TODAY is the United Nations's Zero Discrimination Day. It is a day on which the world celebrates the right of everyone to live a full and productive life.
But today's proceedings are being overshadowed by the cloud of war, at a moment when the basic conditions for democracy are under attack.
TT's national watchwords are 'discipline, production and tolerance.' And yet, these days the two main political parties cannot even tolerate one another.
Parliamentary 'debates' descend into partisan diatribes and personal attacks. The truth is spun and facts suppressed for political effect. MPs cannot even agree on the rules governing debates, from matters as small as speaking times to bigger questions such as presidential-impeachment proceedings.
If our leaders, who swear oaths before God not to discriminate in how they perform their duties, cannot speak in Parliament without showing contempt and bad mind for all who disagree with them, how can we expect our country's institutions to embrace the lofty constitutional ideal of equality regardless of race, religion, gender, sexuality or class?
With such a poor example at the top, the rot sets in everywhere.
Even Carnival calypso stakeholders could not agree on the basic elements of the festival - a lack of consensus that bore fruit on Sunday with an underwhelming Dimanche Gras show (notwithstanding the valiant efforts of host Rachel Price to add spice to the proceedings).
The theme of this year's Zero Discrimination Day is 'Remove laws that harm, create laws that empower.'
Yet our legislature can hardly pass a budget without contention, far less promulgate needed reforms. Those reforms include amendments to the severely limited Equal Opportunity Act, changes to the archaic criminal laws that give theoretical defences to men who physically abuse others, and overhauling laws that allow law enforcement itself to remain subject to poor oversight from top to bottom.
There is deep-seated decay in our 'independent' institutions, many of which rely on the central government for funding levels and do not have the power to be anything other than toothless bulldogs or rubber stamps. The Public Service, for all its failings, is regularly in the cross hairs of the politicians.
Only a few days ago, the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions, in the context of an ongoing legal matter, noted once again that it is lacking in human-resource capacity.
'Zero discrimination' might also seem a far-fetched ideal in a situation in which crime and violence continue to wreak havoc, with people being murdered in their homes seemingly on a regular basis now.
On the other hand, there are accused people who have been incarcerated for years without any real prospect of demonstrating their innocence.
Anti-discrimination is an ideal we absolutely must commit to.
But unless our leaders rise to the occasion, we are, like so many right now, battling against the odds.
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