diversity and fostering the protection of human rights and individual freedoms? Is not a policy framework fundamental to facilitating and underpinning the work of the two Race Relations Committees? Must not UWI also contribute to the debate?

STEPHEN KANGAL
Caroni