BY HENRY SREBRNIK |

T WEEK, MRS. SHASTRI ALI, HIGH missioner of Trinidad and Tobago, spoke at

onthe politicaleconomy of her Commonwealth n, the southernmost of the Caribbean isiands. ndependent since 1962, the island republic, ly smaller than PEI, is home to a large and cally diverse citizenry, which has not always ged to get along. Its 1.3 million people are to a colonial legacy of economic dependence hierarchial social structure based on ethnicity. hites and Chinese, though about one percent total population, enjoy economic and social nce disproportionate to their numbers. The

adians -- occupy and intermediate position. les ( the term far those whose ancestors ated in Africa) number about 43 percent and

Socioeconomic terms about half middle and Wer class. The Creole and Coloured middle Tovides the country with its technocrats, sionals and administrators --in other words, litical class. largely urban, they live in the » Port of Spain, and other towns.

red or mixed races -- some 14 percent of

’d from the Indian subcontinent between

1845 and 1915 to work in the sugarcane fields, and today comprise 40 percent of the population. they have retained much of the culture of their Indian homeland, and many speak Hinduand Urdu. Though

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15 percent of them are Moslem and many have converted to Christianity, a majority practise Hinduism. Most Indians continue to live inthe sugar belt plains, though many are shopkeepers in the towns. The majority can be classified as middle income.

This ethnic cleavage has structured the political system of Trinidad and has resulted in almost continuous rule by the People’s National Movement (PNM), the largely Creole-supported organization founded by the historian and the scholar Eric Williams. He served as prime minister until his death in March 1981. PNM governments were composed mainly of Creoles, with near-total exclusion of Indian hindus.

Independent since 1962, the island republic, slightly smaller than PEI, is home to a large and ethnically diverse citizenry, which has

not always managed to get along. Its 1.3

illion people are heirs to a colonial legacy

of economic dependence and a hierarchial social structure based on ethnicity.

Since oil accounts for 25 percent of Gross Domestic Productand 82 percent of export earnings, the huge increase in world oil prices after 1973 created boom conditions. But when Williams died, they had begun to decline, leaving his successors with mounting economic problems.

After William’s death, a number of new parties emerged. Some of these had by | 983 united under AN.R. robinson, a Creole lawyer who had been

trained in politics and economics at Oxford. His National Alliance for Reconstruction (NAR) was truly radical departure in the country’s politics: a party that aligned races, classes and regions with its slogan “one love”.

With oil prices down to US $15 a barrel and unemploymentat |7 percent, the PNM was defeated by Robinson’s coalition in December 1986. The NAR had received overwhelming support from the Indians -- over 80% -- and even the Creole and Coloured voters gave them more than 45 percent of their votes. It appeared thata new era had begun.

But internal strife, channelled along ethnic lines, soon emerged within the coalition. though Indians overwhelmingly supported the NAR, they received few cabinet posts. True, theisland’s leading politician Basdeo Panday, was now the NAR’s deputy leader andthe foreign minister, but Indian ministers charged that they were excluded form the inner corridors of power in government. Finally, in february 1988, Panday formed a new, largely Indian party, the United National Congress (UNC), and politics was once again largely divided along Creole-Indian lines. So it was onlya matter of time before the NAR, now facing in opposition a revitalized PNM under the leadership of Patrick Manning, and Panday’s UNC, would go down to defeat. Robinson’s final downfall was, however, preceded by one bizarre political event.

A firm believer in free market policies, Robinson

had promised when elected to alleviate Trinidad’s deficit and debt problem, and massive layoffs of

(rinidad and Tobago: ethnic politics, economic ependance

workers followed. By 1990,23 percent of the population was unemployed, and severe social strains were in evidence.

That summer, a Black Moslem fundamentalist group, theJamaat al Muslimeem (Society of Muslims), led by an ex-policeman, Imam Yasin Abu Bakr, who had converted to Islam while studying at Ryerson Polytechnical Institute in Toronto in the early 1980’s mounted a coup. They held Robinson and most of his cabinet hostage in Trinidad’s parliament building for nearly a week, demanding an end to the government-imposed hardships.

By the time it was over, at leat 38 people had been killed, some 700 injured, and mush of the downtown Port of Spain destroyed or damaged in looting. The attempted coup also opened wider the breach between the business community, largely Indian,andthe Creole political elite. Inthe December 1991 elections, the NAR was crushed, getting only 20 percent of the vote and retaining two seats. The PNM returned to power under Patrick Manning, winning 46 percent of the vote , good for 2! seats, while the UNC won 26 percent and |3 seats.

Manning has his work cut out for him. the country’s debt stands at about US $2.5 billion, and unemployment remains at 24 percent of the workforce. Meanwhile, the creation of the North American Free Trade zone may make it more

difficult for small states like Trinidad to sell goods in the highly competitive North American Market. Henry Srebrnik teaches political studies at the University of Prince Edward Island

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[ xpress march twenty-second 1994 page 7 |

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