"Contempt for the trivial"

If CARIFESTA is to truly go beyond supporting a status quo that continues to marginalize the majority of the Caribbean’s people and is intolerant of challenge, we must embrace our collective responsibility to acknowledge and nurture the radical, critical political promise that is our culture. As Martin Carter reminded us over thirty years ago, “it is precisely in times of crisis that we must re-examine our lives and bring to that re-examination contempt for the trivial, and respect for the riskers who go forward boldly to participate in the building of a free community of valid persons.”

From "Carifesta and Culture", an essay by Alissa Trotz in today's Stabroek News, the second in a series of columns debating the relevance of Carifesta to today's Caribbean. (My own contribution was published last week--read it here.)