The rise of people power

It is really about mobilising ordinary people who want to live ordinary lives and who have to survive no matter what the economic or political situation. The turnout in the UK election on Thursday was 69 per cent, the largest since 1997. An estimated 72 per cent of young people, many university students, voted in the elections. Therefore, something had turned.

Even holidaymakers who were out of the country ensured that they used their proxy vote. This is the rise of people power. For Jeremy Corbyn, who was the real winner, “people have had enough of austerity politics” and “politics have changed.” However, it was Labour’s ability to gain the support of the young that really changed the dynamics of power. Many went on Facebook to campaign. Young people are just plain tired of lies and acts of bullying and all that ancient politicising and intrigue. They just want those in charge to show self-respect, work for all, and not behave like children. We are therefore seeing the rise of young heads of state.

In France, Emmanuel Macron, the new President, is 39 and already demonstrating steely resolve in the face of chauvinist bullying politics.

His response to US President Donald Trump who pulled out of the Paris climate pact was that we should “make the planet great again.” And who does not feel hope at the thought of Justin Trudeau, the 46-year-old Canadian whose charismatic leadership has made him iconic.

The young seem to be making the call. That was very evident last week when party members elected Leo Varadkhar in Ireland as the first gay leader of Fine Gael, which is the current ruling party. He will on Wednesday become the first gay Taoiseach (Prime Minister) as well as the youngest leader of the country at 39.

Most significantly, he is the son of an Indian immigrant and will therefore become the first non-white Taoiseach of the Republic of Ireland.

So maybe young intelligent people are trying to say something. They are tired of the grandstanding, the selfishness, the racism and the forming of power cliques and the posturing and the destroying of people’s reputations and the mud-slinging simply to attain power. They want their lives back.

And as Corbyn rises like Lazarus against the attempted knifing by his own parliamentary colleagues, his ordinary Labour supporters see him as the man who, with his casual demeanour, can best serve a populace tired of it all. They see him as a man of principle who just might help stem the bigotry that continues to flow from British and American leaders and who might perhaps give back a sense of decency to people’s lives. No one apparently saw it coming.

Theresa May moved swiftly to form a government with the DUP of Northern Ireland. But there is still much to ponder given the history of the troubles in Northern Ireland and the relations between the Democratic Unionist Party and the Republic of Ireland. Politics are an uncertain game. I remember the snap election called by Patrick Manning.

Back in Trinidad, the country remains in chaos with the Judiciary under attack while backbiting and calumnious statements proliferate.

The media duly highlight all. As this continues in the blaring spotlight, security guards apparently, according to eyewitnesses, dump an elderly man on the ground outside a hospital and he dies.

Around the same time, a mother displays for all to see the image of her disabled son, who is unable to walk because he was hit by a stray bullet while playing football and who is subsequently forced by Housing Development Corporation authorities to live on the seventh floor of an apartment block. She has no help and he receives no physiotherapy. She has to call the fire brigade to assist in bringing her son to ground level.

Another parent tells newspaper reporters that her daughter, who is also disabled, has been told there is no room for her in any school.

While the society becomes more sensitive to the needs of the disabled and really tired of meaningless talk, the politicians and the ones with power do nothing and remain completely out of tune with how the younger generation sees the world.

Trinidad society has begun to grow up and slowly recognise that the disabled and the marginalised have rights. This is evident in the proliferation of voluntary groups actively seeking to enhance the rights of those with disabilities. In the meantime, those in authority continue to make polite comments and pass the buck or reveal their total lack of knowledge.

What is more, they display their inability to connect with the everyday lives and needs of the electorate.

I really think that P r i m e Minister Dr Keith R o w l e y s h o u l d call a snap election now