SO WHAT ABOUT THE PETITION !......UPDATE

 

SO WHAT ABOUT THE PETITION!

 

Due to the positive input from WST membership, I believe that it is important to give an update on this Forum especially since I am still in Trinidad.

 

First of all one of the main objectives of the Petition was to get back the money that was taken away from the ordinary Pan Players. That objective has been achieved. The players will be getting back the $200TT that was taken away by the T&T Government’s Policy. We can add that the effort of our WST based Petition was in part responsible for this fact of the money being added back on to the stipend for the players.

However, it was not just about the money, but even more so about the Principles behind this, which many of us voiced our opinions that it was a bad and unnecessary policy by the government.

 

Secondly the money was not replaced by the Government but rather by Pan Trinbago. Even though this was good that Pan Trinbago stepped in to fill the gap, many still believe that it was the responsibility of the government to reverse their perceived bad Policy. On account of this it is still imperative that the Petition be handed in to the T&T government for several reasons, amongst them are the following: (i) to remind the government that the world is watching and is concerned as to what is happening with the Steelpan in its birthplace. (ii) to set a precedence that some democratic action will be taken against perceived bad policies regarding the Steelpan. (iii) to prevent a re-occurrence of the same policy for next year.

 

We have printed out the signatures and comments from the internet and handed them into Pan Trinbago. They were turned over to the Secretary Mr. R. Forteau. The Vice President Mr. B. Serrette was also informed and they were both requested to send out a communiqué to all the local steelbands to bring in their signed Petition forms so that they can all be placed together for eventual presentation to the government of T&T.

 

We did not hesitate to tell Pan Trinbago that they had missed a great opportunity to be more receptive in promoting this concept of the Petition during the Panorama season for the logical facts of having international support for the issue and that it was a unifying force of bridging the gap with the local and international Steelpan community.

 

In conclusion we wish to thank all of you who have participated in signing the Petition and stating your comments (we hope that the authorities will read them). We thank WST for providing the Forum for discussions on this and similar issues. We encourage Pan Trinbago to collect all of the signed Petitions, call a press conference and present the Petition on behalf of the local and world Steelpan community to the Government of Trinidad & Tobago

 

Thank You

Salah

You need to be a member of When Steel Talks to add comments!

Join When Steel Talks

Votes: 0
Email me when people reply –

Replies

  • CONGRATULATIONS TO YOU FOR ALL YOUR EFFORTS. WELL DONE. "BANDIT"
  • Well done Salah! We need more people like you who have the will to get things done. This is a step in the right direction for all the Pan people. You have my support in future ventures that would carry our great Pan Culture forward. Thanks!!
    • We will keep trying brother Valentine
  •  amd tells it as it is

     fete over 

     more fete coming with more ole talk and bacchanal

  • Hi Salah;

    You did a great job.  My only criticism or concern is that you did not deliver the petition personally on behalf of the players and the Steelpan community.  It is not in Pan Trinbago's interest to ever deliver that petition.  Let's be honest, Pan Trinbago could never have gotten the support you were able to generate. In fact, you would have had thousands more if people knew you were going to personally deliver the petition independent of Pan Trinbago.

     

    Pan Trinbago just drew a sigh of relief.  This is a bridge that will have to be crossed. Pan Trinbago is a known entity that the government does not respect. If Pan Trinbago was serious it would have de-certified itself and forced the government to deal with the potential chaos of the situation.

     

    bugs

     

    bugs

    • Bugs you always have me cracking up LOL.

      On the serious side ..you did mention me taking it to the government before and I thought about it. However the reality is that as much as they might not respect Pan Trinbago...they will not bother with me at all as an individual.And might also refer me back to Pan Trinbago because they are suppose to be the legit body representing Pan in T&T. I strongly believe that a great opportunity was lost during Steelpan's main event in T&T the Panorama competition where we could have gotten thousands of signatures not only from the the Pan Players but also the supporters as well ...the Semi finals had probably more than 20,000 people there. I really wish they had acted more convincingly in promoting the Petition  In my humble opinion the onus is now on Pan Trinbago to get all the regional headquaters to collect the signatures from all member bands and then call a Press conference and present the Petition to the Prime Minister..  I hope that they are reading WST and act accordingly........Anyways while I am still here in T&T  I will continue to pursue

      Regards

      Salah

  • Keep the pressure on Salah.  Stay in touch with all of us who signed the petition.  as "God bless the Child that has got his/her own.'  Independence!

    • Will do stay good
  • Hello Salah,

    On behalf on my skepticism. Lol, I'm glad I did sign the petition very early in the appeal, and I thank you for your consistent voice to improve the lot for the oppressed steelpan players. You are a great leader and you deserve some credit for your effort. The diasporic I'll visit one of these days for the drive bro.

     

    Cheers for a great job!

     

    Mike

     

    PS: You have my email, so we could collaborate sometime in the future. Blessings!

     

     

    • Thanks Mike, I will stay in touch

       

This reply was deleted.