I’m a libertarian, and as a libertarian, very few things provoke an emotional response in me. My sacred cow is that I do not believe in the veneration of sacred cows, and generally speaking, I prefer pragmatism and efficiency over much else. Be that as it may, encroachments on freedom of thought and expression cause me a particular kind of gripe which I must address. I am at least somewhat moralistic about these topics, but there are practical reasons, such as the need for efficient social intercourse, and the value of having the most information available to the public, which I use to justify my moral fervour in this regard. It disappoints me that the journalistic standards applied in Trinidad and Tobago, much like the politics, are from and for the gutter. Everyone seems to be in a race towards the bottom of a very deep, very murky drain.

In 2016, a gang of blood-thirsty dogs, armed with social clout, credentials and, frothing at the mouth, successfully conspired to expel my friend, satirist Kevin Baldeosingh, from the Trinidad and Tobago Guardian. The stab to the back came mere days after the paper’s management had confirmed the renewal of his contract as a columnist. The excuse given was finances, but it was obvious that the contents of his weekly column making the case that a Muslim woman was making a rational choice by choosing to wear her hijab at the expense of a job, was twisted to make him seem discriminatory and used to justify the sudden 180. The newspaper even apologised, and only one other columnist said anything to defend Kevin’s right to think and say what he wanted…he eventually was convicted of attempted murder and conspiring to execute his ex-girlfriend in Florida, but that’s a story for another day. Kevin was and still is a devoted family man. He had two toddlers and a young wife who was studying at the time. He had bills. It must have been a shock. I can only imagine how disorienting that experience would have been.

Now, I must clarify that the newspapers also have a right of freedom to associate. By no means are they obligated to hire someone unless they want to do so. If it was a matter of merely ending a contract, I would have very little to say. The media massacre that ensued, followed by the obvious blacklisting and silencing of a writer who had the longest-running and one of the highest-grossing columns in Trinidad and Tobago history distinguishes this situation and makes it more than an expression of the newspapers’ freedom to associate. This is especially so, because some months later, a columnist and gender feminist, Dr. Gabrielle J. Hosein, would casually thank her co-conspirators for assisting her with Kevin’s ousting using her column. The crime was, in reality, him daring to disagree with her ideas over the years, but she framed it as him targeting and bullying her. All he did was provide evidence which was contrary to her narrative and obvious agenda in a satirical way? Hosein’s lack of compunction and her clear use of her victim card to gather her troops—typical of female bullies—no doubt disturbed me. But it was the fact that she used the media to champion her anti-free speech, tribalistic position which made me want to vomit. That felt like mockery of liberal democracy itself!

Perhaps the problem lies there? Maybe the expectation that the Trinidad and Tobago media would seek to preserve its own reliability and integrity was too high. Maybe it is filled with members who are morally bereft. I know that what disgusts me clearly does not disgust others and I suppose that that sufficiently explains what transpired. This would also explain the complete failure of the journalistic institutions during the Covid-19 Pandemic of the last three years. I do not think that freedom of thought and expression should be partisan issues. These encroachments should disgust anyone remotely interested in living in a free, prosperous and healthy society. I am not sure how to make that ideological front the true and only tribal war.

That being said. imagine my complete surprise, though, when I read the March 1, 2023, Editorial by Mr. Curtis Williams, Trinidad and Tobago Express’ new Managing Editor, and learnt that contrary to my understanding, the media powers that be in Trinidad and Tobago care about protecting freedom of thought and expression. Utter shock! Understand that I try my best not to be a hypocrite. That others can freely engage in grand acts of hypocrisy such as this without feeling anything is the eighth wonder of the world to me. Mr. Williams and his editorial team are worthy of a place in The Guinness Book of World Records for this feat. I know that Kevin has been trying to write locally again. I know that I (and others) have been petitioning to have him write locally again since 2016. And, although Mr. Williams is fairly new to his role as managing editor, I know that he knows of this miscarriage of justice, because I wrote a letter to the editor in response to his flowery editorial some time ago. Has he actually attempted to adhere to his alleged principles? Nope! Will I let it rest? On principle, absolutely not! I refuse to allow media institutions to rot without talking about the smell. I am not ethically impotent.

Principles aside, as a fellow human, I know what it feels like to be targeted by a mob in my professional and academic life. I know what it is like for people to intentionally misinterpret and then misrepresent what I say, then use that misrepresentation and their social ties to exclude me from opportunities and groups. I went to girls’ schools all my life up until university. It did not get better at university or law school, mostly because I am not the kind of person who can see wrong things happening and just leave it be. These are not experiences I would wish upon my worst enemy, not because it is insurmountable, but because it is an immense waste of time and resources. I feel driven to say or do something when I notice wrong, and my big mouth gets me into trouble with bureaucrats in love with corruption and the status quo. I could live with that.

The kind of professional thuggery that is overtaking our institutions is unseemly and counterproductive. This misuse of the media and the infusion of female-typical aggression into the professional sphere where merit ought to be supreme is unbecoming. The media is an institution which ought to be preserved for the benefit of all, and its undoing in a manner this juvenile, anti-intellectual and anti-human is disgraceful. This is why no good writers remain on staff locally, why the editing skills are atrocious, and why our local intellectual life will continue to be sub-par. The same anti-intellectual forces that have tried to silence Salman Rushdie, that have killed Theo Van Gogh, that have made Ayaan Hirsi Ali’s security detail necessary, that have tried to get Bruce Gilley to stop asking questions and sharing heterodox ideas, and that have made V.S. Naipaul a local pariah are the ones which are conspiring to undo Kevin. This needs to stop before it is too late.

You may support Kevin by clicking this link and purchasing his books on Amazon. He writes really well, and he thinks!