According to reports, at about 8.45 am, Adrian Muktarsingh was walking towards his vegetable garden near Manraj Road, El Socorro Extension Drive, when he stumbled upon the body which appeared to be not more than a few hours old.

Reports are that the umbilical chord was protruding from the baby’s body.Muktarsingh alerted officers of the Barataria Police Station, who quickly responded. A district medical officer also visited the scene and pronounced the baby dead.

The body was ordered removed to the Forensic Science Centre, St James, where an autopsy is expected to be performed tomorrow.

It was unclear at news time whether police had found the baby’s mother and detained her for questioning.

However, Investigators believe the baby was home delivered and may have been dumped in the garden by someone from the area.

Miguel Rodriguez, of Fifth Company, Moruga died while the wounded man remains warded at hospital.

Police report that at about 2 am yesterday, the off-duty officer was near Woodstock bar at Indian Walk when he had an altercation with two men, one of them Rodriguez, from Fifth Company.

The fight escalated and in a bid to defend himself, the officer fired his service revolver and shot the men.

Princes Town police were alerted and the wounded men was taken to hospital, but Rodriguez died.

The officer was taken into custody for questioning

Pastor Wilma Kelly forewarned yesterday that resuming hangings will only unleash “the demon of murder” declaring criminals must be given over to God.

“What we need to do is convict them and get them delivered,” Kelly said at the launch of the Intercession for our Nation 2017 initiative held at Sogren Grounds, Laventille. The event, which is a collaboration between Kelly’s church, The Way of Holiness Church, Point Fortin, the Inter-Agency Task Force’s Hearts and Minds Programme and Sky 99.FM radio station.

Kelly said there has been a great response in prisons to evangelism because many inmates are being baptised and converted.

“I have seen the miraculous hand of God work and we cannot sit back and allow what’s taking place in the country to happen.

When we must recognise that we not fighting against flesh and blood but principalities and powers and rulers of darkness in high places,” she said.

Kelly said churches have to “invade” at-risk areas so people’s lives can be transformed.

“These are our brothers and sisters. We want to let them know they have worth and value.” She said many people are praying for the nation but they are not going into areas to restore families.

She added that everyone is affected by crime.

Kelly said there have been previous outreach programmes on Duncan Street and Nelson Street, Port-of-Spain “and God has worked tremendously”. She reported, for example, that the former leader of a gang in Duncan Street was now pastor for The Way of Holiness in Remand Yard Prison.

She also reported that a building in Guapo is used for rehabilitation of about 15 men who were in gangs and came off the street.

Kelly co-founded the initiative together with Marcus Jean-Baptiste and his wife Elizabeth.

Jean-Baptiste said the event will be held from six months to about a year. He explained it is endorsed by the police and the Port-of-Spain Mayor.

Next Saturday they will be in Sea Lots, then Beetham Gardens, Piccadilly Greens, and then to Bagatelle in Diego Martin and Richplain Road, Simeon Road and Covigne Road, also in Diego Martin, L’Anse Mitan, Goodwood Park and then to the East West Corridor.

He said the event is designed assist police in the anti-crime fight. He added that though they are Pentecostal-based they are not pushing religion and anyone is welcome including Muslims and Hindus.

“This is for bringing back unity to the country.” He pointed out that when he listens to talk shows people complain that Government and the police are not doing anything about crime “but my question to people is what are you doing to assist the police because the police can’t see everything.”

The bill, which seeks to abolish preliminary enquiries and to provide for the pre-trial procedure in respect of indictable offences and for ancillary matters, was passed in the Lower House on Friday with all Government members voting for and all Opposition members voting against; the bill required a simple majority for passage.

Moonilal yesterday in a release detailing his contribution to debate on the bill said that the Opposition United National Congress “stands ready, prepared, able and willing to support the Government and any other agency in fighting crime.” He had told the House that the issue of the removal of preliminary enquiries is an issue that was brought to Parliament by the previous People’s Partnership administration on two occasions.

“When we were there crime went down and that is a fact.

Murder was going down, serious crime went down, so we are committed to taking action to remove the backlog, to deal with the delays in the criminal justice system, and that is what we are about on this side. What we are not about is joining the Government to break the law.” Moonilal said the Opposition was not about helping the Rowley- led Government rewrite the Constitution through the back door nor undermining the constitutional structure and our constitutional value. Moonilal said the amendment will create a situation whereby the DPP, who advises the police, will now be determining whether cases are sufficient to move forward or not. He pointed out that the DPP had the initial sufficiency hearing, having to contribute to building the case, and he will be deciding whether that case is sufficient which is “literally himself to himself ”.

