Radical changes in the history of a country caused by 'fire, flood or acts of God,' war, revolt, plague, pandemic and prolonged civil disobedience have consequential changes on aspects of social and economic life that are not foreseen before or even during the periods of change themselves.
Even apparently normal technological innovations in communications via cellphones, Zoom, e-mail, and WhatsApp have had far-reaching effects on business and employment which in turn have other far-reaching effects.
Insofar as business, commerce, medicine or the judiciary are concerned, those consequences may include disruption, rejection and civil disobedience as people fight change before acceptance and a new period of stability is reached. It has always been so, throughout history.
We are going through such a period in TT now. While employees, employers, those new applicants wanting to be employed, even those seeking voluntary and unpaid employment, are still looking to operate under the practices, protocols and procedures of yesteryear, the uneasy realisation is dawning that the old ways are not working any more.
Equally it is apparent that those desperately trying to force social effects of pandemic change into disciplined and controllable channels have not been able to foresee the consequential changes they have put in place. It is like a multi-directional game of dominoes.
One such decision, a most obvious one, made, I am sure, with the belief that it was a good idea, was to close places where food is prepared and provided. These range from the traditional 'cook shops' that cater to field and shop-floor workers to mobile food suppliers, street vendors, doubles vendors, fast-food suppliers - activities that go so deeply into the culture and traditions of Trini society that they are not actually seen to be 'business' activity, especially by decision-makers who do not actually use them.
Like many other traditional entrepreneurial activities, they do not only support the livelihood of the poorest segment of the population; they are the social support of the elderly, those ineligible for grants who have never registered on any government social services system, single mothers not supported by rejecting and righteous parents, religious organisations or by deadbeat 'baby fathers.'
Single mothers are the majority of workers in occupations that seldom, if ever, employ as many as five employees at a time: fast-food shops, cleaning contractors, hospitality establishments, 'care homes' and a long list of less savoury employments resorted to when the lives of children and elderly parents depend on them.
The offhand advice when asked when this segment of society will be allowed by the well-fed and healthy to resume activity was: 'Make sandwiches or cook up something at home.' It was like a blow to the solar plexus to unemployed single parents who can't afford electricity or gas cylinders, much less rice or enough sandwich bread to feed four children.
I don't think this is a deliberate attempt to devalue the existence
