To say there is a strong Trinidad influence on the way we do things in Barbados might be considered quite an understatement by some – and with good reason.
The physical proximity, traditional family and business links, the significant connection between local tourism and the growth of what used to be BWIA, now Caribbean Airlines, have all contributed to this strong Trini-Bajan link.
Over the past decade and a half, however, the increasingly powerful ownership of capital in Barbados by Trinidad conglomerates has left some wondering just how far the assimilation will eventually go.
Certainly, we expect that it is just a matter of time before some of the crime trends that have gripped the Trinidadian society start to show themselves in a real way here, and we hope that our policymakers, our politicians, are taking note. If we are being sensible we ought to at least be able to learn from the mistakes of our oil-rich neighbour, even if we continue to ignore the things the Trinidadians are doing right.
Again we refer to the issue of crime. Over the weekend the major Trinidad newspapers all focused on the killing of a young man by Trinidadian police officers, the response of the residents with flaming barricades, the upping of the ante by authorities who sent in soldiers and cops with tactical training. In the midst of it all, there was the shooting of a soldier.
Some will probably respond with: “so what’s new?” Yes, these episodes are becoming increasingly common in Trinidad, so to some they may appear to be par for the course.
But our main concern is the emphasis of authorities on the use of force at specific incidents, while the country stubbornly, for all its wealth, refuses to deal with the underlying social issues – and it is from this that we in Barbados must grasp a very important lesson.
Immediately after the incident that country’s Minister of National Security Gary Griffith characterised the episode as “these are desperate times” and spoke of “fighting fire with fire”. He noted that the law enforcement personnel would soon be taking possession of armoured personnel carriers that would allow them to go into hot zones to handle any threat.
One of the Trinidad newspapers accompanied the report with a photograph of two shoeless little boys on their knees collecting water in bottles from a standpipe while a police officer in full tactical gear stood guard four feet from them.
And that’s the lesson we ought to learn, particularly because we don’t have the volumes of money the Trinidad authorities appear always so eager to waste. People who feel left out, marginalised and down-trodden are unlikely to trust the symbols of the authority they hold responsible for their plight. Spending money on armoured personnel carriers while people live in squalor will not solve the social problems that give rise to the crime problem in the first place.
There is always the exception, but people with hopes and dreams who see viable avenues to achieve them, even if at some points it includes back-breaking hard work, will not easily turn to deviance.
We will all prove ourselves to be fools if we ignore the lessons others provide for us.