Counting on Tunapuna again

October 24, 2001

The piece about Tunapuna created quite a stir. The major thesis was that Tunapuna is a microcosmic reflection of the landscape of T&T. Every social, religious, cultural manifestation found equal representation there, particularly in the days gone by.

That the open "savannah" in the middle of this place, which was "neither town nor country", was then the lungs of the community until the skewed civil planners destroyed it; that this great mix of different people and cultures therein provided for Tunapuna a particular spirit of universal freedom, a spirit that was instinctively republican and democratic, a spirit that was exhibited by the people of Tunapuna at all levels.

From this line of thought it was extrapolated that, not surprisingly, many politicians and political parties have maintained over the years that to win State power in T&T elections, you have to win Tunapuna.

Tunapuna was always marginal. That is an historic fact. The argument posited was that precisely because of its nature and history one could count on Tunapuna to be the constituency to break the back of "one-manism", maximum leadership and gubernatorial, old-school politics. It was a warning to the unwise.

Many people responded by e-mail while others telephoned to add their two-cents worth to this viewpoint. Here are a few of the responses that came:

A "DA" e-mailed: "...Well ole man... only time will tell. A nice warmingly-written piece. One love, DA." Mr A Defreitas e-mailed: "...Bravo..! I love this article, keep up the clever writing. This is such a relief from the mundane. Thank you..."

Mr C Heywood of Atlanta and a past resident of Tunapuna also e-mailed to express his enthusiasm: "...Just recently I spoke to Reverend Brian Jemmott, who resides in Atlanta, about Tunapuna, that special place. You have rekindled so much about Tunapuna. You left out the Razaccks, the Bains, Thora Best, Lloyd's sister, the Springers, the Fosters, Dalgo, and the snackettes and rum shops, where some of the current crop of legal luminaries spent some time. There is much to be written about Tunapuna..."

And there were those who questioned my failure to mention people like "Sing Sing" and "Gemima", Manda, Annette, Lillian and Vida, etc, stalwarts of the early grassroots PNM mass movement and the backbone of the Tunapuna market women-vendors.

As was the case in most of the then progressive nationalist parties of the so-called underdeveloped world struggling to break the back of colonialism and imperialist domination, the grassroots women took to the forefront to make the sacrifices and virtually carry the movement on their shoulders.

So too did the famous Tunapunians, such as "Sing Sing" and "Gemima", only too be discarded later as the mass movement grounded into a constipated party shell that lost its way, betraying in the course of time its historic purpose and seemingly incapable of rekindling any progressive content.

Not surprisingly, the very children and grandchildren of these stalwarts mentioned have continued to be unmoved by the latter-day PNM. It is phenomena that is not unique to T&T but has become common throughout the world; it is the transformation of the nationalist anti-colonial, anti-imperialist vanguards into neo-colonial defenders of the status-quo at the expense of the democratic development of the people.

A Mr Hosein telephoned and agreed with the view that there was that equality of positioning of the races and cultures, that "sharing", that was reflected in the mosaic that was Tunapuna and that it was best expressed in the use of that "open savannah" which was central and spinal to all that happened in Tunapuna.

But he questioned any attempt to attribute any aspect of democratic politics to the famous "bad-johns" of the past era. He was of the view that they never discussed "politics" in the course of their daily affairs. At least he had never heard them do so.

But the point he missed was that the democratic spirit they portrayed was not essentially by way of articulation, but moreso by what they demonstrated by the stance they adopted over and over again. They were sycophants to nobody. They questioned everyone's intentions and they were fearless in defending what they choose to defend. They had a sense of morality that was their own. They did not seek validation for their actions from anyone other than themselves.

I can recall the Mascals (Mccall and Clock) insisting that we go to school, study and do well because the opportunities were there for us to do better. We could not dock school with them around. They insisted that we not be like they were. Compare that with the likes of the block and street people of today who induce school children into all kinds and forms of criminal activity. That was unheard of long ago in the East-West Corridor.

That is what we mean today when we say that social milieu has become morally decadent. So decadent, in fact, that they now have nothing to defend and will sell their souls and anything else, even their votes, for a mess of pottage. And no one, no organisation, whether social or political, has sought to address this question.

We are counting, we say again, on Tunapuna, that special place that is neither town nor country, to make the difference, if only it can lay claim to and reaffirm its past glories. Let Tunapuna lead the breakaway!