IN HIS address to an independence youth rally at the Queen’s Park Oval on August 30, 1962, Eric Williams advised that TT, to come into being as a new nation the following day, had to “maintain and develop its political system and its democratic machinery.”
The responsibility of young people in the new dispensation would be “a very heavy one.” Production and productivity were crucial, as was living together peacefully in a society mixed by both race and religion. In this connection, he called on young people to “educate (their) parents. Teach them,” he continued, “to live together in harmony, the difference being not race or colour of skin but merit only, differences of wealth and family status being rejected in favour of equality of opportunity.” One wonders, especially in the light of recent comments, who exactly would be parenting.
Williams stressed adherence to the principles of honesty, and of “scholastic development (as) the salvation (on which) the nation is dependent.” He ended with the much-quoted words: “When you return to your classes after independence, remember, therefore, each and every one of you, that you carry the future of Trinidad and Tobago in your school bags.”
The centrality of education in any country’s socio-economic development cannot seriously be disputed; Williams understood that well. What few, if any, understood at the time was that early childhood education was at the core of that centrality.
But education wasn’t all that concerned Williams. On Independence Day itself he addressed the nation, essentially on the subject of democracy. “The first responsibility that devolves upon you,” he said, “is the protection and promotion of your democracy.” And he went on to define in detail what he understood by the word, including the factor – always important, but especially so today – that democracy meant “equality of opportunity for all in education…”
And this is what he said about our watchwords, Discipline, Production and Tolerance. “Indiscipline, whether individual or sectional, is a threat to democracy. Slacking on the job jeopardises the national income, inflates costs, and merely sets a bad example…That democracy is but a hollow mockery and a gigantic fraud which is based on a ruling group’s domination of slaves or helots or fellaheen or second-class citizens, or showing intolerance to others because of considerations of race, colour, creed, national origin, previous conditions of servitude or other irrationality.” Would you say, using those criteria, that today’s TT is disciplined, productive and tolerant?
But what of the several years preceding independence? Whatever our economic hardships, they were a time (perhaps it was an east-west corridor concentration) when people read and discussed and challenged. Scholarship was respected. Literary and debating societies flourished. There were bookshops, art exhibitions and drama groups, choirs, orchestras. Beryl McBurnie’s Little Carib was already a legend. Anthony Williams was breaking steelband barriers. And there was much more.
In short, a certain intellectual focus and confidence existed. It was therefore understandable that Williams the university professor, in his jousts with the Catholic Church representative, Dom Basil Matthews, in his writings, in his lectures at what he dubbed “The University of Woodford Square,” would find fertile ground. He was suddenly “The Third Most Intelligent Man in the World.” Which two dared precede him I never discovered.
But Williams’s announced vision of societal harmony and progress was not infrequently obscured by the realities of party politics, and by his inability always to distinguish between the lectern and the soapbox. The “University of Woodford Square” was not, after all, Oxford or Howard, and the freedom of expression one might enjoy in an academic environment couldn’t always be felicitously transferred to the hustings.
Thus it was that in April 1958, smarting from the PNM’s defeat in the West Indies federal elections, Williams publicly used the phrase “recalcitrant and hostile minority,” taken by everyone to mean TT people of Indian origin who had voted against his party, and thus seen as entirely race-based. Even his own minister of health at the time, Winston Mahabir, so interpreted it.
Nor did his stubborn nationalism appeal to the business sector leadership, then largely white and off-white. Sixty years ago, therefore, many in the population were uneasy about, or frankly unable to stomach, the idea of TT’s political independence. To a significant extent, those concerns were inspired by racial discomfort, sometimes fear; black domination was felt to be waiting to impose itself. “PNM” – I’m not making this up – had come to stand for “Pure Nigg--- Movement” and “Party of Nigg-- Men.” Not to be outdone, many blacks fully reciprocated those sentiments of racist contempt.
