A Canival Madness Laventille Rhythm Section

So de Carnival approaches... J'OUVERT madness... despite the rise in CRIME...
the devil is symbolic of the oppression for over FIVE HUNDRED YEARS

Crime in Trinidad & Tobago-AH WISH AH WAS AN OBEAH MAN

provocation-



provocation
beads of perspiration
anticipating exhalation, harbouring
incessant cramps. Pervading rancid
aroma of rotting cabbage
curdling calabash enthrals. So minister protest price of flour
racist hairstyle exclusion, induced

weather patterns wreck my islands. Please
arrest this provocation

Mechanised imported wigs unable to protect
robbed and beaten retired heads of states, impounded
BE- oh-ac/dc leased planes, airport bomb threats, frozen
bank accounts, criminal deportees,
luxury flats,wire-tapping. Charges, arrests
and more charges. Please
arrest this provocation

stew sour tamarind innocence banished
leh go beast on the loose
school boys running like mad from police
untreated violent behaviour, feeding trauma

stranger, unfamiliar faced passenger
friend or maxi taxi driver
victim to a high-tech villain
without identification. Please
arrest this provocation

murders, gang-warfare, common assault
of prisoners or mps . Violent pop
concerts linked to aggressive
behaviour shot up by police. Testing
entrance examinations. Forgotten

communities where fear reigns. Please
arrest this provocation
government officials pray with feuding gang-leaders
robberies, drive-by shootings, kidnapping,
slain police officers families at funerals
blazing road blocks rubbished. Terrified
shot up bystanders
as if escaped from saint anns

with messages. Please
arrest this provocation
venerable small business proprietors
their kidnapped siblings
chorale beseeching prime
security minister
for gun licences. Ongoing arguments over constitution,

extraditions, regulations ,
crime legislations. Assassinations
acquisitions, accusations. Please
arrest this provocation
cabildo without spanish expatriates

disrespected douglas, afrikans an' east indians,
legal appointments, consultants,
foreign archbishop,voter padding,
ransom payments,
hustling q-cees, drugs washed ashore,
victims of crime
innocent without redress. Please
arrest this provocation

gun running syndicates,
another olympian
promised an accommodation. Stolen chalice

of communion, daylight police shooting
civilians an' bandits, coup rumours
missing army hardware, stolen uniforms
uzis ablaze mayhem, terror senseless
parrying with death. Please
arrest this provocation
insinuations of criminals in
almost every home. Venal politicians,

sellers of cloth exposed. Faulty nuts
causing caroni explosions. Please
arrest this provocation

AS LONG AS

A crime in Trinidad to be deplored

INJURED TWO YEAR OLD TRINSTAN

PLEA FROM HIS DISTRAUGHT FATHER

"A VICIOUS CRIME TO MY 2 YEAR OLD SON HERE IN TRINIDAD MY WIFE TOOK MY SON TO OUR FAMILY (THE MOTHER) TO WATCH HIM NOT KNOWING SHE HAD A CRAZY DAUGHTER (18 - 20 YEARS OLD.) WAITING FOR THE MOTHER TO TURN HER BACK, SHE STOLE MY SON, TOOK HIM INTO THE WOODS, AND BEAT HIS FACE IN UNRECOGNIZABLE. HIS NAME IS TRISTAN AND HE'S ONLY TWO YEARS OLD. THE MOTHER, MISSING THE CHILD; SHE AND HER HUSBAND GOT IN THEIR TRUCK AND STARTED LOOKING FOR HER DAUGHTER. 15 MIN LATER THEY SAW HER HIDING IN THE BUSHES. THE MOTHER ASK HER FOR MY SON, SHE REPLIED SHE DIDNT KNOW. THE MOTHER STARTED TO POUND ON HER TILL SHE REPLIED 'OK OK I'LL TAKE YOU TO HIM.....' THEY FOUND HIM LAYING UNDER A COCONUT TREE OUT IN A POOL OF BLOOD. THEY ASKED HER WHAT HAPPENED SHE REPLIED A COCONUT HIT HIM IN THE FACE. IN THE HOSPITAL EVERY CARE-GIVER SAID THE CHILD WAS BRUTALLY BEATEN SO THEY CALLED THE POLICE. AFTER 4 HOURS IN THE HOSPITAL THE POLICE SHOWED UP TO MAKE A REPORT, TELLS ME THAT THEY CAN NOT HOLD HER BECAUSE THERE WAS NO WITNESSES. THIS WOMAN MIND YOU LEFT MY SON TO DIE! WE TOOK THE COP TO SEE MY BOY, HIS FACE CHANGE THEN TOLD ME HE HAS TO GO PICK HER UP. COME TO FIND OUT THIS MORNING SHE IS STILL AT HOME. SO WE WENT TO A HIGHER SOURCE AND THEY HAVE TAKEN UP THE MATTER...."

Media report here

T&T PM's pledge to A.U.

“We see this as Trinidad and Tobago’s contribution to Africa’s achievement of the United Nation’s Millennium Goals.”

He noted that tremendous strides had been made on both sides of the Atlantic although the scars of slavery and diasporic separation are not fully healed.

“This notwithstanding, with an abundance nay an excess of caution, I pledge the support of Trinidad and Tobago to Africa in this time of challenge, whether it is in technical cooperation, in the area of cultural cooperation, or in the fact that our shared genes give us a basis to sit down and reason together.” Trinidad & Tobago's Prime Minister Patrick Manning to the African Union in Addis Abba Ethiopia in Jan. 2007

current crime wave causes Trinidadian preacher to call for hangman- poet response

listen to mp3

JOB FOR THE HANGMAN

...now take your responsibility seriously....

hang with expediency

hang this legislation for its impropriety

hang the legacy of slavery an’ indentureship

hang high the ruling parasitic oligarchy

hang until dead the injustice

of being incarcerated

for two decades awaiting execution...

hang the plan to abolish the privy council

hang (sic) the plan to empower

the sterile legal vultures of these plantation economies....

hang the archaic state of prisons,

be it trinidad, jamaica or grenada

hang quickly the temptation to ignore amnesty international...

hang the truth up high that

the issue is not only the death penalty

but human rights...

accept the reality that the causes of crime must

be addressed for the homeless, poverty-stricken,

naked an’ hungry cannot be overlooked...

hang the inability to protect the fishing industry...

execute immediately the notion of nationals

(whether trini or guyanese)

have the right to pollute the orinoco delta

with their drug an’ gun runnin’ activity,,,

hang until dead this system of neo-colonialism

.....now take your responsibility seriously....

then we can begin to discuss

NATIONAL UNITY....

© Roi Kwabena

"A JOB FOR THE HANGMAN"

from " WHETHER OR NOT " anthology

1996-2007