Growing up

We stood in the street and took in the pan. “Boogsie” looked up and waved to us in-between his magic and amidst the smiling patrons, some with their eyes closed; others milled about, having a beverage, greeting their friends and acquaintances. It felt good to be part of this positive energy. It felt good to be from here.

Our challenge now is how to keep this energy that was replicated across the nation from Scarborough to San Fernando.

Unfortunately, as the sun set on our day of commemoration, the celebratory fireworks masked another murder. Once again, it forced our attention to the numbers – the number of children who are abused and murdered, the number of parents who abdicate their responsibilities and the number of crime talks, crime plans and promises of zero tolerance that seem to have little effect except for the empowering of criminals and the corrupt.

Strong and focused community activism can go a long way towards countering the stresses on our neighbourhoods and families. Daily, we are faced with the impacts of poverty, physical and mental illnesses, homelessness, unemployment and natural hazards such as flooding. Yet, official records indicate that across this country there are about 12,000 people earning a monthly payroll of some $50 million to keep our communities and environment clean.

In times of plenty, the country became used to government-sanctioned and ironically named “make-work” schemes. Apart from its unfortunate acronym, community- focused programmes such as Cepep are needed.

This latest version was conceptualised as “an entrepreneurial incubator programme whereby unemployed individuals would receive basic training in skill sets that would enable them to form community-based limited liability companies to offer basic environmental protection and enhancement services within their communities.” But the programme has not worked for us for a long time, and it may be argued that it has actually worked against those employed within its ranks.

It will take a long time to reverse this negative work ethic, but there are still ways that we can take back our communities. We need to keep our spaces clean and free of litter.

In the midst of the celebration on Wednesday, there was rubbish everywhere.

If the Government is lax in providing bins, then we need to walk with our own bags.

Responsible representation is also essential. I can’t recall ever seeing the parliamentary representative for my area; true he holds a senior position in the administration, sometimes even acting as Prime Minister. But what is the point of putting someone to represent a community who does not have the time or perhaps the interest in addressing the issues that are important to us? On a deeper level, we have yet to work out the link between our culture, social activism and people empowerment. The US-based Hampton Institute think tank has noted that culture “is vastly important to the self-definition of a people and it is therefore logical that cultural workers such as musicians, poets, visual artists, and other creatively minded people have always played a prominent role in movements for liberation.” If our pan fraternity asked the community to leave the streets clean as they enjoy their music, who would refuse? The euphoria of Wednesday lingers, but the challenges of tomorrow loom. As we grow up, I look forward to when the idyllic scenes from Independence Day transform into the ordinary reality of our daily lives.

Dara Healy is a performance artist and founder of the N G O , the Ind i g e - n o u s Creative A r t s N e t - work – ICAN