Moonilal said that the DPP’s office and the Constitution were never set up for this but rather the there is duty under Section 5 of the Constitution that a person charged and accused by the police be brought properly before an appropriate judicial authority.

“The DPP is not an appropriate judicial authority. This course of action removes the constitutional protection that the accused is entitled to.” Moonilal had also challenged the Attorney General to name one country in the Commonwealth that has done this.

“Such action as contained in the proposed amendment gives the DPP the power of filtration, of filtering cases and proffering an indictment to the High Court, before the same person prosecutes the matter.” Moonilal also reminded the House that in June 2014, then Opposition Leader and current Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley was very critical of the very measures that his administration were now trying to have enacted as law in Trinidad and Tobago.

He quoted Rowley as saying that “if the DPP is aggrieved at a decision of a magistrate with respect to discharging an accused person, the (DPP) may appeal to the High Court; that is in the existing law… the DPP may, if he thinks fit, refer the case back to the Magistrate with directions to deal with the case accordingly, and with such other directions as he may think proper”.

He pointed out that Rowley described that procedure as “madness” and asked how Government could put in a law that the DPP could give directions to a magistrate what he thinks proper and therefore can tell the magistrate what to do.

Moonilal said the amendments cannot work and no country in the world does something like this and, apart from the constitutional issue, it is not practical. He also called on the DPP to make his voice heard as he did on the jury matter, on these proposed amendments

One hundred and six secondary school students from 34 local schools, and five schools from St Lucia, Guyana, Barbados and Suriname played the part of UN General Assembly delegates as they participated in the Rotary Club of Central Port-of-Spain’s 20th annual Model United Nations (MUN) to debate LGBT rights and inclusion.

The resolution topic was preventing discrimination against persons based on sexual orientation and gender identity.

The resolution recommended “in the case where the rights of LGBT people have not been sufficiently protected, foreign aid be withheld, or said nation may face possible expulsion from regional organisations.” It also called for a review or repeal of legislation that criminalises homosexuality, called for an independent committee to be established to combat discrimination against LGBT persons and more. The students were assigned countries, and added to the atmosphere by wearing costumes of said country.

They were then asked to research and defend their country’s position, despite their personal opinions.

After all the countries stated their position on the resolution, the debate began.

During the morning session, Italy seemed to hit a nerve with some of the other nations that did not support the resolution.

Italy stated that discrimination and violent acts were perpetrated mostly because of religion and culture.

Its delegate quoted scripture stating that while some religious texts state that homosexuality was a sin, other parts promote love and so that, even if it was a sin, discrimination still should not occur.

Another Italy delegate said although the country was approximately 80 per cent Christian, its society was against LGBT discrimination and pushed the laws forward.

He said the laws of any country should reflect society and not its religious beliefs.

Several countries took umbrage to Italy’s statement with Nigeria saying that Italy used the scriptures incorrectly, Malaysia asked where the line would be drawn if they agreed to the resolution, and Egypt stated that it was a conservative country and could not simply “wash religion and culture away.” Myanmar said it was offended that Italy would suggest that it advocated violence, while Uganda asked why everyone was getting worked up about LGBT rights when there was still racism, religions and other forms of discrimination to be considered. Even France, which decriminalised homosexuality and legalised same-sex marriage, came under attack, with one delegate saying France should not talk about discrimination while it still had a ban on the burqa __ a full-body covering worn by some Muslim women.

India however, tried to get the debate back on track, saying they were at the meeting to adopt a plan and not insult each other.

Several times the moderators had to ask delegates to maintain decorum and to refrain from making personal comments. The event chairman, Lara Quentrall- Thomas, noted that the Rotary Club chose the topic this year because she believed the rights of all marginalised people need to be something young people need to discuss.

“We are so consumed with what we want as individuals, young people are so focussed on how they look or who’s looking at them, rather than thinking about the bigger picture. For us it was an opportunity to put this topic on the table…

“If Trinidad and Tobago wants to be a modern country, an inclusive country, be at the UN and be taken seriously, we have to address these issues,” she said.

