OSMOND SELLASSIE
"SYL" LOWHAR
SLEEP WELL, SYL
By Keith Smith
Express
February 16, 2000
Page 17
Like "the Birdie", I am fed up of having to say
farewell. Listen, for more reasons than
one, I find myself, these days, having to look death full in the face, even as
I try to avert my eyes, and the passing of Syl Lowhar, after Kitchener, has not
made it any easier, Syl being one of those men who fuelled my youthful sense of
unimagined possibility.
I
knew he had been sick for a long time, knew too that he had fallen on
relatively hard times, the poet/philosopher that he was not being adequate to
the task of making a go at being a small business entrepreneur but I knew, too,
that that was because far more than the yen for money, he had a yen for things
of the spirit, driven as he was by that enduring New World dream of a just,
prosperous and responsible democracy.
Yesterday,
I went back to one of his famous speeches, delivered at a Tapia House meeting
in Diamond Vale in 1970, and was struck by the way it resonated even after 30
years. Hear Syl:
"Sisters
and brothers: Believe me, it is no flattery when I say I am impressed by your
lovely setting - indeed, your settlement glows like a gem against the backdrop
of these rising hills. I am impressed…I
want to say this: that the distinguishing feature of the colonial condition is
a failure to perceive reality in terms of the environment, in terms of the existing
conditions of the here and now; and the extent to which we borrow false
categories to solve our problems here is the extent to which we are guilty of
the colonial mentality.
"I
agree that Stokely, for instance, is an expert on the Black Power Movement in
the United States, but if Stokely should come here to be an expert on the
movement here, it will be just the same as if we should bring foreign experts
on banking to tell us about the establishing of a national bank.
"Concepts
must be used as a guide to and not a substitute for action…once we see our
reality in terms of foreign lenses, we will fall into error and we would make
it impossible to widen the platform and to absorb the many people into the
movement for change, who are prepared to labour and serve in the interest of
their country…"
At
the time, in those heady days of the "Black Power Revolution", Syl
was arguing against a blind aping of the tenets and direction of the so-called
'left" but I am willing to bet blindly that, were I to resuscitate him now
and put the question to him, he would be just as adamant that we are again
going off-course as we surrender to the shibboleths of globalisation even as
its prime propagandist in the person of the American president, Bill Clinton,
suggests that he now has his private doubts or else what are we to infer from
his recent insistence that we "have to listen to the opponents of
globalisation", his mind no doubt reeling from the disastrous fallout from
this Washington-baked philosophy, even as he recognises that no nation on earth
has gained more than his country from the fact that in the world of
international business not only the so-called developing countries but many of
the so-called developed as well are, by no stretch of the imagination gamboling
on a level playing field.
We
can argue about this with those who hold an opposing view, who argue that
whatever the human detritus left in the wake of all-out global, unprotected
competition we will in time arrive at an efficient world order where the strong
will stretch from Haiti (ha!) to Honolulu but that is not the point I want to
ponder as I grieve, as I come to terms with the fact that here now is the last
of Lowhar.
The
greater grief, it seems to me, is that in Trinidad and Tobago we are running
out of independent voices, that the individuals who are successful in the short
term are those who, well-meaning as I am sure they have convinced themselves
they must be, fail to see that in the long-term we are selling ourselves and
our country short and that, as Syl saw, fully 30 years ago, we are risking ruin
if, even as we engage the world on its own terms, we do not leave room for our
own manoeuvres, conceived out of our God-given native wit and imagination.
The
old original order passeth and in its place, I fear, we are getting a colony of
new clones.
History
may well record in hindsight that this was the inevitability of the day but, as
I instinctively revolt against this with every fibre of my being, I have to
blame Lowhar for it was he who first introduced me to that Martin Carter's poem
in which, watching his sleeping children, the poet observes that, well,
"they sleep to dream, but I dream to change the world."
Sleep
well, Syl.
**********************************************
Express
February 16, 2000
When
Syl Lowhar is laid to rest today, he will be remembered for his work as a
political activist, trade unionist, economist and orator and poet.
The
St Mary's College past pupil and UWI graduate died last Friday at his home on
West Drive, Champs Fleurs, after a five-year battle against vascular disease.
