In spite of all kinds of sociological and demographic evidence to the contrary, Prime Minister Patrick Manning declared to the UN on Saturday that the "rising crime that is currently affecting Trinidad and Tobago and the Caribbean region has been caused by the loss of preferential markets for the export of bananas and sugar..."
Really?
Which one of his anti-crime initiatives, which one of the various foreign experts (from Mastrofski come down) arrived at THAT conclusion?
Crime is now linked to sugar and bananas? Since when?
Why not point instead to his party's collusion with internationally recognised terrorists, their coddling of known criminals (creatively rebranded as 'community leaders'), their single-minded erosion of the rule of law and the deliberate demoralization of the police service, and the rampant government abuse and corruption, among a host of other factors that are certainly more contributory than a 'loss of preferential markets'?
The reality is that the preferential market issue has been waved around since the 1980's, and the Caribbean as a whole has had over 20 years to get its act together and diversify.
To keep dragging the same issue out over and over and using it as an excuse for the societal deterioration we have seen in the past 7 years is not just flawed logic - it is facile and, in a word, stupid.
And worse, it assumes the audience to be stupid too.
The PILGRIM - via email
Really?
Which one of his anti-crime initiatives, which one of the various foreign experts (from Mastrofski come down) arrived at THAT conclusion?
Crime is now linked to sugar and bananas? Since when?
Why not point instead to his party's collusion with internationally recognised terrorists, their coddling of known criminals (creatively rebranded as 'community leaders'), their single-minded erosion of the rule of law and the deliberate demoralization of the police service, and the rampant government abuse and corruption, among a host of other factors that are certainly more contributory than a 'loss of preferential markets'?
The reality is that the preferential market issue has been waved around since the 1980's, and the Caribbean as a whole has had over 20 years to get its act together and diversify.
To keep dragging the same issue out over and over and using it as an excuse for the societal deterioration we have seen in the past 7 years is not just flawed logic - it is facile and, in a word, stupid.
And worse, it assumes the audience to be stupid too.
The PILGRIM - via email
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