So Indian!!!! Hehehe.

10:39 AM | Tracey | url | #

(indian?)
don't TELL anyone dammit.

*turns up Bonecrusher Remix to Kumar Sanu*

2:12 AM | Stef | url | #

well hullo stranger.

12:11 AM | Tracey | url | #

(completely off topic, but then, is any really surprised that my first post here in (just insert how long it's been, here) would be...)

damn jhagroo, thou art a sexay indian boy.

5:46 PM | sinistra | url | #

I think I have to take the week to read that.

9:26 PM | Tracey | url | #

I'm about as critical of the Indian community in Trinidad as they come, so according to Trini politics that makes me a PNM supporter. Case in point.

Ramlogan casually slides past the race factor by saying that we have Afro-trinis in power of State corporations. If I were to ask you to identify the names and locations of such individuals, could you tell me? Could you tell me how and where their children go to school, their liming spots, their clubbing timetables? You probably could, but I'm sure it's a lot easier to identify those same statistics for upper middle class Indians for one simple reason - there's a lot more of them.

No, the kidnappers haven't identified rich people with homes down the islands because chances are that if you have a home down the islands you also have the money to secure your house, get bodyguards, do whatever to deter the crime. No this isn't foolproof, and of course someone can get past those methods to grab people like Sabga, for example. But consider how much easier it is to target the upper middle class businessman. They're open, usually entrepreneurs and children of such - due to the current social norm - would probably have their own car and be publicly visible on the liming nights. May I point to almost the entire South Trinidad San Fernando-and-surrounding-area community on a weekend that show up to Players, Screamers, Platinum and then go religiously to drags at 2am on a Sunday morning. Unfortunately, in the window of the current crime dilemma, they also happen to be Indian.

Now the social construct of Trinidad has always had the Indian population in the positions of holding a substantial portion of financial power, no matter how much people want to say it isn't so. This isn't something new. Most of the oldest private small businesses in this country are run by Indians, as are the more successful. Their status requires them to be open and publicly seen as in this country it is not who you know, but who knows you that gets you ever farther up that ladder of success. Again, this unfortunately places them wide open to the preying eyes of kidnappers - but being Indian isn't the cause, it is just a common trait among victims.

Let us assume for a moment that the police service stops acting like the most wasteful of the country's public services and catches the people responsible for the kidnappings (again, to assume that there is only one mastermind/gang behind this is simplifying the matter and probably a delusion brought on by living in fiction.) Who is to say that those persons will not be of East Indian descent? Who is to say that in the course of their plannings grease money hasn't passed through the hands of some Indian police officer, or some Indian working the teller at a commercial bank?

This situation cannot be ratified or made clearer by saying that its some kind of struggle against the Indians of Trinidad. If I were the type of person who felt like kidnapping someone right right now for a relatively small ransom of $50 000 I'd already have a list of 10 or so people, and you know what? They're all Indians. That's how it is. End conspiracy theory.

In a perfect better society, this wouldn't be an issue. Economic progress would be properly protected by the law and the protective services. However since every public servant including the asses in grey and blue we would like to think of as police officers keep focusing on how to argue for better paychecks, and since the ministers in charge seem to think that crime is implicitly solved by buying cars with European paint jobs and or Cherokees, and since the Government treats the rest of Trinidad (as Ramlogan rightly says) as the "annex" to port-of-spain when it comes to attending to matters of importance such as the safety of their citizens, then no - the kidnappers will continue to roam the streets, and making their lists of Indian targets - peppered once or twice by the affluent Chinese, dougla or Afro-Trini, because, hey, you get lucky now and then right?

Right.

5:08 PM | Stef | url | #

This is a really iffy topic and I'm not sure how much I should say here for fear of kidnappage or something. Lord. You never really know what the hell is the deal. The media is fucked - period. If the government really wants to cover up something bigger they damn well do it and they are doing it.

