Twenty-two years ago yesterday, members of the Jamaat al Muslimeen, a Muslim group, attacked with guns the seat of Parliament in Trinidad and Tobago, the Red House, at the same time that other insurgents were raiding the old police headquarters, a stone's throw down St Vincent Street, and a third group took control of what was the country's sole television station at the time.
In the process of what was an attempt to overthrow the legitimate, elected government of T&T, dozens of people were killed, the country's Parliament and parliamentarians including then Prime Minister Arthur NR Robinson were held hostage for six days and the population was placed under duress at the real possibility of the abolition of the rights and freedoms that had come to be taken for granted.
If events of July 27, 1990, were anything, they were a calculatingly vicious and direct attack on the country's democracy-including the right to change parties in power in general elections held at least once every five years. It is by no means a coincidence that the main attack, 22 years ago, was on the Parliament.
Had those Muslimeen thugs succeeded, it is not unlikely that an attempt would have been made to replace the country's parliamentary democracy with a medieval Islamic dictatorship-some variations of which exist in the world today-with obvious consequences for free speech, freedom of conscience and the rights of women.
The reason it is imperative that this country remembers the events of 22 years ago has less to do with the lives that were lost, the businesses that were destroyed or the impact that the siege had on the entire population. Those events must be remembered, commemorated and memorialised because the country came very, very close to having its democratic mores snatched away from it by a small group of well-armed, ideologically motivated soldiers who may have had more in common with the coupmakers who overthrew the Gairy regime in Grenada in 1979 than has been realised.
The events must also be remembered, commemorated and memorialised because, quite simply, this country has a tendency to forget. Left to the country's natural inclinations, the events of July 27 would become dream-like and distant-not passed on by parents, teachers, priests, mentors or even friends to others in the society as the basis for real-life lessons in the modes of thought that should be avoided and those that should be embraced.
In previous years, the anniversary of July 27, 1990, was remembered with the laying of wreaths at the Eternal Flame. In a small and completely inadequate way, the action of the laying of flowers at the foot of the Eternal Flame on an annual basis at least served to draw the attention of the nation to the event and its importance.
Now, the access to the Eternal Flame has been blocked and the Eternal Flame itself extinguished, on the pretext that to do otherwise would disturb the renovations that are being undertaken to the Red House-renovations that have been overdue as a result of the very same assault on the Parliament 22 years ago.
In most countries that understand the importance of their history in guiding people to an understanding of themselves, a way would have been found to preserve the Eternal Flame and ensure that public access to the site remained unfettered as a virtual avatar of memory of the events.
In the US, they have sought to commemorate 9/11 every year with very significant events filled with solemnity. In Washington DC, that country's capital, they have developed memorial tourism as a means of paying tribute to those who made the ultimate sacrifice for their country.
If our Parliament building is a symbol of our democracy, the natural gas feeding the small, flickering flame a symbol of our present and future prosperity and the flame itself stands for the illumination of wisdom, it could only be a form of suicide by stupidity that would allow us to extinguish the flame and bar access to the Parliament. What have we become?