Quentrall-Thomas pointed out that many persons were not comfortable with the topic and that created some challenges for the Rotary Club. She said when the sponsors learned about the topic, some asked that the companies’ names not be mentioned.

Also, one school pulled out of the event, and two wanted their students to be assigned to countries more aligned to the school’s views.

“We said no because the whole point of this exercise is to have an experience where you have to look at something from a different point of view to your own.

It may not change your view… What we want is every child who goes through this process to come away feeling a little more empowered to make decisions that maybe go against the norm, or against what they are told to think, to think for themselves.” She stressed that the exercise was not about whether or not the students agree, but it was about respecting other people and their views, and understanding that everyone has the right to make their own choices.

Last month one of the advocacy groups trying to help, The Muslims of Trinidad and Tobago, called on Government to take in 1,000 Syrian refugees. But representatives of the NGO, Living Water Community (LWC), and the United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR) say that legislation is required to protect the hundreds of refugees already in the country from exploitation, and assist a community which is set to quadruple in size in just three years.

Sunday Newsday was apprised of the local refugee situation during a recent visit to LWC offices in Port-of-Spain.

Coordinator of the ministry for migrants at LWC, Rochelle Nakhid, reported that for about 30 years the Catholic NGO has worked with asylum seekers and refugees as well as other migrants seeking help such as victims of trafficking or those in the country irregularly.

She said LWC does “everything” including financial assistance, social services and finding employment to aid these people.

Trinidad and Tobago is one of the largest refugee-receiving countries in the Caribbean after Belize and the Dominican Republic.

Nakhid reported that before 2012 they would receive about 20 to 30 people annually from a range of countries but then every year following “there have been more and more”.

In 2014 they had more than 100.

This more than doubled to 209 the following year, and in 2016 it was 314.

They expect more than 400 asylum seekers and a little over 100 recognised refugees this year. According to the UNHCR Trinidad and Tobago fact sheet, as at August 2016 almost half were from the Syrian Arab Republic followed by Cuba at 36 percent. There were three countries with single digit percentages __ Bangladesh followed by Colombia and Jamaica __ while other countries accounted for 20 percent.

Nakhid explained that in January 2013 there was an easing of restrictions with Cuba and a change of their migration law which resulted in increased freedom of movement.

“We began seeing Cubans trickling into the country,” Nakhid said In mid-2013 around the time of the Syrian war they noticed an increasing number of Syrians. There were similar trends from Bangladesh, Colombia, Jamaica and now Venezuela. Asked if the increased numbers presented a strain on LWC, Nakhid said they have had to become more resourceful and able to meet the demand. She noted that the UNHCR, which has been working with LWC since 1989, has provided them with funding to supplement their efforts.

She said, however, that the biggest “strain” revolved around a lack of legislation resulting in the refugees having no workers’ rights and “basically under the table, exploited and underpaid”.

She said the group includes children and people with disabilities, and LWC offers assistance with rent, schoolbooks, necessities and the cost of living. She reported that refugees can be found working across industries including restaurants, food service, construction, domestic work, landscaping and industries where you do not need English language skills.

She said there are professionals as well with a wide range of skills but they often have to work in jobs below their skill sets.

“We have nurses who are not in the profession, attorneys who cannot practice. It is frustrating for them,” Nakhid said.

In response to the growing number of asylum-seekers, the Government adopted a Refugee Policy in June 2014 and UNHCR established an office in January 2016.

UNHCR focuses on activities related to refugee status determination, capacity-building and advocacy, and their protection complements activities in the areas of education, health, shelter, food security and durable solutions.

According to the UNHCR fact sheet, while the Refugee Policy adopted in 2014 envisions Government providing recognised refugees with a permit of stay, work authorisation and access to public assistance, there are currently no avenues for refugees to legally integrate in society. In the absence of refugee legislation, UNHCR performs refugee status determination under its mandate; provides ongoing technical support and capacity building to Government; and participates in public awareness events. Due to the lack of legislation that would allow for local integration, UNHCR submitted that the majority of refugees recognised under their mandate for resettlement, and in the first half of 2016, 26 refugees were resettled, the fact sheet reported.

Also at the interview was UNHCR Protection Officer Rub?n Barbado who explained that Trinidad and Tobago ratified the 1951 convention relating to the status of refugees and its 1967 Protocol __ the Foundations of International Refugee Law __ in November 2000 “but until now there is no legislation”. Nakhid said they have been given provisional approval for work permits for recognised refugees but it still has to go through a final approval stage.