He
became well known in the 1950s as an orator and won several trophies as a
debater with the Arawak Literary and Debating Club and was a founding member of
the Fulham Sports Club started in 1956.
In the
1960s Lowhar was active in the Guild of Undergraduates at UWI, St Augustine and
the Society for the Study of West Indies, which later became the New World
Group, a celebrated organisation concerned with West Indian sovereignty and the
issues of national independence.
He
was later a distinguished member of the Tapia House Group and was arrested and
detained in April 1970 after the declaration of a state of emergency by the
Government then under the administration of Dr Eric Williams.
He
was also a trade unionist and rose to the rank of vice president in the Public
Services Association.
Lowhar
retired from the Ministry of Agriculture in 1991 as Director of Agricultural
Planning and Development and later went into agri business.
He
had three sons Kendell, Hayden and Niger, and three grandchildren Sasha, Joshua
and Daniel and will be missed by his brothers Vianney "Bunny" Lewis
and Ita Lewis.
His
wife of 39 years, Joan, who was his nurse during his illness, yesterday
recalled his love for his people and these words from his poem Bureaucrat.
"Power is not enough to
make us strong,
The heart must also sing a
human song."
Lowhar
was 64.
His
funeral service will be held at 2 p.m. today at the Curepe Pentecostal Church,
then to the Lapeyrouse Cemetery.
**********************************************
SYL LOWHAR - MAN
OF MANY TALENTS
Siegmund Assee
Trinidad Guardian
February 16, 2000
Page 9
Syl
Lowhar was one of those rare individuals who lived a
multi-faceted life. He was able to
combine his career as a professional economist in the Civil Service with his
trade union leanings and political activities, while zealously pursuing his
penchant for writing poetry.
In the
Public Service he rose to the position of director of Agricultural Planning and
Development in the Ministry of Agriculture, Land and Marine Resources.
He received
his secondary education at St Mary's College in Port of Spain and attended the University
of the West Indies at St Augustine. From
his university days he displayed a gift of oratory, which was often spiced with
flights of poetic imagery.
He was
active in the Guild of Graduates in which he was chairman of the External
Affairs Committee of the guild. He was also
a member of the New World Group which later split into two groups, an active
political party, the United National Independence Party (UNIP), led by Dr James
Millette, and the Tapia House Movement, led by Lloyd Best.
Syl
Lowhar chose to throw his fortunes in with the Tapia group, arguing that it was
necessary to build a solid intellectual foundation for political change.
Lowhar
was a popular figure with his fellow students, and former colleagues speak fondly
of him, recalling his Fiat motor-car, which 'was almost a fixture outside the
guild office."
When
the State of Emergency was declared in 1970 by the Government of Dr Eric
Williams, Lowhar was incarcerated along with other detainees at Nelson
Island. He was the first person to
apply to the Review Tribunal appointed under the State of Emergency, and was
released. After his release he made the
now famous comment, "Freedom is a precious privilege, worth fighting
for."
In the
post-1970 period, Lowhar became chairman of Tapia. Through his writing and utterances, he also demonstrated a
tireless passion for freedom, justice and democracy. His concern with these matters led to a deep interest in the situation
in Cuba.
Lowhar
was also regarded as a poet of the highest calibre. In his tribute to Martin Carter he wrote:
"Your voice and tongue
are wind and wave
Breaking the dikes of Europe
Your heart is a shango drum
Waking the spirit of your
ancestor
From the damp shadow of his
leafy grave…
Deep in the Canje
creek."
In "Bureaucracy"
he commented with great sensitivity on the position of the civil servant:
"Power is not enough to
make us strong,
The heart must also sing the
human song."
He contributed
numerous articles to the Tapia newspaper, The Trinidad and Tobago
Review and the daily newspapers on a variety of social, economic, political
and literary topics.
A former
assistant-secretary of the Public Services Association, he was honoured by the
association for service to that organisation.
Tapia also honoured him at its 30th anniversary celebrations
in 1998.
We extend
our condolences to his wife Joan, sons Kendall, Hayden and Niger, and members
of the Tapia group.
Funeral
service for Syl Lowhar takes place today at 2 p.m. at the Curepe Pentecostal Church,
McDonnell Street, Curepe.