INDEPENDENCE DAY

Today as Trinidad and Tobago celebrates the 42nd anniversary of its Independence, which an entire generation is growing up taking for granted, the nation should pause to reflect that several countries and their citizens have either lost their freedom within the past year or so, are under dictatorships or have puppet regimes in place. In the Caribbean, for example, where earlier this year the constitutionally-elected Government of Haiti was overthrown and its President, Jean Bertrand Aristide, ousted, a puppet Administration has been established backed by the United States. Almost halfway around the world, another Government without legitimacy has been set up in Iraq.
 
In Sudan, many indigenous Sudanese are under threat by an Arab-backed Government and in Zimbabwe many freedoms which we have taken for granted since Trinidad and Tobago gained its Independence on August 31, 1962, are being steadily eroded. Admittedly, no one country is wholly independent of the rest and increasingly countries are yielding their right to complete independence of action to large international groupings, for example the United States dominated World Trade Organisation (WTO). In turn, it has become difficult for smaller countries or even groups of smaller countries to fix or even receive reasonable prices for their products. Instead, many of their  products are in danger of being swamped by those from highly industrialised nations as a result of a WTO forced breaking down of tariff barriers which, in turn, makes them more susceptible to pressures from even multi-nationals.
 
And as we celebrate another Independence Day we should count our blessings, as Trinidad and Tobago, with its crude oil and natural gas and energy based companies, is better able to build and strengthen a social safety net than many another small nations. Its components include increased old age pensions, National Insurance pensions, literally free public health care, a form of dole, State-subsidised gasoline, a heavily subsidised State bus company which in turn impacts on other forms of public transport, low cost water and the list goes on. Many will head for the Queen’s Park Savannah today for the traditional Independence Day parade at which members of the Protective Services — the Regiment, Police, Fire Services and the Coast Guard — and other organisations will take part.
 
We should remember that we are much more fortunate than the people of many countries much larger than our own.  Nonetheless, even as we salute our pluses, there are minuses such as the level of crime, including kidnappings and murder which act as constraints to our ability to feel free to go where we please at any reasonable hour of the day or night, constraints which need to be addressed aggressively. Still, the pluses far outweigh the minuses and as we noted earlier we should count our blessings rather than harp on the negatives. A Happy Independence Day to all our readers.