The value of a man’s life is his work and his activism Story Created: Oct 25, 2014 at 8:03 PM ECT Story Updated: Oct 25, 2014 at 8:03 PM ECT As the hunger strike enters its fifth week I am forced to consider the value which we place on the life of this man called Wayne Kublalsingh. There are those who in total disbelief have condemned him as a fraud, for which only his death will suffice to alter their minds. These people have placed a value on his life that have nothing to do with his life, because the real value of his life will be recorded in all the struggles which he has participated in. The causes which he has championed to this nation’s advantage. One such cause was the Chatham-Alcoa smelter. He and fellow patriot Julien Kenny fought for justice for the residents of the Chatham community and activists who together were able to quash a Chatham-Alcoa smelter. Another such cause was again another smelter, the ALUTRINT smelter in la Brea. It was he and in those days members of the Government and the residents of La Brea who stopped that project. We all collectively breathed a sigh of relief that we were able to stop this atrocity. Another cause that he championed was that of the residents of Otaheite and the fishermen there. The aim was to stop the industrial estate on a proposed island on a shrimping bank. The fishermen of Otaheite are grateful. Was there not a value to this man’s life when he along with the residents of Pranz Gardens stopped the ill-fated ESSAR steel complex and industrial ports proposed for the Claxton Bay mangrove system? Didn’t he lobby with the residents of Savonetta to stop the $470 million CARISAL chemical plant which was wrongly placed not on the Point Lisas industrial estate, but to the east of the Southern Main Road close to the communities? Was his life not valuable then? The costs of all these projects, the destruction of our environment, the potential for the destruction of human lives and the depletion of our gas reserves would have been immeasurable. The cause of the Highway Re-Route Movement (HRM) is no different from any of the above. If the Government were to consider the proposal of the HRM for a re-route of one small portion they stand to gain. The proposal is based on fundamental principles of best practices laid down by international agencies. It will minimise the societal fragmentation, the degradation of the environment, it will preserve the heritage site, it will alleviate the traffic and it will save over a billion plus in revenue. Money that could be spent in erecting a Government campus in the South to house those public servants who make that weary trek into the capital to serve these same citizens who journey to the capital to conduct their business, it can be used to build schools for those children who have to get up at 5 a.m. to get to school on time. The real value of a man’s life is his work and his activism, the causes that he has taken up so that ordinary people may receive justice, who left to the vagaries of the vested interests would lose their communities, their homes and their livelihood and their lives. The real value of any Man’s life, Dr Kublalsingh’s included, would have to be the mark he has left on humanity. For these reasons alone Dr Kublalsingh’s life is priceless for if he dies we will have nothing to replace him with. Satu-Ann Ramcharan
Posted on: Sun, 26 Oct 2014 18:08:54 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015