Q & A with Rhoda Bharath

She says history, literature, and writing are important reference points for her and describes her entry into the world of activism as accidental: “For about five years I taught African Literature and developed a keen sense of the problems that former colonies like ours have: ethnic tensions, class tensions, religious tensions, gender tensions.” While the average citizen of TT has experienced unfair social access, Rhoda believes as a people we are afraid to address such issues head on; “We like to avoid conflict … to remain popular and in each other’s good graces. We end up pappyshowing ourselves a lot.” It’s the extent to which we “pappyshow” ourselves that inspired her blog “The Eternal Pantomime”, personal work that came out of the social media following she gained from posts she made during the country’s State of Emergency in 2011.

“It was very clear to me during the SoE that many people didn’t realise how much of their rights were being abused by the State. I didn’t like the feeling of helplessness. I decided to empower myself by researching information and sharing with my friends and family,” she says about her posts during this time. “I became an alternative source of news and political commentary.”

Today, Rhoda speaks to WMN about “social media activism”, the accountability our citizenry must hold to our leaders, and ourselves, and what she believes is the way forward for our nation on institutional and individual levels.

Q What is the driving force of your social work?

TT is the Kingdom of the Bligh. Everybody wants a skip in the line, a free pass, a contact, a contract. We are always checking to see who we know in any situation to cut corners. That mentality has helped us to become as corrupt as we are, at every single level of our society. What I have just described is corrupt behavior. We are mired in corruption. We claim we do not want to be corrupt, but we practice it everyday from the top down and the bottom up. The thing that drives me is this: our governments won’t change until the type of electorate we have changes. If the electorate practices and condones corruption in its daily life, then it stands to reason we will knowingly elect corrupt governments. We do not have a governance problem so much as we have an electorate problem. We need citizens to be more informed about their laws and rights, and willing to do the right thing by obeying those laws and protecting those rights. Then and only then will we start voting in a different kind of government. For now, we vote on emotion, sentiment and tribe to protect our interests and access to resources. So I want a more aware and pro-active electorate.

Q You are on the side of justice, but do you believe justice is always the truth?

I don’t go about defining truth. I do encourage people to gather information and get informed. I don’t know that the truth, whatever it may be, is always just. I want informed citizens. I want rules and laws to be enforced and if they are found to be unjust, amended. I want citizens to start agitating for these things themselves instead of leaving it up to “leaders” to make decisions for them. Many of our leaders are cunning more than they are intelligent. They understand that Trinidadians are unwilling to take responsibility for their own lives. They understand that we are always looking for Messiahs and leaders. So they learn the right words, right behaviours and dress codes and present themselves to us and we lap it up and hand over power to them without thinking. We should be concerned by that.

Q Some may know you as a social media activist. Even if you don’t identify as such, what are your views on “social media activism”? Do you believe it is a necessary and effective tool of advocacy?

I’ve objected to being called an armchair journalist by the President because I am not a journalist. What I do is research. I think activism on social issues is critical for raising awareness. We call ourselves a democracy. A democracy relies on people being very active in their governance systems. It requires participation. Social media for me is a tool for getting people aware and eventually active. As with any tool it can be useful or dangerous; I think of myself as a researcher who is good at putting pressure on people in positions of power. Yes, it is activism. But I don’t run a NGO and collect funding to do it.

I think social media activism is critical for giving a voice to dispossessed people and for publicly embarrassing people into action. Trinidadians (I’m leaving Tobago out of this) respond to public embarrassment. We are not motivated by doing the right thing because it is the right thing to do. It seems that only shame and potential embarrassment works on many of us. Social media allows me to reach lots of people very quickly from my armchair at home and drum up the right quantities of embarrassment over public issues. But its use requires balance. Social media pressure can easily get out of hand and become vicious and nasty. So I try to stick to facts, evidence and publicly available information as much as possible.

Q As a citizenry, we often use humour as a mechanism of coping and processing. What do you have to say about your own sense of humour in this regard?

Humour is part of how we have dealt with oppression and hardship here. Satire, picong, double entendre are all part of how we have coped. I think humour can be useful for making heavy messages palatable. I think in our culture in Trinidad we tend to go overboard with our use of humour now. We choose to laugh at everything and forget that some issues really require seriousness.

Q What do you believe are the active ways to bring about social change, on both institutional and individual levels? What has worked in your experience?

Informed discussion and informed action. Informed there means gathering the information from the right channels and right people and then working out a plan of action that considers all of the stakeholders and possible outcomes. We need to know what kind of society we want to be. To me, TT just seems to be drifting along and accepting models that do not suit it. We are islands in the Caribbean, but we want to be like North American and Northern European countries. How we build homes, dress, eat, work and educate ourselves ignores our environment entirely. But we think it is progress because larger countries are doing it. Until we have a vision for what kind of society we want to be and figure out the steps to get there we spinning top in mud at warp speeds.

Q The word “accountability” may be lost on some of us. Can you please explain the term and why it is an integral part of leadership?

I’m beginning to think accountability has no meaning in Trinidad, just like the word vindicated has lost its meaning. When I think of accountability I want two things: to have things explained thoroughly to me up front where decisions involve the use of state resources and affect laws and rights and, secondly, to get updates throughout the lifespan of the decision. That rarely happens here. In fact, I cannot think of an instance. So accountability may well be a unicorn in this country.

Q Tell us about your recent publication “The Ten Day’s Executive”; why are our own stories and brand of storytelling important to immortalise in text?

I think TT is a fascinating place. We are full of paradoxes and ironies. So I wrote about it. Power struggles, corruption, incest, violent/abusive relationships; I put it all out there. We need to see ourselves. One of the best ways of seeing ourselves is reading about ourselves. Of course film and music are also very important but my skill is with the written word, so I write about us.

Q How do you believe each of us can be called to action and demand accountability of ourselves and others?

Trinidad has a culture where everybody believes that it is everyone else’s responsibility to do the hard things. Trash on the floor and we right next to a bin, but the janitor has to come and clean it up. Why can’t we put the trash in the bin? We have lost the ability to be pro-active and self-sufficient. Some of that I blame on the State and some on ourselves. We have become lazy, selfish and stagnant. We fail to see Trinidad as a place to invest in and have big dreams about. It is merely a place to make an income, not a place to make a living and build a life. Start thinking about the kind of life you want, the quality of life you want and work towards creating that.

Q Last words or thoughts?

We need to start wanting and expecting better for ourselves and this country. Mediocrity cannot continue to be the standard. Accepting corruption as a way of life is part of that mediocrity mentality. We need to shake that off and quick. If folks want to find me, I’m on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter as myself, no fake profiles, just Rhoda Bharath.

“The Ten Day’s Executive” is on sale at Paper Based bookshop at the Normandie Hotel, Tales N Treasures bookshop on Delhi Street, St. James, and at select Nigel Khan Booksellers branches.