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Written by Raffique Shah
July 2, 2024
Earlier this month, I began to miss the May Day celebrations in Fizabad. The date and the place are etched together in spirit and history; that is why the 30 or so times I have participated, marched and even spoken from the podium have been in Fizabad. The militant trade unions have taken up the mantle.
Many northern trade unions that openly support the ruling party have shunned the town for a few years after it became the only meaningful venue in the name of authority. When the importance of Fizabad is recognized by everyone, they will drop by the headquarters, especially the school children who are now learning the country’s history.
But I digress. Frankly speaking, I couldn’t care less about who came to Fizabad and who didn’t. My presence there and that of the members of the Sugarcane Farmers’ Union that I led was what I cared about. Though numerically we were not the largest unit that marched faithfully singing the hymns of “We Shall Overcome”, our loyalty and devotion to Butler and others who shed their blood and died there made Fizabad almost a mecca for militant trade unions, loyalists of those who made history, in whose shadow we walked.
I ended my last column promising to tell readers more about Ivan Williams and other NMN heavyweights; I didn’t expect such interest in this burly disciple of Dr Eric Williams. Their importance to history is only proportional to how the NMN managed to hold on to power. I’ll open a small window to introduce Ivan and others who impressed me.
The first time I met him face to face was on a weekday morning at John John. I don’t remember exactly what I was doing there at the time, but that’s not surprising since I had a lot of friends, both military and retired, living there. Several of the friends I was chatting with noticed that Ivan was surrounded by a large group of residents.
Before I could see the man’s true face – he was taller and more muscular than me – he shouted in an authoritative tone: “Rafiq Shah, what are you doing in my territory?”
Clearly trying to argue against his authority, I responded louder than he did: “I should be asking you that question, Ivan. This is my constituency. All of Trinidad is my constituency.”
We walked toward each other. But there was clearly no hostility at that point. He smiled, shook my hand, and we continued talking. After a few minutes, we seemed to have found common ground; it turned out that Ivan wasn’t that scary after all.
I think Ivan was the chairman or manager of the National Housing Authority at the time. We went on to examine some of the problems that were affecting the residents and agreed at a small gathering that both of us would work together to repair and restore them. After that, we developed a friendship that lasted for many years.
I used to marvel at how easily he could instill humility in his respected leader, Eric Williams. Later, when he was the head of TSTT and had an office on Frederick Street, I used to visit him undercover over problems with some government agencies. Remember, TSTT offices are known in political circles as PNM offices, meaning they are controlled by the party.
I walked up to the receptionist and said I wanted to see Mr. Ivan Williams. She measured my height and asked, “Do you have an appointment?” I replied, “No. Tell him Rafiq Shah is here to see him.”
A few minutes later, I heard heavy footsteps coming from the main corridor. It was Ivan. He held out his hands and said, “Rafiq, welcome to my office, brother.” He then led me to his well-appointed office, the inner sanctum of the building. I saw staff members looking on in amazement, many peeking at “the man called Shah.” Once again, Ivan addressed my problem.
He later told me that I probably hadn’t even walked out of the TSTT building when his private phone rang – it was the Prime Minister: I heard Mr Shah came to see you. Ivan continued: I told him you were here. Eric demanded: What does he want? Ivan answered my question. Eric hesitated for a few seconds, then replied: OK, but be careful with him, he’s a very dangerous man.
Ivan and I both laughed when he told me this story. However, that is how Eric runs his party, through those key people who are in power to get grassroots support, and Eric doesn’t need to go to the grassroots, so it doesn’t matter that he has nothing in common with them or doesn’t know how to communicate with them. He has the people.
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