Minister Frank has upped and added some fuel to the fire of that long-simmering Mashramani saga. The private sector must do more, he says! It’s a historic national occasion, he says! Good for you, Mr. Minister! Except of course that this Mashramani brouhaha goes far beyond what the private sector should or shouldn’t do to help us celebrate the anniversary of our attainment of Republican status.
But before we go down that road, we really need to ask ourselves whether there are not better things to do than pursue an unending debate over who’s helping and who’s not as far as celebrating Mash is concerned. Isn’t this kind of thing re-directing our attention away from the more important issues like child molestation and violence against women and trying to get to the bottom of all these corruption scandals that have been crawling out of the woodwork since around December 3. Must we distract ourselves with what is bound to be a tedious and unending public controversy which, at the end of the day is bound to get nowhere.
As for Mashramani, Mr. Minister, what we have done is to infuse so much political controversy into the occasion that we have to ask ourselves whether it truly symbolizes our oneness as a nation. We continue to delude ourselves into thinking that hanging a few buntings on government buildings and having the Mash Committee dish out the same uninspiring programme every year and having the schoolchildren throw in their two pennies worth of singing and dancing and serving up the Soca competitions and the Float Parade constitutes a proper commemorative programme. Far from it, Mr. Minister! Far from it! The truth is that all we do is go through the motions……………some of us, that is, since, if the truth be told, no real attempt has ever been made to create the kind of broad-based, inclusive Mash programme that would cause all the different races and cultures to have a stake in the event.
Is there any reason, for example, why the Mash programme couldn’t facilitate cultural and religious events – to celebrate and give thanks for the Republic – that allows all of the races and cultures to be part of the commemorative occasion. Couldn’t the people who do such a splendid job to put the Diwali parade on the streets be asked to present that side of our culture as part of the Mash celebrations? Shouldn’t we be moving away from the repetitive, monotonous one dimensional Mash Day ‘wine down’ and seek to have Mash offer something for everyone.
You may be right about the limited nature of the private sector participation in Mash Mr. Minister. But isn’t it just possible that the private sector – with a few notable exceptions – has come to believe that the government itself is simply going through the motions as far as celebrating Mash, playing politics, pandering to a particular section of the population…….. so that the businesses themselves feel no inclination to become really involved, knowing full well that the government wouldn’t mind, anyway?
While we accept, Mr. Minister, that putting Mash together goes beyond your Ministry’s Mash Committee we still believe that it is the government that must set the tone, play the up front role. It must fashion a programme that has something for everybody; it must be seen to be actively encouraging its political constituency to be part of Mash; it must encourage its Ministers and its high officials to hang the buntings on their homes (and that includes State House) too so that the people who live in their communities can be similarly encouraged. The ‘big ones’ must take to the streets – for more than a token hour or two. The people must see them and recognize them and sincerely believe that they are with them in the spirit of the celebration.
That way, Mr. Minister, the shops and stores will begin to do much more than use Mashramani to up their sales by offering cut – price deals on shorts and sneakers for the Mash Day ‘wine down’ and the hotels and restaurants will put together nice Mash Day lunches and dinners and the Police Force Band will play patriotic songs in public and our choirs and cultural troupes will hold Republic Anniversary performances so that those who want to enjoy Mash in a manner that is somewhat different from the road rage of the float parade can do so as well. Yes Mr. Minister it is the state that has to take the lead in making Mashramani a truly national celebration. And if it does so Sir, if it takes account of all of the cultures and customs and tastes and preferences Mash will be what it should be; a truly national celebration.
