The late trade unionist Michael Als was right. Right after the global western backlash to the liberation movements of the 1960s, in the bushfire of the dismantling of the revolutionary youth, community, and cultural movements around Black Power in Trinidad, Als decided (in typical Marxist guerrilla style) that he would abandon trying to win the battles for the city and T&T's mainstream consciousness.
Instead he decided to concentrate on a rural community, Toco. Michael's revolutionary choice birthed the Toco Foundation and transformed many aspects of that community for the better.
What I'm trying to say is this: Port-of-Spain is the problem... The root of much of the collapse in the Carnival–and the country–is due to a very Port-of-Spain/northwest peninsula sensibility which has infected even rural politicians and others who should know better... I'm saying this in despair, as I feel this year will be noted as the year the Carnival in Port-of-Spain died.
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