If Gregory Aboud's family were kidnapped then perhaps he would have been co-operating with the Indian business community in mobilising the business sector to shut down the country on budget day to protest the government's failure to deal with the crime situation.

Maybe not. Maybe his henchmen would be out fucking up the kidnappers and getting back the kidnappee.

"I have come to the sad and unfortunate conclusion that nothing serious will be done about kidnapping until someone living in Goodwood park or Westmoorings is kidnapped." My arse. They have been, but it's just not happening anymore. Wonder why? ;) Obviously they've got some "protection" now don't they? After the first few times what the hell measures you think were taken?

Question is why the rich Indo-Trini community hasn't quite fucked up the kidnapping scene yet? I mean it's a relatively large percentage of the population, while the "Westmoorings" folk are a minority. Don't you think it's a tad "unusual" or "suspicious"?

11:45 PM | Tracey | url | #

I've seen this circulated a couple times, and I usually read Anand's columns (I read this before it became a forward), but I notice the people who have been circulating the column (at least to me) have only been indians circulating it to more indians, now obviously the article specifically deals with indians, but more than that it deals with a problem in Trinidad, which I think would involve all Trinidadians, so I'd just like to hear what our non-indian 9'ers have to say about the article, if anything.

Anand Ramlogan's Sunday Guardian Column on Indian Racism

The annex of sweet T&T by Anand Ramlogan

I am faced with a rather delicate problem: How can I say that mostly Indo-Trinidadians are being kidnapped without running the risk of being labeled racist? The official statistics reveal that there have been 165 kidnappings to date. There is no breakdown of the racial profile of the victims but its hardly contestable that over 85% of the victims have been of East Indian descent. The kidnap of young Shamshoon Mohammed from Caroni Village is historic because she is the first Muslim kidnap victim. Prior to this, kidnappers appeared to have targeted mostly Hindus and during the holy month of Ramadan kidnappings had ceased. (Apart from this, the only other time crime decreased was for carnival, when the police actually worked!). This will no doubt see Indo-Trinidadians of every faith joining hands over what is clearly a frontal assault by criminal elements against their community.

Apart from Shamshoon, the Khans who owned the popular "King's Jewelers" in Grand Bazaar have packed up shop and left T&T because they were almost kidnapped this week. Shakti Pooran is free but Ryan Singh is yet to be released. I must express the seething rage and sense of betrayal and abandonment that the Indo-Trinidadian community feels. In hushed tones, they whisper among themselves "If was ah white man or ah Syrian from Goodwood Park or Westmoorings that get kidnap, yuh woulda see how the media, government and police woulda react."

If Gregory Aboud's family were kidnapped then perhaps he would have been co-operating with the Indian business community in mobilising the business sector to shut down the country on budget day to protest the government's failure to deal with the crime situation. The T&T Chamber of Industry and Commerce speaks charitably, with an aloof sense of detachment about protest plans by Indian businessmen or says nothing at all. It can afford to do this because it is comfortably ensconced in the knowledge that kidnappers have not really interfered with them.

The police try to cover-up their incompetence by using their friends in the media to plant stories that seek to create the impression that kidnappings are somehow drug-related. This of course did not arise when Sabga's grandson was kidnapped. Or when our Chinese brothers and sisters were under attack and being kidnapped. Manning cleverly tries to reinforce this impression by describing Indian kidnappings as "unusual" or "suspicious". He dares not say this when the victim is Sabga or Ayoung-Chee!

What is "unusual" and "suspicious" is the fact that the police cannot crack this pernicious kidnapping cartel in a nation with just fewer than 3/4 million adults!

If money, and not race is the motivation for kidnapping then why have kidnappings been concentrated on the Indo-Trinidadian community? None of these victims own houses down the islands, yachts or million dollar homes in posh North Trinidad. And its not as if we don't have wealthy Afro-Trinidadians--just check the senior management of our most lucrative State enterprises. So, the big question then is why the disproportionate emphasis on the Indo-Trinidadian section of our society? Do kidnappers not know that this is a country "where every creed and race must find an equal place"? Is there no 'rainbow' in kidnapping? Is it because they are out of political power and therefore vulnerable?

