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West ISIS February 15

“PoS Gang War Spirals Out Of Control Again,“ reads the TT Guardian headline.  One side calls itself Rasta City Gang, the other calls itself The Muslims Gang.  The ongoing conflict over turf in this city is ethnic, religious, and tribal.  The current fuel is money and drugs.  It killed hundreds last year, creating a climate of anxiety.  This year looks the same.  

Muhammad Ali Jinnah once said, “India is not a nation, nor a country.  It is a subcontinent of nationalities.“  This is hardly a surprise coming from the founding father of the mess that is Pakistan and Bangladesh.  Still, it is not too difficult to imagine Trinidad in a similar light.  Certainly members of Jamaat al Musilimeen do.

Ten percent of Trinidad’s 1.3 million people are Muslim, although only a tiny minority practice a militant faith.  However, it only takes one to light the fuse.  Yasin Abu Bakr singularly masterminded the coup of 1990, which killed 24 and wounded untold numbers, most particularly the Prime Minister, AR Robinson.  Folks my age still vividly recall Bakr’s outlandish declaration of control on Trinidad’s lone TV station.  In fact, the city descended into anarchy for most of a week, along with some epic curfew limes.

The undisputed leader of Jamaat al Muslimeen was originally a cop named Lennox Phillip, who converted to Islam after briefly moving to Canada in the ’70’s.  When he returned home, he had a new identity, that of a persecuted Muslim, and he started to preach separatism.  Following his surrender to the army, Abu Bakr was convicted of sedition but, remarkably, granted amnesty after two years.  He went home to Saint James a hero, free and defiant.  In 2004, he was acquitted of double-murder when key witnesses refused to testify against him.  His movements are still followed, although, at 78, he does not move far.

Joseph Toney was National Security Minister twenty-nine years ago, and his recent recollection for TT Guardian speaks to the moment:  “We are reaping what was sown in the events of 1990.  The use of guns became more prevalent after those events and certain individuals because they wore the Muslim garb, the headpiece, the gown and army boots, they felt emboldened and they felt they were untouchable.”

Over a hundred young Trini men have bolted for Syria in two years, and most have not returned.  They left with children and women, many of those against their will.  Remaining relatives have reported most of them killed and a few more stuck in Turkish refugee camps.  The concern is that the ones that do return may present a danger.  

Although TT has received bad press—some call this oil-rich island “West ISIS“—headlines can be misleading.  Canada and US have themselves exported over 300 young jihadists, so the problem here is not so unique but more one of scale.  Attorney General Farris Al-Rawi downplays the threat, particularly regarding the fealty of a Caribbean jihadist:  “There are many people who are willing to make a trip to a war-torn area just to say you have been there – for the ‘cred’,” he said. “You have to disaggregate the genuine jihadi – who may potentially die as a martyr for a cause – from a pure criminal borrowing the look and persona of terrorism.”

The Red House on Queen Park’s Savannah is closed for business today, concealed by scaffolds and tarpaulin during a renovation without much progress.  White bullet holes in the ferric-red walls are not to be touched, but the actual memorial for those killed during four days of violence and looting is buried in cold storage.  It resided for a time on the Abercromby Street side of Parliament, and plans are to eventually place the wreath on the Knox Street side, where pedestrian traffic flows, however meager.  

Downtown is something of a dump, made worse by the messy renovation of Whitehall and the Red House.  Regardless, Wendell Eversley returns every year to recount the story for whoever wants to listen:  “We are a bunch of hypocrites when it comes to remembering July 27, 1990, and is (sic) a shame to know that this is probably the only country in the Western Hemisphere where we had a terrorist attack on an elected government and up to today they have not seen it fit to even have a wreath laying ceremony to remember those who lost their lives.” (TT Newsday)  

Last night a Rasta City man was shot dead in nearby Carenage, sending his extended family into hiding.  The drive-by is believed to be linked to a recent gun battle at the Sea Lots near the lighthouse that killed or wounded seven.  Many claim that these gangsters walk with impunity, as the police are conspicuously reluctant to intervene.  Says Naipaul at the gate, “Ja man, Dey ‘fraid of t’e Muslims.“

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