As proposed last week, and applying the words of the late Oxford legal philosopher HLA Hart, whom I have often quoted, Trinidad and Tobago is now in a settled situation in which “the laws of the land have legal validity, but cease to be effective, leading to a breakdown of orderly legal control in the face of banditry or anarchy”.
Like the continued surrender to the illegal use of fireworks, the simmering turmoil of the iron ore industry is a prime example of that situation. This particular riot could prove to be a potential catalyst for even wider anarchy.
First, before I comment further on the iron riots, I note that in the face of the breakdown of legally ordered control, there has been a deepening of the defeatist attitude towards this terrible breakdown and as a result we have to live even more in prison .
Mr McDonald Jacob, Acting Commissioner of Police, was quoted in this newspaper last week on Tuesday as “not deterring”, but he gave such a long list of warnings that the distinction between “not discouraging” and restrictive warnings was lost. on me.
In the same report, we are reminded that last month the Prime Minister had advised the citizens that there may be better alternatives to lime. He is quoted as saying: “One of the activities they should not engage in is liming. Because you would have read so often, or heard so often, that X or Y was getting fired, (that) A and B were getting fired, and it usually seems like that firing ends up with people getting into trouble or getting killed. “
Although ill-conceived and perhaps a procedurally improper planning decision subject to judicial review, should we actually regard the Minister of Tourism and Culture’s announcements about Ariapita as an invitation to go out and lime, but then risk being robbed , as happened on the Avenue, or getting shot like they did outside a nearby nightclub?
Liming is a feature of Caribbean life. Limes are a source of our constant supply of hubris. Discussions are also held on what is actually happening on the ground and the latest perceptions of ongoing political action are shared. Moreover, it is in the external lemons that one’s range of acquaintances expands.
As helpless and indifferent as in the cases of multiple murders every day, the authorities sat by while the cases of theft of material for supply to the iron and steel industry increased overwhelmingly.
Theft became so unpunished that there were entire neighborhoods where utility lines were cut in a symbolic way of crippling the authorities. Another newspaper stated that “new metal equipment was being ‘recovered’ and painted metal beams more than six feet long – which were government property and said to be worth over $1 million – were found in a scrap yard.” . There was also reference to “welded beams painted the distinctive blue of government infrastructure.” (See Newsday, editorial of August 22, 2022.)
Receiving stolen material constitutes a separate offense from its theft. Many of these receivers are the big fish of the criminal enterprise, without whose presence there would be no one to buy the stolen metal. Their activities took place, with only one alleged exception, unimpeded by the work of the police to supervise commercial scrap yards and execute search warrants.
The statistics on the number of people being prosecuted for the theft of scrap material is an unimpressive and futile response to the failure of the police to move swiftly to prosecute large receivers. Now common people, who used to live by collecting real scrap materials, have been punished by the reactionary ban on iron exports.
The Acting Police Commissioner has been talking about his scrap and regulation as well as his brand of sociology in the last two weeks, while, by the day, gun murders are increasing. No attackers have been caught.
It is unacceptable that the powerless authorities, full of old words, now want us to spend more time in prison.
