Publisher's Synopsis
Several years ago I started writing regular commentaries, mainly about political developments in my native Trinidad and Tobago. They formed an integral part of my personal blog (www.jyoticommunication.blogspot.com), which remains a permanent fixture on the Internet. The intention was to stay in touch and offer my personal views on how I saw my home country develop. The result is a collection that is neither a history book nor an academic text. It is the work of a journalist who tries to shed light on and seeks to explain some of the issues during a critically important period in Trinidad and Tobago's political development between 2007 and 2012. It presents a view from afar, perhaps even a clearer view, because from a distance it is always easier to get a proper view of the mountain. This series of news items, columns and commentaries reflect my thoughts and views on how I saw my country struggle, stumble and then make positive steps as it tried to move forward under a government that, for the first time in the country's history, represents people from every stratum in the society, regardless of class, social standing, ethnicity or religious belief. The period covered in these pages saw the consolidation of power by the People's National Movement (PNM) under Patrick Manning following his ascension to office by presidential decree in 2001; the near-death experience of the United National Congress (UNC); the conflicts within the party that once governed the country; the birth of the Congress of the People (COP); the selfless struggle by a dedicated few to revive the UNC and finally the rise of Kamla Persad-Bissessar to lead the party and the country. Within four months of becoming political leader of the UNC Kamla and her political colleagues formed a national coalition of interests that won a decisive political victory in a general election that was not due until 2012. The powerful People's Partnership toppled Patrick Manning and his PNM administration and Kamla became the first woman to lead a government of Trinidad and Tobago. What you are holding in your hands is by no means exhaustive and is really a snapshot of the period, compressing time and space to build a political narrative. My hope is that you will find material here to generate a national conversation on where we are today and where are heading as we continue our journey past the first 50 years since we pulled down the Union Jack and hoisted our own national flag with a pledge to create a new state forged from the "love of liberty" where each of us would "find an equal place." I thought of calling this "A political lime" because in a sense that is what it is - an honest, from-the-heart conversation tinged with my own bias as I responded to the daily events and the changing political fortunes. I have to confess that it pained me to write some of what you would find in these pages but I felt a patriotic obligation to write down my thoughts for posterity. Jai Parasram Toronto, Ontario, Canada
