debut: 2/16/17
39,307 runs
Magnanimity in victory
The United National Congress’ (UNC) overwhelming victory last Monday was nothing short of spectacular. One of my colleagues called it an Eric Williams moment, meaning that Trinibagonians had inaugurated an important turning point in our social and political history: the decimation of an old stultifying order as they ushered in a new social and political era.Meanwhile, the UNC has moved to the centre of T&T’s political landscape, whereas the PNM remains a fractured entity on the periphery of the nation’s politics. Anyone who listened to Kamla Persad-Bissessar’s inaugural address at the swearing-in ceremony realises that she is organising within the ambit of the post-2025 while the former Leader of our Grief continues to revel in the irrelevance of the past.He warned the country: “The UNC government is dangerous to this country. That populism is dangerous.”He speaks as though the country had not rendered its verdict on his reactionary nonsense.
On the other hand, the new Prime Minister catapulted the country into the future. She says: “Our highest priority will be not just to communicate with you [her public] but to commune with you.“Some of the seeds we plant during our five-year journey may not bear fruit for us, but our children, grandchildren and generations to come...You will be my priority. You must always know you have a leader who cares for you and understands your problems.”At that function, the second highest official of the land took her oath of office on the T&T Constitution rather than the Bhagavad Gita, as she did in 2010. This was an important symbolic gesture. It reiterated that her primary identity, that of a T&T national, transcended her ethnic or religious identities which sometimes stymie the full expression of our Trinbagonianness.
As the Prime Minister delivered her paean, she must have been thinking of the wisdom of Mahatma Gandhi, who often referenced the Bhagavad Gita. Gandhi once bemoaned: “When doubts haunt me, when disappointments stare me in the face, and I see not one ray of hope on the horizon, I turn to the Bhagavad Gita and find a verse to comfort me.” Auntie Kamla looked at her mother on her wall for comfort.Auntie Kamla was also guided by Martin Luther King’s “redemptive love” which he advocated in building “a Beloved Community”. In such a community, the principles of love, understanding and non-violence prevail. That is why, at this moment of victory, as we seek to build a new society, it is important that we remember the words of Winston Churchill: “In Victory: Magnanimity; In Peace Goodwill.”
—Prof Cudjoe’s e-mail address is scudjoe@wellesley.edu. He can be reached @ProfessorCudjoe.
The United National Congress’ (UNC) overwhelming victory last Monday was nothing short of spectacular. One of my colleagues called it an Eric Williams moment, meaning that Trinibagonians had inaugurated an important turning point in our social and political history: the decimation of an old stultifying order as they ushered in a new social and political era.Meanwhile, the UNC has moved to the centre of T&T’s political landscape, whereas the PNM remains a fractured entity on the periphery of the nation’s politics. Anyone who listened to Kamla Persad-Bissessar’s inaugural address at the swearing-in ceremony realises that she is organising within the ambit of the post-2025 while the former Leader of our Grief continues to revel in the irrelevance of the past.He warned the country: “The UNC government is dangerous to this country. That populism is dangerous.”He speaks as though the country had not rendered its verdict on his reactionary nonsense.
On the other hand, the new Prime Minister catapulted the country into the future. She says: “Our highest priority will be not just to communicate with you [her public] but to commune with you.“Some of the seeds we plant during our five-year journey may not bear fruit for us, but our children, grandchildren and generations to come...You will be my priority. You must always know you have a leader who cares for you and understands your problems.”At that function, the second highest official of the land took her oath of office on the T&T Constitution rather than the Bhagavad Gita, as she did in 2010. This was an important symbolic gesture. It reiterated that her primary identity, that of a T&T national, transcended her ethnic or religious identities which sometimes stymie the full expression of our Trinbagonianness.
As the Prime Minister delivered her paean, she must have been thinking of the wisdom of Mahatma Gandhi, who often referenced the Bhagavad Gita. Gandhi once bemoaned: “When doubts haunt me, when disappointments stare me in the face, and I see not one ray of hope on the horizon, I turn to the Bhagavad Gita and find a verse to comfort me.” Auntie Kamla looked at her mother on her wall for comfort.Auntie Kamla was also guided by Martin Luther King’s “redemptive love” which he advocated in building “a Beloved Community”. In such a community, the principles of love, understanding and non-violence prevail. That is why, at this moment of victory, as we seek to build a new society, it is important that we remember the words of Winston Churchill: “In Victory: Magnanimity; In Peace Goodwill.”
—Prof Cudjoe’s e-mail address is scudjoe@wellesley.edu. He can be reached @ProfessorCudjoe.
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