Former T&T Guardian reporter Grace Wilkes yesterday launched a new political party, the Proactive Democratic Alignment (PDA), on the jubilee anniversary of her father's silver-medal performance at the Olympic Games. PDA founder Wilkes worked at the T&T Guardian in the 1970s under editors Therese Mills and Carl Jacobs. Her father was featherweight weightlifter Rodney Wilkes, who earned a silver medal at the 1948 Olympics in London.
Wilkes, who launched the party near Woodford Square's blackboard in Port-of-Spain, said she was doing so to help provide a platform and outlet for her ideas on politics and Internet ideologies which could help people. "The PDA's platform will be used for many of our positive projects.
This our first project which is the encouragement of the reading of my self-published novel, Janet, Queen of the Internet, (which) can positively empower and uplift anyone," she said. She said her book dealt with her ideologies on aspects of the Internet, politics and other issues. "The book was first published in the US in 1999 and in this novel, myself, the author, can be seen as one of the early pioneers of the social media, especially in its utilisation, documentation and evolution.
This fact in itself can be a billion-dollar win for the people of T&T," she said. "PDA will strive to embrace many of the ideas presented in this novel. These ideas in the novel came from my then frame of reference, and I am calling on the people of T&T to help the PDA to make this vision a reality," Wilkes said. She said Janet, Queen of the Internet is available at all NALIS libraries, and a story was also published about it in the T&T Guardian in 2008.
Wilkes said she had challenged Google to buy her book. Wilkes, 58, who is from south Trinidad, said PDA has 14 members, mainly in South Trinidad. She said the party's symbol is three "nano sliding tech discs," and she had been in discussions with the Elections and Boundaries Commission for two years to have it registered, and finally got it done three months ago.
Wilkes, a graduate of Howard University in the US and Canada's Laurentian University, said she had been interested in politics since age 23, when she assisted Lloyd Best's Tapia Movement publication in selling advertisement space. She said she produces motivational videos and undertakes some volunteer work with libraries, and is a fan of both Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar and the PNM.
Saying she will be more of a help to the PM than a rival female leader, Wilkes said she decided to launch the party because: "When I came home, people ridiculed me when I talked about my ideas. I cannot go to anybody as a normal citizen and say, 'Hey, help me', but maybe if I have a platform I'll get more recognition from a platform.
"I may not ever win an election but my ideas will see the light of day and will also help the people as governments use ideas from other people. So as I have a platform, my ideas will be respected more." Asked what she hoped to achieve with the PDA, Wilkes said, "I hope to achieve prosperity for every individual and the poor people, and I am one of the early pioneers of internetting (sic) and the social networks.
If you read my books you'll see everything-video conferencing and more. "So I want to give out all my secrets now. Instead of making money through a gun, you can make money through your mind and your brains-use the Internet not for crime, but for positive work."
She said by launching a party she would get more exposure for her book and her ideas, and this could benefit people. WIlkes said she would campaign to get more members for the PDA and will not necessarily be a leader, but one would be elected when there are more members.
