Saturday, November 28 2009

THE EDITOR: I want to nominate the Trinidad and Tobago media for a special award this year for the wholehearted support they have given to the so-called anti smelter movement. Without their support this protest would have died a long time ago because it has had little public support especially in south Trinidad. Despite the signs that this movement has only a few supporters, some sections of the media have ensured that even the smallest protest action receives banner headlines.

Every event that the anti-smelter activists have staged has been a flop but the media continues to give them maximum coverage. For instance the anti-smelter camp outside UWI was a dismal failure and had to be closed when there were more chairs than people. The protest camp in La Brea has suffered a similar fate with residents far too busy going to work to protest. In fact the biggest protest in La Brea was to get jobs on the same smelter site. The anti-smelter group held their own symposium at St Mary’s College and once again, attendance was poor except for the same handful of environmentalists and a few politicians. A few days ago, they could only get four people, two from La Brea to stage a sit-in at the Ministry of Energy as a demonstration of the mass protest against the smelter. Once again the media was generous in its coverage.

The Minister is perfectly correct in saying “so what” in response to the protestors. The protest against the smelter has always been just two or three “activists” supported by some failed politicians searching for a cause. This is the sum total of the great “anti-smelter” movement, a movement that has little support. The same thing has occurred with a new group called the “People’s Democracy” which has called for a series of protests against everything including the smelter.



G JONES

La Romaine