MSJ Southquarters

MSJ Southquarters Movement for Social Justice (MSJ) is building a firm political structure in the geographical area that covers La Brea, Fyzabad and Point Fortin. WELCOME!!!

The MOVEMENT FOR SOCIAL JUSTICE (MSJ) has been independently present in South Trinidad since 2013. MSJ Southquarters kicked off by contesting three (3) consecutive Local Government Elections (LGE) in 2013, 2016 and 2019; offering powerful Candidates in the Point Fortin Borough Corporation and the Siparia Regional Corporation. Using the Point Fortin results from the 3 LGEs for a formula to measure

growth, this political party has received double the amount of votes the 2nd time then doubled up in the 3rd attempt. MSJ Southquarters entered the 2020 General Elections (GE) contesting the Fyzabad, Point Fortin and La Brea seats. Though the voter turnout was extremely low, MSJ's 3 well esteemed Candidates were able to show some muscles in their respective constituencies. These leaders also reached the hearts of several young citizens, who are now pleased to call themselves members of MSJ and are happy to join the Youth for Social Justice (YSJ). A foundation is laid and upon it MSJ Southquarters is being built. You are welcome to join the only Movement for Social Justice and be apart of this positive growth. Message this page for more information.

24/09/2021

MSJ's Republic Day Message

The proof is all around us – The First Republic is Finished


The Movement for Social Justice (MSJ) greets our fellow citizens of Trinidad and Tobago on this the 45th anniversary of our nation becoming a Republic. Becoming a Republic was another marker in our long journey out of bo***ge to freedom. But as the classic calypso advised – “the journey now start”.


The 1976 Constitution that brought The Republic of Trinidad and Tobago into existence really established the First Republic. We in the MSJ are the only ones who make this distinction. Everyone else takes it for granted that the Republic will remain the same for all time. We disagree. In all aspects of life and human endeavour change is the constant. As we have been forced to learn even viruses change and evolve from one form to another variant! The cars that we drive, the phones that we use, the medicines and medical procedures that doctors prescribe and use, the methods of teaching – all these change. They evolve! Sometimes the change is revolutionary, other times it is a simple updating. Regardless of the magnitude of the change we accept this as part of the normal process of development.

The Trinidad and Tobago of 1962 when we became an independent nation and the nation that became a Republic in 1976 looks very different from the T&T that we know today. But what hasn’t changed is the system. The relations of economic, political and social power remain essentially the same. There are a few controllers of that power and then there are the rest of us, the people. Those in government control political power. The owners, managers of big corporations and the super wealthy, control economic power. Our political culture hasn’t changed – we have two traditional parties who fight to win control of political office by appeals to race and religion and they depend on political investors to finance their run for office, expecting to get returns on that investment by big contracts often obtained corruptly.

The fact that our systems haven’t changed is at the root of our many problems today. Take the story of the day – the Police Service Commission and the appointment of the Commissioner of Police. The MSJ has made several statements on this. Indeed a month ago we pointed out that the very Legal Notice 183 of 2021 under which Mr. Griffith was appointed to act as CoP was legally questionable. This has now being confirmed as being the case. We queried the functioning of the PSC and also stated that the Attorney General could have been at fault with LN 183 of 2021. In subsequent statements we pointed to the need to fix the process as laid out in the Constitution for appointing a CoP and said that the process should not be tainted by political interference.

We described the situation as a twilight zone. In this regard the MSJ was spot on. More importantly, however, than us being right about this very messy and disturbing affair is that it should tell all of us that something is not right in the Republic. Some of us may deny that this is so – but just look around. The proof is there! Our Parliament fails to represent what, we the people, wish to see happen. Our criminal justice system is so bad that in a well publicised case, it took 15 years for a murder trial to take place and be completed. The Service Commissions are not working. The Cabinet makes decisions without any input or discussion with citizens and their representative organisations. The two parties in parliament attack each other so viciously that they have created poisoned wells of supporters so that the country will never come together to tackle a national emergency like the Covid pandemic.

Many of our citizens have lost hope. They no longer believe that better days are coming or that anything will ever change. Cynicism has replaced confidence. Those who can, migrate, especially our talented young people. Most can’t. Many are worn down with the pressures of life – where to get money to put food on the table; where to get a wuk; how to help the children get the things that they need for school; how to pay all the bills.