“So there have been some advances in terms of work rights,” Nakhid said.

“And the law that was envisioned is being drafted in a very participatory manner. We’re all at the table with the Government as well in terms of drafting the legislation.

We hope to see another draft in a few months.” Barbado said that apart from Government’s role there is also a part for the public to play. He explained there is a lack of knowledge about who are refugees and what it means to be a refugee. He stressed that it is a fundamental right of a person who is persecuted to be protected and not sent back to their countries of origin.

He said there are many reasons a person may flee their country including nationality, religion, political opinion, race or membership in a social group, or being in a religious or sexual minority.

Asked about those in Trinidad, he said there is a mix of categories with people coming from 19 countries.

Nakhid said some countries actively resettle refugees including the US, though under the new Donald Trump administration they are seeking to reduce the numbers. She added, though, that this country does not do that and there is no legislation regarding someone seeking asylum.

“It has to have an actual programme,” she stressed. “Otherwise you will see people in very vulnerable situations.” Barbado pointed out that locally the numbers have been increasing and Government has found a need to respond. “They need to address it and get ready before the situation deteriorates,” he said.

He said Government, in accordance with the Refugee Policy, established a refugee unit and staff have been selected and are being trained. He added they have been collaborating with the National Security Ministry and the Immigration Division, and that it was important to have a government for dialogue and to make progress.

“Trinidad and Tobago is taking a position and has to be commended for it,” he said.

Nakhid said one of the principles when dealing with refugees and asylum seekers is non-penalisation for people entering the country illegally. She added that this is often a sticking point and there continues to be the detention of asylum seekers and deprivation of their liberty.

Barbado said with a fair process, refugees and asylum seekers would usually commit to the regulations. He said, however, if there is no asylum procedure then people will seek a back-door route to stay in the country. “So it is important to have legislation to govern all of this,” Barbado said.

Asked about the request by the Muslims of Trinidad and Tobago for Government to take in 1,000 Syrian refugees, Barbado responded that it was not only about bringing in people from outside but there are already a number of people here.

“There are people already in need here. Before going to that stage we need to address the needs here,” Barbado responded.

He said there was no particular time-frame by which people would be resettled.

He pointed out there are issues of capacity at LWC and UNHCR and that can be challenging.

He added that both organisations are working to “speed up” their capacity.

The refugees arrive mostly by flights but also by boat through irregular means. If they leave their country they may have no passport and have to pay smugglers.

“Refugees, once they have left their country, (can be) exploited, raped, forced to do horrible things, relatives killed, threatened, lives turned upside down. It is not always easy to take the decision to leave your country,” he added.

He pointed to the situation in Syria, Yemen, Democratic Republic of the Congo and South Sudan. He said at times there is a country with a stable government but citizens are persecuted by the systems and even by their own relatives.

Barbado added that there were not only sad stories but stories of resilience.

“This happened to me (the refugee) but I am still alive. And I am here,” he said.

Nakhid said locally refugees have access to basic services including healthcare but they have delays in getting their children into schools and a large number remain out of the system.

She added that even with the Children’s Act there are administrative hurdles to registering their children, which is a concern.

She said they have to be registered with immigration, put under supervision, turn in their passport, are walking around without ID, cannot open a bank account or receive money from abroad.

Barbado stressed that the global refugee situation is the worst since World War II with more than 60 million people forcibly displaced. He reported that in the Caribbean from mid-2015 to 2016 the number has increased by 257 percent.

“It’s a huge increase.” He pointed out that Syria was a country with a history of receiving refugees and now they have people seeking asylum. “These people are persons. They have parents, children, siblings.

Their own lives.

Humanity should help human beings.” He said from a national security perspective it is of interest to the Government to comply with international obligations and identify people who need to be protected.

“At this moment history will judge us, what we do. We want to be proud of what we have been doing.” Nakhid said that at the end of the day it is the moral imperative.

“Any one of us could become a refugee any day.”

The air is punctured by a variety of coloured water darts that find marks on walls, on people, on grounds.

Gulal (coloured powder) floats on the wind, lightly falling on white T-shirts.

Not everyone gets off so easily with sprinkles of water or powder or with the hands of some stranger smearing colour on your face, white teeth showing through dark purple face.

