September 11th

Many of us may still remember exactly where we were at the time of the attack. I was at home with the virus.

A colleague of mine, in my one week absence on account of the virus, told my sixth form students that I had gone to the US to do voluntary work - to help clean up around the towers and save lives. Some actually believed the individual.

A joke. But, while we Trinis may make fun of it, the issue of religious fundamentalism isn’t quite as funny. Neither is discrimination along any lines.

In a recent article on the eve of the anniversary of the attack, Professor Diana Eck, professor of comparative religion at Harvard University and director of the Pluralism Project remarked that, “Diversity is a given…” She continued by saying, “These [immigrant] movements are not things that are somehow going to be stopped and everyone sent home. This is part of the natural evolution of who we are as America.” (NPR) The film The Reluctant Fundamentalist (based on the book of the same name), explores the ripple effect of religious fundamentalism on even those who never intended on being fundamentalists.

It explores the discrimination faced by those people who are outside fundamentalist circles yet, just by skin colour or ethnicity, are treated as aliens. Such deep levels of discrimination breed either discrimination or awareness.

While we recognize the seriousness of religious fundamentalism given Al-Quaeda, ISIS and Trump, fundamentalisms can be created anywhere. It manifests in our capitalist attitudes that negate the value of anything that does not generate money. The arts come to mind. Not only is it a nagging personal issue, but one that at times, is infuriating.

The next time someone tells me ‘Is only ten minutes performance I want. You can’t give me a better price?’ I intend to bill said individual the cost per hours and years that it took to learn the theory and technical skill of the instrument that I play to manage a somewhat decent level of proficiency that made you choose my expertise in the first place. I prefer to think of such individuals’ ignorance as that of people who have not had personal experience in the field or never played an instrument.

It will also be remiss of me not to remind individuals that ten minutes means appearing at venues at least two hours earlier, commuting to said venue and also compensating accompanying artistes.

Musicians, writers, visual artists, do not simply sit and churn out ‘a tune’ or ‘a story’ or ‘draw’, as the masses seem to believe. If religious fundamentalism is an ill, so is the general ignorance about and undervaluation of the arts. Despite the national awards for work in that field, moments of recognition or appropriate compensation are rare for many.

But, even more difficult is the struggle that people have in wrapping their minds around the concept that there is value in this pursuit for even while people enjoy films and music and books and art, rarely do they ask themselves questions like, ‘how many years and with what sort of budget was this made?’ ‘What does it take to make this work so that I can enjoy it?’ ‘Where do these ideas come from? How are they put together?’ What most people see is the final product; rarely the hours and years of preparation that bring an artist to the point that he or she gets to, to provide you with your little piece of enjoyment. And ironically too, it is fundamentalism and devaluation of the creative arts by artists themselves that create reluctant fundamentalists of other artists in some cases.

And so, the vicious cycle continues.

This is not a call for arbitrary rewards. It is this arbitrary nature of creating overnight sensations that is partly responsible for the creation of the vision of the valuelessness of the arts in the first place. But, Trinidad is a society in the making and these are teething issues. This is rather a celebration of the final re-opening of NA PA, where students can finally resume classes in a space at which they had signed up to study.

Whether the classes create a future of more well-informed citizens is yet to be seen. May we accept whatever comes, in the name of diversity and progress.