Internationally acclaimed writer, author and playwright Earl Lovelace, is not completely happy with how we as a society are dealing with certain hard questions that we must confront.The 77-year-old Lovelace, who was born in Toco, is also displeased with the lack of the institutional framework for thinkers like himself who could contribute in a more tangible way to the development of their native country.He laments that communities such as Laventille have not really been developed since the period of emancipation.
Q: Mr. Lovelace from the perspectives of a celebrated writer, author, playwright how do you see Trinidad and Tobago in this 50th anniversary of our independence?
A: (In the back porch of his Cascade home Wednesday morning): Well, I feel there are many things in the country today some that are encouraging and some that are of concern.
Ok. The bad news first?
Well the bad news is that in terms of the popular imagination crimes seems to be the biggest problem...perhaps crime and traffic, right? But it seems to me there is much more than crime that is problematic.
What could be bigger than crime?
(Adjusting his trade mark shade close to the front of his forehead.) Where we going as a society to me that is of tremendous importance...what do we want to be? It is not just a society to be ticking over as if everything is alright except a few fellows who are committing crime. What do we want to do with the society...?
From your somewhat unique vantage point what sort of people do you believe we want to be?
I don't know what we want to be and we are a lot of people thrown together from different parts under very different circumstances and what do we want to do with that? That is the question before us. I think we have not done too badly but when we view what everybody has brought here as our own then we seem to accept the gifts that we have but we cannot do that without a sense of equality.
Are we utilising those gifts in a positive or negative way?
Well it's very difficult to answer certain questions yes or no, right? And even as I speak things are much more complex than that, but what one is concerned about is what are we doing in relation to these problems and I don't know as a society what we are doing.
Are you suggesting Mr Lovelace that we are not really doing anything in spite of some things being done?
(Chuckling) Well, I don't know...your people would have to point out to me what exactly is being done in certain areas.
Are you not satisfied with what is being done let's say in the area of crime fighting? (A palm cupping the left side of his face)... I think crime should alert us to the fact that something is wrong. The "Bad john" for example was a man involved in violent actions between him and his fellow people. Today crime seems to be also having that element of robbery; taking from persons, breaking into properties as well as other criminal activities. I am saying that to say that delinquency has always been with us and sometimes we have seen the... (pausing in a contemplative mode) I am thinking we have always seen...I am thinking a lot of things at the same time right? And I think we have come down to accept rebellion as delinquency but rebellion is not only delinquency. There might be some people who might be delinquent within the framework of those communities.
Which communities are you specifically referring to?
We are talking about communities that have never really had a chance, that have never really moved from the state they were in since emancipation, meaning they were never really developed. We as a people have never really taken the whole society and see what is wrong with it and what we can do about it. We leave communities to see about themselves.
Thinking of any one place in particular?
For instance Laventille, is a name that will jump up as a symbolic name if you want, it is a place that has produced a lot but has remained largely in the same kind of way.
Couldn't the argument be made that governments have failed to do just that over the years?
Well this is another problem; who is the government? That is one way of looking at it and indeed it is true that certain governments have not done as much as they should, right? But it is a larger problem and the concern of the society belongs to the society and how are we organised to deal with them.
Care to expand on that point?
If you have a problem in let's say in Caroni, it is not Caroni's problem alone. I want to see it as the society's problem. Similarly in Laventille, or wherever and if we begin to look at things in that fashion we will begin to bring the resources at least of imagination, to bear on some of these questions.
Is it also a case of successive administrations failing to inspire people to help themselves in a more meaningful manner?
Well, in a way I will say yes. (Casting his eyes to the ceiling) I don't think we have been inspired, (A heavy sigh) Well, I don't know...we have done more inspiring rather than being inspired (laughs). I am thinking of ideas about where we are and I am thinking incidentally of CLR James, and almost his total absence from even the landscape of thought that is being presented at this moment. You see Clevon, you are asking me a lot questions which might appear to be straightforward, simple and so on, but they require a lot of not only thought but explanation...
Mr Lovelace I seem to detect that you feel we are placing too much emphasis on government and its role in our development as a people?
Yeah. I feel that we have placed too much emphasis on what we call government, you know, and where are we in this whole story? We talk about ourselves as though we are a long-standing country. This is a very young country; 50 years old. We have been in enslavement three times as long as we have been independent so it is really a very young country with a lot of people who are new to power. People, who have never really had power, people who have had power and paraded power and felt themselves entitled to power. So there are many factors here and we have, in a kind of way, to be patient with each other.
Mr Lovelace your works have been acclaimed worldwide you having won many writers' awards and so on. Do you believe that thinkers such as yourself and other locals who have done well in this sphere are being sufficiently used in creating a thinking society and all what that entails?
No. We are not doing sufficient of that...that aspect of our lives is not even being presented. What we're getting is entertainment. Entertainment is fine too but entertainment is not all there is. What is required is a society that is thinking and engaging in dealing with the serious questions, a society that is concerned that when it begins to look at its writers, artists generally and so on, it begins to look at itself.
Naturally you would thinkers like yourself to be tapped as we proceed to building a better and prosperous society?
Yes. And it says something awful about a society where people who have been in the forefront of imagining a better country there is no institutional means as by which this happens. It shouldn't be because you are in the favour of a government or in the favour of somebody (Suddenly raising his voice.) Who the hell are these people to be in favour of or to favour you?!!! (Chuckle.) There should be some institutional means by which this is done. We are a small country and people do as though they cannot find you. How they cannot find you? This is a very small place when they want to find you they will find you.
Mr Lovelace if one could peer through you as the proverbial crystal ball where do you see Trinidad and Tobago in the next 50 years?
I think we have to have a lot more conversations, we need to talk a lot more to each other and raise real hard questions and I think we too have been a society that has avoided the hard questions because we don't want to make somebody feel bad or it is not convenient to the status quo.