No, sometimes you find yourself soaked by children charging at you from behind with halffilled buckets of abeer (coloured dye). A chowtaal song floats through the air, the clash of the jhaal (small metal cymbals) announcing and celebrating the arrival of spring.

The mood is lively and dynamic.

At the Hindu Prachar Kendra (HPK) grounds on Ragoonanan Road, the stage is set and contestants are getting ready to present to judges and audience, the messages of the year.

The pichakaaree singing competition, has been, for the past 27 years, the voice of the Indo-Trinidadian community. What began as the Kendra Phagwa Festival in the 80s, eventually turned into the competition by the 90s. It has become a forum where the Indo-Trinidadian experience in Trinidad is recorded in songtexts and the competition is now a permanent part of the Kendra Phagwa Festival.

Over the years, some iconic songs have emerged from the pens of pichakaaree songwriters.

In keeping with the HPK vision, Home First — the building of community and nation — has been a common theme in songs.

Mission to the Caribbean, written by Raviji, then head of the HPK, speaks of the indentureship experience and, in his own words as he explains in a paper, the song demonstrates “that there is a mystery behind indentured history.

We really came here by the will of God, that is the interpretation, beyond history, a purpose beyond history. It celebrates itself and festivals and it interprets the festivals.” While Mission to the Caribbean advises the jahaji of his duty, Halla Bol on the other hand, continues the interpretation of history with a missionary zeal. Penned by Dr Kenneth Vidia Parmasad (now deceased), a history lecturer at the University of the West Indies, the song is a rally cry for the jahaji to continue fighting.

“Have no fear and fight for justice, Halla Bol Jahaji Bol.” The controversial 1995 Letter to Chalkie, by Geeta Ramsingh, caused a stir on the Carifesta stage and got its singer booed offstage by an incensed crowd.

That reaction has now itself become a part of the social documentation of Indo-Trinidadian experience here. But the pichakaaree not only addressed issues of national relevance. It also turns its gaze inward to the Hindu and Indian community.

Such songs like Bhoujie Say The Maan Lie for instance reflected the indignation of sections of the Indo-Trinidadian community towards Sonny Maan’s hit Lotayla and his desecration of women, while Mohip Poonwassie’s Chutney Soca Causing Controversy (1996) addressed the degeneration of chutney soca lyrics and the lewd behaviour that it encouraged. In 2011, Ravan Ki Raaj attacked the $2 million prize money awarded to the first place winner in the Chutney Soca Monarch competition and lamented the degeneration of values.

In this year of the centenary celebrations of the end of Indian indentureship, pichakaaree singers and songwriters have become even more relevant. With the exception of very few old songs that once documented life on the plantations, many of which have been lost; academic material that remains inaccessible to the common man; pichakaaree has to a great extent, taken up the challenge of making some of this history and experience accessible to the masses through song.

Though there are also songs that are festive and focus on the Phagwa festival, in our politically sensitive society, the social and political commentaries gain more mileage. Many are noteworthy in their straightforward and dispassionate appraisal of, and addresses to the nation as well as the Indo- Trinidadian community.

As a genre of music, pichakaaree songs have now established a place in the literature of the land.

Set within the festival of Phagwa, the songs find an appropriate environment.

Where the festival of Phagwa represents rejuvenation, a part of this rejuvenation is the ability to release pent up feelings of anger, disenchantment, disappointment as well as the ability to rejoice and celebrate.

All emotions find a release and expression within this festive time of Phagwa through the pichakaaree songs. And the song texts will remain for generations to come, a document of various eras of the island’s socio-political and cultural development.

T h e pichakaaree competition takes place today at Gilibia Trace, Ragoonanan Road, Enterprise, Chaguanas.

And it seems that some of these are coming to a head as we continue to fumble clumsily with the prospects of tourism.

Because from the time we finally woke up to tourism as a sector to provide employment and earn money most of us thought that as a Caribbean country we had to accept the tired sun and sea status because the rest of the Caribbean was exploiting that model.

But first, try to understand that the word tourism never even appeared in a local budget speech until 1987! You see, we had oil.

So we did not need to serve any people coming here to lie on beaches. We even adopted, in our insecurity, the expression “Tourism is Whore-ism”.

But when our oil bubble burst in the 1980s and the PNM handed over a bankrupt country to the NAR and the World Bank, we tried to embrace tourism. But we did not know how, and indeed, we still do not.

