Women lead march and rally against crime

The “group of citizens” is urging all communities to “wear red, bring yuh placard, and take back TT” in the March and Rally against crime and “all our social ills” beginning 9 am on Saturday, August 23 from Woodford Square, Port-of-Spain. Speaking on behalf of the group who staged protest action outside Whitehall on the eve of Emancipation two weeks ago, Cherise D’Abadie and Weslynne Ashton said that the call goes out “to everyone to do something to enrich the social fabric of our society, to take back TT and to stop thinking that we can’t do anything. Our objective is to give the national public the forum to protest in the march,” Ashton told Sunday Newsday. “There are a lot of people who want to do something, who feel powerless but don’t know the avenues.” “If we want to say this is my land there is a responsibility that goes with that. We have a responsibility to each other,” said D’Abadie. “It’s a perfect time for us as a country to recognise our responsibility of freedom and independence.” Whatever your personal grouse, D’Abadie said, write it up and join the march. “The social issues in our society are endless. We are showing people a way how they can get involved.”

Guest speakers at the Rally will speak on various topics including crime and domestic violence. The group, which hasn’t a name, was initiated by three working women, “citizens of Trinidad and Tobago with a common purpose.” The core group now numbers eight between the ages 26-55 years. Over a dozen NGOs have joined their cause and have become actively involved. The courageous three said what moved them to action was more than bravery, “but it was an easy choice to make to put on a red t-shirt and get people to do that.” “We’re tired of talking about it (crime) and just talking about it is like condoning it, saying you’re ok with it. So we said ‘fine’, we’re gonna make some placards and protest against it,” D’Abadie said. “It was three of us and we made 11 placards. One of them read something like ‘honk your horn if you’ve had it with crime’ and people passing did that. One person stopped and said they would hold the placard for just 30 minutes.”

D’Abadie maintained that keeping a crime free society started with everyone making a contribution “in their little way” in their community. “It could mean helping someone with foodstuffs, not breaking a traffic light... “We need to change the way we interact with each other in Trinidad, everybody doing something to enrich the social fabric — interacting with people across the communities so there is more networking on the basketball courts, the street corners and when we start talking we get to know what’s on each other’s mind.” She said that their first venture was very “heartening. We got emails from a company in Pt Lisas saying that the whole staff came out in red. We got calls from people saying they want to get involved. “It’s a start to building awareness. It’s not targetting the Government and saying what it needs to do, it’s a call to the nation.”