Silencing the Indian voice?

The newly appointed Telecommunications Authority of Trinidad and Tobago (TATA) and its mandate has gone virtually unnoticed by the public. Minister of Public Administration and Information, Dr Lenny Saith, announced that the amended Act had also made way for the establishment of the Telecommunications Authority, which became effective July 1, 2004. During the debate to amend the existing Telecom Act (Friday 16th April 2004) the debate focused on the technical implications of the amendments. Ironcially the public pronouncements of some members, which includes Dr John Prince and Dr Ralph Henry, of the TATA soon after its establishment declared the intention to monitor radio talk shows as they saw this particular format as inciting racial tensions in the country. Some within the Indo-Trinidadian community view this as an authority established in fact to silence the Indian voice. The last days of Indian talk show hosts Sadro Mohammed, Tony Maharaj and Suruj Rambachan appear to be numbered with this new TATA.

It is interesting to recall that shortly after the change of Government, the ideologue of the ruling party, Dr Selywn R Cudjoe articulated the view that it was the nature of radio talkshows in Rwanda and Burundi that led to the ethnic violence in those nations. This theory, which is an assault on the freedom of speech in a democracy, since being posited have slowly gained legitimacy perhaps by repetition. From the minister to lesser mortals all who are uncomfortable with the strident Indian voice now have bought into this theory as the only method to silence that voice. Is this the beginning of a curbing of the constitutional rights of only one segment of the population? This of course virtually ignores the fact that the current Telcom Act has built in mechanisms to treat with offensive broadcasts. Those mechanisms perhaps do not give the draconian freedoms of the newly amended TATA. Given the hesitancy by the judiciary to rule on matters of racial discrimination it will be interesting to say the least how this new Telcom body adjudicates on these allegations of racial incitement.

In a recent media interview members of the new “radio talk show monitoring body” indicated that it may be examining talk that is against “nation building” and against the “fabric of society”. These subjective terms again bring into question the definition of the term “national” and will virtually guarantee that Indian talk show hosts are hauled before this committee on a regular basis. Until the late 1990s the Indian voice was limited in the nation’s radio stations, as perhaps Indian culture is on television today. In other words, to pivot the debate on race and radio purely on whether and how Indians have figured is already to miss the point. What was consistently projected, without public fanfare but in teeming myriads of programmes, news priorities, sportscasts, ads, was the naturalness and normalcy of the absence of the Indo-Trinidadian from the national landscape. Radio audio accumulated the heritage of representation in what was predetermined as mainstream national religion, education, theatre, art, literature, cinema, the press. According to radio representation, Trinidad and Tobago was a black nation, with some marginal “ethnic Indian” accretions that were at their best when they could simply be ignored.

This was even beyond being thought a good thing. It was axiomatic, self-evident. Thus, Trinidad and Tobago radio in its early generations inherited and diffused — on an hourly and daily basis — a mythology of that and sustained a racist national self-understanding. It is noted that television, film and radio now attract audiences by constantly pushing the envelope of what society sees as acceptable. There is no doubt that some of society’s anachronistic views are in need of modernising. The questions arise as to what extent we can deride large segments of our population, along with our elected leadership, and mock or abandon our cultural values, without undermining our social order. In plural societies this becomes much more complex. The silence of the Indian voice from the nation’s airwaves in the 1950s, 1960s, 1970s, 1980s, and large parts of the 1990s is now a thing of the past. Now with the safety of anonymity afforded by their telephones the Indian population can voice for the nation their views on every aspect of national life.

Decades of discrimination and neglect have suddenly been given a voice and an audience. The sense that this was an isolated feeling has long been removed as kindred spirits across the land validate positions and feelings expressed. This avalanche of expression has the Port-of-Spain and essentially urban Trinidad and Tobago uncomfortable. The image of the reticent Indian is being shattered. A survey of the Indian radio talk shows over the past months failed to show that the talk shows incite or promote any sort of racial animosity. This accusation, however, continues to be the main charge levelled against these shows. Sadro Mohammed, Suruj Rambachan, and Tony Maharaj as hosts have gone to pains to deter persons from expressing any sentiments that may incite others in any path albeit racial, or violent. Yet it is the radio stations that these individuals appear on that are regularly threatened by TATA.

Of course TATA also targets non-Indian talk shows but this has been limited to the Gladiator, who appears to be the sacrificial non-Indian voice. The pro-government talk show radio station appears to be unscathed. Given this scenario it is not surprising that the Sanatan Dharma Maha Sabha led by the ever outspoken Mr Satnaryan Maharaj was not given a radio license. With the expression by officials of TATA to curb talk in Trinidad and Tobago the Media Association of Trinidad and Tobago, remains silent. This was the very same MATT that cried brimstone and fire when the Panday Administration suggested a Green Paper on the Media. MATT President John Victor to date has not made a statement on the TATA of Dr Lenny Saith. One wonders when Indian columnists who articulate a view that is not in sync with the powers that be will be targetted by some other incarnation of TATA.