In our view, all we had as tourism products were Carnival and Buccoo Reef. We still have these two assets, but we are trying our best to kill both.

Because we are locked into the concept of people sitting on beaches and drinking daiquiris, we cannot open our minds to the several, and unique in the Caribbean, niche opportunities with which we are blessed. Truth to tell, we simply do not understand what the modern traveller is seeking, so we still try to develop outdated opportunities and literally work to frustrate people who seek to exploit — for TT— the blessings with which we are endowed. And we now plan to divide our tourism while most existing, unacknowledged opportunities unite the islands for the visitors.

The opportunities which we do not market are in nature tourism, sports tourism and varied (beyond two days of Carnival) cultural tourism. And none of these niches, exploitable for our nation’s enjoyment, employment and wealth, and so appreciated in less endowed countries, needs any real capital expenditure for exploitation.

Everything is already here, like ripe mangoes, hanging low on our trees! We just cannot see it. And much of it combines both of our jewels, Trinidad and Tobago.

Both islands, but especially Trinidad, which can be described as “an island in South America” have a range of natural phenomena which we generally dismiss as bush or swamp. Our forests, our wetlands, Tobago’s Main Ridge (the oldest protected reserve in the Western Hemisphere) provide surprisingly accessible natural attractions of flora and fauna which attract hundreds of overseas visitors to our islands.

Almost 600 of the visitors who stayed at the Asa Wright Nature Centre in 2016 also travelled to Tobago and stayed there. Over 70 tourists holidaying in Tobago made one-day visits to Trinidad to Asa Wright and the Caroni Bird Sanctuary. And all this with zero inputs from any government agency.

Do you see potential for development, or is that all about “snake and mosquito”(sic)? And Asa Wright, with no government inputs, attracts a few thousand visitors, mostly from North America and Europe, “just to see birds” every year. TT does not advertise or promote this popular genre of tourism.

We have a huge potential for sports tourism, both spectator sports, and participatory events.

Our geographic position allows us to televise live sports to North America and Europe simultaneously, in quality if not prime viewing time. So why do we not have international athletic events during winter? Why have we not brought international tennis here? In the 1950s tennis legends like Ken Rosewall, Lew Hoad and Pancho Gonzales used to come and play in Trinidad. In 2008, when the TTFA celebrated its centennial and England came to play, they brought about 800 supporters, who all spent about three days in Tobago before travelling on the ferry for the match.

The potential, in tennis, cricket, football, rugby (we lost an annual rugby festival to Barbados when the local organiser had to give up Tobago in frustration), golf, sports fishing, sailing and more is endless but ignored.

These are just a few of the joint TT opportunities which seem unknown to the persons pretending they are in charge now.

If we divide our marketing as is now being suggested both islands stand to lose.

At least put this strange idea out for public discussion.

Everyone might learn something!

In what seems like the blink of an eye, a widely-held ideal of a united world in which residents of the planet Earth mixed and merged has been brought to a screeching halt and we are now all painfully aware that who we are and where we come from are still important because some people don’t like what we represent and are suspicious of our intentions.

Although those fears and suspicions are justified in only a minority of cases, the general attitude of working together for a better future can no longer be taken for granted, and what is blithely known as the “right wing” has stood up and put its foot down. This tobacco-chewing, narrow-minded international redneck wants us off his god-damn land before he uses the shotgun his pappy inherited from his grandpappy.

And he’ll sit down with his innocent grandchildren and tell them why he’s so nasty to people he doesn’t know: because you can’t be too careful and you have to look after yourself, because no one else is going to do it for you.

As is so often the case, the attitude has filtered down from the most influential to the smaller communities on the basis that “if they can do it, so can we”. All it took was an aggressive, straight talking president of the USA to give credibility to like-minded individuals everywhere, and so migration bumps into protectionism and blind nationalism. Much of Europe finds itself reconsidering its options, with its generosity and humanitarianism suddenly interpreted as weakness and gullibility.

In France, whose national motto is liberty, equality, fraternity, the far right leader Marine Le Pen has softened her National Front party’s image somewhat and is now seeking to exploit the cracks that have appeared on her country’s political scene and march to power while her opponents are lacking focus. Even though she may not be quite so extreme as her father, whom she expelled from the party he once ran, she is cut from the same cloth. If she was elected, you wouldn’t find her at any border handing out blankets and soup to immigrants.