Neither of the two parties in parliament offer any answer to the question - what is the way out? The Opposition attacks the Government by calling them all kinds of names, but does not realise that to take the sliver out of the government’s eye they first have to take the beam out of their own eye. The Government boasts of how much they are doing yet they don’t understand what it’s like for the majority of citizens today and how much pain people are going through.

The systems of the First Republic are broken and it’s resulting in broken lives. The First Republic is now 45 years old. It needs major change. It’s time to evolve! It’s time for the Second Republic. Who will bring about this change? We the people must! This is our message on Republic Day.



Movement for Social Justice

David Abdulah

Political Leader

30/08/2021

MSJ Media Release

The Trinidad and Tobago Independence Project!


The Movement for Social Justice (MSJ) extends very best wishes to all the citizens of Trinidad and Tobago on the occasion of the 59th Anniversary of our becoming an independent nation. August 31st, 1962 was a crucial milestone in our people’s journey through the genocide of the First Peoples; out of the slavery of Africans; through the indentureship of Portuguese, Chinese and Indians; and up to Freedom. It is truly an amazing journey characterised by the strength of the human spirit as our ancestors conquered the unspeakable acts of inhumanity meted out during colonial conquest and imperial rule. It is those ancestors that we remember on this Independence Day for without their struggle to humanise this space, we would not today be able to say that we are citizens of the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago.



The real history of Trinidad and Tobago is a history of this long struggle for freedom by the people from below. Let us never forget the many important moments along that journey. The official records document these as “riots” but they were in fact examples of the mass movement of the people reaching a peak in the resistance to their conditions of subjugation. Political Independence in 1962, therefore, would not be possible if there wasn’t the “Royal Jail Riot” of 1849; the “Belmanna Riot” in Tobago in 1876; the Canboulay “Riot” of 1881; the Hosay “Riot” of 1884; the Arouca “Riot” of 1891; the Water “Riot” of 1903. Those popular revolts led up to the 1919-20 General Strikes and then the better known June 19th, 1937 General Strike and revolt; and the 1946-47 strike movement.

In the 59 years since August 31st, 1962, we have come to know other truths. Political independence did not automatically mean that we became independent economically. And, as importantly, we need to achieve what George Lamming, that great Caribbean thinker, calls “The Sovereignty of the Imagination”. This means that as a people we must be anchored in our own history and identity, recognise and lift up our achievements and fashion a society based on our definition of a Caribbean civilisation.

Clearly, while we attained political independence 59 years ago and republican status in 1976, we are still “becoming independent”. We have not fundamentally changed the relations of economic, social or political power that existed under colonialism. Power resides in the hands of a few – the elites, the controllers. Our institutions are not functioning in the interest of the majority of the people. We know this from our everyday lives – no water or flooding; the neglect of agriculture; unemployment; poverty; the shortage of decent housing; an education system that creates a “missing generation”; workers’ still being exploited; a judicial system that is broken; the economy is not diversified. The list is long.

We have been seeking to get out of this difficulty by changing which party is in office at election time. From 1986 to now there have been six such changes in government, but the problems remain and the issues are the same. This is because the colonial system remained essentially intact after independence. The challenge that we now face as a people is to recognise that we need to once again “evolve”. We need fundamental change. To do that we must be prepared to challenge the status quo. And that requires a “revolution of the mind”.

Our ancestors engaged in many revolutionary acts: against the slave owners; against the colonisers and brutal oppressors. Our task is, in many ways, easier. It doesn’t require us to summon up the courage needed to face the troops of the British Navy as happened in 1903 and 1937; or to fear the loss of life as slave-owners put down revolts. What is now needed is for us to have the courage of our convictions; to step “out of the box” and not go with the flow. We need to engage, not in a physical battle, but a “battle of ideas”.

What is now required is for those who recognise that our independence project is incomplete to be a part of building a new mass movement that will challenge, from below, the status quo who are the controllers on top. In this way we can bring about a new “social settlement”: a society that is based on social justice, equity and fairness for all; where those who benefit are the many and not just the few; and a people who are independent and confident in our collective identity as a nation. That is the Vision of the “Second Republic” that the MSJ has offered to Trinidad and Tobago.



Movement for Social Justice

David Abdulah

Political Leader

Address

Point Fortin

Website

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