Katika hotuba yake ya uhuru kwenye mkutano wa vijana katika Queen's Park Oval mnamo Agosti 30, 1962, Eric Williams alitoa ushauri kwamba TT, ili kuanzishwa kama taifa jipya siku iliyofuata, ilibidi "kuhifadhi na kuendeleza mfumo wake wa kisiasa na mashine yake ya kidemokrasia." Katika uhusiano huu, aliwaomba vijana "kufundisha" wazazi wao. "Akaendelea kusema, ""wafundishe kuishi pamoja kwa upatano, tofauti zikiwa si jamii au rangi ya ngozi bali sifa tu, tofauti za utajiri na hali ya familia zikataliwa kwa niaba ya usawa wa fursa."" ""Mtu anajiuliza, hasa kwa kuzingatia maoni ya hivi karibuni, ni nani hasa angekuwa mzazi." "Williams alisisitiza kufuata kanuni za uaminifu, na ""maendeleo ya shule (kama) wokovu (kwa) ambayo taifa linategemea,"" na kumaliza kwa maneno yaliyotajwa sana: ""Unaporudi darasani baada ya uhuru, kumbuka, kwa hivyo, kila mmoja wenu, kwamba unachukua siku zijazo za Trinidad na Tobago katika mifuko yako ya shule." Lakini ni watu wachache sana waliofahamu wakati huo kwamba elimu ya utotoni ndiyo msingi wa umuhimu huo. Lakini elimu haikuwa jambo pekee lililomhangaisha Williams. Siku ya Uhuru yenyewe alitoa hotuba kwa taifa, hasa juu ya suala la demokrasia. "Msimamo wa kwanza ambao unashikilia ni ulinzi na kukuza demokrasia yako,"" alisema, na aliendelea kufafanua kwa undani kile alichomaanisha na neno hilo, ikiwa ni pamoja na sababu ya ""kila wakati muhimu, lakini hasa leo"" kwamba demokrasia ilimaanisha ""usawa wa fursa kwa wote katika elimu"" na ""Utaratibu, Uzalishaji na Uvumilivu.""" <unk>Ukosefu wa nidhamu, iwe ya mtu binafsi au ya kikundi, ni tishio kwa demokrasia. "Kupunguzwa kazi kunahatarisha mapato ya taifa, huongeza gharama, na huweka mfano mbaya tu... Demokrasia hiyo ni mzaha wa tupu na udanganyifu mkubwa ambao unategemea utawala wa kikundi kinachoongoza wa watumwa au helots au fellaheen au raia wa darasa la pili, au kuonyesha kutovumiliana na wengine kwa sababu ya kuzingatia jamii, rangi, imani, asili ya kitaifa, hali za zamani za utumwa au kutokuwa na busara nyingine. """ Lakini vipi kuhusu miaka kadhaa iliyotangulia uhuru? """Hata hali zetu za kiuchumi zikiwa ngumu, zilikuwa wakati (labda ilikuwa mkusanyiko wa njia ya mashariki-magharibi) ambapo watu walisoma na kujadili na changamoto." Wasomi waliheshimiwa. Mashirika ya fasihi na ya kubishana yalifanikiwa. Kulikuwa na maduka ya vitabu, maonyesho ya sanaa na vikundi vya michezo ya kuigiza, kwaya, okestra. Beryl McBurnie's Little Carib tayari alikuwa hadithi. Anthony Williams alikuwa akivunja vizuizi vya chuma. Na kulikuwa na mambo mengine mengi. Kwa ufupi, kulikuwa na mwelekeo fulani wa kiakili na uhakika. "Kwa hiyo, ilikuwa ya kueleweka kwamba Williams, profesa wa chuo kikuu, katika mashindano yake na mwakilishi wa Kanisa Katoliki, Dom Basil Matthews, katika maandishi yake, katika mihadhara yake katika kile alichokiita ""Chuo Kikuu cha Woodford Square,"" angepata ardhi yenye rutuba." Kwa ghafula akawa "Mtu wa Tatu mwenye akili zaidi Duniani". Ni nani kati ya hao wawili aliyethubutu kumtangulia? Sijawahi kugundua. Lakini maono ya Williams ya maelewano ya kijamii na maendeleo hayakufichwa mara nyingi na hali halisi ya siasa za chama, na kwa kutoweza kwake kutofautisha kati ya jukwaa na sanduku la sabuni. "Chuo Kikuu cha Woodford Square" hakikuwa, baada ya yote, Oxford au Howard, na uhuru wa kujieleza mtu anaweza kufurahia katika mazingira ya kitaaluma hakuweza daima kuwa felicitously kuhamishwa kwa hustings. "Mwaka 1958 baada ya kushindwa kwa chama cha PNM katika uchaguzi wa jimbo la West Indies, Williams alitumia neno ""minority"" ambalo lilimaanisha watu wa asili ya India waliopinga chama chake na hivyo kuonekana kuwa ni wa rangi ya jamii." Hata waziri wake mwenyewe wa afya wakati huo, Winston Mahabir, aliitafsiri hivyo. Wala utaifa wake wenye ukaidi haukupendeza uongozi wa sekta ya biashara, wakati huo ulikuwa wa wazungu na wazungu. Kwa hiyo, miaka sitini iliyopita, wengi katika idadi ya watu walikuwa na wasiwasi kuhusu, au waziwazi hawakuweza kuvumilia, wazo la uhuru wa kisiasa wa TT. Kwa kiasi kikubwa, wasiwasi huo ulichochewa na wasiwasi wa rangi, wakati mwingine hofu; utawala mweusi ulihisi kuwa unangojea kujilazimisha. "P.N.M. (I'm not making this up) ilikuwa imekuja kusimama kwa ""Pure Nigg"" Movement na ""Party of Nigg"" Men."