Is it because the PNM wont protect them because Vision 2020 really means "Not an Indian in T&T by 2020"? Can you imagine how parents feel to see PM Manning speaking about how he needs a new office because White Hall leaking when their daughter is exposed to the elements in some forest? The community is helpless and unable to defend itself. The big businessmen leave them alone because they are relatively unaffected by kidnappings. They want to focus the nation's attention on real issues, such as traffic management for downtown PoS so that they can finance their luxurious lifestyles.

I have come to the sad and unfortunate conclusion that nothing serious will be done about kidnapping until someone living in Goodwood park or Westmoorings is kidnapped. Do you honestly think that the presence of debris on the runway of the Piarco airport will even be on the front page if this were to happen? (This was, after all the lead headline that displaced Shamshoon's kidnapping in a tiny nation of 1.5 million!) What, tell me makes the life of such a person more valuable than Kissoondan Singh or Tricia Suryadevera? This is how this country works. Central and South and those who live there are treated as if they are annexed to the real T&T.

Many of you might be wondering what prompted this angry column. The mother of a kidnap victim visited me. Her story is typical. Her pain and suffering will never end. The family had to pay out its entire life savings in ransom money. The medical problems of both parents have been aggravated by the kidnapping ordeal but precedence is given to financing the much-needed therapy for the recovering child. During negotiations with the kidnappers they were told not to inform the police about what was taking place or else the ransom will go up because ' then dey goh have to get their cut". Traumatized and bewildered, not knowing who to trust, this family, like so many others handed over their entire life's savings and were rewarded with the gift of their child's life. The official media and police reports state that 'the child was freed and released unharmed and no ransom money was paid". All's well that ends well, I guess.

12:50 PM | Jus | url | #

What story! Tell it, TELL IT!

12:26 PM | Jus | url | #

Bahhahahaahhaahaha! F'real. Holy shit 4 days? Hahahaha. Woo.
I think Stace should tell our peoples the story you know.
Stace!!!!
*hides behind Jus*

9:14 PM | Tracey | url | #

I am MOVIN....movin like a NUCLEAR....

on another note, it's been like 4 days and I finally got what you said about ants on leaves Chan. God almighty I'm slow.

4:09 PM | Stef | url | #

Lol Jus don't take me on. Move if yuh movin. Migrate everyone to MT Stef? Ugh. I just think code and I have convulsions. I can't even get MY site up and functional to this day. Well..properly anyways. That's the extent of my codephobia. *sigh*

I've seen ants on leaves ( looking @ Stace and Stef) that caused more conversation spark. Where are the rest of these bastards. Dammit - maybe they're productive. It's 1 am and I'm suppose to be diligently at work. *snort*

11:55 PM | Tracey | url | #

I say go for it. I've been doing multiple log-ins for a while and it's not as dreadful as it sounds. Wow, this makes me sound very shitty. But if Moveable Type is where you want to move the site, I support the move. I think you have that right as initiator and designer.
And maybe the move will be something to spark conversation, at least for a little while.

6:25 PM | McKain | url | #

Maybe you should migrate everyone to MT first Jus ;-)

5:46 PM | Stef | url | #

Okay well I guess we won't be switching =P

8:01 AM | Jus | url | #

Yeh I guess if you want. I don't like logging in separately because everything's here and I'm lazy but if I must I will at intervals :)

1:57 AM | Tracey | url | #

The migration to MT is fine with me, however, you should be aware that people (like me) who are still primarily Blogger-based will now have to login to 2 different sites in order to post at 2 different blogs. Then again, I bookmark like crazy so it's no biggie for me. I say onward ho.

Or maybe just onward.

12:49 AM | Stef | url | #