Commentary: Together we need to aspire

In Brazil it was reported that gang members shot down a police helicopter. In Mexico gangs openly engage in gun battles with the police. In Jamaica, police are often the targets of criminals.

In Trinidad & Tobago police are only now beginning to engage in gun battles with criminals and more and more one can see criminals openly confronting the police.

The recent event at the court house in Rio Claro demonstrated most clearly that these are changing times and criminals worldwide are threatening to confront the authorities and rage a new and different kind of war, one that most law enforcement personnel are unprepared for.

Our nation is not isolated from the influences of a global climate.

Our economics, trade, political ideology, religious opinions, technology, environment, finance, health and education are all influenced by the world around us.

Many developed countries are unaware of how to deal with the challenges of this modern era. The movement of labour, information, technology, capital, goods and services poses new challenges for the governments of today.

Legislators are rushing to find new laws to control cross border employment and threats to national security with direct relation to drugs and illegal guns.

Health pandemics like the H1N1 virus and AIDS are challenging the world health institutions and the economies of small or poor countries.

These are all challenges we face in Trinidad & Tobago.

We cannot seek to find solutions to our problems in isolation as a nation and worse yet if we attempt to divide ourselves into categories of ethnic groups, political parties, religious groups or class.

We must find solutions to our problems together. Our people must rise to the challenge of real unity and seek solutions to our national problems.

Now is not the time to play politics with the future of our nation. There is too much at stake. The very survival of our people and culture is threatened by a new world order that is untested.

The solutions are not in the text books or available from any other nations. The challenge ahead is global. The threat is real.

There are environmental challenges, health challenges, security challenges, economic challenges, education challenges, social challenges, religious challenges, challenges that affect our food and water supply, and much more.

While we face these challenges, it is silly almost imbecilic for us to continue evaluating our leaders on basis of race and political affiliation.

We must insist that the best among us are allowed to rise to the top and make their contribution towards dealing with the issues that we face as a growing nation in this 21st century.

Our immediate and most urgent need at this time is to find a way to cast away our prejudices and embrace each other as citizens of Trinidad & Tobago.

We must find common ground as citizens of this land to once and forever rid ourselves of politicians that thrive on the exploitation of our ethnic differences.

Let us use the successes of the Trinidad & Tobago cricket team as a focal point to demonstrate that unity breathes success.

Let us seek to emulate their successes in our aspiration towards a better Trinidad & Tobago.

Steve Alvarez | Political Leader, Democratic Party of Trinidad & Tobago (DPTT)