In the Netherlands, the Trumphaired figure of Geert Wilders has brought to our attention his Party for Freedom, the freedom of which seems to be freedom from Islam, and while that flies in the face of modern liberalism, who is to say it’s not a wise thing to keep apart religions that cause such animosity? Even in countries where the political face is still relatively stable and perhaps bland, the talk in the cafes and bars and around family dinner tables is of protecting their way of life, and gradually — or perhaps with alarming speed — political movements will push for the maintenance of what they know and love, what they feel safe with.

Since there has been so much emigration and immigration, in many cases this is shutting the door after the horse has bolted, because societies, unlike computers, cannot be restored to a carefully chosen happy point in the past. And anyway, where is that point? If the US wants to kick out those who it feels don’t belong there, it will be peeled back, layer by layer, starting perhaps with Muslims and Mexicans but moving on to Indians, the Vietnamese and on to the once-unpopular Irish and the Italians who brought with them mafia families.

Then it will be Christopher Columbus and his European diseases, and someone is bound to come up with a damning indictment of the British pilgrims who brought their hymns and bonnets over and found themselves in conflict with the Amerindians.

But does it stop there? As in the Caribbean, if you take it back to what we refer to as indigenous peoples, there were tribes that were here before others, and the newcomers didn’t establish themselves through diplomacy and immigration departments. They stormed ashore in canoes and fought for what they wanted.

If the same approach was taken in the UK, sooner or later it would come down to the Anglo-Saxons, which means on the one hand the Angles and on the other the Saxons, who didn’t immediately rush into each other’s arms. And they were of Germanic origin, anyway.

Peeling back the layers in Trinidad and Tobago, the African contingent might feel they had some sort of right, having been kidnapped from their ancestral homes and brought to these shores against their will, but the fact remains that on the basis of last-in first-out they would eventually get their marching orders.

And woe betide anyone whose DNA betrayed some link with the Baltic states of northern Europe, because that would indicate Courland, part of what is now Latvia and once, somewhat surprisingly, invaders of islands far from their own chilly shores. If we all get back to where we once belonged, all that would be left is Adam, all alone in the Garden of E d e n .

A n d even he had better have his birth c e r t i f – i c a t e ready for inspection.

There is a realisation that the challenges that must be tackled are the responsibility of every citizen, of every person and group seeking justice and the well-being of the whole population.

Not unexpectedly, the ugly reality of violence and the many forms of crime that plague the nation were at the forefront of the participants’ concerns in the marches, demonstrations and forums around the country. This is rightly so, as the number of missing persons, the ever-increasing incidence of murder and the revelation of corruption in seemingly every sector of our lives occupy the front pages of our newspapers and are the constant focus of the social media.

There are, however, other facets of our national life that are uplifting and noble and which may be overlooked in our preoccupation with the negatives that sometimes threaten to drown our spirit.

In every primary and secondary school, teachers and administrators strive to inculcate their students with ideals that can draw the society up from its present sorry state into a place of selflessness, individual and collective responsibility, and respect for others regardless of race, gender, class or age.

In some cases, it is a real struggle for educators to overcome ignorance and entrenched social norms that are destructive. Yet in every school, there are students and parents who yearn for a better life, one defined not by material possessions but by a genuine desire for peace, equity, and respect for life in all its forms.

In government education offices, often unknown to the general population there are special-education officers, therapists, counsellors and other specialists who heroically fight against the shortage of specialist tools and equipment, against inadequate office and treatment space, and against the perception that government employees are uncaring, unprofessional and collect salaries in absentia.

It is only those who have experienced the daily challenges that face the dedicated staff of many of these offices, who realise how they seek to draw from the well of life for the disadvantaged and vulnerable ones in their care. Special schools that cater for autistic children and slow learners, and schools and homes for the blind, the hearing-impaired, the physically and the mentally handicapped are jewels in our national treasure chest. The yeoman service they offer, despite the inadequacies which they too face, should never be taken for granted.

The work they do is generally unheralded and frequently thankless, yet their charges are worthy of the same dignity and respect as that shown to our national high achievers. On this third Sunday of Lent, let us as people of God drink of he water of eternal life offered to us as we go about the business of sowing the seed and reaping the harvest which the Father has entrusted to us.